Barbie and Ken are mentioned a lot - babies and young children get to see those, and you can take the clothes of those dolls. A virtual version of that is all that you can see in the Sims. The animations of Sims doing some woohoo are far from realistic. Also the fact that the modifications (mods) that give Sims genitalea is heard a lot. A player - whether child, teen or mature - will have to look on the internet to download such content, while often being warned or so beforehand that the content is only suitable for adults. A teen can visit a porn site just as easily, and quite possibly see more things. Many people also say that the Sims 2 is harmless, in fact educational. A child with dyslexia may for example get some practice in reading when a chance card pops up, like Droweena says on this page.

Some people also claim Thompson doesn't stand much of a chance whatever happens, since the nudity is no worse than what children can see from playing with dolls. Also, the "Experience may change during online play" notice of the ESRB, which is part of the rating, says content created by third parties is not rated by the ESRB. Thompson has already said that EA is cooperating "gleefully" with these third parties, as they do nothing about any possible license or copyright infringements by those parties. Several people have also e-mailed the attorney, and many received a reply saying "Go to church and read the Bible." Two e-mails can, for example, be found in the blog of NoRealLife2 (or, in more details but less organised, in this comment at Slashdot). Another reply sent to several people by Jack Thompson reads as follows:

"Allow me to make this very clear to all in the so-called "gaming community" who continue to email me for the purpose not of sharing information or engaging in civil conversation but for the sole purpose of harassing me:

"In Florida we have a cyber-stalking law. There are federal statutes as well that prohibit what many of you are doing to me. Some of you have emailed me and threatened to kill me. How interesting that you claim that I have infringed on YOUR First Amendment rights.

"I am warning all of you whom I have not invited to communicate with me after an initial contact by you that I shall consider any further emails from you as violative of my rights and violative of the aforementioned criminal statutes.

"There is nothing more hypocritical than a bunch of gamer thugs who harass me and threaten me all in the name of "freedom of expression."

"I have a constitutional right to talk, at the Senator's request, to the staff of Senator Clinton. I did that. I have a right to point out that Electronic Arts is engaged in a knowing conspiracy with the "mod community" (what's next, "a pedophile community"?) to distribute porn to children. Any of you who don't think that is what EA is doing need to get a law degree and practice for 30 years, as I have. Then I'll be interested in your "opinions" about The Sims 2 scandal.

"If you videogaming thugs don't like what I do, then get off your rear ends and talk to the media, talk to your representatives, and write articles for your Internet game news sites. Don't flood my email inbox with your petulant tirades which are neither welcome nor productive.

"All they do is encourage me in my knowledge that normal people who have a right to stop predatory video game companies' practices are going to succeed in protecting children from those practices. Honestly, some of you email me and threaten me because you say "You want to ban all video games." That is reflective, by and large, of the perspicacity of the typical threatening emails I get. Such people don't want facts. They want an argument. They want to treat me as if I were some punching bag prostitute in GTA. I've had it with this. I am going to stop it.

"We won the "Hot Coffee mod" battle, and we shall win other battles. If any of you clowns are still dumb enough to threaten me and harass me after receiving this email, then contact your lawyers. You're going to need them."

All in all most people disagree with Thompson on this matter, and say that the Sims 2 is suitable for Teens. After the Hot Coffee fiasco of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which preceded the allegations against the Sims 2 and has now been rated as Adult Only rather than Mature, the ESRB has decided to strengthen the rules of rating. This is reported by GamesIndustry.biz:

"In light of this, the ESRB plans to introduce tougher standards for its ratings, which will demand more detail from publishers so that all content shipped on the disc, regardless of how accessible it is, can be considered in creating the rating for a game."

To show their opinions, some fans have also started a website and petition against the allegations made by Jack Thompson. The Stop Jack site by SimChoice gives a small overview of links containing discussions, information, and more. Conrad Sims2 has made a Don't Ban Sims 2 petition, which you can sign to show your support. The petition is targeted to the ESRB, the ratings board. So far over 1200 people have signed the petition.

The following links are to threads at external forums, containing discussions by fans about the matter.

• Official BBS
• Official UK site
• ModTheSims2
• N99 (Registration required)
• WorldSims Forums
• SnootySims
• Sims 2 Talk
• GameSpot Forums: thread 1, thread 2, thread 3 and even more threads.
• GamePolitics (Editorial with comments)
• Slashdot (Newspost with comments)

Note that we are, of course, not responsible for the content in those threads. Content may not always be suitable for all ages, depending on the forum too, due to the language used. The links are to open discussion boards which are moderated.

Last but not least a few links with some more information concerning the matter, or articles that may be of interest:

• Our post, earlier this weekend
• Original GameSpot article
• Petition against banning of The Sims 2
• Stop Jack website
• GameSpot interview with ESRB president Patricia Vance
• GameSpot about San Andreas and its new AO rating
• ESRB Website
• ESRB Ratings guide
• PEGI Website (European rating)
• Jack Thompson on Wikipedia
• Website of Jack Thompson

If you have any more links that you think we should add to any of these lists, please e-mail me. For further discussion, please feel free to post comments.

Written at 02:20 on Monday, 25 July 2005 by ChEeTaH.

Written at 09:25 on Monday, 25 July 2005 by ConradSims2

Thank you Cheetah! You are the absolute best for posting all of this.

Lets all stand together and fight this!

Written at 14:26 on Monday, 25 July 2005 by Marilyn S Dean (NoRealLife2)

Good Morning, and thank you for posting the link to my correspondence with Jack in your article.
There is a new editorial regarding Jack and his incorrectness at www.gamepolitics.com
Have a great day - NoRealLife2

Written at 14:44 on Monday, 25 July 2005 by Daryl (thesims2website)

He needs a GOOD SLAP!

The Sims 3 Website - www.thesims3website.co.uk

Written at 21:19 on Monday, 25 July 2005 by Stalex12345
Edited at 21:27 on Monday, 25 July 2005 by Stalex12345

Sims 2 Talk has a thread about it, and it shows e-mails I sent him, and his replies: http://s11.invisionfree.com/Sims_2_Talk/index.php?showtopic=743

Written at 00:14 on Tuesday, 26 July 2005 by Marilyn S Dean (NoRealLife2)

Wikipedia just updated Jack the Jerk:

"On July 22, 2005, after the "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" case was settled, Thompson sought after " The Sims 2", citing that it is "worse than Hot Coffee", due to the availability of a mod that removes the censorship bars from all characters when they are nude, allowing pedophiles to see computer-rendered nude children. [11] In another instance, he claimed "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise ... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." In fact, with the "blur" removed, The Sims 2 shows characters with no visible reproductive organs whatsoever, similar to children's dolls. He tries to manuipulate people by saying EA and Will Wright are supporting Adult custom content specificaly, when actually, Will Wright supports all custom content for the game, because he wants people to be creative with their own game. Although there are skins that are downloadable that are considered adult, they wouldn't affect the rating because they are not Maxis made."

HIT THE ROAD, JACK, AND DON'T YOU COME BACK NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE...
HIT THE ROAD, JACK, AND DON'T YOU COME BACK NO MORE!!!

Written at 23:31 on Tuesday, 26 July 2005 by Space Kitty (spacekitty)

This man is a complete idiot. For one, the fact that he even wrote this utterly meaningless letter which holds no legal consequences, just proves what an irrational, insecure, and prejudiced moron he is. He insists on calling the gaming community "thugs" whatever that means. Any grown man in their right lawyer mind would see email threats as petty and insignificant. The fact that he wrote out an entire reply, complete with empty threats, and ridiculous accusations to people he does not even know and legally has nothing to fear, makes me wonder just how mature he is. I think his head has just swelled from the san andreas case and he thinks he can take on anything. I am not at all worried about this case. GTA had something to be a little worried about. Sims 2 is just not adult material. Thompson might as well go after Barbie because he's not getting anything from the sims2.

Written at 17:08 on Wednesday, 27 July 2005 by regina (kinderdspirits)

i really believe this person should worry more about the homeless, the hungry and the elderly who have to decide weather or not to get there medince, eat or pay bills. how about the people who fall in the cracks of the system. i really think these thing are more important than a rating of a game. the way i see it is i bought the game and what i do with it is my buisness. OMG GTA HAD MATURE RATING DID THEY NOT READ THE BOX MAKES ONE WONDER.
What will they censor next? I'm truly sorry but you can not censor life. i raised a son and never cansored his life. he see things form both sides and decides for him self because he was taught he had a mind of his own. he's 18 and not afraid to use his own mind. you have to teach them that can think for them selves and everything is just falls in to place. i ask when does all the foolishness stop. when will put our foot down and stop censoring my life. let me learn form my mistakes not yours.
Talk about over reacting the sims 2 . well quick lets quit selling dolls to because they are just to graphic. who knows what trouble that will cause. people open your eyes and see this for what it is. if Jack succeed in his quest. which game will be next ? just a thought!!!!!!!!! oh wait can't have those they might censor that to

Written at 20:49 on Wednesday, 27 July 2005 by Pat Adams (kiowa)

Just went to the site for the on-line petition:
This is what came up. Any ideas?
This petition was removed because the author did not provide a full valid name. Anonymous petitions are not permitted. Authors are given three days to respond with their name before a petition is removed. If you are the author of this petition reply to the email we sent you with your full name. If you are the author and do not have the email we sent you, send an email to support@petitiononline.com asking us to reactivate your petition. Be sure to include your full name and petition ID in the email.

Written at 11:58 on Friday, 29 July 2005 by StuPeR7

Jack Thompson is a douche bag. He sues game companies for money AND attention.

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