The Sims 2: A "Pedophile's Paradise"? (News)

Funky Zealot, GamePro

25/07/2005 15:07:05

Following up to the continuing media frenzy of GTA San Andreas' Hot Coffee mod, now The Sims 2 is under fire for what Miami attorney Jack Thompson calls a "pedophile's paradise."

According to Thompson, The Sims 2, which he calls "the industry's latest dirty secret" (although The Sims 2 has been out longer than GTA), contains full frontal nudity, citing information from "video game news sites." The point of contention is with user-created mods, which allows users to create custom skins, models and furniture.

We contacted EA for comment, and the spokesperson flatly denied the accusations, saying, "this is nonsense. players never see a nude Sim in the game. We've reviewed all of the content in the game, as has the [classification board], and there is no content that would be inappropriate for a teen audience. When the Sims shower, their genital areas are pixilated. If someone with an extraordinary amount of technical knowledge and time on their hands were to remove the pixilation, they'd find that the Sims have no genitals. In that sense, they appear like children's dolls such as Ken and Barbie. Under their clothes, Ken and Barbie look like Sims. There is no anatomical detail beyond the torso, limbs and head. "

"Nude" textures without genital areas are common in 3D games - even mainstream hits such as World of Warcraft use "nude" skins to accommodate the variety of clothing articles. It is important to note that the "nudity" in The Sims 2 differs from the controversy stirred by Rockstar's GTA: San Andreas, which had the actual sex mini-game hidden inside the code itself. Hence, it is unlikely that The Sims 2 would face the same consequences of an Adults Only rating.