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184 Comments
- suzaku, on 01/26/2008, -6/+198Nice to see her admit her mistakes, I doubt Fox will ever do the same.
- unicronband, on 01/26/2008, -3/+160Copypasta from the NYT
January 26, 2008
Author Faults a Game, and Gamers Flame Back
By SETH SCHIESEL
The Internet hath no fury like a gamer scorned.
That’s the lesson Fox News and a self-help author learned this week after a program on that channel featured a discussion of the sexual content of the hit video game Mass Effect.
Bound by global message boards, blogs, chat rooms and of course the games themselves, gamers are perhaps the single most intense subculture on the Internet — fiercely protective of their pastime and at ease with the byways of cyberspace.
So the game world has been ablaze with indignation since the Fox News program “The Live Desk With Martha MacCallum” said on Monday that Mass Effect, one of the most critically praised games of 2007, contains frontal nudity and explicit depictions of sexual activity. The assertions of virtual lasciviousness first appeared earlier this month among conservative bloggers incensed by brief YouTube clips excerpted from the 30- to 40-hour game.
Mass Effect, a science fiction game, includes a complicated romantic subplot that is no more risqué in its plot or graphic in its depiction than evening network television.
To exact their revenge, gamers have turned their vitriol on Cooper Lawrence, an author who appeared to mischaracterize the game when she said: “Here’s how they’re seeing women: They’re seeing them as these objects of desire, as these, you know, hot bodies. They don’t show women as being valued for anything other than their sexuality. And it’s a man in this game deciding how many women he wants to be with.”
In fact Mass Effect allows users to play as either a man or a woman, and the few suggestions of intimate contact occur in the context of a detailed interpersonal story line. Asked on the air by Geoff Keighley of Spike TV whether she had ever played the game, Ms. Lawrence laughed and said, “No.”
Irate gamers have flooded the page on Amazon.com selling Ms. Lawrence’s most recent book, “The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever,” sending its user-generated rating into oblivion.
By Friday afternoon 412 of the book’s 472 user reviews were the lowest possible rating, one star. Another 48 ratings were for two stars. Only 12 of the ratings were for three stars or higher. In addition, 929 Amazon users had tagged the book with the keyword “ignorant.” Tied for second place with 744 tags were “garbage” and “hypocrisy,” while “hack” and “hypocrite” tied for fourth place with 710 votes. Gamers have also attacked the book on the Barnes & Noble Web site.
Many of the reviewers admit that they have not read Ms. Lawrence’s book.
As one Amazon user put it: “I know all about this book but have never fully read it. Why? Due to the overwhelming backlash, I have no choice but to agree with the 1 star ratings. The rumors are rampant that this book was poorly written and poorly researched. So without verifying the contents myself — I give it a 1 star. Good thing video games aren’t judged in this manner — whew!!!”
On Friday “The Cult of Perfection” was ranked the 346,106th best-selling book on Amazon. Mass Effect, by contrast, has been a hit, selling more than 1.6 million copies since November. An Amazon spokeswoman said the site would soon begin to remove reviews written by users who had clearly not read the book.
In an interview on Friday, Ms. Lawrence said that since the controversy over her remarks erupted she had watched someone play the game for about two and a half hours. “I recognize that I misspoke,” she said. “I really regret saying that, and now that I’ve seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke.
“Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography,” she added. “But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.”
Electronic Arts, the giant publisher that owns Mass Effect, has asked Fox News for a correction. A Fox News spokesman would say only that Electronic Arts had been offered a chance to appear on the channel. An Electronic Arts spokesman said the company had not yet decided whether to accept the offer.
By telephone from Edmonton, Alberta, Ray Muzyka, the medical doctor who is chief executive of BioWare, the Electronic Arts studio that made Mass Effect, said: “We’re hurt. We believe in video games as an art form, and on behalf of the 120 people who poured their blood and tears into this game over three years, we’re just really hurt that someone would misrepresent the game without even playing it. All we can hope for is that people who actually play our games will see the truth.” - Jaysunli, on 01/26/2008, -5/+125She admitted her mistakes but they should have never happened in the first place.
She states that she asked someone what the game was like... then went on national television and bashed it with out doing any kind of research of her own. That is ridiculous and unforgiveable. - Quicksilver4648, on 01/26/2008, -5/+121One down, one to go. Fox, now its your turn.
- bubut, on 01/26/2008, -3/+100INTERNET HATE MACHINE
We do not forgive. We do not forget. - Terrk, on 01/26/2008, -4/+84Holy *****, sex is terrible, but hey, lets watch Jack Bauer blow someones head off... thats just FINE!
***** the media. - lexington86, on 01/26/2008, -3/+59Fox admitting their shoddy and mis-informed reporting practices.... excuse me while I go ROFLOL.
- FatLoser, on 01/26/2008, -2/+55She only admitted her mistakes after suffering repercussions. The ratings on Amazon.com make a huge difference in sales. That's why authors often times write fake reviews or have their friends write them. I feel no sympathy for people who "reform" only as a way to make money.
- jmzook, on 01/26/2008, -5/+48She made a huge mistake, but then owned up to it. This does not suddenly make her a good person, it just means she isn't quite as horrible. I want to see some serious groveling before I change my opinion about her for the better.
- unicronband, on 01/26/2008, -2/+39Yeah, only after appearing on national television, making baseless accusations to stir up publicity for her book. Only after every internets in the world over converged to point out her outright lies. Only after her Amazon reviews dropped lower than Cheney's approval rating (actually, they were pretty terrible beforehand). Only after EA and Bioware felt insulted enough to respond directly to her. Only after all her journalistic integrity was called into question, did she do some postmortem research and discover she was making an issue out of nothing. Only then did she "recognize that I misspoke" and "regret saying that". That's not an apology, that's called saving face.
- zackintosh, on 01/26/2008, -3/+39Never trust anyone with two last names.
- mywhitenoise, on 01/26/2008, -3/+36she's still a stupid ass. At 40 (i'm assuming that's around her age) you should know it's pretty ignorant to bash your subject (on TV no less) without even doing any research at first.
- inactive, on 01/26/2008, -1/+28Mmmm... copy-pasta
- statrick, on 01/26/2008, -2/+27you can take our civil liberty, but you will never take our VIDEO GAMES!!!!
- Shaflugi, on 01/26/2008, -0/+23"Have you ever played Mass Effect?"
"Hahaha! No."
I think that's what pissed me off the most, personally. - Intangible360, on 01/26/2008, -9/+31She made a mistake and she took responsibility for it, sounds like not a half-bad person to me.
- HellDonut, on 01/26/2008, -4/+26She deserves at least some amount of respect; it was the right step to make. But the fact that she decided to go on a major TV channel to attack a game based on a second-hand (wrong) opinion with such confidence is more than proof that she doesn't know WTF and is happy with lying for fame and fortune. She has no sympathy from me, but hopefully she has learned a lesson now and will change her ways.
- sdcarter, on 01/26/2008, -1/+17I agree with mywhitenoise. She should know better. But you're right, she took responsibility for it and that's a good thing. Although, I'm inclined to think she's doing it merely to save face and doesn't really believe she was wrong. Just because someone says she's sorry doesn't mean she actually is.
- inactive, on 01/26/2008, -0/+16Yeah, but the disdainful smirk she was wearing when she sprouted her ***** has convinced me never to forgive her.
- saltinekracka20, on 01/26/2008, -0/+15Good on her. She's still not qualified to be writing books.
- dstz, on 01/26/2008, -0/+15Until tomorrow.
- inactive, on 01/26/2008, -0/+13She has no excuse, she should have done her own independent research before going on the air. Of course, this style of "journalistic integrity" is perfectly typical for Fox News. Why bother doing expensive research when ignorant sensationalist hyperbole gets you better ratings?
- Dino451, on 01/26/2008, -0/+13Amazon removed the bad reviews already. Only 21 reviews now!!
- CCricers, on 01/26/2008, -0/+11Suppose you were an English college teacher, and one student says this to you at the end his oral report: "Sorry, but I BS-ed on my report. I just started working on it during the last period and quickly took some information from the internet and fellow students. My bad!" This is how it feels like, only we gamers are collectively the teacher.
It is intolerable in college, and totally unacceptable in the professional world. This truly reveals just how shoddy Fox's journalism is. A couple minutes of second-hand info that MAY be true counts as "research"? I applaud Lawrence for coming clean, but I doubt Fox will put tighter restrictions on their journalistic quality control. - urel, on 01/26/2008, -0/+11Too late for me. She wouldn't have apologized without the pressure. I hope this teaches others to research before they speak out.
- daizaru, on 01/26/2008, -1/+12While I am glad that she took it back but the damage is still done unless you're a digger or read the new york times. It's still pretty unforgivable that someone will take any opportunity to get on tv as an "expert" and then perform such a disservice with little to no info. She shouldn't be regretting what she 'said', but regretting that she even said yes to doing the show at all.
I admire her willingness to apologize, but I would still question her credibility. - Dare978Devil, on 01/26/2008, -5/+15HAHAHA! Anyone who believes anything on Fox News will believe absolutely anything. They are more biased than Al Jazeera. Their style is "can you believe this? Gosh darned it, who would do that? I would never let that happen in my house!" It's basically National Enquirer live.
- jmaple4, on 01/26/2008, -2/+12I have to agree with Terrk. There is, unfortunately, a large acceptance of violence in media where as sexuality is seen as more harmful and taboo. Over the past half-century, I think this has lead to a more violent and sexually repressed society. We can easily watch terrorists saw a man's head off on national TV, but as soon as Janet Jackson's 40 year tit is accidentally aired, everyone freaks out. It's at times like this that I understand the negative baggage that comes with our nation's puritanical roots.
One of the fundamental motivations of violent Islamic extremism, is the promise of an ethereal harem if one dies through jihad. Loosely quoting Joe Rogan, "Dudes are willing to blow themselves up for the highly unlikely promise of pussy in another dimension". Maybe is we all tried to ease up on the repression on women and sexuality across the globe, this world might be a more safe, sane an horny place to live in. More booty, less war duty! - asauterChicago, on 01/27/2008, -1/+10No they made up something and aired as truth. For example: "Scropy2643 is a pedophile that prefers 10 year old boys, I think that's gross, and you should go to jail." Yes, it is an opinion, but it's not a truthful opinion based on any fact what-so-ever. That's the problem with the story Fox ran, it's not based on any fact what-so-ever and was just picking on EA, because, well I guess it was a slow news-day. So they decided to make something up.
- stoanhart, on 01/27/2008, -0/+9I don't know if it's necessarily unforgivable. People make mistakes, and learn from them. You really have no idea how the whole situation came about. Consider this scenario:
Fox wants to slander Mass Effect, so they search for some "expert," be it a writer, scholar, or lawyer, to bring onto the air. They have a goal in mind with the segment, so they call up and say "Hi, this is Fox. Based on your book we think you're the right person for this segment. Are you willing to come on? Thing is, we're filming tomorrow, so you will need to get on a plane right away!"
You, as a writer trying to sell your book, are ecstatic for the type of publicity you are about to receive. You jump on the plane and go. With all of the rushing to and from airports and hotels, getting to the studio to get your makeup done and getting coached on how to handle live on-the-air interviews, you never get a single moment to yourself to do any research. "What is this segment about anyways, you ask?"
"Well, it's about this violent, pornographic game that is being sold to minors causing untold damage. We need your expert opinion for when we get an interview with the EA spokesperson," says the Fox employee.
"Oh, ok. I can do that."
Are you telling me that if you were presented with a too-good-to-be-true scenario for your career, there is no chance you would get caught up in the moment and be played for a fool?
This is all just a hypothetical possibility though. It could also be she knew what she was doing and is appologizing now for damage control. In that case she really is bitch. - deadcrickets, on 01/26/2008, -5/+14What's she is finally admitting is that she fell into the Male Answer Syndrome (MAS) trap. Talking about and answering about a subject one has no clue about.
- Pake, on 01/26/2008, -1/+10For someone with a master's degree, she's not too bright to attack something without researching it first. Anyone that is ignorant enough to not do their own research before going on public TV to make a name for themselves is not truly sorry.
- wolfofwar, on 01/26/2008, -1/+9you can't just lie about stuff, pretend you know what your talking about, on national television, and just take it back like nothing ever happened.
FOX needs to apologize, with her on there, to EA and Bioware, in person, while naked.
maybe not naked, but, just to humiliate them more. - JoJoWalker, on 01/27/2008, -1/+9Well, if you read the NYTimes story, she doesn't apologize or take responsibility for her statement, she simply says that she "misspoke" and that she "regrets" what she said. Well, if your book got reamed on amazon you'd be sorry too! I'm sure her manager, her agent, her publisher and amazon have been demanding she get out there and do damage control.
If her statement hadn't cost her money, do you really think she would admit she "misspoke" .... - ByteGuerilla, on 01/26/2008, -0/+7All it means is she knows when to try and save face. It doesn't make her any better. She's just doing damage-control,
- LiquidChimera, on 01/26/2008, -2/+9A pretty good account of the whole situation from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/arts/television/ ... - Rustymetal, on 01/26/2008, -0/+7I can safely say that I'v never made the mistake of telling people I'm an expert in something I'm not while being on national TV. So no, I don't make mistakes.
- kevro, on 01/26/2008, -1/+8The ONLY way for her to turn this around completely is to sit down ,play the game in it's entirety and start a blog about it. If she truly proclaims she loves it and is now a convert gamer not only will she be forgiven but she'll be able to start a new career. With her notorious fame she can write about more games and actually enjoy some credibility. No one has turned a situation like this to there favor in this way...and perhaps no one ever will.
- peejah, on 01/26/2008, -0/+7i blame her apology strictly on MY prank call..
http://www.peejah.net/kevin_lol.mp3 - ldbobby, on 01/26/2008, -0/+7Adam Sessler with some pwnage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBTh1xy5XAI - CrazyRedHatter, on 01/27/2008, -0/+6Forget what?
- Ajajadude, on 01/26/2008, -0/+6Both you and mywhitenoise are right: she showed some serious ignorance by bashing a game she knew nothing of other than what a few people told her. But, it certainly isn't too often when an adult admits to making a mistake.
- Ajajadude, on 01/26/2008, -1/+7Well, EA deserves to be insulted. Too bad it's at the expense of a good game.
- orlandogeek, on 01/27/2008, -0/+6Mistake on her part notwithstanding, your statement contained high levels of douchebaggery.
- tankexmortis, on 01/26/2008, -0/+6Actually, the reviews are still terrible (average of 2 stars last I looked). They just removed the ones from people who had clearly not read the book.
- SKick, on 01/26/2008, -0/+6I'm also shocked that some people are calling the accident 'unforgivable'. I'm all for forgiving, as long as the apology matches the wrongdoing. In this case, a couple of quotes in a New York Times article don't cut it. And this is no victory. Lawrence is just one ***** expert with a phobia of research, and Fox certainly has plenty more. Show me a retraction by the network, directed to the same audience as the lies, and I'll consider it a (small) victory. I don't necessarily like the average person who ingests Fox News' *****, but I'll never stand in the way of educating the ignorant.
- daborg, on 01/26/2008, -0/+6"you can't just lie about stuff, pretend you know what your talking about, on national television, and just take it back like nothing ever happened."
Welcome to America. We hope you'll enjoy your stay. - potisreallygood, on 01/26/2008, -1/+6WTF is "Princess Enchanted Brides" why does the lady chime in with a sarcastic "thats not for 6 year olds". He seemed as shocked at the premise of a video game as O'reilly was at a black restaraunt. "im like im like with this princess whatever and you gotta get to the next stage and your in this room have to just figure it out, im not very good at it." truly expert analysis there buddy
- Tantrum, on 01/26/2008, -0/+5Total ownage. That's what you get when you get your panties in a knot over some false statement you overhear and don't do your homework first before you get on your high horse.
- inactive, on 01/26/2008, -1/+6Of course she apologized. Money drives most people... she needed to save her book from all the damage done to her on Amazon.com.
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