I’ve been having a lot of fun playing with and tweaking my Video Game News Search tool and I found this story with headline Playboy sex game attacked. This is a prime example of a sensationalist story in which no one seems to have actually learned anything about the game itself before making pronouncements on it. The gist of the story seems to be that the game is aimed at teenagers and will turn them into child molesters. Say what? Did I miss something here? Ironically, the story features a picture of the game box which clearly shows the game’s M rating from the ESRB. An M rating means that the game is not intended for play by teens under 17 at all, so parents, don’t buy it for them! Now in all fairness, apparently the powers that be in New Zealand ignored the rating and gave the game a local rating of R16, so the row is primarily about an R18 rating being more appropriate with which I agree. And I’ve seen nothing in the marketing of the game to suggest that teens are the target audience. That said, having been a teen who read Playboy: The Magazine for many years, I know teenage boys will be interested in this game even though it is not a very good one. So there really isn’t much marketing to do anyway. I only saw ads on internet gaming sites and a few in game magazines.
But Society for the Promotion of Community Standards spokesman David Lane’s statement that, "I believe it will breed a new generation of child molesters. It’s absolutely sicko." is absurd. There’s nothing in the game even remotely related to children at all. In fairness to Mr. Lane, I would hope that this statement is something that has been taken totally out of context in this relatively fact free article about a lackluster game.