I wonder if Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has ever played Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Probably not. But his office has finally made it official and is suing Rockstar Games for its now-infamous "Hot Coffee" sex scenes in San Andreas. Delgadillo has most likely seen the scenes the same way everyone else has: on the Internet. That's the only place I'd seen them, so I decided to check the malevolent source.
A number of websites will reveal the cheat codes for the PS2 version, but few tell you what a pain it is to use them. First, you have to spend $40 on a cheat device called an Action Replay Max. After inputting the codes, you embark on the dating missions. Once you've spent sufficient time impressing your lady friend, she'll invite you in for "coffee." This is where the controversy begins.
If you've entered all your cheats correctly, you'll see CJ and his girlfriend pantomime a series of sex positions. CJ's always fully clothed, but his partner (depending on which one you've selected) will be in various states of undress. Neither have genitalia. It's actually rather disappointing (and irritating), given all the work and expense that goes into uncovering it. You could create a more provocative scene using a fully clothed Ken doll and a nude Barbie. But if a kid did so, would anyone sue Mattel?
Kids aren't even supposed to be playing San Andreas. The game was released with an M rating, so you had to be at least 17 just to buy it. The outrage over the hidden sex scenes is that they should have warranted an AO rating, for ages 18 and up. What no one seems to realize is that by the time the Hot Coffee mod was discovered, half of the 17-year-olds who bought the game had already turned 18. So who cares?
The parents care—the parents who bought San Andreas for their young kids, expecting Rockstar's usual brand of wholesome entertainment. In any of the game's cities, you can pull into an alley and pay a prostitute to grant you health-restoring sexual favors (performed off camera). When she's done, you can run her over and take your money back. The message here is that it's okay for kids to solicit, rob and kill hookers as long as they don't see any dry humping. This controversy isn't really about the Hot Coffee sex scenes. It's about anti-video game legislation being given its smoking gun. And for that, Rockstar should be punished.
I generally admire Rockstar Games. It's important for someone to challenge people's sensibilities. It allows the medium to grow. With or without sex, San Andreas won't be the end of civilization, just as Mortal Kombat wasn't the end of civilization in 1992, with or without blood splatters. Ever since Grand Theft Auto III released to tremendous success, Rockstar has established a reputation as the bad boy of video-game developers by pushing the envelope.
But there's a responsibility that comes with being the trailblazer, and with this scandal, Rockstar has pushed too far and prompted backlash. Whether it did so deliberately or by accidentally leaving code in the game for an aborted idea (which seems more likely, given the bad textures on the sex-scene characters), it doesn't matter. It was stupid. As the poster child for violent video games, Rockstar knew its every move would be scrutinized. Now, not only are they under fire, but so is the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, as well as any game with mature content.
Rockstar's already suffered an estimated $20 million-$40 million loss in sales due to the rating change, and now it has this lawsuit to contend with. That should be more than enough penance. But they shouldn't be sorry for burying a couple of fornicating mannequins in a game's code. They should be sorry for the damage that misstep will do to their industry.
Matt Hunter is the Weekly's video games wizard.