April 28, 2008 -
The Timothy Plan, a Maitland, Florida-based mutual fund group which offers a "biblical choice when it comes to investing," has issued a press release slamming Take Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), publisher of Grand Theft Auto IV.From the release:
Take-Two Interactive... has done it again, releasing another video game that contains extreme sexual and violent content... Beyond the intense violence, blood and mayhem, during the game the character can have sex with prostitutes, visit adult clubs, request a private lap dance and drive drunk.
The Timothy Plan, a morally responsible family of mutual funds, refuses to invest in companies like Take-Two Interactive because of their involvement in the anti-family entertainment and pornography industry.
Timothy Plan president Arthur Ally (left) is quoted in the press release:
This $30 billion a year [video game] business is exploiting sex and violence more than ever in their products. We hope more parents will not continue to fall into a category that four out of ten often do by relying simply on the ESRB rating and leave their children alone while they are playing video games.
While the ESRB system is a step in the right direction, the ratings are confusing and incomplete at best.
Ally also criticized another Rockstar game, Bully: Scholarship Education, because protagonist Jimmy Hopkins can kiss other boys in the game.
Take Two is among several dozen publicly-traded companies listed on the Timothy Plan's Hall of Shame. Others include Starbucks, PlanetOut, Wal-Mart, Microsoft and would-be Take Two acquirer, Electronic Arts.
While it's not clear exactly how these firms have transgressed in the Arthur Ally's view, the Timothy Plan is anti-gay, pro-life and opposed to investing in companies which deal in alcohol, tobacco, gambling or pornography.
Comments
You are taking that too literally, read the whole book and you will understand. Please do not attack someone's religion just to make yourself look cool. You look ignorant in reality.
However, I think The Timothy Plan is ridiculous, they are hypocrites, but not for the reasons handofcrom cited.
If you think that treating anyone as a second class citizen is immoral, then they are for attacking gays.
If you don't invest in a health clinic because they might give someone an abortion, then you are looking at a large number of hospitals that try to help the sick but are grosly underfunded.
They are an investment firm! They are there to make money and further the gap between the rich and the poor.
They are immoral.
Now if you will excuse me, my TT stocks need looking after.
I'm glad this guy isn't running my portfolio...
He's got more than 5, blue-chip stocks on his list. EPIC FAIL.
@ Chuck
Where did you see that info on their index? Please link.
I had my financial guy look them up and their performance is ok, but they're considered a high risk when compared to other mutual funds.
Arthur Ally mentioned that the ESRB ratings are incomplete yet he never says a word on how "Unrated" dvds are truly unrated which is also true for a lot of movies that are shown on movie service companies on cable and satellite like HBO/Cinemax, Starz, and Showtime (a lot of the adult programming on Skinemax has a rating of NR or Not Rated) and books have no rating system at all.
lol yeah... i mean how many games have nudity in now...
um i can think of.. err.. oh yeah about one...
Just look at how many games on nintendo in the history of the company displayed sex and violence.
Now, the term "violence" is subjective. Honestly, how many people here think that the Mario series is a violent game and how many think that it is not a violent game.
I have met many religious individuals that have been, in my opinion, brainwashed into believing that all video games are violent. Same thing with loud music with no lyrics what so ever.
Well technically no game can be violent. As I have said before, psychology defines violence as the intentional harm of another human being. Therefore, videogames cannot be violent the same way it's not violence when a three year old wrestles a teddy bear. There is no intent to harm(because it's a game) and there is no living thing to harm at all(because it's all pixels). All that aside, it seems downright juvenille to deem Mario "violent". TURTLE STOMPER!
In the real world, you face choices. How can you create a virtual world in which choices are taken from your control. Can you kill someone in the game? Yes, just like in real life. Will you be rewarded in the short term? Again, yes, just like in real life (usually with the contents of said persons pockets).
However, they leave out two things?
Do you HAVE to?
Should you?
These people complain about the ABILITY to kill prostitues in the game. Guess what, real life has that as well. What, you didn't know you could kill people in real life? You can. You just SHOULDN'T.
This just in, the Moral Majority has just threatened to sue God for releasing an unedited version of Life. There has been reports of gratuitous violence and inappropriate sexuality possible in Life. What's worse is that young children are also exposed to Life. A represented, when asked for a comment, had this to say; "Upon review of Life, it's obvious that it shouldn't have been released in it's preasent condition. I have word tha there is full nudity, extreme violence, foul language, and drug and alcohol use. None of this was explained upon our entrence into Life, and there aren't any options to turn these things off. And since Life is available to everyone, without regard for age, it's obvious that it should be taken off the market and recalled. If this does not happen in a timely matter, we will be forced to take legal action."
The Pope is quoted as saying "You know, maybe he has a point..."
I hate when organizations like this hide behind the word "family", it's usually because they hate anything and anyone who doesn't align with their narrow beliefs (and of course, case and point, they're usually vehemently anti-gay.)
"Beyond the intense violence, blood and mayhem, during the game the character can have sex with prostitutes, visit adult clubs, request a private lap dance and drive drunk."
The act like everything except for the drunk driving bit is new...
"... because of their involvement in the anti-family entertainment and pornography industry."
Yeah, if you say that load of lies enough it might become true...
"blah blah blah, the ratings are flawed because I don't agree with them, and blame them instead of the lazy parents..."
Noting more to say about that, except that Dennis pretty much explains it all in his closing.
I do find this hilarious though, if it wasn't for this game no one would be giving their mutual fund any attention(assuming they are actually getting potential investors' attention for this). That kind of action sure doesn't sound very "morally responsible" to me...
You didn't notice anyone reacting to Mass Effect?!
Not even the sensationalist,fraudulent lie story Fox News did on it in February(of which I saw on Youtube,thanks to GI bringing it up on a link)?!
A.
Plonker.
This is just so gottverdammt dumb, I can't say anything else about it.
But I find it incredible that just across the atlantic, a man can slam a video game because it contains possible homosexuality - and probably have quite a few people agree with him.
Umm... What? So he doesn't want parents to rely on something meant to inform them of the content in the game? He doesn't want them to rely on something that helps in making an informed purchasing decision? What?
The ESRB is NOT confusing. At the very least it takes a cursory glance to know what age range that game is for. At the very most it takes a little investigation into what the f-ing letter actually means so that you'll know what the hell it means for future reference! ARGH! What a douche.
> anyone know where I can buy Take-Two stock?
Um, e*trade? Their ticker is TTWO. You missed the bargain though, but it might still be a good buy considering the potential acquisition (which usually sends stock in the smaller company up) and the release of a hot product.
Still not sure I'd call 'em a long-term proposition tho.
Second, I went and looked at a couple of their Large and Mid-Cap funds. They are a heavy investor in Exxon Mobil. Bit of hypocrisy there?
Even with that it is odd that the Central European Distribution Corporation is on there since it doesn't even have an entry on Wikipedia and from what I can gather only sells alcohol and tobacco in Poland.
Does that mean that they despise the entire entertainment industry except for the Bible and want no violence or sugesstive material in the industry?
Perhaps, I'm reading too into this, but then again, it's not too implausible...
LOL, that was hirlarious, yet so true. :D
“biblical choice when it comes to investing,”
Funniest thing I've heard all day!!
I am not saying that Mario is violent. I am using that as an example.
The word "violence", despite what the definition may be, is all in the eyes of the beholder.
I am sure a lot of people at PETA don't like a heavy set Italian plumber stomping on turtles be it in a video game or in real life. I am sure many of them would say that is violent.
I know you always report on anything and everything that involves Video games, but is it really worth mentioning that a religiously guided mutual fund group that won't invest in Take2?
that's like asking; "if you get kicked in the nuts, does it hurt?"
Did the bible even include a "how to" guide for Biblical investing? If it did I sure a LOT of people would be rich because of the lines that say "Invest in IBM on this date and Mircosoft of this day"
Silly, gay people don't have families! Liberals don't have families! Only born-again Christians have families. This is why anything that offends them is in fact anti-family.
Personally, I wouldn't let Timmy here use a dime of my money to invest.
Anyway, I don't really see the big deal.
Just because one overprotective mutual fund group thinks GTA is the devil's spawn dosen't mean that they're important.
Seriously, had anyone on GP heard of these guys before today?
What a douchebag.
Your forgetting Aquaman got his hand cut off when put in the WORST GAME EVER.
Wouldn't supprise me if they also would be against finding a cure for AIDS because it's a good scare weapon for those who want to *shock, horror* get laid every now and then.
Yeah. Not even Peter David can make him cool.
Morally Responsible? More like morally vile to me. I'm not a fan of GTA IV or M-rated games; but this mutual plan smacks me as absolutely absurd, vile, barbaric and stupid. Makes GTA IV look like a saint in comparison which I personally think is a scary thought in itself.
Screw you Timothy Plan; and your little vile god too.
Heres to you Arthur Ally, what a douche bag.
All through out history, all the major leaders have claimed "God's Call" or the "Will of the Gods" to justify their crimes and conquests. What better way to get people behind you? If they don't trust you, they'll certainly trust "their god."
Then don't. It's not like they actually need you to do so.
You have as much freedom to not invest as much as they have to make their games.