Spore + Porn = Sporn

Spore + Porn = Sporn

July 31, 2008

Will Wright's Spore, due for a September 7th release, is one of most anticipated PC titles ever.

But, as CNN reports, some users of the Creature Creator utility, released last month, have built animals which are apparently intent on breeding. Or, at least coupling.

...Buried among the more wholesome attempts [at Spore creature creation] were two-legged dancing testicles, a "giant breast monster" and a four-legged, "phallic fornication machine," for starters...

 

For EA, the developer of "Spore," it's the downside to tapping into the booming user-generated content arena, which has made sites like YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook and Second Life so popular... Many of the popular user-generated content sites have faced similar challenges in trying to control obscene material...

 

The creatures are not just static. Users can create animated scenarios for the characters to engage in, some of which include sexually graphic acts.

When EA got word of the "Sporn" creations, it began working with YouTube to pull them down. Spore executive producer Lucy Bradshaw told CNN:

Whether it's modeling clay, dolls or crayons, a small number of people can be counted on to use it for something vulgar.

CNN also spoke to the "Spornmaster," a 37-year-old man who has created a number of reproductively equipped Sporn creatures:

I admit it is silly and juvenile, but I don't think there's anything perverted, vile or awful about it. If people find it offensive, they can simply not search for it online. No one is forcing anyone to see this content.

One Spore fan told CNN:

I consider this very similar to child pornography, at least to the extent of distributing the material to children.

GP: Buzzfeed has additional NSFW links...

Comments

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

One spore fan(18 year old Michael James from Calgary, Alberta according to CNN) is obviously a stupid twat then.

 

I bet its the overzealous twits like him who have been flaging any creature they don't like as obscene.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Sounds a little alike with some Deviantart users who report you if they think you are drawing porn, even if you are tagging you posts with mature tag, and even when there are real pictures more explicit than any dumb draw on Deviantart.

The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

I think it's someone who a) probably doesn't understand what child porn is (distributing porn to children !+ child porn), and b) doesn't remember being anywhere from 5-12 (or 18 (or 45) for some).  Not saying that EA shouldn't try to get this stuff out, but calling it child porn is beyond the pale, and probably more than a little insulting to victims of child porn.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Thanks for sourcing the "one spore fan" kid.

And agreed.  idiot kid is idiot.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

The Giant cock monster had me falling of the chair.

How could someone compare this to child porn? Why so scared of a fake penis? It's not real, you don't have to watch it, make it or even buy it when it comes out. Regardless, I can see why EA's scared. It might hurt sales. Can't have that happen, now can we, EA? Might upset your balance in trying to conquer the world.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Why so serious?

Teehee, your post said "Why so.." and I just thought of that. On another note...anyone wanna see a magic trick?

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Yeah... it might hurt sales. EA is a company, there job is to make sure profits are high. They may also be trying to avoid people demanding that the game be rerated for the children.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

The game won't sell, anyway.  It will pirate like crazy, but it won't sell.  EA is using the same (inherently irredeemably flawed) distribution model they used for Mass Effect.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn
well I'll buy it, but I'll still download the cracks just to avoid all the DRM. they have gone way to far trying to lock it down.
Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

I think this is a big fat duh. I think the Spornmaster and the Spore executive producer got it right. If you give the masses any molding tools, someone will make silly things, and just because they make some slightly immature things, it isn't meant to offend, and if you are offended, don't look at it.

COMMON SENSE FTW

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Of course, the truly amusing (or disturbing for EA) part is if the game lives up to it's promise of populating it's universe with user generated creatures taken randomly from other people's games. But then I'm not keeping up too close with Spore, so they may have removed that feature already. =)

It is the first thing I thought of when they made thier big press release in magazines earlier this year... "Great, I'm going to be encountering giant penises or something from some loser's game that got spread across the universe." ;)

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Its optional

Import nothing

Import Friends

Import everything.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....

Awesome, now what is wrong with the retard comapring this to child porn?

It is pretty much like the ending credits of superbad... you know the notebook with some pictures...

I really don't see how it would hurt sales... if anything this will give them free publicity and MORE sales...

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Cue Jack Thompson lawsuit in 3....2.....1......

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Isn't he being disbarred?

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

He is not in his MIND...

The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

...two-legged dancing testicles...

I have to admit, this made me laugh in the stupidest, 2nd grade way.

I can understand EA being concerned, the media tends to focus on the negative in games (see: this story), and from what little the public understands about them, it wouldn't be a stretch for Spore to be mislabeled in their eyes.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

There are quite a few juvinile minded people out there. This goes along with a comic that PA made about the Tiger Woods golfer creator where you could upload your own photo. The first attempt by Gabe was to use a picture of his testicles. Then a picture of his cat.

Give enough people room to be "creative" and you will get people who can only "create" juvinile works like this.

E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
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Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

I don't see how this is juvinile ... doesnt everyone dream of a world inhabited by large testicle monsters and boobies .... oh wait now that I have typed that that does sound childish ... but I would have to say its probably just as childish to be offended by such a thing as it is to create it.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

The catch of it is like with the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion controversy. In that case, third party users created a skin for female characters that could have them totally naked. The game was re-evaluated, and given an M rating from a T rating. In this case, because there is user created content that graphically depicts human genitals and/or sexual acts the ESRB could be forced to label this M or AO.

Childishness is one thing, but consider the effects done the road before you dismiss it.

 

"The Good, the Bad, and Videogame"
Reviews on the best, worst, and controversial issues of Videogames.
gryphonosiris.blogspot.com/

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn
IIRC, the big deal about the Oblivion mod was that the mod just removed clothing from all the females. And underneath the clothing, the games devs made them anatomically correct instead of Barbie dolls.
Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn
I do not believe that is true. The models originally had no genitalia.
Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Yep, no genitals, no nipples, not even any hair below the neck. They did have a belly button, but other than that were unformed skintones to fill in gaps in armor in place of the brown unremovable underwear you'd see if the character actually was naked.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

In this case, because there is user created content that graphically depicts human genitals and/or sexual acts the ESRB could be forced to label this M or AO.

Hmm, last time I looked my penis didn't have legs.

If I were arguing the rating before the ESRB you can bet I'd be there with photos of anteaters, clams, barnacles...

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

There was a third party mod that unlocked a way to make all the female characters topless. The problem was that the topless texture was in the game to begin with. The ESRB re-reviewed the content and found, not was there the topless texture, but much more blood and gore than there was in the version they originally reviewed. This has NOTHING to do with user generated content and everything to do with what people decide to put in the games.

The lesson is, if you're going to remove content from a game, remove the whole thing and not just the way to activate it.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

When I first started talking to people about Spore and the creature creator, a stunning number of them said:

"Everybody's going to make breast monsters and penis monsters."

Which, as we all know, really translates into:

"I'm going to make breast monsters and penis monsters."

Because the only way people like this get through the day is by convincing themselves that everyone else is just like them.

Personally, I'm not going to waste my time trying to animate a penis. I cannot think of anything interesting that might come of that. But all these other people are out there animating penises, and even though it's not particularly interesting, it still makes me giggle.

You're allowed to think it's funny, you know. Just because it's juvenile and immature doesn't mean it can't be funny. Here's one of my favorite jokes of all time:

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: Because it was on fire.

It's all well and good to think that it's stupid and a waste of time to animate a penis, but it's already been done, and these people weren't exactly going to be curing cancer anyway. If the best they can offer the world is a penis monster and a fart joke, why complain about it? Maybe one of them is a genius, and has animated the best penis monster that will ever be made. Maybe it will be in a museum of penis monsters, and artists will study his method of making penis monsters in accredited scholarly institutions.

It could happen. The vast majority of artists learn how to draw a penis from Michelangelo's David. That's the most famous penis in the world today. Even Ron Jeremy's isn't that famous.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

The first thing I made on spore was a giant penis monster. But I DIDNT put it up to be shared. Likewise I bet most people did. Hell, I can just go look up some sporn and SHOW a great deal of people did, and in todays society alot of people CAN be called "everybody". When I say everybody I dont mean every single person in the world is gonna make sporn, but alot of people are. It is just a forgone conclusion, one that can be found simply by going to places like 4chan.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

If I had the creature creator, I admit I probably would've made something silly or juvenile, because those are easier to create than something original, because I know what they look like. I wouldn't make all of my creations walking testicles, but a few would definatly be jokes.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

As the man said, give any person building material and sooner or later you will end up with a willy. It's a fact of human nature.

Maybe posting them on YouTube was a bad idea in retrospect, but they weren't put there for the people who didn't find them funny.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

I think it's pretty obvious what happened here: Will Wright was clearly inspired by Super Metroid sub-boss Spore Spawn to make an organic screw-simulator.  Therefore, Samus Aran is guilty of corrupting our kids.  I mean, look at what she did to that poor, innocent baby Metroid, all acting like a surrogate mother and then forkin' it over to the scientists in a tube.  In a tube!

ps. has anyone told the media about Goatse yet?

---
The Mammon Industry

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

LOL At least it wasn't a series of tubes, or we'd all be in trouble ;)

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Oh, and just wanted to ask, was there a single person outside of EA who, from the announcement of the creature creator, was surprised when this started happening? Just curious.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

You know... you'd think that somebody would point out that you're supposed to be creating creatures that go on to evolve and develop.

How, pray tell, are they supposed to *do* that if they don't have....

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Just as well they haven't seen the fuck slug yet! Heads may asplode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqyxCwngvgk&watch_response

 

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

The guy who compared it to child porn is making a semantic error.  Child porn is pornography featuring children.  He means distributing porn to children... a whole different fish. 

 

Not that that isn't a stupid charge either, but lets not take seriously such ignorance.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

 I thought the same thing when I first read those comments. It can't be child porn because there are no children in it. It's not even regular porn, more like freaky alien porn. And as we all know, distributing freaky alien porn to minors is not a crime.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn
It isn't? Oh snap, I better get to work! *grabs drawing tablet*
Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

The guy is just linking videogames = kids.

And of course, sex is forbidden knowledge gor children.

The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

It is silly that I can have sex in Michigan at 16, but can't look at a PICTURE of a naked girl until I'm 18...or if any evidence of my sex is recorded, it's illegal

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

 These may be crude and vulgar to some people, but its a persons choice to make these. When the game comes out they will probably just give the option to flag "offensive" looking creatures anyway.

This is also why the ESRB can't rate what happens online. So don't bother trying to make this game AO.  

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Maybe the best soultion is to make it illegal for anyone under 18 to go online.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn
People have been talking about making penis monsters since Spore was announced. End of discussion.
Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Lol the penismonster had me laughing hard for about a min. And comparing this to child pornography, that's just missinformation on their part. Child pornagraphy is not when you show children porn or nudity. If we should compare spore to child pornagraphy then maybe it should be when they make a population of rape-beasts with children stuck at their genitalias at weird angles.

But i'd probly think that qualifies as pretty fun too.

And what are they going to do about it? Put a +18 tag on spore because some users can make sporn out of it, well then i think they should put a goddamn 18+ tag on papper and pens cause some users make hentai.

Maybe we should put freaking 18+ tags on our brains.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

People like Fox and CNN should not be allowed to talk about video games. They never get it right.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

I always knew that Spore's universe would be full of d***s

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

As someone who is endlessly amused by hentai, i find this spectacular.

One of my favorite hentai spoofs is this 'interview' with two hentai characters. The real life dynamic between the school girl and the tentacle monster is quite different than what you'd expect. Poor guy is totally brow beaten.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_15pwhMJjk

higher quality version:

http://blip.tv/file/390841?filename=SeattleUntimely-September21st2007The...

"I need to find myself a real squid"

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

"Endlessly amused"...  Does that translate to "fapping constantly"?

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

I had the same thought...

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Anyone surprised by Sporn has obviously not been on the internet very long.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

 

Apparently children have genitals. This could also be construed as child porn. The world will not be safe until the groin area of all children is as smooth as a Barbie/Ken doll.

 

 

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Does that mean we have to castrate children? A disturbing and painful thought.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

There is a huge grey area between "regular" creations and "obcene" creations.  Trying to censor them is wrong for all the same reasons censorship is wrong for all other forms of media.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Jeez!  Honestly, I'm speechless.  Just... Jeez!

I mean, just leave gamers alone!  If we want to build huge phalluses in Spore, what's the harm?  Honestly, I bet some folks keep their eyes shut tight while showering in case they notice that they have 'naughty bits'.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

I'll just point to an xkcd comic...

imgs.xkcd.com/comics/penises.png

 Enough said.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Porn on the internet?

This shocking piece of news is quite well flabbergasting to me. Such a phenomenon may require whole weeks of dedicated research to get to the very core of it and I in a self-less act to benefit science shall partake in this dangerous research.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

You, sir, are a hero to us all.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

First off any time you provide user creator tools then there will inevitably be some people who will, for various reasons, make sexual stuff. It's human nature.

Secondly I've seen a few of these "sporn" creatures and really they aren't that bad. Some of them are only sexual in the vaugest of senses. And it's not like they can do any sexual actions.

And lastly while it is immature, it's not anything new. We all have genitals of some kind. If your kid is playing spore then are probably already smart enough to be well aware of this.

Really it's not that big a deal.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

QUICK! SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THE HELL THIS STUFF IS LIKE CHILD PORN!

 

-Entertainment isn't the reason the world sucks. It's the reason we know the world sucks. For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007)Grand Theft Childhood, by Harvard researchers Larry Kutner&Cheryl Olson

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Why are people so offended by boobs and penises? I mean, half the population of the world has a penis and I'd wager that the entire population has seen one at some time in their life. As for boobs and nipples - the entire population of the world has breasts - what's the big deal?

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

The big deal is these idiots consider any body part that has a reproductive purpose is filthy and dirty. They consider our greatest expressions of love and lust to be obscene and these acts for any other reason than reproduction to be a crime.

Basically they are christians, and christians are ALWAYS looking for an excuse to bitch.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Basically they are religious, and many religious groups are ALWAYS looking for an excuse to bitch.

Fixed.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Well I guess we have no choice but to kill everyone who has nipples and/or genitals. For the children...damnit.

 

 

-Entertainment isn't the reason the world sucks. It's the reason we know the world sucks. For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007)Grand Theft Childhood, by Harvard researchers Larry Kutner&Cheryl Olson

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

How the fuck are testicles and jiggling breasts obscene?!

This is the reason why so many kids have such insecurities of themselves, I for one blame the media!

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

PEDOBEAR SPORE NO!

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Did anyone seriously expect that this wasn't going to happen? Seriously?

In other news, SomethingAwful ran a competition on Spore creatures a few weeks back, and a number of "sporn" monsters showed up.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Any forum with user generated content is bound to have a big penis in it, somewhere.

To whit:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/09/02/

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Oh man, I laughed at that, probably more then I should have.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

If they're upset with the creators of Spore, perhaps they should rethink their argument....

 

Providing a means whereby obscene user-generated content can be posted and seen by children.... sort of like THE INTERNET.

 

Stupid communists.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

This isn't as big of deal as they are making it out to be. People over react.  If parents are afraid of why content might be in the game, don't buy it.

Re: Spore + Porn = Sporn

Hmm, hey conservatives, if it offends you so much, don't look at it and fuck off

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
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