MMO’s press release sensationalizes in-game drug use

Game Politics notes a rather incendiary article on Yahoo! News that isn’t actually an article, but a press release for a game. In it, the “news article” attempts to bring some buzz to a new addition in this otherwise tepid virtual world: drugs.

The press release, titled “First Violence, Then Sex, and Now Drugs in Video Games,” talks about the “growing trend” of drugs in games, highlighting a game called Red Light Center, a decidedly adult MMO from Utherverse, Inc.

As you’ll see in this snippet of their press release below, there’s a marked difference between the inadvertent infamy of Rockstar Games and the obvious attempt to shine the lights at someone trying to make themselves look like Rockstar Games:

Today, in a move sure to draw fire from the anti-drug establishment, RedLightCenter.com, the world’s second most populated virtual social world, announced the introduction of a new feature that allows members and guests to visit an Amsterdam-style smoking room, toke from a hookah, and get a “virtual high.” The experience is free and is limited to persons 18 and older.

Adding to this deception is a seemingly deliberate misquote of National Institute on Media and the Family’s David Walsh, who says, “Games are interactive and psychologically powerful. Now we have a game that glorifies drug use. Where do we draw the line?” The quote, however, says those comments in relation to the PS2 game NARC, and not Red Light Center.

One note: while attempting to find serviceable screenshots for the game, the site bombarded us with pop-under ads, as well as the occasional nude woman. The above screenshot was the only one we’ve found so far on their website, and somehow, we find it rather apt.

Game Politics notes a rather incendiary article on Yahoo! News that isn’t actually an article, but a press release for a game. In it, the “news article” attempts to bring some buzz to a new addition in this otherwise tepid virtual world: drugs.

The press release, titled “First Violence, Then Sex, and Now Drugs in Video Games,” talks about the “growing trend” of drugs in games, highlighting a game called Red Light Center, a decidedly adult MMO from Utherverse, Inc.

As you’ll see in this snippet of their press release below, there’s a marked difference between the inadvertent infamy of Rockstar Games and the obvious attempt to shine the lights at someone trying to make themselves look like Rockstar Games:

Today, in a move sure to draw fire from the anti-drug establishment, RedLightCenter.com, the world’s second most populated virtual social world, announced the introduction of a new feature that allows members and guests to visit an Amsterdam-style smoking room, toke from a hookah, and get a “virtual high.” The experience is free and is limited to persons 18 and older.

Adding to this deception is a seemingly deliberate misquote of National Institute on Media and the Family’s David Walsh, who says, “Games are interactive and psychologically powerful. Now we have a game that glorifies drug use. Where do we draw the line?” The quote, however, says those comments in relation to the PS2 game NARC, and not Red Light Center.

One note: while attempting to find serviceable screenshots for the game, the site bombarded us with pop-under ads, as well as the occasional nude woman. The above screenshot was the only one we’ve found so far on their website, and somehow, we find it rather apt.