Teenage girl sues industry giants over topless photos News
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by
Tom Bramwell
A Texan judge has granted a temporary order prohibiting sales of a trivia game in the USA that rewards players with video and photos of topless women, after a teenage girl claimed that she was photographed and included without her consent when she was just 17 years old.
Take-Two subsidiary Gathering, which publishes "The Guy Game", developer Top Heavy Studios, and platform holders Sony and Microsoft, for whose PS2 and Xbox consoles the game is available, are all reportedly named in the suit, which claims the plaintiff, identified only as "Jane Doe", has suffered humiliation, embarrassment and shame since the game came out last year.
Although in these cases one would expect the question of consent to be pivotal, as the girl involved was just 17 at the time - and therefore legally a minor - the issue of consent is rendered entirely moot, and her age also raises questions about the legality of the material overall.
The game itself, considered by most critics to be a poor game show derivative swaddled in low-grade soft-core pornography, involves answering questions to try and unlock photos and footage of young ladies cavorting during the Americans' annual "spring break" celebrations, during which - as far as our exposure to such events through MTV, The Simpsons and other television imports have informed us - young people get very drunk and dance around on beaches.
The offending footage of the young woman was apparently filmed during the spring break celebrations on Texas' South Padre Island, and the suit also claims that her image can be found on the game's official website, where the girls' first names are also reportedly listed.
"Plaintiff is still a teenager and wishes to attend college, develop her career and be active in her community and church," the lawsuit said.
None of the defendants in the case had commented on the matter by Wednesday, but as The Guy Game has yet to be released outside of the USA it seems unlikely that any statements will be issued through European branches.
The Guy Game has, however, just been released in the US on the PC, prompting a minor PR nightmare for the firms involved. Indeed, a search for "The Guy Game" brings up the press release headlined, "Stuff Your Stocking with the Girls of Spring Break as TOPHEAVY Studios Ships 'The Guy Game' for the Personal Computer," just inches away from stories discussing Jane Doe's fight to get it banned for including unauthorised topless images of her whilst she was a minor.
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The Guy Game
I think hottie number 3 in screenshot section looks somewhat jailbait
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/12/04 @ 11:45
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Madder Max
22/12/04 @ 11:48
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How did she come to be photographed topless anyway? Surely the photographer is the one that should be sued for photographing a minor and then distributing?
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Can't they render stuff like everybody else?!
What has this world come to?! And: "developer Top Heavy Studios" LOL |
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deathgibbon
22/12/04 @ 12:12
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Oh, it's Christmas! We need a good, funny story like this to keep morale high!
And how did she come across this piece of video anyway? Did one of her friends have it? Did, er, she have it? And what's the legal drinking age in America? |
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She should be sued...damm no, she should be paid AGAIN... m(and probably is...)
great publicity.... "little church girls T1Ts plonked into game..." here quote at the time was probably, "for a computer game huh, just geeks and stuff" yeah ok *removes top* "hey you have any crack".. (please note this could be a work of fiction.... and for the record, it is impossible to defame her character further.........) |
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Should'nt it be called the "dumb young american male" game anyway???
I needed a laugh... and got it! Thanks Eurogamer!! LOL It sounds so like the overweight guy with a heart condition who sued McDonalds for turning him into a fat overweight turd. Now in McDo "restaurants": WARNING, EATING OUR FOOD CAN CAUSE YOU TO BECOME FAT AND STUPID. Aaaaahhh gotta love the US ;)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/12/04 @ 14:34
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"Jesus, you lot don't have much sympathy for a drunken mistake a teenage girl might have made, have you?"
Loads of sympathy, I actually think that whole spring break thing is very morally questionable and does seem to be an excuse for some very dodgy behaviour. However a lawyer making statements that make a point of how moral she is and how it's all just a big misunderstanding do tend to get my goat a bit. |
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Madder Max
22/12/04 @ 15:00
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"Jesus, you lot don't have much sympathy for a drunken mistake a teenage girl might have made, have you? "
Not when she appears to be cashing in on it..... |
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I know it's not the most likely story, but imagine for a moment her story is true - she was, 17 years old, at the Spring Break, flashed her boobs, and now she finds herself in a videogame, without ever having given her consent. And the article doesn't mention she wants to cash in, it just mentions that the game doesn't get distributed. Sounds fair to me.
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Rumpy Stumpy
22/12/04 @ 15:24
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It's a PR stunt. How do we get exposure (excuse the pun) of our poor game.
I know say some minor is suing us for showing her tits. This will come to nothing and just increase their sales. Maybe 5 people will buy it now. I know I will ;-) |
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but imagine for a moment her story is true - she was, 17 years old, at the Spring Break, flashed her boobs, and now she finds herself in a videogame, without ever having given her consent
The IGN news story covering this same incident implies that there was a consent form which needed to be filled in and signed for people who were to appear in the game. If that is indeed the case I'm not convinced how this could have ever even gotten to court, unless there wasn't a 'I confirm that I am old enough to get naked in front of a camera' check-box. That said, if it was indeed just 'candid footage' taken without her consent... surely it's illegal to put that kind of stuff in a mass-produced media product anyway regardless of age? I mean, if I went down to Brighton beach next summer and filmed a load of ladies with their tops off and then decided to make a DVD and sell it I'd have the law on me in seconds, surely? /plans business 'opportunity' Edit: stupid bloody tags
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/12/04 @ 15:33
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Rumpy Stumpy
22/12/04 @ 15:33
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"but imagine for a moment her story is true - she was, 17 years old, at the Spring Break, flashed her boobs, and now she finds herself in a videogame, without ever having given her consent"
I'd blame the parents and want to know if she had any younger Sisters! :-) |
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"I mean, if I went down to Brighton beach next summer and filmed a load of ladies with their tops off and then decided to make a DVD and sell it I'd have the law on me in seconds, surely?"
Actually I'm not sure that's true for this country, you can't film kids etc but normal people is fine to my knowledge. |
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"But to film them and then commercially sell a DVD of them? Without permission? Surely that would be illegal?"
I'm really not that sure but I understand that the laws are a lot more relaxed in this country and you don't have to get permission of everyone you film and broadcast on TV, so I assume the same applies to DVD. So, maybe. /consults solicitor |
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inpHilltr8r
22/12/04 @ 21:40
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she shouldnt have been drinking or going on a spring break sex holiday either.
Jealousy can be so ugly. :) |
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Are you serious MetalDog?
1) She goes on springbreak and flashes her tits 2) She signs consent form(no doubt to get a nice cash sum for being in the game) and doesnt disclose she's a minor. 3) Sues everyone and anyone to attempt to get even more cash, while blatantly lying about wishing to "be active in her community and church" |
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deathgibbon
23/12/04 @ 09:30
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Ah ha! So the drinking age is 21. And since she was at Spring Break, she inevitably bladdered 24/7. So she should be charged with underage drinking.
/thinks he could become a lawyer |
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Or maybe, just maybe, the company should have had the responsibility to check ID cards. FFS, 17 year old teenagers are allowed to get drunk, and are allowed to make mistakes. The "holier than you" (or than her, in this case) attitude here really gets on my tits. Um, no pun intended.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 23/12/04 @ 11:07
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Holier than thou, my ass. Everyone makes mistakes when they're young. It's only American sue-culture which has people believeing they can correct them (and trying to get a profit out of it).
WTF? If anyone's trying to make profit here, it's obviously the games company. What has your panties in a knot anyway, did someone publish nude pictures of you, or something? No. I just have some common sense. @Mr Sleep: I better not post that link then. I was young, and needed the money. :P
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most recently on 23/12/04 @ 11:26
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FFS, 17 year old teenagers are allowed to get drunk, and are allowed to make mistakes.
Actually they're not. Not in the US, anyway - you have to be 21 to legally drink alcohol. But making mistakes - yeah, that's allowed. God knows I made a few. Although I don't ever remember posing 'tackle-out' for a game. :-) |
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"Actually they're not. Not in the US, anyway - you have to be 21 to legally drink alcohol."
Since when did legality have anything to do with it? ;) I was drinking about four years before legal. "Why did she sign the consent form?" We do not know whether there was coersion involved, she might not have willingly signed it. |
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