The Last Of Us Dev Promises to Remove Phone Sex Numbers

[rembrandtqeinstein]

I'm more amazed that phone sex numbers exist at all in the age of the internet.

I can't provide a citation but I remember reading somewhere that a large percentage of phone sex calls were actually used for talk therapy. Since many men feel it isn't "manly" to talk about problems with friends or go seek help they call the phone sex line just to talk to someone who will pretend to care. And if they are caught they have an instant "socially acceptable" excuse.

 

[Miyenne]

A pest control poster has numbers for phone sex lines?

That's actually kinda funny. Why remove it? If someone actually calls the number it's their problem, not the game developers.

 

[PirateRose]

I'd remove simply because I wouldn't want to get sued by whoever owns those sex line numbers for having it in the game without permission.

Besides that, sex is the most evil thing on the planet. Far more evil the murder and violence. Of course they would seek to remove it from the game. The game may get slapped with an AO for having it if they aren't careful.

 

[Formica Archonis]

I could have sworn that sex lines and telemarketers were usually under 900 ACs, and 800s were reserved for business...

It's a business. A business that takes a credit card number and then lets you talk creepy/dirty at a bored housewife who pretends to look like a Playboy centerfold.

The idea is 1-900s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll-free_telephone_number] are pay-per-minute right to your phone bill. But there's nothing stopping a 1-800 from asking for a credit card number and then dinging you per minute.

 

[RoBi3.0]

This is 'Murica! We are deathly afraid of sex. Violence is cool, through. We love violence a lot. 'Murica!

 

[zombiejoe]

I don't see the problem in removing it. I mean whether you like it or not, everything depicted in the game is fiction. If they don't want "real life" vulgarities or what not in the game, that's their choice.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Who. The Hell. Calls up numbers they find in video games?

GET A LIFE!

 

[Busard]

So I only imagine that someone who got the number from the game called the hotline and started doing Clicker noises.

 

[Woodsey]

(even though the interception showed that he hung up ten seconds after dialing)

OT: It's an 18, what's the point? People leave these numbers in telephone boxes on the street.

 

[Basement Cat]

This brings back memories.

[HEADING=3]Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny[/HEADING]


When this song came out the artists just tossed in the phone number at random. Naturally the number's owner ended up getting thousands upon thousands of calls from people who were curious if it was "Jenny's" phone number for real.

The phone company was kind enough to change the poor shmuck's number for free, if I recall correctly.

 

[Revolutionary]

Lol wut? Who calls numbers in a video game, I always suspected that phone numbers in games were all dummy numbers or parts of ARG's.

 

[Strazdas]

the real question is what was on the artists heads when they put this in. if they just "put random numbers in" then were they thinking of sex lines when doing that or something?
Also why woud you call pest control from a game? you want your cocroaches to be purged by a flamethrower or something?

The idea is 1-900s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll-free_telephone_number] are pay-per-minute right to your phone bill. But there's nothing stopping a 1-800 from asking for a credit card number and then dinging you per minute.

are there 1-700s? we could just use that in games and noone would be able to dial then. or something like that and it would be good enough.

 

[Kahani]

I'd remove simply because I wouldn't want to get sued by whoever owns those sex line numbers for having it in the game without permission.

This. The problem is that what they thought was a fake number turned out to be a real one that is currently in use. I doubt they care in the slightest who actually owns it.

 

[JamesBr]

Yeah, strikes me more as a legal issue than a moral one. Advertising another company's phone number, under the wrong name, without permission seems like it could get you in trouble. Or at least is annoying to enough to warrant to quick patch it'll take to fix.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

The "555" thing is a common misconception. Not only does it not work for 1-800 numbers, it actually only includes numbers that start with 555-01. Any other 555 number is apparently fair game. At least, it used to be. I wouldn't be surprised if the prevalence of the 555 trope has led phone companies to stop offering the others to new customers and anyone who needs to change their number.

This brings back memories.

[HEADING=3]Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny[/HEADING]


When this song came out the artists just tossed in the phone number at random. Naturally the number's owner ended up getting thousands upon thousands of calls from people who were curious if it was "Jenny's" phone number for real.

The phone company was kind enough to change the poor shmuck's number for free, if I recall correctly.

It wasn't just one person; it was one for just about every area code in the country. I wonder if the phone companies have just all blacklisted that number from being used by anyone at this point, like the 555s.