Gamers Strike Back Against Cooper Lawrence On Amazon
By William on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 7:41 AM PST In Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games Industry, Mass Effect, Microsoft, Microsoft
*UPDATE* Unfortunately, Amazon is now deleting any one-star negative reviews of the book.
After hearing the offensive and biased attack against Mass Effect on Fox News, I decided to check out some links on Cooper Lawrence, the psychologist who took part in the biased strike on the game. I came across her book on Amazon.com titled ‘The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace with Your Inner Overachiever’. It was interesting to see that the page was full of one-star reviews of her book mostly coming from gamers. Shawn covered the topic HERE yesterday. This is definitely one of the reasons I love the internet. She may think that it’s ok to bash a product she has never used and gamers are now bashing a book they have never read to drop her book rating on Amazon. Currently, there over 40 negative reviews posted. Check out the Amazon link HERE if you’d like to throw your two cents in or to just read some of the funny comments against her. Personally, I would never purchase advice from a psychologist who doesn’t do research on the topics she talks about. If Fox News and other media outlets want a war against gaming, they’ve picked an industry full of hard-core fans who aren’t going to sit back and take it anymore.
Some of the witty comments included:
I am giving Ms. Lawrence a poor review because she makes assumptions that are not based on fact. During her Fox news report, she blatantly lied and completely misinformed the public. This is not acceptable behavior, and how does she expect me to read her book and believe what she has to say? She completely threw her credibility out the window. Mass Effect is a PG-13 game (and even that is pushing it, I’d consider it “PG”) that is “M” rated because the ESRB is harsher than the MPAA. I think she should denounce Rap music rather than things she knows nothing about. And her comment about knowing what young boys think is absolutely laughable at best.
I respect you, Ms. Lawrence, I really do, but please, do some research before you try to convince the public not to support something.
I caught her doing a segment on Fox News. She spent 3 minutes attacking a product she hadn’t used, and actually made assumptions about the quality and use of the product. I suppose when you are so busy trying to overachieve and look perfect, you don’t have time for fact checking. Shame.
Excuse me “Darling”, I guess I don’t have to read your book to bash it the same way you don’t have to play or even research a game you are talking about before you go on Fox News and spout your ignorance as fact. You are a moron and an attention [expletive deleted].
“If Fox News and other media outlets want a war against gaming, they’ve picked an industry full of hard-core fans who aren’t going to sit back and take it anymore.”
F-yeah.
@william,
“I really don’t see how most of these comments are slandering her.”
I was talking about the comments on Amazon and making the leap that because she speaks on a topic she knows little about on Fox (she was invited!) to the idea that she therefore doesn’t research a topic for which she has written a book, is a bit nonsense.
” She claims to be a professional psychologist, yet she proved on Fox that she does not actually research things she talks about.”
Again, she was invited to speak, I don’t know if this is something she personally advocates on her own time. Do you?
” I think people are making some valid points here.”
Some valid points, sure, but just as many equally invalid ones.
I don’t want to defend her. Clearly she was in the wrong on the fox piece, but part of the blame is on Fox for inviting someone with little first hand experience. Even the host admitting having no first hand experience with the game.
And to all the people who take this womans ignorance personally, get a life. Please. Ignorance is thick in the masses, particularly in the culture this woman represents, its not a slight against gamers personally and to make the revenge tactic an attack on her personally doesn’t make a lot of sense. It just smacks of an angry internet mob, which honestly does no one any good. I mean, look amazon is deleting the reviews. They are not taking this response seriously. No one would. This revenge tactic will go completely unnoticed outside of the echo chamber of gaming blogs.
All of you self satisfied comment makers patting each other on the back are achieving nothing of real value. You’re not proving some higher cause.
Send emails to fox. Let them know that you won’t watch their programming if they don’t do a better job of vetting the guest speakers. Send emails to major gaming and entertainment websites alerting them of the situations. Vote with your dollars. Don’t supports the author or the station. There is plenty to do that can help.
It’s Ok to be ignorant, nobody knows everything, but when you go to the TV and spread your ignorance your are affecting a huge amount of people who are waiting for you to speak so they can make their mind.
She deserve this.
@Rod,
They had Keighley on. Her ignorance was not unopposed. She admitted she hadn’t played the game. If people are THAT influenced by one talking head who admits they haven’t played the game, its not her fault. There are ignorant talking heads on the news all the time. This is not unique. Again, the point is that an angry internet mob attacking one of here completely unrelated books smacks of immaturity and doesn’t achieve the true objectives gamers like us are working towards.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely disagree with her. But guess what, I disagree with ignorant fools on THIS VERY WEBSITE! Do I go teepee their house because of it? No. But thats basically what trashing her book on Amazon equates to. Its a case of, “I don’t like what you have to say so I’m going to piss in your coffee”.
@used .. I don’t know. If she’s going to appear on Fox News and rant about a subject she obviously didn’t research, it at least makes you wonder if she actually does her homework when it comes to her books and other projects. Although this situation is a bit of revenge by gamers, there certainly are valid points that should be brought up when it comes to her book.
Her credibility is certainly shot. I simply do not understand how anyone involved in a field of science could show up on national television to debate a topic they know nothing about and think that people should take the rest of their work seriously. That would be like an expert heart surgeon who has never seen a heart. The fact that she never even bothered sampling the game before giving her “professional” opinions on it completely destroys any shred of credibility she thought she had.
I also don’t think she’s ignorant. There are obvious special interests behind interviews like this. She knows what she’s doing. She thought she could latch on to the hot topic of the moment.
@william,
“it at least makes you wonder if she actually does her homework when it comes to her books and other projects.”
Again, I’m not out to defend this ignorant woman. But you may not know how things like this work. A producer at Fox brings the story to the editor and the editor has to find commentators. They probably have this lady on a list of people who speak on certain topics. They probably choose her, not for her insight, but because they know she’ll show up on time and look presentable, and perhaps because she’s outspoken enough to make the segment entertaining. (Darling!) I doubt she even knew about this interview more than 48 hours in advance. I would be curious how long before it, Keighley knew about it.
LOL, people are still going at it..I think Amazon has deleted at least 50-70 posts and it’s back over 50 again in the 1 Star Category.
People shouldn’t support someone that lies to make a quick sale. She shouldn’t have jumped at that chance to try and advertise her book. Lying on national television about a form of entertainment that millions love is going to backfire on you.
1.0 out of 5 stars Mass Effect FTW, 23 Jan 2008
By – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Reading this book is worse than being one of the victims in the movie Saw.
After watching the interview I was baffled. I have actually played the game in question. It, by MPAA standards, is PG-13 product. In no way is it any more demeaning or harmful to children than the shows that FOX regularly broadcasts. If I were to let my son play Mass effect or watch Fox broadcasting, Id choose the former.
The biggest problem I had with her argument is when she claimed that young boys would choose sex instead of none in relation to the games mechanics. Unfortunately she probably doesnt know how advanced games have come. You simply dont choose the “have sex now” option because there isn’t one.
The games mechanic lets you (it doesnt force you) build a relationship with your shipmates. How does this work? Well, you talk to characters and you have different choices brought before you as to how you should respond. After hours and hours of play certain characters can warm up to you (based upon what you’ve said to them) or hate you.
In fact when playing the game, I had no relationship (sex) because one of the characters disliked me based upon my ideals that she questioned and/or I didn’t agree with her own ethics. It plays much like real life. You don’t go to a woman you know at your job/gym/whatever and “select” the “sex option”…..you build a relationship and if that person likes you enough and feels comfortable with you, then that situation MAY arise.
Also you can play as a female or male, which according to the interview, Ms. Lawrence previously didn’t know. It is something non-gamers should note that this is a game that spans 30+ hours depending on what you decide to do. So this 3 min scene out of 30+ hour game is causing so much commotion. I dont understand why people in the media try to crucify video games when it’s MUCH easier to get a hold of rated “R” movies than it is to play rated “M” video games. The first time I saw dismemberment and sex was NOT in a video game, it was in a movie I saw as a child over a friends house.
Video games are comparable to movies. They have ratings for a reason. And I’ll wager most of todays youth, and adults first saw nudity and/or extreme violence in a movie NOT a game.
Unfortunately I have not bought anything from Amazon so I couldnt post this there…..but I would if I could.
If anybody feels up to it, you can always contact her directly.
http://www.cooperlawrence.com/contact.html
The choosing to have sex or not was kind of an odd point in their rants against the game. I don’t think they realize how the sex scene isn’t even a major point in the game. If they took the time to play through the game themselves, they might actually like it.
I also thought it was odd when the one lady mentioned that it’s not kid’s fathers playing the game. I’m a father and I play Mass Effect and I don’t let my kids play it. They can’t sneak behind my back either, because I have the system passworded. I think the real problem in America right now is that there’s a big group of people that want the government to regulate our daily lives.
I believe in personal accountability and also believe we have rights to raise our kids as we see fit as long as it isn’t harming the child. The government shouldn’t tell me or any other parent what to do with our video games. That’s our choice. If a parent is not responsible with the gaming decisions, then odds are they aren’t responsible in any areas of raising their kids.
So yeah I think the government is already far enough up our *****! The last thing we need is them regulating things even further than they already do. The ESRB rates games much higher than I would sometimes and that’s all we need. If stores are selling “M’ games to kids, they should be prosecuted, but that’s the extent of it. These ideas about getting rid of certain types of games because of the children is a bunch of crap. A majority of gamers are over 18 anyway. I really wish the ultra-conservatives would worry about real issues like mopping up the mess they created in Iraq. Even if Mass Effect had graphic sex in it (which it doesn’t), who would be getting hurt?
@used cisco: I know how the process works. I have numerous friends in the media business. Regardless of when or how she was contacted, she lied on television. She made up an opinion to look good and now it’s starting to backfire on her. As a professional, she can always pass on a topic if she feels she doesn’t know enough about it.
At this point, the only way she can save face in my opinion is to issue an apology or to retract her statements made on Fox. If that doesn’t happen, her credibility as a professional is nil.
Interesting note: the book’s profile now has it tagged as “ignorant,” “garbage,” and “junk” among other things. plus the rating is down to 1 1/2 stars and there’s an image of the Mass Effect box right next to the book cover.
Good work! If nothing else this might let that bitch know there are lots of us who can fuck with her!
Cooper isn’t a girl’s name
I don’t recommend reading a book named by a woman named Cooper. This fad of naming women with last names has to stop! Morgan, Montana, Cooper… these are not feminine names. What’s next, Johnson? Hey Johnson, hand me that moisturizer!
————————————————————
The above is one of the reviews on Amazon…makes me LOL
Heh, don’t worry about Amazon deleting the 1-star reviews. It appears a bunch of people just made new ones.
Keep posting even if Amazon deletes them. Lets waste Amazons time as well as this “experts”.
HACK THE PLANET …. sorry had to do it
That’s the scary part about reviews. Upset the wrong crowd and a enjoy the repercussions. I guess Cooper isn’t very versed with the internets.
oh and if Amazon is being a bunch of assholes
http://www.cooperlawrence.com/
used cisco- “Don’t get me wrong, I completely disagree with her. But guess what, I disagree with ignorant fools on THIS VERY WEBSITE! Do I go teepee their house because of it? No. But thats basically what trashing her book on Amazon equates to. Its a case of, “I don’t like what you have to say so I’m going to piss in your coffee”.
———————————————————————-
See cisco, this is where you are absolutely wrong on a number of levels. An expert going on television to speak in public is nothing like posters on an internet message board. And us going onto Amazon is nothing like pissing in someone’s cofee or TPing their house. Its not a simple act of vandalism.
Cooper went on TV with the purpose of promoting her book and slandered a product that she had no idea about in the process.
The people retaliating on Amazon are trying to counter some of the good press she hoped to gain by having her book mentioned on TV.
Its a perfectly legitimate, and mature enough, avenue to take a gripe against a product or personality.
There is nothing wrong with Jewish leaders promoting a boycott of Mel Gibson movies, for his anti-semetic beliefs. There is nothing wrong with African Americans campaining against David Duke, because he was a Klan member.
The issues these groups have with these people have nothing to do with their acting/direction abilities, or political abilities. But it doesn’t make their activities any less valid.
Ok…no one star ok amazon….EVERYONE VOTE 2 STARS!
This is the new internet democracy – no one is above reproach. Now that it’s on Digg Amazon is gonna have a hard time deleting all the negative reviews! I bet she’ll think twice before giving any more uninformed opinions in future…
Anybody else find it funny that in the interview, after Geoff Keighly was cut off, Cooper was like “Let me at him” as if she was winning the argument? Such an imbecile.
her email addy:
cooper@cooperlawrenceshow.com
I sent her the following.
I have no clue what Mass Effect is, I’m out of touch with videogames as I have rarely played any games the last 10 years. I understand games like Grand Theft Auto and countless others (possibly including Mass Effect) are violent and can be viewed as morally disgusting. Thats why games have ratings, thats why people have choices. I find some Fox programming to be questionable and at times disgusting (I find Fox News to be disgusting at all times). More offensive is your judgemental, unresearched opinion. It is more offensive than Osi Umenyiora’s idea of a good time (look it up). I applaud the gamers negatively reviewing your book. I hope it helps slow the sales of your book. You have no credibility.
You may be an overachiever, but I do not respect you. There is no good way to work the following sentence into an email but I feel like i want you to know one thing. You are a myserable cunt. (I did my research)
Sincerely,
Ryan Beckett
140 1 star reviews. Keep it going and lets see if we can get to 500
So, which university is she getting her PHD from? That would be a good place to pen a nice handwritten letter regarding Ms. Lawrence’s integrity and how it reflects on said University.
You must edit this article and mention the customer images for the book. They are hilarious. Especially the “I have no credibility” pic.
“You might have to use three or four pages, they’re a little on the rough side and take a couple of flushes, but it’ll do in pinch!”
I sent this letter to her email – cooper@cooperlawrenceshow.com
Dear Ms. Lawrence,
Please refrain, hard though it may be, from airing your personal prejudices as fact when you have no knowledge or experience with the subject involved. Your interview on Fox News on the game Mass Effect was utter nonsense. Judging from your past publications you are in no way qualified to give an opinion on a game in the first place and agreeing to do so just proved that you did it for pure publicity. From the reactions I have read online you have definitely got that, though not quite in the manner you desired. You’ve made your bed, now lie in it.
Mass Effect provides a deeper, more meaningful progression of the relationship than has been seen in most TV and movie releases this past year. To get to the sexual situation that was in question, one must first earn the trust and love of the other character, which is by no means guaranteed. By jumping to the conclusion that the game was all about sex and violence you crossed over from being an intelligent and opinionated contributor to a biased slanderer pushing a personal agenda. You took one look at the video Fox showed you of the sex, saw the main character in that video was a man and somehow came to the conclusion that this game was objectifying women. Please, if there is some amazing connection I have missed let me know about it so that I can revise my extremely low opinion of your analytical skills. Even after being told that this game allowed one to play as both male and female characters, you barreled on ahead as though that was of no consequence, when in fact it undermines your entire premise. This speaks extremely poorly of your ‘expert’ status in psychology.
So Ms. Lawrence, in future please do not blindly quote studies and state ‘facts’ of which you have no first-hand experience. You simply undermine your credibility and make yourself look foolish. On behalf of all the fans of Mass Effect and other games of similarly high quality I would request that you first play the game, then update your statistics (and maybe look into them a little more carefully than just reading the abstract) and finally provide an informed opinion on this matter.
Yours in anticipation,
Arjun
How about this for an idea — if Amazon is deleting 1 star reviews, how giving her FIVE star reviews that bash her, then rate those as Helpful. Then, eventually there will be enough Helpful votes that the Five Star BASHING reviews will be the only thing that people see???
BWHAHAHA
So she’s slamming the “sex” scene in Mass Effect, going on about how sex desensitizes “young adolescent boys”. Look at the picture on her book cover. You can’t tell me she’s not trying to use sex to sell it.
Cooper Lawrence is a frustrated middle aged house wife who’s husband is an avid gamer.
She hates video games and the fact her husband would rather play video games than spend time with her explains why she bashed a game she never researched or played.
your book suck like you !
Mass Efecct is a great game and only because one dammit fuck you says bad things
you need to be ashame!
WE GAMERS AND WE PROUD IF DOESNT LIKE IT ,ITS YOUR PROBLEM!!!
BB Suckaa
Oh jeez…. her rating for that book is just….. destroyed! xD
Anyway, I think we should move on from this book to absolutely destroy the ratings of her other books. She has a few out on amazon which you can find by clicking her name to search for her as the author.
She deserves it (though by now, I wouldn’t be surprised if this has caused such an uproar that she’d have to cancel all her contact info/credentials, because I could imagine this has probably upset some hackers as well)
@william,
“@used cisco: I know how the process works. I have numerous friends in the media business.”
Then surely you know that PROFESSIONALS speak regarding topics they have little knowledge about on the news on a daily basis. This is not new. Its just more personal because our experience makes their lack of knowledge obvious.
This segment was likely DESIGNED to create some turmoil. They may have chosen this woman to speak for this very reason. Our outrage is likely going to SELL MORE OF HER BOOKS.
If her book gains some level of notoriety for being attacked by thousands of gamers, it will likely sell more strongly to her target audience under the idea that “wow, if it got these kids so riled up, it MUST be worth reading”.
All I’m saying is, be careful how you respond to things like this because your objectives may not be achieved.
@mass effector,
I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but you have LOT of growing up to do.
“An expert going on television to speak in public is nothing like posters on an internet message board.”
This is irrelevant. I’m not talking about a message board. Say whatever you want on here, its meaningless. But trashing her book you haven’t read on Amazon is engaging in activity just as wrongheaded as her spouting about a game she knows little about.
“And us going onto Amazon is nothing like pissing in someone’s cofee or TPing their house. Its not a simple act of vandalism.”
Thats exactly what it is. Its a pot shot at something because you can’t think of an honest way to disagree with a person.
“The people retaliating on Amazon are trying to counter some of the good press she hoped to gain by having her book mentioned on TV.”
So now you’re the internet justice posse? Brilliant. I’ll bet that piece gave here just as much bad press (she sounded smug and clearly didn’t know much on the topic) as good.
“Its a perfectly legitimate, and mature enough, avenue to take a gripe against a product or personality.”
This statement is laughable. If you think spiteful revenge is mature, my comments are likely completely wasted on you.
“There is nothing wrong with Jewish leaders promoting a boycott of Mel Gibson movies, for his anti-semetic beliefs. There is nothing wrong with African Americans campaining against David Duke, because he was a Klan member.”
Oh My God. Did you just create a moral equivalence between yourself and the Jewish nation fighting for survival? I believe you did. Amazing. You must think highly of yourself if you think posting on amazon is IN ANY WAY similar to Jews boycotting the work of Mel Gibson.
That being said, I strongly support your right to boycott the work of this woman. That however is not what you’re doing.
“The issues these groups have with these people have nothing to do with their acting/direction abilities, or political abilities. But it doesn’t make their activities any less valid.”
Thats because they are not lying about the individuals in question, or making up information because they are angry. They are promoting a thoughtful boycott of a product, which, if you had read my previous posts, you would know I suggested doing the same thing.
Instead, you think that type of boycott is somehow similar to attacking this woman personally in the only way you know how, an amazon book review.
Wow. 534 reviews now
This new one from D. Bushnell in London just caught my eye;
“Holocaust Denying Absurdity
The author of this book might deny the holocaust, equally she might not. I have no idea. Just like she has no ideas about things she speaks about on television.”
I luv the fact the publisher’s “Buy it” link connects you to Amazon’s page.
Don’t forget all those 5 star reviews. Make sure you vote “no” on “Was this review helpful?”
… and Cooper Lawrence becomes the lowest rated author, *ever*, on Amazon.com.
Some of the five star reviews are helpful.
Used Cisco, I agree with many of your points.. the only way to really leave messages, saying your beliefs on the author, is with taste. signing on there and saying ‘omg she’s a bitch.’ isn’t going to do anything but get that review deleted.
You can warn, that perhaps the book will not be well, because she has been found to not conduct research, but you can’t say that it’s a piece of crap and so it she, because you don’t really know.
used cisco:
“”Its a perfectly legitimate, and mature enough, avenue to take a gripe against a product or personality.”
This statement is laughable. If you think spiteful revenge is mature, my comments are likely completely wasted on you.”
Agreed, but it sure can be funny.
@weclock,
Agreed.
Here’s a good example of what people are doing in the reviews with this internet vigilante “justice” nonsense. Its counterproductive and only goes to prove some of Ms. Lawrence’s assertions about gamers, which saddens me.
From a one star review on Amazon:
“I knew Cooper very well in college. She was a complete tramp who ended up giving me my first and only STD ever. I thought we were meeting to discuss an upcoming Political Science test, but instead she forced herself upon me. I was weak, and she definitely was stronger than me, by at least 60 pounds. I can’t imagine that even now she is writing about that fateful day so long ago.”
This review is not unique. If you are watching the reviews, most of these get deleted pretty quickly but there are MANY like this. Is this type of behavior what gamers stand for? I hope not.
Don’t forget to post 1 star reviews on Barnes & Noble.com as well!
I particularly care for the ones that states things such as ” I am extremely offended with the obscene and graphical sexual content of this book! And the fact that she is peddling this smut to children! she should be locked away!” etc etc
How lame amazon the destroyers of free speech deletad all of the comments on her books, although it still show 499 1 stars, the actual comments are gone bye bye, even the good ones.
used critic: “Is this type of behavior what gamers stand for? I hope not.”
Gamers are about as diverse in origins and beliefs as a group is likely to be. The only thing that *is* similar is that most of us are not yet “old”. Otherwise, we all stand for different things.
What we are all against is misrepresentation of our games. We are who we are. Get off your high horse. If you want to gripe about people’s stances, I’m sure you could find a better cause than gamers picking on some poor misinformed woman. It’s not like she had that many reviews before the 22nd, and all reviews posted after the 21st will likely just be deleted.
If this is how some people choose to speak out, let them. Don’t try to make them feel “bad” about it.
lol
That was supposed to be directed at used cisco, not used critic. A faux pas if I ever saw one.
Update: User reviews removed completely from amazon.com.