December 08, 1996|By New York Times News Service.
SAN FRANCISCO — A rogue computer programmer was dismissed late last month after secretly coding thousands of copies of a store-bound computer game to create animated images of men kissing each other, the game's manufacturer said.
The programmer, Jacques Servin, 33, was dismissed by the manufacturer, Maxis Inc., after it was found that he had encrypted SimCopter, a new helicopter simulation game, with a command to generate images of men in swimsuits kissing each other at certain points during the game.
More than 78,000 copies of SimCopter had been sent to stores before the code was discovered on the weekend of Nov. 23-24 by other programmers at Maxis.
The company said Servin had been dismissed for "insertion of unauthorized material" in the game and not because of the images' content.
"The insertion of unexpected `fun' scenes in computer programs is popular among code writers in the software industry," the company said in a statement. "However, Maxis has always prided itself on creating engaging software the whole family can enjoy."
In the game, players earn points by navigating a helicopter through various rescue missions. After players complete the 10th, and most difficult, mission, they are supposed to be greeted by an animated crowd of grateful citizens, fireworks and a brass band.
In the tampered version, "the brass band has been replaced," said a company spokesman.
The discovery of the images sent the programmers at Maxis scurrying to fix the software before customers noticed the alteration. The company has sold more than 5 million copies of its previous simulation games.
In its statement, released Thursday, Maxis announced that it would distribute corrective "patch" software to eliminate the images as soon as possible via an 800 telephone number and the World Wide Web.
Spokesman Patrick Buechner said the Walnut Creek, Calif., company had received only a few complaints about the images but that it expected more calls as players progressed through the game's more difficult levels.
Many computer game programmers include small signature codes--called "Easter eggs"--that activate only under specific conditions. In the case of SimCopter, the gay images, while usually only present in the 10th level, are programmed to appear in especially high numbers Sept. 30, Servin's birthday, and on any Friday the 13th.
Servin, who is a homosexual, said he had created the images for "a thrill" and to call attention to the lack of gay characters in the rapidly expanding market of personal computer games.
"There were already bimbos in these games," Servin said in an interview. "It's just that they were scantily clad women."