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Grand Theft Auto IV has been released and is selling like gangbusters. So now it's time, yet again, for the news media to start attacking.
MyFox St. Louis | Grand Theft Auto IV - A Game Or Gateway To Crime?:
For the video game Grand Theft Auto irresponsibility is part of the programming.
Violence, crime and mayhem fill just about every frame in every version offering a blueprint for bad behavior
...Is it a game or a gateway to crime?
I just don't understand why the news media thinks that Video games are a way for kids to be swayed into violence and crime when there are so many movies out there that make GTA IV seem tame.
Why doesn't the news media jump all over violent movies? It's not because children can get video games easier than seeing violent movies, since a child can see a violent movie very easy and in the same way that a child can play a violent video game.
The only thing I can figure, is that the news media just don't "get" video games so they just attack them. Movies are easy to "get", you just put a DVD into your DVD player and off you go. With a video game, you actually have to figure out how to play the game and I'm guessing that these writers just don't have a clue how to play, so they assume that video games somehow brainwash their players into doing the acts that they do in the games.
I don't know, probably not, but I just don't get why the news media finds video games so easy to attack. Anyone have any ideas?
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May 1st, 2008 at 4:12 pm
David, maybe there is something in games promoting violence? Kids get bad habits? What I am sure is that games and films full of crime examples should be treated in the same way.
Violence, crimes, sex sell really well. If you look on news websites statistics you will see that the most popular topics are related to killing, abuses etc. We live in a crazy world. GTA is making money on being controversial. They use to have some issues with hidden sex scenes too. This is done on purpose.
I played GTA 1 like crazy. I loved this game. GTA 3 & 4 is totally different. I will have a try when I have occasion.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
@Paul Montwill: GTA is the only franchise that I have actually spent years playing. I started with GTA: Vice City and played that game for about 2 years. When GTA: San Andreas came out for the PC, I continued with that and have been playing it ever since. Not so much for the actual story, but for the driving and general mayhem one can produce. I use the cheat codes to get out of 6 star warrant mode if I need to, but mostly I use that mode to see if I can make it back to a paint shop before getting caught.
Do I take any of this out to the real world? Not a chance. If anything, it helps me relax after driving in the real world.
Take 2 and Rockstar love all the free publicity they get from the news media promoting their game on the news and such. Remember even bad publicity is still publicity.
Now when I refer to kids, I’m referring to the 17 and older that are legally allowed to buy the game. The same people that are allowed to go see the hugely violent movies that are out like Postal and Saw. The person playing the game is not going to get any ideas playing GTA that they wouldn’t get by watching the news or any cop show on television. When some kid goes all postal and kills a bunch of kids in a school. The media looks for a scapegoat. Instead of blaming the parents for not seeing the signs that their kids were depressed and looking for a way out, the media and everyone else looks for some intangible thing to blame and that is where computer video games come it. Before computer games, it was Dungeons & Dragons, before that, who knows. It’s never the parents who are ultimately responsible.
GTA is making a ton of money mostly because they have a great game franchise. The controversy only helps feed sales, it’s not inspiring them. The game is expected to sell over 9,000,000 copies in the first week. That comes out to over $400,000,000 in gross sales. Why, Because its the most immersive game ever made. You can do just about anything you want in the game anywhere in the game. There are very few limits. There are very few games that can claim the same.
Sorry for the rant there, this is a touchy subject for me. It’s the main reason I won’t be voting for Clinton. She jumped on the anti-video game bandwagon when she thought she could get a boost in the polls due to the Hot Coffee thing you mentioned. I have never forgiven her for that.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I’ve watched my son play this game (Vice City and San Andreas)for a few years. The latest one has a single flaw that I have to protest. Drunk Driving. It’s the only real thing that can cross over into a teenagers life. The rest of the behaviors in the game are clearly fantasy and my son has a pretty good grasp on reality, but this one is different. It’s the nonchalance with which it can be done that is dangerous. I mean when my son uses a hooker and then beats her up to get the money back that is clearly something that you simply just don’t do in real life. But drunk driving is a real life activity that can be done with as much freedom as in the game and even hinting that it is done must be censored out of life either fantasy or real.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:41 pm
@Scott Beckstead: You right about the drunk driving thing. I wasn’t aware that this was a new “feature” of GTA IV. As to beating up a hooker to take the money back, I suspect that there are hookers that would disagree with you on that point. (Not that I know for sure or anything:))
I guess if Rockstar simulates drunk driving as real as possible, then at least it will show that if you are going to rob a bank or carjack someone, you should do it sober.
Actually, all the things in GTA are “real life” activities. They happen all the time. At least the activities in the story line.
I’m not saying that the GTA franchise is tame or should be sold to minors. It’s a rough game and GTA IV looks like it’s more realistic looking than any of the previous versions. It’s harder to say that the people I’d be running over with my car are just pixels on the screen with the level of detail they have in GTA IV. However, just like a movie, I know what I am doing is “fantasy” and isn’t real. If someone can’t make that distinction, then I would say they need to seek help.