Grand Theft Auto.

[Praxius]

Quote by: ruksak; I'm missing that. Don't see it. Maybe he'll be so kind as to try again?

• He always turned down drugs offered to him in the game.
• He came home originally to find out who did a drive by on his mom.
• He helped stop the crack dealing in his neighborhood and any other "terrortories" under your protection from the other gangs who delt it.
• He saved a prostitute in a mission, where she was being beaten to death under a bridge.
• He saved a load of immigrants in a cargo ship, controlled by an asian mafia.
• He helped bring a band of corrupt police officers, which were involved with the crack dealing in the neighborhood.
• He or nobody else in the end of the game killed the bad guys, except the bad guys own actions killed them. (Bridge scene final end.)
• He starts a buisness with his friends and family to start to make an honest living from a corrupt world.
• Help assisted the US govermnet from outside countires and enemies.
• One moral near the middle of the game, was to accept responsibility for your own choices in life and life is only what you make of it.
• Another moral was to always give back to the community in which helped raise you.

Well that's for starters, it's been close to a year since I played it.... but those are some of the messages I got from the game.

[ZNFYRH]

What about the following:

Graffiti
Breaking and entering
Street racing
Assault
Murder
And... of course... grand theft auto?

[ruksak]

Quote by: Praxius • He always turned down drugs offered to him in the game. • He came home originally to find out who did a drive by on his mom. • He helped stop the crack dealing in his neighborhood and any other "terrortories" under your protection from the other gangs who delt it. • He saved a prostitute in a mission, where she was being beaten to death under a bridge. • He saved a load of immigrants in a cargo ship, controlled by an asian mafia. • He helped bring a band of corrupt police officers, which were involved with the crack dealing in the neighborhood. • He or nobody else in the end of the game killed the bad guys, except the bad guys own actions killed them. (Bridge scene final end.) • He starts a buisness with his friends and family to start to make an honest living from a corrupt world. • Help assisted the US govermnet from outside countires and enemies. • One moral near the middle of the game, was to accept responsibility for your own choices in life and life is only what you make of it. • Another moral was to always give back to the community in which helped raise you. Well that's for starters, it's been close to a year since I played it.... but those are some of the messages I got from the game.

Admittedly you did well in dissecting the positive from the negative. That being said, ZNFYRH is correct. These subtle moral struggles are hard for a child to grasp. Well, there are more overt positives included. Such as I remember a cut-scene FMV in the game wherein "Carl" (the lead character) slaps drugs out of his brothers hands and lectures him about it. As well there is a permeating theme, basically the backbone of the games storyline, showing how drugs not only mess up a persons life, but his township. These are concepts that a small child can understand. I concede these notions to you.

All that being said, the bad outweighs the good by several measures. "Carl" has to kill, steal and evade police many times fold for every positive notion in the storyline.

[Praxius]

Quote by: ZNFYRH; What about the following: Graffiti

He only grafittis over existing grafitti of those gangs who supplied the crack.

Breaking and entering

Other games have this as well.... and the mission that promoted this was a B&E on an old guy who collected all kinds of weapons and firearms.... and with the proper laws, this situation could have been avoided in the first place.

Street racing

Need for Speed Centralizes and glorifies this lifestyle much more then the few racing games in GTA.

Assault

In many other games

Murder

Also, in many other games.

And... of course... grand theft auto?

That's the name of the game... if you comit any crimes in front or near police, they will come after you to show that there is justice in the game.

To be honest, I could see a problem if the GTA's didn't have any police or law enforcement in it at all.... to be able to go around and do these things without any concisuqences wouldn't be the best thing to be teaching your kids.

But there are police, there is SWAT, there is the FBI, and there's the military who will all come down hard on your arse.....

I still just see this as over reaction over a game, much as what happened with Mortal Kombat.

[ruksak]

Pac-Man assaulted the ghosts.
Frogger made crossing a busy highway on foot, fun again.

Quote by: Praxius I still just see this as over reaction over a game, much as what happened with Mortal Kombat.

Well, you're right. Much of it is overreaction. It makes me sick to see people lobby to have games like this boycotted, banned and even illegalized. Its way overreacting.
My message in all this is simple. Everybody be honest about it. Yes, the game is terribly violent. No, adults shouldn't approve of their kids playing it.
Ya don't want your kids to play it, don't let them. Tell them the content is wrong.
No, they aren't going to be X% amount more likely to shoot their class mates because they are desensitized to violence. Watching pixels get shot is a helluva lot less impacting than watching a real persons viscera splatter onto the wall. Any studies available are funded by lobbyist groups and are far to biased to be trusted.

[ZNFYRH]

Quote by: Praxius He only grafittis over existing grafitti of those gangs who supplied the crack.

So that makes it okay? One illegal act cancels out another?

Quote by: Praxius Other games have this as well.... and the mission that promoted this was a B&E on an old guy who collected all kinds of weapons and firearms.... and with the proper laws, this situation could have been avoided in the first place.

So that makes it okay? Vigilante decisions of right and wrong and illegal acting of consequences is acceptable?

Quote by: Praxius Need for Speed Centralizes and glorifies this lifestyle much more then the few racing games in GTA.

Again, does that make it okay? NFS also makes a point to preface the loading of the game with a warning about racing not being safe. At least they take a measure of responsibility.

Quote by: Praxius In many other games

But does that make it okay for those other games either?

Quote by: Praxius I still just see this as over reaction over a game, much as what happened with Mortal Kombat.

With Mortal Kombat the problem was with the blood and violence, not with the game in its entirety.

[Praxius]

Quote by: ZNFYRH So that makes it okay? One illegal act cancels out another?

Sure, why not? It's a game... Bart spray painted over all kinds of things in Springfield if a few games.

So that makes it okay? Vigilante decisions of right and wrong and illegal acting of consequences is acceptable?

Also as you put it, in many other games besides GTA.... and yes.... sometimes in a game they show that sometimes a wrong can right another wrong... but once again it's a game, if your kids can't figure that out for themselves, then they shouldn't be playing vid games to begin with

Again, does that make it okay? NFS also makes a point to preface the loading of the game with a warning about racing not being safe. At least they take a measure of responsibility.

Adult warnings are also in the game as well.... and those warnings you speak of are directed to those who have a license and a car to drive.... GTA has warnings... at least the one I had, had warnings of mature content and all that too. What do you want? Fireworks and a Red Stop Sign?

But does that make it okay for those other games either?

Yeah it does, because it's a fictional form of entertainment meant to be expressed how the original artists meant it to be. Just like any book you get your kids to read, I remember reading plenty of books which seemed quite real as a kid and talked about mature things like violence..... it's a book... much like it's a game..... stop worrying.

With Mortal Kombat the problem was with the blood and violence, not with the game in its entirety.

That was Mortal Kombat's Entirety...... violence, blood, gore, death, assaulting one another, shoving spears into one another's chests, ripping heads off, setting people on fire.... all the methods of killing someone at the touch of your fingertips.

And if you want to talk about judging a game in its entirety.... perhaps you should readjust your perception, because you're making GTA sound like it's a Mortal Kombat, and Mortal Kombat like it's a GTA..... GTA has much more in the game besides violence and prostitution, and if you looked beyond your own fears, you'd see there was much more the game focused on..... Mortal Kombat was nothing but violence and gore, to a level much worse then all the GTA's combined today.

I can probably still list you off every fatality, animality, babality, friendship, stage fatality, and anything else under the sun that all the mortal kombats had in their games..... and when it comes to my kid having a choice between playing a game where some square computer characters having sex in the back seat of a car, to watching Jax flatten someone's skull, or Johnny Cage ripping someone in half at the Torso, or Kano ripping out someone's heart, or Sub Zero throwing an Ice Grenade into your chest and blowing you into gutz and bits....

.... I'd choose GTA.... the detail in violence and such in that game and how much it focusez on it, pales in comparison.

And I find it funny that some people have a big issue with a game that promotes prostitution and sex, where prositution is legal in some States and around the world anyways, but they don't seem to have as much of an issue with a game that goes into the details in how you can kill and make your victim suffer.

Violence seems to be tolerated and permitted, but throw in sex or nudity.... and look out.... your kids are going to go MAD! :eek:

[Compugasm]

I heard a good analogy today: The bumper car ride requires physical action and co-ordinated thought to crash into someone, yet doesn't create similar driving behavior on the road.

[davedes]

The new GTA 4 was just released, this one more violent, sexual, and politically incorrect than ever.

You can see some of the more controversial aspects of the game in this video:
The Ladies Of Liberty City (WARNING: mature and graphic content)

[Compugasm]

The parents of todays children grew up playing video games. We aren't addicted, psychopathic killers because of it. Call us social misfits if you like. When Gen-X has more friends in World of Warcraft than olde-timers do in their booze-oriented culture of real life, pfffh. It is obvious they don't understand the new social interaction. Additionally, the children of Gen-X grew up playing video games too, and they'll be voting in the next 1-5 years.

[Derach]

It won't be long before there's a lobby group fighting for the rights of virtual reality characters. We'll have lawyers suing on behalf of PETA against people like Laura Kroft ... and MADD will bring the characters from GTA to court ...

It's appropriate to make games like this (and worse) available to adults if someone wants to try making a buck distributing and developing them.

[gela]

What are your opinions? Do you think that if a child grows up playing violent games such as GTA, they will grow up as a killer, or to pick up prostitutes?

Parental influence > Game Influence

As long as the difference between game and reality are made clear, and things in the game that would be inappropriate in real life are made clear, then there is no problem with a child playing this game.

Problems might arise when the only influence a child has is games. This should be blamed on bad parenting, not on games.