Sometimes I wish I believed in that land of fire and brimstone the Christians call Hell. Then I could take some comfort in the knowledge that all of the people who create, distribute, market, and sell the Grand Theft Auto games will surely descend there when they die.
I had my stomach turned today by this video, containing multiple scenes from the new release, Liberty City. Note to my mother, people with children in the room, people at work, and people inclined to vomit easily: you probably don’t want to watch it. Example: In one scene, the male character picks up a prostitute, drives to a secluded location, engages in a sex act, and then runs her over with the car. Ha ha! Fun, right?
People in favor of teaching the value of misogyny and sexual violence to teenaged boys will defend the franchise as harmless entertainment. If that is your view, please skulk away and lock yourself in a closet to protect the rest of society.
*Yes, I did make that word up. It describes a mixture of anger and revulsion. Feel free to scribble it in your personal dictionary.
Transvestite Rabbit 
ICK — Your description and the fact that YouTube was going to make me jump through some hoops to be able to watch it are enough for me to be angered with you. WHO thinks games like this are a good idea?? . . .Just one more reason the computers in my house will always be in a high-traffic area of the house.
It’s disgusting, the things that are presented as “entertainment.” I share your revulsion.
“squicky” is a great word. I didn’t even watch the video. I think it would make me puke. I flat cannot understand why why why why why why a) anyone finds this entertaining; b) anyone thinks this is a good idea; c) anyone can imagine this kind of stuff and actually try to sell it as a game without feeling like the world’s worst ever human being. What goes on in some people’s imagination can be truly, sadly, despicably alarming.
YUCK! says it all. Who says all censorship is bad?
egad. That is disturbing.
Besides being disgusted, I’m kind of confused…ok, I’m VERY confused. How is this a game? Are the participants supposed to guess how much the prostitutes charged? How many prostitutes the Russian guy picked up in a single day? How many he ran over? Or what?
I played an earlier version of GTA when I was 12. You could pick up prostitutes, but it would only show the car rumbling, not actual sex. And yes, you could run them over and steal their money after it.I actually don’t have a problem with games like this, as long as people use them in the right context. The graphic nature of this game (not actual content, but the pornographic images themselves) does make it inappropriate for children, but if some adults want to play it, that’s fine. If I had more time, I might play some myself.
Wrestling with computer issues here. It just makes things very easily accessible. I don’t deny stuff like this has existed on some level, but at least you used to have to skulk around in bad neighborhoods to be part of it. And you couldn’t “stumble” upon it, as my kids have done, while searching for oh, say the word “slave” while researching a dark period in our country’s history. Sex slave was NOT what they were looking for!
Rest assured, though you don’t believe, they will still end up there.
The sad truth is, though, that Grand Theft Auto is a brilliant game. At least the first one was. Most games you buy force you to follow the rules: go on missions, solve puzzles and quests and so forth. GTA allows you to go anywhere you want, whenever you want and do pretty much anything you want. You can spend hours ignoring the quest portion of the game and just drive around town blowng stuff up. Does it get any better than that?Of course, just because something’s brilliant doesn’t mean it’s good. But I promise you that the kids are in it for the gameplay at least as much as they are the controversy.
I always enjoyed GTA… but I just ignored the sex stuff. I focused on just blowing up innocent pedestrians… Nothing wrong with that right?
Maybe the question is why parents are buying/letting their children play the game.
Thanks for the warning about this disgusting game. I copy and pasted the information to send to my daughter-in-law. I know my grandson visits one home where they play video games, and usually not well supervised. SICK!!!
@S__Diddy - I absolutely get this, and it reminds me of “American Psycho” by Brett Easton Ellis. Brilliant writing by a great novelist on an absolutely disgusting and horrifying topic. I don’t understand why someone can’t invent a brilliant, free will game that doesn’t involve running people over or raping them or torturing or dismembering them? It seems so straightforward, in my head…
ironic that you don’t believe cause this game sure seems to come straight from the pits of hell. and we wonder why kids bring illegal weapons to school, shoot their classmates, beat up their teachers and who knows what else. maybe I’m taking a leap here but the more violence is ingrained in our kids as games the more violent our kids become.
I’ll pass on the video – AND on the game. I can’t believe that people would consider something like that entertainment. 😦
I shuddered when I heard there was another edition of GTA out.Squicky should be added to the dictionary.
Meh. It doesn’t make me angry, nor cause me to grow ill. Maybe it’s because I remember all the fuss over Prince’s “Darling Nikki”, and am old enough (oddly) to remember the tail end of angry mothers fussing that the Three Stooges shouldn’t be aired on Sunday mornings when the school year started. I know, I know, you’ll say that those aren’t the same thing as this horrendous game, but parents 20-25 years ago sure thought that these things were the end of civilization.In closing, if a kid’s so hard up (pun intended) that he (usually a he) gets aroused by a poorly composed “woman”, then damn, that’s sad.
Once again, greedy big business rears it’s ugly head. How much does this game cost? I read it was about $60. The yearly profits from it will be in the millions, maybe more. I see here that some believe it’s okay for adults. What leval of mentality does an “adult ” have to get a charge out of simulated sex and blood? You are right, it makes me feel squicky too. Ugh. Ava
I did not watch the video- I’d just get upset…but I saw a young boy approach the electronics counter in Target yesterday and request a copy. The clerk said, “Sorry but I have to see ID- are you 18?” Whereupon said 11 year old (or about) points at his exhausted, very pregnant mom, who is on the cell phone but raises her eyebrows at the clerk, in a yes? sort of expression. The boy got the game. I’m telling you he was 10 or 11. So sad.
Thatwas nasty.My husband (who enjoys gaming but does NOT own any of the GTA games, for which I am eternally grateful – especially after seeing that) said GTA IV is considered the hottest game out right now. I am appalled.
@kamomlisa – Oh, wow. I can’t believe that if parents really KNEW what their kids were exposed to in these games they’d still buy them. I just cannot even imagine a parent willingly and knowingly doing that, and yet I know there are so many out there who do… How do you even combat that? *sigh*
I watched the video, because I used to play earlier versions of this franchise. I can see how some people would find this revolting, parts of it were a little too sexually graphic for me. I’m no prude, but I really don’t think graphic sex has a place in a video game. I like games that allow me to escape, you know, blow up a few cars, run down a pedestrian or two, blow a cops’ head off, whatever. I may play those games, and enjoy that sort of action, but it doesn’t make me a psychopath. America is a free and open society, and we are going to come across opinions and ideas that we might not agree with. I choose to avoid things that i don’t agree with, but I also feel that people need to be more proactive in what they let their kids see. I think this game is rated for over 17, and if it was rated mature, which it probably should be, then Sony wouldn’t accept the rating. My point is, when we start thinking video games and tv and other entertainment is affecting the way young people think, then what should we ban first? I’d say ban irresponsible parents form having kids, that’d be a start.