grand theft auto
May 2nd, 2008 Ryan Gilson
I rarely watch the news. I always feel it focuses on the negative. A missing child, the stock market drops, we’re on the verge of recession, drug trafficking, drunk driver runs car into building killing five, Britney Spears does it again. It’s just not worth it. It’s the same headlines for the same crimes. The names change but the stories stay the same.
I went over my aunt’s house the today and sure enough there it was: violence, murder, prostitution, drunk driving, drug trade, etc. There was even one scene where a guy supposedly took a baseball bat to a prostitute after she asked him for a tip. It’s nauseating. It’s also a video game. The television screen tells tales often seen on the news but this time it was brought to you by the newly released Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest craze in gaming.
I was astonished when I learned that this overly realistic and downright gruesome scene was actually a video game being played by my 12 year old cousin. Sitting on his couch he actually grew angry when the prostitute wouldn’t die fast enough as he swung the bat at her head splattering blood on the walls. What’s wrong with this picture? What happened to Super Mario Brothers? What happened to Duck Hunt? What happened to Sonic the Hedgehog? How did we get here?
Exposing our youth to such video games at such a young age may seem preposterous, yet parents permit such activities. Are parents aware of the brutal nature of the game? Are they indifferent on the issue? Or do they merely want a baby sitter to occupy their child and their naivety is a priority. Regardless of the reason, children are getting their hands on Grand Theft Auto IV and they are playing it constantly. Prostitution, drugs, drunk driving, murdering, strip clubs; all tabooed topics pried from the world and delivered to the doorsteps of children across America. Capitalist companies market and supply the high demand. The companies get their money. The children get their entertainment. The parents get their babysitter. It’s a win win win.
Is it so hard to believe that children could be entertained and enamored by such a horrific violent game? As a nation we have been desensitized to a sense, which also reigns true for children. They can sit in front of a television all day and play a game which promotes and preaches violence with little or no sympathetic reaction. Is the game merely entertainment like its less violent predecessors or does it have further reaching moral implications? It’s a hypothetical question certainly without a definitive answer; at least not at the moment. Perhaps years down the road when we view our society we will see what this violent exposure has wrought or hasn’t.
Entry Filed under: Game Log
2 Comments
1. sgrimes | May 2nd, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I’d be more inclined to agree with some of your assertions about GTA’s depravity had you been referring to the earlier releases of the game. Indeed, much of the execution of satire in those games was…blunt, to say the least. It lacked finesse, and really did lead to sort of a desensitization within the game–though whether or not that desensitization carries over into real life is tenuous at best.With regards to GTAIV, however, I’m really not so quick to criticize. Slate has a very interesting article concerning violence in games. The basic gist is that the portrayal of violence in GTAIV is so realistic that it reaches sort of a disturbing ideal–in effect, the brutality causes players to tone down their violent actions within the game, and reflect upon the mayhem they’re causing. This sort of "moral gaming" was also noted recently in BioShock, with the choices given to the player in dealing with the "Little Sisters." Personally, I think it’s brilliant commentary on the sad state of affairs within our cities, and the ultra-realistic depictions provide the necessary "shock value" to start discourse about it.Now, all of this is probably lost on your 12 year old cousin. The heady social commentary probably went straight over his head, and the end result is that the game wasn’t any different from Halo or Mario to him. He was simply working within the mechanics of the game–dealing with the very fundamental gameplay, rather than the deeper intellectual content. I don’t really think this is worrisome in of itself, as some people just want to play a game without any moral preaching. I’m not going to question his parents’ judgment, but I can say that if it were my kid, he would have to be very mature for me to even consider letting him play it.
2. eolson3 | May 3rd, 2008 at 2:32 am
Let me assure you, this social commentary you point out is lost on MOST of the players that plopped down $60 bucks for this game. When I would volunteer in the cities where the "sad state of affairs" would be considered an understatement by most living in and around it, I got a bit more exposure to it than I would have liked. I can guarantee that they were among the first in line to pick up this title.They will pop this sucker into their XBox 360. They will probably insert whatever cheat codes they can find to get ‘All Weapons’ or something of that sort so that the action can begin right away. They will have no second thought when it comes to truckin’ over a crowded sidewalk or a drive-by shooting. As I noted in a previous post, I was nearly on the sore end of one of these myself walking out of basketball practice. All of these guys were around me. I was on the ground faster than Eric V. can log onto youtube. The bus driver was screaming her head off. I look up, and these guys are just standing around watching this occur. I couldn’t believe it.For these guys, GTA is as close to a simulation of everyday life as any game I know of. This is not an exageration. I heard some stories that could fill in more than a few chapters set in Liberty City. They don’t see the violence as wrong, they see it as life. As we said before, consequences are removed in the virtual world. Thus, they see it as jubulant entertainment to complete the missions in this game and not have to put kevlar over the windows.The latter applies to many gamers, though with a reverse context. The events in this game are far from their everyday lives, so they find it fascinating. They are boldly going where no upper-middle class white (or plug in whatever you like) 11th grade honors student has gone before. They are able to project themselves on the dark, bloody streets and do things that would make their white picket fences wilt over. They don’t see it as "resensitizing".It is too bad that events will not unfold as optimistically as you and I would hope. The strategy is certainly an interesting one. But, ultimately, I cannot see this being effective.