First grader robs classmate of $1 at knife point.

[Defense54]

yeah, GTA was the game. I had no idea how graphic it was and the last scene with the degration was inexucusible.  I really wish the worst on the designers of the game who profit from such a thing.

[Fau Teixeira]

GTA is an awesome game .. it's alot of fun ..

if you don't like the game then don't buy it .. it's that simple

if you don't want your kids to play it .. then don't buy it .. also simple

you can't blame the world for being the world .. humans are animals .. and animals are violent by nature. I have no problem with this GTA game .. i'd have no problem if it were 10 times as violent ..  once you're a consenting adult, then you are free to do whatever you want in my view as long as you aren't interfering with anyone else's rights.

would i buy this game for an 11-14 year old kid ? not a chance in hell .. but for a 16-17 year old .. probably .. a game is a game and reality is reality .. with the way technology is evolving, i think teaching our kids the difference between reality and fantasy is becoming more important.

[NADS]

I go along with what you're saying.  The problem with GTA is when the 17-year old buys it and the 10-year old brother sits and watches because the parents don't understand what the game is about.  MTV was a big deal when I was a kid but the only time I saw it was at my cousin's house.  Case in point, kids grow up way to fast nowadays with the advent of technology and there doesn't seem to be a way to stop it without cutting into grown-up fun. 

[Dave Gray]

yeah, GTA was the game. I had no idea how graphic it was and the last scene with the degration was inexucusible.  I really wish the worst on the designers of the game who profit from such a thing.

Do you wish the worst on the makers of the Godfather and Pulp Fiction where there is an equally violent disrespect for law?

[Phishfan]

Do you wish the worst on the makers of the Godfather and Pulp Fiction where there is an equally violent disrespect for law?

I don't remember anything remotely like pissing in the mouth of a cop from either of those films.

[Dave Gray]

Whoever talked about GTA like this just doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.  To anyone who's played GTA, this is obvious.

I played this game from start to finish and there is no scene of pissing in the mouth of a cop.  But, even if there was, there also isn't a "highest level" structure either where such an act would be required or rewarded.

Games are increasingly getting more and more open, so you can do what you want.  That freedom lets people do detestable things sometimes, but is not indicative of the overarching story as a whole.

In Reservoir Dogs, they tie up a police officer and graphically cut his ear off.  Terrible crap happens in these movies all the time.  Games are a new media, and people who don't play them or weren't raised with them don't understand that it's not a medium for children anymore.  A kid getting a hold of a video game they shouldn't be playing falls on the parents or guardians of that kid...not the makers of the game.  And just like with movies, if kids are watching movies that they shouldn't be, it's not the movie's fault; it's lax parenting.

I'm an adult and enjoy playing games that tell a story, even if that story is about detestable characters, just as I like movies that do the same.

[Dave Gray]

To give another quick example, this would be like taking footage of Super Mario Bros, where kids are intentionally jumping off of a cliff to their death.


....and then some old guy who's never played it coming in and saying that this game lets kids commit suicide.



GTA is pretty much unanimously praised as being masterpiece, primarily because of it's depth of the world and story.  What I mean is that GTA isn't controversial within the world of game media.  It's only controversial to those on the outside of the gaming world, using out of context clips and scare tactics, that don't really understand the medium.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Dave and Fau,

I'm not saying GTA is a bad game.  I'd love to play it myself.  However, guys our age are obviously old enough to realize that a game like that is for entertainment purposes only.  I'm sure yous and I can agree that it has a lot of violenct, graphic scenes that are inappropriate for children under 16.  Hence, I refer to it as "garbage" when I think of a kid being exposed to it.