Did you hear about IGN’s “Grand Theft Auto IV” montage that exclusively featured clips of the game’s lead character having sex and shooting the women he had sex with?
You won’t see it on IGN any longer. The gaming giant says it messed up and is taking it down.
“IGN’s goal is to show our users all aspects of popular games on the market,” an IGN spokesperson just informed me by e-mail. “In this case, we crossed a line in how we portrayed some aspects of the game and we’ve taken this video down.”
Yesterday, I discovered that IGN had made a video called “Ladies of Liberty City: Very Bad Things” that showcased just two elements “GTA” is notorious for and that some critics say is entirely what the game is about: sex and shooting women. This is how the video was teased on the site:
The video was a collection of “GTA IV” gameplay scenes. It starts with a montage of pole-dancing and lap-dancing. That’s followed by the drive-by shooting of a woman, then a visit to a strip club.
Footage of an acrobatic lap-dance is immediately followed by a scene of the game’s protagonist, Niko Bellic, gunning down a scantily-clad woman in the middle of the street.
Etcetera.
Why would IGN make a video like that?
- Did they think sex and the killing of prostitutes is an excellent combination for a video?
- Did they not think that but think their audience would give a video like that a lot of hits?
- Were they simply reporting the facts?
- Were they being ironic? (”Enjoy” the working girls, indeed.)
- Or did something just go wrong?
I reached out this morning to a spokesperson for Fox, which owns IGN and, after several hours while the video remained online, was told it’s now been removed.
IGN has made many other gameplay montages of “GTA,” but this is one I didn’t expect them to create. It already was making a poor impression (clips of the now-removed video can be seen at those links).
What do you think? Did IGN just do critics of the game a favor? Or was this pure “GTA” reflected back, warts and all?
April 30th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
like any joke, some will get it and some will not. the problem is the people who dont get it get bent out of shape. this is probably because they dont get it.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Good. Anyone who thought that video was funny is a sick person. “Oh look, he ~~??~* that ##~%#, and then hit her with the car! How hilarious!” Yeah, NOT FUNNY.
Honestly, I’m infuriated by the coverage of this game, even moreso than with Rockstar. When this very blog said “Hey, there is something wrong here” to the Resident Evil 5 trailer, I was so proud. Finally the enthusiast press calling out a developer on racist bullshit.
Why is NO ONE calling out Rockstar on the blatant misogyny in this game? This video just highlighted the sexualized violence against women in this game. It consistently portrays women as disposable sex objects and it is inexcusable. Why is this fact glossed over in any and all coverage of GTA?
To the trolls: I’m not saying Rockstar should be censored or that all of GTA is irredeemable, or that there’s no misogyny and sexism in other games (dear god, there is). But people need to stop turning a blind eye and TALK ABOUT IT.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
“Why is NO ONE calling out Rockstar on the blatant misogyny in this game? ”
Maybe because your average GTA lover can’t spell that word, or tell you what it means…
““Oh look, he ~~*%$% that ?@$$?, and then hit her with the car! How hilarious!” Yeah, NOT FUNNY.”
P.S.
That is hilarious…grow a sense of humor =P
April 30th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
wow chill out, it is just a game, not real life. They are not saying all women are like that are they? No! stop getting so uptight about a video game. This video was probably made to make parents and other people not buy it because of the content, but if you treated life the same way then you would never leave your house.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
It’s not funny. It’s misogyny. The fact that they actually removed the video should be indicative that something was wrong.
I’m angry because I really expect better from Stephen and Tracey. You and the other bloggers here have been starting intelligent dialog about games for a while now, and yet with GTA everything is sunshine and rainbows. What gives?
April 30th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
@Eleniel
I haven’t finished the game yet. I don’t feel ready to talk about gender in the game until I’m done with it. My “RE5″ coverage was initially based on a gut reaction to that game’s first trailer. I had my gut reaction to “GTA” long ago.
I would hope that this post shows that I’m not blind to the issue.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
This article seems written in a sensationalist manner to detract from IGN’s image (a competitor), rather than an unbiased objective reporting of facts. How immature.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Fair enough Stephen. Thank you for responding.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
“Maybe because your average GTA lover can’t spell that word, or tell you what it means…”
Speak for yourself buddy. I’ve got a masters degree in Journalism and I love this game to death. I hate it when people classify GTA fans as trashy, unintelligent people.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
When did killing someone become humorous? Sure, you ca have fun with sex, even laugh while having it sometimes, but the video was just in poor taste. It’s sad that it’s a world of 20-something yearolds with “humor” for killing.
There is nothing wrong with a shoot-em up game, or sex in a game, or @%#$ or what have you…it’s all a part of life. I think the issue revolves around the fact that it’s glorified and idealized in the game. We shouldn’t be rooting people on to kill, or laugh at the obviously lessened value of life of a prostitute. I own the game and enjoy it, yet I’ll be the first to say that there are absolutley no aspects of the game that’d I’d be proud of if my nephew or niece re-inacted it. It is, for arguments sake, just a game. But, perhaps a game with a negative (or no) message at all. Pure entertainment (no matter how sick or twisted).
April 30th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
This was not Rockstar’s doing it was made by IGN. It should also be noted that nowhere in the game does it tell you you should kill women. The game is not about killing women it’s about freedom. If you WANT to, dont know why you would, you can. But considering it’s GTA, say you’ve just killed a bunch of pixelated people and you go pick up a hooker. It would be funny to run her over. It’s a GAME and GTA!!! Everyone knows GTA isnt’ politically correct. The game itself is not sexist whatever anybdoy does is their choice. I could go around killing old women if I wanted to. Does the game want me to? not necessarily.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
IGN exaggerated aspects of the game that are not inline with the new characterisation and nature of GTA IV. In the fictional world of Liberty City, Niko would have had more respect for the hooker and even feels ashamed after requiring her services and by creating this montage, they’ve definitely fulfilled the critics desire to see the game at it’s worst.
If anything, this video serves to demonstrate the immature nature of the IGN members playing the game. The shooting following the hooking was unnecessary in my opinion but hey, it’s up to the individual how they play the game.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Eleniel - It’s not misogynistic, it’s stereotypical. And there’s a HUGE difference.
The representation of, for example, junkies in the game, is also stereotypical and probably offensive to anyone who is a drug user.
But stereotypes work to portray character in the absence of time to properly develop a character.
And if you play the game, I hope you’ll notice there is a blend of stereotypes in the game and they’re not all negative.
Look at any art from Movies, Television, Radio, comic books - all used stereotypes when establishing themselves.
Explain to me why games should be any different?
I’m not saying this is a non-issue like most other gamers would, but if it’s STILL an issue for other media, why single out games as a medium and why single out GTA IV?
April 30th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
“I think the issue revolves around the fact that it’s glorified and idealized in the game.”
Yes. And that it’s supposedly “humorous.” Basically, Rockstar takes a mature idea and deals with it in a very immature way. They are not making a statement about the topic; they are exploiting shock value.
How is the act of killing a prostitute your character just hired and had sex with a stereotype? The sexualized violence is directed only at women. Notice there are no male prostitutes.
Just because it’s also a problem in other games and media doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it in reference to GTA.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
“The fact that they actually removed the video should be indicative that something was wrong.”
See now how do you address a blanket statement like that? So are you saying if they didn’t remove the video it would not indicate something was wrong? Silly people saying silly things like this leads to silly refusals by companies. People can talk about their artistic integrity and all that jazz but statements exactly like this are why game sites refuse to ‘rerate’ games or change scores due to patching or what have you. You have to be willing to cut a little slack. If you don’t you end up with a three strikes situation. After two strikes you lose all incentive to calm down and just go crazy.
“How is the act of killing a prostitute your character just hired and had sex with a stereotype? The sexualized violence is directed only at women. Notice there are no male prostitutes.”
Silly internet Russians don’t use male prostitutes. The game is just being accurate. ha. ha.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
It’s obvious that Take-Two pressured IGN to take the video down. All the video did was show gameplay footage, and it’s not IGN’s job to care about how the game is portrayed in the media.
This it total BS and more pandering to advertisers and popular games.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Mature game = Mature Content
Right/Wrong is up to the end user not up to someone that is against it; don’t like it just don’t buy/play it.
The game can/will be played MANY different ways, this obviously was not a good example of gameplay that IGN uploaded however this is how SOMEONE can play this game.
We(gamers) can do what we want with our money if that said product is available and if “I” think it is funny that is MY business.
It’s VIRTUAL; there is nothing wrong with this type of gameplay if that is what the end user wants to do. My opinion, as each of you have duly stated yours above.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
What freedom do we even have anymore? I mean think about it for a second… There are more laws, and taxes created every year, and none of them are going away. Now you want to restrict the only freedom we have, and could still have in the future? Honestly, I’m not surprised that most of you don’t understand what the GTA series really represents.
I like having a choice with what I do with my life. Just like I do with my video games. I think the person that finds GTA offending is a person that lives for the system, and only by the system. Closed minded, and already dead. Ones that should be replaced by machines anyway. There are so many things that have been stripped from our proffered ways of life already. It’s only getting worse, and one day I only hope you could realize that. Kids are lucky they have Rockstar pushing for their freedom.
(you can do more than just kill women in the game, get over it)
May 1st, 2008 at 12:49 am
“It’s obvious that Take-Two pressured IGN to take the video down. All the video did was show gameplay footage, and it’s not IGN’s job to care about how the game is portrayed in the media.”
Are you suggesting that Take Two is the victim in all of this? That’s like saying the boy who cried wolf didn’t deserve what he got.
All IGN did here was use material that Rockstar/Take-Two provided. IGN simply put a spotlight on it, and if in fact TT as you theorize asked for it’s removal due to embarrassing or disparaging footage, then they never should have let the game out of the building. But of course, we all know TT doesn’t have a problem with this– they created it after all, and thrive on controversy of their product.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:24 am
haha i did that same exact thing, it was awesome, slut isn’t getting my money!
May 1st, 2008 at 1:58 am
You people need to loosen up. If you don’t like the video, don’t watch it. Its that simple. Take Two should hang their heads in shame for letting some @@%?%$@?$. Grow some balls and stand up behind your product!!!
May 1st, 2008 at 3:06 am
oh all of you shut up u big babies quit your crying it is a VIDEO GAME. it is rated A for a reason. plus hookers r trash too if u have to sell your body for money then u r just @#$%ing scum of the earth. and i am not saying to go beat hookers ether.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:17 am
I think it’s just for the commercial, lot of people talk about it now. Best commercial you can get!
May 1st, 2008 at 8:18 am
Misogyny? Who are all these twits who keep associating GTA IV with misogyny?
Or is it that it’s OK with you people that men can be slaughtered, but if women are portrayed realistically (i.e. NOT as virginal angels) and can be VIRTUALLY hurt by a player by his/her own volition, it’s some how makes the entire game misogynistic?
Hurting/killing women in GTA is not funny in itself but certainly is a novelty in the sense that you can do it in the first place. This has opened the door where women are not treated like little princesses on top of pedestals any more and apparently some folks still have a hard time dealing with that entire concept.
Welcome to equality, ladies.
Now the next step is for Hollywood to stop showing mostly men being hurt/killed in virtually every movie. (Except “B” grade slasher flicks) Now THAT’s misogyny…
May 1st, 2008 at 9:38 am
“Welcome to equality, ladies.”
The sexualized violence (ie. having sex with women then murdering them) is ONLY against women.
There are NO male prostitutes.
It is NOT EQUAL.
And saying the main character would never pick up a male prostitute is 1. heteronormative, 2. should be something up to the player’s choice in this sort of game anyway, and 3. doesn’t excuse the fact that they don’t exist at all in the game world.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:59 am
A bit o food for thought…
GTA 4 has many many facets to its game play, a video comes out showing just a small bit of it, and people go up in arms…why?
Marketing!
MADD (mothers against drunk driving) recently released a statement saying they want the game AO, and taken off the shelves, this is because you can choose to get drunk in the game, and you can also choose to then drive.
Sure I believe drunk driving is bad, most everyone does, so that is not the issue is here, people abusing the media channels is the issue.
They saw this game was getting all this media coverage and realized there was an opportunity there for some free media for them selves, so they come up with this article against the game and push it to all the major media sites, people who perhaps never heard of MADD, now know, and their message grows (im even helping by posting this, oh the irony).
I do believe they have a good message but I dont entirely agree with their methods, because really its just a game. But in the end any attention is good attention, so Take Two will win in the end.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I think that what IGN did was completely irresponsible, both as “jounalists” and as gamers.
As journalists it presents a completely biased view of a game that’s very offensive to some, and completely misrepresents the game to those that don’t know a lot about it. Yes, these things are “possible”, but some people don’t understand that. I could make a montage of all the places you can super jump into in Halo, but that would be boring…it shows what’s “possible” in the game, but jumping and hiding somewhere with no one on the map is not a critical or necessary aspect of play, and most would even say it was boring.
As gamers they also failed here, because they gave the Jack Thompson’s of the world all the ammunition they needed to villify this game. It would be no different than making a montage of every innuendo in a controversial TV show. If someone actually did that, you could make a show like Everybody Love Raymond look like it’s one step below porn…
May 1st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Yeah, IGN crossed a line, to put it lightly. This was the biggest, most… ARGH, I can’t even come up with strong enough words to express how stupid this move was. They just handed the anti-gaming people a whole lot of ammo. That’s exactly what those people want — some of the worst scenes from the game, all in one place, taken entirely out of context. It’s like one of their friends at Fox News slipped in and did it.
But then, IGN/Fox has always been absolutely worthless, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Im so sick of people crying about a game…Quit f—ing crying if you dont like GTA then dont play it dont read about it dont even think about…If I dont like something I dont read about or buy or post bull %*?% about it I ignore it and go on with my life…
Maybe they dont mess with Rockstar because If I choose to off hookers on gta that is me picking it not Rockstar making it a story part of the game… If I run down every person I come across on the game that is once again me choosing to do that… I think it is stupied to come on here and cry and say oh it makes women look bad it make them all look like sluts blah blah blah If a person was stupied enough to believe that then it would just be sad..
Everyone with a brain know’s all women are not Hookers get over yourself and dont play GTA IV if it offends you it is that simple..
May 1st, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Eleniel, why are you so upset? Do you believe games, movies and books should ALWAYS be politically correct, and for its creators to ALWAYS prevent offending anybody at all costs?
Do you believe in the ideal of attending a Barnes & Noble or Borders and finding the shelves stocked with nothing but books that don’t offend anyone that could possibly come in? Or going to your laptop and googling something that could offend you or anyone, and getting a page with no results? Or going to a Best Buy stocked with DVDs and music CDs that were ALL politically correct?
May 1st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Those of you ignorant enough to post; “It’s just a game”; “If you don’t like it, don’t play it/watch it” defenses need to go back and read the article. Also, why don’t you read the comments in context?
We’re not saying you shouldn’t be able to do it in the game, I don’t care what you do in game - go shoot hookers in GTA IV if you really want to - what they’re trying to say is that IGN posting this video is just providing anti-violent videogame activists ammunition with which to shoot propaganda at the mainstream audience.
This video isn’t the most offensive to people who’ve played the game, they already know that the hooker shooting is simply an act carried out by those individuals, the video is going to be taken out of context by the general public who view prostitution and hookers getting shot and have their own, already established (and often ignorant view) of videogames validated.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Most people here are missing the point. It’s not about political correctness and I’m not saying GTA should be pulled off shelves. I’m fairly sick of repeating myself by now so I’ll just borrow a quote from someone more articulate than I am that sums it up:
“[G]raphic displays of sexualized violence against women is [sic] not edgy, artsy or cool. It is tired, outdated, lame and tacky and should give us all pause to think about what it says about youth today if their fantasies involve killing the women they are having sex with.”
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 am
Eleniel
No, YOU are missing the point, you have obviously never played the game, so don’t understand, and probably never will as you get up on your high horse, and have a view of something you don’t even understand.
This game is a “sandbox game” meaning, it does not say you should go and use/kill prostitutes, you just can if you want to. The reasonm that IGN took the video down is because they specifically went through doing all of the worst stuff it is possible to do in the game, not stuff you have to do, then strung it together in a video which puts it in a bad light!
Rockstar have simply given you a world where this and a million other things such as playing darts, pool, drinking, going to strip clubs, comedy clubs, cabarat clubs, bowling alleys, driving sensibly, not driving sensibly, drink driving or calling a taxi when you’ve been drinking, just because you have that option, doesn’t mean you have to, they are giving you freedom, not promoting these thing.s I’m guessing your probably American? Do you have a gun? Do you know someone that has a gun? I bet you do, but does that mean that you/that person has to use that gun? NO!
I see what you’re saying above about the youth of today, but wouyld you rather they did it in a game or real life, also, it is supossed to be an adult game with adult content.
You make comments about the video and how Rockstar obviously know they did something wrong, no, I would imagine they were pretty peeved that someone stitched together a video of all of the worst things you “can” do in the game and then showed it to the world completely out of context, giving people that have never played the game a very negative view, and leading them to then probably never playing the game because of crappy preconception they have formed.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
All IGN did here was use material that Rockstar/Take-Two provided. IGN simply put a spotlight on it
well, that material was created by IGN using the GTA IV engine/sandbox. IGN created these moral decisions and made a clear moral statement: we at IGN think it is funny to shoot prostitutes in a game… (it was presented in that exact way). very poor, IGN!!
these videos tell a lot about the player (=IGN), and less about the tools used (GTA IV)
does anyone knows who created these videos at IGN? Some intern, or an old staff member… should’t Hilary Goldstein have aproved the videos?
cheers,
George
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
I reject the argument that it’s okay something’s in a game because “you don’t have to do it”. EVERYTHING in the game was put there deliberately by the programmers, designers, etc. Treating a virtual world like it’s the real world and not a piece of deliberately crafted fiction is ridiculous. Being able to shoot prostitutes after having sex with them is not a bug. Having an internet cafe named after a slur for female genitalia is not a bug. Having a female fast food worker ask if the character wants a hand job with their meal is not a bug. It was put there deliberately by people who think sexual harassment and misogyny is funny. The video merely highlighted one facet of that.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I think it would have been not an issue, if IGN showed the prostitutes of liberty city without killing them.
You cannot blame the game engine, that you can shoot ANYONE in the game. The game is created that way, that the only working moral instance in the game world is actually the player (and sometimes the police).
It would be great if the police would start investigating these crimes and then the player would get a wanted level after a couple of in-game days… surprise, when you are preparing your next murder, the police would be waiting.
yes, prostitution is in the game, but that is related to that kind of gangster setting.. and the dialog is there to support that gritty atmosphere…
so, IGN failed badly! how ironic: there are also moral instances outside the game
cheers,
George
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
@Eleniel
but that is the point of the game. they made the GTA IV engine as open as possible.. there are 2 moral instances in the game: the police and the player…
it would be no problem if IGN showed the working life of these prostitutes without killing them. That was IGN’s moral statement here: look, how funny this is, you get your money back.
the assets, the dialogues, the prostitutes are there to support the gritty GTA IV environment, a gutter version of New York… that was not the point of the discussion, it was the killing by IGN… a virtual crime.
How cool would have it been, if the police would try to investigate these murders, and then when you are about to commit the next murder, the police would wait already…
maybe next time with GTA IV they will have a better implementation of law and order …
cheers, George
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
It’s just a game people.It is completly up to you to pick up hookers and kill them it’s not like you Have to do it.As for the big argument about children playing this game…there is a reason you can only buy the game if you are over 18…parents stop buying your kids the game and then complaining about them watching it..cause thats the only way there gonna play it..someone over 18 has to buy it for them.
As for society..Japan and other places have stuff like this on t.v and sex shops just about everywhere and they have the lowest crime rate and the highest education rate.Maybe the u.s should stop worrying about the entertainment so much and focus on how our kids are one of the dumbest in the world.(and no im not calling all u.s kids dumb)
Parents it’s your job to keep your kids from watching this…not telling people they need to censor everyones entertainment and yell at them to stop making games and movies like this cause they are not going to if there are people playing and watching it cause there is and always will be people buying it.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
“plus hookers r trash too if u have to sell your body for money then u r just @#$%ing scum of the earth.”
The game reinforces this sort of thinking. Prostitutes are people, $@?~%~*.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 am
The purpose of all the woman-hating is to make a whole generation of young men who can not relate at all to real women. Guess what those lonely men will do instead of having real relationships? They will BUY MORE VIDEO GAMES.
It’s the same thinking behind porn. Get men to treat women like crap and think it’s normal. That leads to more lonely men who then buy more porn. The pornographers get rich, the lonely guys get all righteous about their rights and scream “it’s only a game”, “it’s only a video.’
Meanwhile the gamemakers and pornographers laugh all the way to the bank.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Im a girl and i play this game..so “the lonely guys get all righteous about their rights and scream “it’s only a game”, “it’s only a video.’”
Is inaccurate.. there are tons of girls who play the game and have no problem with it.I have met mothers who play this game…all of the extra content like the hookers is Optional people…i don’t understand how this has been going on for ages with movies yet this game stuck a cord.
If you want to help hookers stop harping on a game and go help the poor girls get out of the lifestyle.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
You people are so fukinhg stupid, get over this. you people are so godamned arrogant. $#*? YOU ALL!
May 4th, 2008 at 4:40 am
I know this is never going to happen, but I wish this game would just go away for good. As a parent, I will never allow my son to play it and will not allow him to own it. But the pressure from him to do so is unbelievable. He gives all sorts of arguements..that he is mature, he knows right from wrong, that he would never act out any of this behaviour, etc. To the point where he is crying! I dont, and will never understand these sorts of games. To me, its a sad commentary on life today and I know its an opinion shared by many of my contemporaries. I know whoever reads this and is a fan will dismiss me as a prude or religious zealot, of which I am neither. Its just so violent, racist and sexist and given the state of the world its easy enough to see this on the evening news. To me, these types of games glorify the negative aspects of the human condition. Why do people want to play games that reflect this reality? I wish I could understand this. I wish I could understand why my son is so upset that I wont allow this in our home. I see the companies who make these games becoming very rich by pushing the envelope with each new release. They have to apparently to make even more cash. I grew up in the dark ages, I guess, no computers, no adult channels on tv, no video games and we had to find other ways to play, like children did for centuries. Only now the adults are playing too. I must agree with you, Elenie, as the sole voice on here who dares to state an opinion that is not in favour of GTA 4. This is just my opinion. But its scary when a boy of 11 is in such a state after he was denied. A usually happy, funny , intelligent boy who thinks he can manipulate by freaking out, all in the name of a game that is really beyond his tender and impressionable age. Unfortunately, there are too many parents who have not grown up and allow their children to play, and even play with them, or even an older sibling or friend of a friend who think its ok or even funny to let them play. There are far too many irresponsible people in some childrens lives. In this day, its anything goes and who cares who it hurts? I find this kind of thinking dangerous and scary,but, its just my opinion. Which, of course, we are all entitled to. I just wish adults could see the influence they have on young people and think before they allow them to be exposed to inappropriate material. Children have sex and violence pushed on them at ever younger ages, and dont think for one minute it doesnt affect them, usually in a negative way. I just dont get how some people think, but that is the reality. Remember, those who stand for nothing will fall for anything..
May 4th, 2008 at 8:27 am
@deandra
I completely respect your decision to deny your 11yr. old playing GTA IV. In fact I think the world needs more of your kind: Parents who actually take personal responsebility in upholding a games rating. However, saying you’ll NEVER let him play it seems a bit overzealous. The mature rating is there for a reason and at some point your son should be able to decide for himself. Kids will throw hissy fits every now and then, and (almost) never for any good reasons. I’m sure he’ll one day recall with embarrassment, the time he freaked out, simply because he was denied playing a video game.
“plus hookers r trash too if u have to sell your body for money then u r just @#$%ing scum of the earth.”
This is a sick statement. I seriously hope you don’t mean this. It’s not for any one person to decide what people have value and what people don’t. Have you ever heard of “human trafficing” or “sex slaves”?
“If you want to help hookers stop harping on a game and go help the poor girls get out of the lifestyle.”
Indeed! There are sick people out there who hurt women (and men too for that matter) whitout ever having played video games. I play GTA IV and I have no desire to kill or hurt random strangers. Nor do I feel the urge to proposition prostitutes or treat women like dirt. A lot of the women (AND men) of GTA IV are broard, negative stereotypes, and I have no problem telling fiction from reality.
The video posted on IGN was indeed distasteful and I agree that people who found it funny must have a bad/sick sense of humor, but the game isn’t about killing hookers or mistreating women. I could hire two actors in real life, film them acting out a scene where a guy kills a hooker after having had sex with her and post it on youtube. It would still be distasteful and I did it without the aid of a video game. GTA is an open world, a “sandbox”, where you can do anything, including distasteful stuff, but when you read reviews of GTA IV, the reviewers aren’t exited about how many hookers they can kill, or how disrespectfully you can treat women. The reviewers are exited about the open world, and the compelling story and so am I. You don’t HAVE to Kill a prostitute after having sex with her in GTA IV, and indeed you don’t HAVE to hire her at all, but in this open world, it is possibile to do so. It’s also possible to take a girl out for a night on the town, get drunk and take a taxi home in GTA IV, and having the choice to act wrongfully is actually what makes doing “the right thing” so interesting, otherwise you’d just be moveing along a set path. Why try to avoid hitting pedestrians with your car, if you actually can’t hit them at all? I know I may be comming with some weird arguments here, but this is what open world games are all about, and what makes the genre unique. R* are famous for adding all these little details to the GTA series, like being able to proposition prostitutes and buy hotdogs from a hotdog vendor. These things don’t serve the story at all, but are helpful tools in creating a living breathing world.
I don’t think the discussiong should be about whether or not it should be possible to do distasteful things in videogames, but rather: why do some people think it’s cool doing them?
I see the GTA universe as a parody on modern western society. A scary world where crime pays, cops are incompetent or corrupt and no attemp is made to hide the darker sides of living in a capitalistic society (just listen to the commercials on the radio in the game). I’m not a communist or anything, but I belive no society is perfect and I think GTA is doing us a favor by grabbing all the worst aspects of western society and shoving them in our faces. I consider the GTA series a form of satire, and I’m glad for the discussions it creates (glad that we haven’t become so desensitised that we don’t care anymore). The fact that kids under 17 want to play it so bad, is a statement in and of itself.
Do I like the GTA series? Yes!
Would I buy it for a kid, whom I felt wasn’t mature enough to handle the subject of the game? No way!
May 4th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Okay this is the best game ever. In no mission it tells you to just kill a women. y’all retarded
May 4th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
wow wake up people it’s just a video game. Just like free speech but because dumb people that get offended from everything we’ve lost a lot of it.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I agree. so its a video game. its not liek anyone is gonna run outside and start pimping and shooting people. well atleats anyone smart enough. its just a friggin game. get over yourselves
May 4th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Deandra, thank you, and I totally support your decision. This is just a guess since I don’t know your son, but I’d guess the real reason he wants the game so badly is because he has friends who play it, so there’s a lot of peer pressure on him to play it as well and not feel left out. Steve is probably right in that he’ll be embarrassed about it later. In this sense the “it’s just a game” argument is actually valid: the world isn’t going to end if he doesn’t play it. His friends will move on to something else eventually.
I think even older teens who are old enough to buy the game themselves as well as adults can be influenced by some of the sexist and racist messages in games in that it reinforces and encourages sexist and racist beliefs that have been internalized from other media and society in general.
It’s a shame that most gamers will not listen to any criticism and lump anyone who dares criticize a game into the same group as Jack Thompson and other people trying to ban games.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I’ve got to agree - when I saw the IGN movie that showed just the girls of Liberty City it did seem a little .. ‘wrong’. It would be like just showing all the sex scenes that are available in a movie and nothing else.
It’s the same with all things whether they be video games, movies or Jack Thompson - if you take anything out of context you can make it into whatever you want it to be. Everybody knows that GTA IV is more than just guns and hoes - and the writer of the article is correct in their comments of IGN. IGN have sensibly taken the video down - no harm done.
Now lets all get back to playing GTA!
:o)
May 6th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Oh, the power of the almighty dollar. The truth is, TPTB don’t care how offensive their product is, as long as they make a profit. Video games (and certain ones like this) still only appeal to a smaller demographic, so there aren’t even enough people aware of GTA’s existence to cause a furor a la Tipper Gore.
The game is a technical achievement, and much of it is wasted on juvenile trappings.