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Rockstar Investigated Over GTA - Vice City
Jubii writes "Seems the State of Florida is about to investigate Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for possibly violating state hate crime laws. This comes right after Rockstar and Take-Two issued an apology and a promise to remove offensive dialog found in the game. This could cause significant changes for 'mature' games in the future." Since Rockstar has already apologized and pledged to update the game, is it just me, or is the state of Florida only looking to line its pockets with some best-selling game profits? Update: 12/12 00:19 GMT by S : Haitian community leaders aren't satisfied either, saying "the manufacturer's pledge to change future editions did not solve the problem with games on store shelves now."
When I played VC, I *never* once thought, "hey, those haitians, they're pretty bloodthursty!" And you wanna know why? Cuz it's a GAME, not a how-to guide or a travel brochure!
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
I thought the whole premise of the hate crime laws was that the offender had to be doing something else illegal that was motivated by hate, and that was the only way it skirted the 1st amendment.
I guess all the people that say "slippery slope" is an invalid argument don't know much about governments or laws.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Is a strong arm militant group to bribe the government officials like the RIAA and MPAA. I can't even begin to think of all the racial, sexist, and otherwise hateful things I've heard in music or in movies and GTA gets hit on something completely stupid? I'm serious though. Video games are just as legitimate a form of expression and entertainment as movies and music. Why isn't it treated as such?
That's scary.
That GTA:VC is a generally offensive game, yet they want Rockstar to remove one relatively innocent line? It's ridiculous, because it's a game. Rockstar isn't advocating killing Haitians. They aren't encouraging people to go on killing sprees to make their own criminal empire either. It's a freaking game, a work of fiction.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Remember, if you advocate killing cops in a Rap song, that's protected free speech! But if you advocate killing a particular group of people in a videogame, that has to be against the law! (Of course, I'm sure these same people would probably like to make offensive songs and movies illegal too, but unfortunately the record and motion picture industries have more powerful lobbying groups.)
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
I am not a lawyer, I am a programmer. That said IMHO, If I was the game manufacturer I would simply hide behind freedom of speech and freedom of press.
..don't tread on me..
It seems that our local governments have forgotten that freedom is the key. The judge should remind them of this and toss it out of court.
If I want to make a product, and there is a market for the product, I should be able to sell it on the market. It should be up to the retailers to decide if they want to put it on the shelf.
The leftist or rightist or whatevers will always be yelling about right and wrong, but thats their opinion and they are allowed to say it.
The product is already listed as an adult game. For end users that are responsible enough to understand the game is fiction.
"kill the Haitians" is simply a line in the plot of a fictional game. If they started a kill the Haitians advertising campaign available to the public eye, thats different.
pretzel_logic
Yea, we should really kick Florida out of the union.
The dead vote there, they can't hold a proper election, they don't seem to comprehend what free speech is... I mean the list goes on and on.
We're watching you Florida, one more screw up, and your phallic landmass is out!
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
In my opinion, I think the point at which Rockstar lost was the instant they decided to issue a statement apologizing to the Haitian community, they basically said "we are wrong, everyone feel free to sue us now, because we admit defeat".
Rockstar should have done the right thing for all games everywhere and fought this out in court as a free speech issue, which it clearly is.
Wont be long till we see other developers and publishers get sued, or worst of all banned or censored industry wide. If you though games were getting too many sequels and relying too much on franchise IP because publishers were not will to take risks, I can only imagine how much harder it will be to make original games with realistic content.
From a Miami Herald story about the issue:
"American society is racist, even though there are antiracist laws," Lesly Voltaire, minister for Haitians living abroad, told The Herald. "It's based on a formerly slave-owning society, which has left its mark, and there are people who think they can make money on that racism."
And it's not offensive and prejudicial when a government official from another country makes a judgement on an entire society based on a practice abolished over 100 years ago?
The world makes me so mad, and this issue is just idiotic.
--- "Yeah, I'm a bit stressed out. I have a research paper due tomorrow and it has to be +5, Insightful."
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World Scrabble champion Hzbrgzny Zgknyskqjz of Poland is rumoured to be a key witness for the defence at the trial.
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