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GTA Sex Game Debate Intensifies
The ESRB kerfluffle with Rockstar shows no signs of ebbing. Gamespot is reporting that a watchdog group has gotten into the act. From the article: "The Minneapolis-based watchdog group, founded by Dr. David Walsh, previously decried the game for its glorification of cop-killing with an online petition. Now the group is issuing a National Parental Warning for the game, giving concerned mothers and fathers a heads-up that their children could be playing with their joysticks in an inappropriate way. The National Institute on Media and the Family joins an already active debate on the game, its content, and the appropriateness of its current M rating." Additionally, the Dutch hacker who claims to have uncovered the game content has been identified. From the article: "...the mod was authored by 36-year-old Patrick Wildenborg, a Dutch gamer and a member of the modder community...Wildenborg insists that the X-rated code is already in the game and that all his patch does is bypass the game's 'censor flags.'" Among many others, Game Girl Advance has commentary on the story.
I could see it if the ESRB was only complaining about the violence (although even that would be debateable, since it is already rated mature), but Sex? If I had children, i would much prefer that they were exposed to sex, and educated about safe sex, rather than having the constant exposure to violence that kids nowadays seem to have.
Unfortunately, in my lifetime, it seems to have always been this way in the US. The media appears to promote violence and repress sex (unless it's violent sex, like rape - which is arguably not even about sex anyway).
This has become a country of minority (wealthy) rule over the majority (normal people).
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
In Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, gamers can play basketball, play pool, dance, grab some fast food, buy clothes, work out at the gym, base jump, have girlfriends, and race remote-controlled cars--all completely legal activities in the real world. However, the game's main character can also shoot innocent bystanders, stomp the heads of prostitutes into a bloody pulp, and launch rocket-propelled grenades at police helicopters--all decidedly illegal outside the realm of gaming
There are crimes being committed inside a video game!!! Well gee, who would have thought that crimes could possibly be committed in a video game, why can't we think of the children!?
I will agree, the actual sex stuff is really unecessary and I don't personally think it adds any real value to the game, but that's as far as they should go. They shouldn't yell about being able to kill prostitutes, or shoot police helicopters with grenade launchers (where's this grenade launcher anyway?). You can do that to pedestrians and villians as well, and it's the open ended gameplay that people love and not the sex mod that gets them hooked on the game.
No, he's making a comparison between Autralia and America and I'd say that Australia seems a far more well rounded country than America. I'm British, btw. Mod Away!
I beg to differ, one of the pleasures of playing games (and reading books and watching movies) is exploring possibilities you wouldn't normally (and in this case legally) be able to do.
Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!
Regardless of how many people knew about this beforehand, with this being made such a big deal of (I even saw it featured on fucking ABC News last night), there are millions of people who do know about it now, and went straight to Google and typed in "san andreas hot coffee". Great move, guys! You don't want something available to a large subset of gamers, and now you've told them exactly what to search for to find the actual mod itself! Fucking brilliant!
FC Closer
...to me.
Considering the amount of inappropriate content already in the game, is this one thing really enough to warrant changing the rating? Especially considering that the game, as shipped, has this portion locked out? It's like complaining that they used the F-bomb one too many times in Pulp Fiction.
In addition, the M rating already restricts the sale of the game to those 17 and older. The AO rating would make it available to those 18 and older. Seems that one of the other is redundant. The only reason that the MPAA features an R and NC-17 rating (which are considered the equivalent of M and AO) is because in a theater setting, NO minors are allowed to view an NC-17 rating, regardless of parental consent. You cannot even take your own kids in. In a take-home setting (such as video/video games) there is no discernable difference between the two, because either way the parent can just hand it to the kid when they get home.
The only reason the two distinct ratings were created was to allow stores a black-and-white line to filter out which titles they would refuse to carry. God forbid the management make those decisions on their own.
Really, I think it was created less to give stores like Target and Wal-Mart an excuse not to carry AO rated games, and more an excuse for chains to explain why they DO carry certain M-rated titles. "I know it's inappropriate for kids, ma'am...but it is only M rated, and we do carry M rated games." That way they can milk the GTA cash cow (along with other "offensive" content) and still act like a family store.
This is the reason for the 1 year age difference as well...by making it 17 and under, they can claim that since it can be legally sold to minors it's appropriate for a family-oriented store.