Rockstar's Next Game Draws Protesters

Rockstar's next title, Bully, has already come under fire from anti-bullying groups. Activists have taken it up another notch, though, by demonstrating outside of the NY Rockstar offices. They've also laid out a list of demands to the game developer, hoping to get the company to change its ways. The Peaceoholics demand Rockstar "Not to release Bully under any circumstances, Volunteer to sell its violent and sexually explicit games in adult video stores only, Let parents return Grand Theft Auto for a full refund until they do a national awareness campaign to educate parents of content and possible effects, Create a fund for victims of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and car-jackings, etc, Make a national apology for misleading and lying to children, parents, and legislators about their intentions and causing insurance premiums to sky rocket, Give a written response within five business days of receipt of these demands" Press the Buttons has commentary, and uses some words I'd like to myself.

Comments

ROFLMAO

[pudding7]

AHAHAHAHA AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAlLOLOLOLOLLo!!!!!eleventyone!!!111 !!

Those "demands" are hilarious.

A list of demands?

[Quattro Vezina]

Aren't lists of demands what terrorists give when they hold people hostage?

Personal Responsibility is Dead...

[xTMFWahoo]

I can't understand why no one blames the parents for subjecting their children to violent video games. It's the parents responsibility to monitor their kids- what TV shows/movies they watch, what video games they play ect.

Parents need to start doing their jobs IMHO.

Re:Personal Responsibility is Dead...

[PhilippeT]

That's when parents will tell you that you (and everyone else) have no right to tell them how to raise their children.

In my book parents shouldn't be allowed to harm their child via negligence.

This includes letting them play a game, watching TV, etc... without understand that the actions in them is not always meant to be repeated.

Meaning if you see someone going into space it doesn't mean you will never be able to. If you work hard you may be able to. But it does mean that if in game XYZ you can hit people with a hammer and they make funny noises it's not real and you shouldn't do it.

That's my 2 cents

Re:Personal Responsibility is Dead...

[negative3]

Absolutely.

Ignorance of the law is not a defense in a courtroom, so how can "responsible" parents use that as an excuse when it comes to raising their own children?

When I was young, my parents let me watch whatever I wanted (within reason) and play whatever I wanted (then again, I grew up with NES, so that's probably a bit of a stretch). BUT they did explain to me the difference between right and wrong and gave me a good clue about how to conduct myself as a member of a civilized society.

Why don't we start protesting the protest group by giving them a list of demands? I'll start one:

• raise your own kids and let us raise ours

• stop making it harder for responsible adults to buy violent games

• start a fund to pay for the migraine medicine for the headaches you cause reasonable, intelligent people

• if these demands aren't met within 5 days of receipt, we'll know you have no sense of humor either

Re:Personal Responsibility is Dead...

[ivan256]

reduce the harm that some of this stuff causes when it inevitably gets into their hands.

Exposure doesn't cause harm. Exposure without understanding causes harm.

Since it's near impossible to shield children from all exposure from things their parents find objectionable, you could say that the lack of exposure causes harm, since without exposure there is no understanding.

Hiding things you disapprove of is bad. When they see something you don't like, don't cover their eyes, explain why it's bad. That way you have control over what they think about that thing. Otherwise they will be exposed to it when you're not around and forming their own opinions; opinions you may not approve of. Children don't learn your values if you hide them. This isn't limited to children either. Censorship in almost all forms is bad for this reason.

Have you ever seen a group of kids catch a glimpse of nudity in an 'R' rated film? You can tell the difference between the kids with parents who hide such things from their children and the kids with parents who teach them about those things. The kids who's parents have explained what was happening tend to cover their eyes when the nudity comes on. The kids who have never been exposed to it get really wide-eyed.

Not to say I like the idea...

[sH4RD]

But the anti-bullies are bullying the creators of Bully.

How ironic.

The Response

[Deathlizard]

Dear Peaceoholics

No.

Love Rockstar Games.

PS: Reserve your Copy of Bully today!

Arrogance that could power a city.

[WidescreenFreak]

Karma be damned! I'm pissed now!

Okay, first off, who is this group to think that they have some kind of moral obligation to place demands on Rockstar that must be answered within five days? What are they going to do if Rockstar ignores them, as I hope they will? Stage another protest with even more demands?

Secondly, I want to congratulate them for increasing by an order of magnitude my desire to purchase both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Bully when available, even though I will probably let them sit on my shelf unopened, as amy way of showing support for Rockstar.

These people need to realize that we gamers are a much more powerful force, financially speaking, than they are with their holier-than-thou moralism. They're giving Rockstar more advertising than they could have possibly imagined. If only such arrogance and desire to force their morality could be harnessed...

Listen, Peaceoholics, you are more than welcome to create your own gaming company that offers a line of products that are much more rooted in your personal morals. I have no doubt that you will sell millions of games, as long as they're entertaining and of a marketable value. Until that time, Rockstar that the right to sell whatever products the core gaming populous (males aged 18-35) want to purchase. Deal with it.

Re:Arrogance that could power a city.

[dasunt]

If you are annoyed with them, TELL THEM.

Google tells me that the Peaceoholics organization in the District of Columbia has a website as (surprise) peaceoholics.org

Guess what, they also have a Contact Form!

Gone too far

[Nytewynd]

causing insurance premiums to sky rocket

WTF? You can make arguments that Rockstar games are bad for young kids, but are we really at the point where we are blaming a game company because our insurance premiums are too high? Maybe premiums are too high because we have idiots on the road. Idiots like the people that blame game companies for insurance premiums.

I hate when groups of "watchdogs" make demands. Who do these people think they are? They tend to make up offensive facts (OMG, the purple puppet is a flaming homo!!!) just to have something to bitch about. Or they take one quote out of context and then go on-and-on about it, twisting it until even reasonable people think it is offensive. This happens in politics all the time. I guess Rockstar got what they wanted though. As they keep pushing the envelope on what kind of ridiculous content you can fit into a game, they are going to get more and more of this.

Part of me thinks Rockstar is trying to make money by peddling offensive ideas to kids, but that really doesn't matter. Parents should be preventing kids from buying this stuff, or face the consequences when Little Johny pummels someone in 3rd grade because Bully is his favorite game.

I'm just waiting for a game where you can strangle a prostitute with a bungee cord, and beat up a cop with strips of bacon. That will be the funnest game ever.

Not so sure about Bully

[defkkon]

I love GTA: San Andreas. I've put a lot of hours into it, and think its some great entertainment. I agree with the standard argument of "Parents should regulate what their children play, and pay attention to what comes into their household", blah blah blah. We've all heard the arguments.

But a game about Bullying students and teachers in a fictional schoolyard? There's almost no doubt in my mind that I will purchase (and probably enjoy!) this game, but c'mon Rockstar, can you push some more buttons?

With all the sensationalized stories about bullying in schools, children committing suicide due to being harassed, etc. do you really think its wise to make a game like this?

I realize it'll be rated M. I know that there will be ESRB warnings around Violence, Language, etc. I also realize that this sort of stuff is great publicity for their game releases. But games like this DO give the electronic entertainment industry a bad name. Its already under fire for "Hot Coffee". Do they really need to demonize video games any more?

And before someone says it, NO, I don't believe creative game-making should be stymied by groups such as the ones protesting Bully. I just think they should become more creative in ways OTHER than kicking the crap out of children in a schoolyard. I think that Pikmin, Katamari Damacy, Morrowind, etc. were just as creative an "out there" as GTA. But no one is coming after the industry because you killed some cartoonish Pikmin.

Re:Good job Zonk

[j-turkey]

Actually, the post links the original submission and is a follow-up. This is not a dupe, and is OK by me.

Re:Insurance

[kaellinn18]

Seriously, you live in the DC area, do you have any idea why the hell there are so many roundabouts there?

Yes, actually, I do. It's a fairly neat piece of history. DC was designed purposefully so that it's very hard to get where you want to go. The architects and city planners designed it this way back in the 1700s so that it would be difficult for invading armies to invade and capture the capital. It would be tough to get a hold of the leadership if you couldn't even find them, wouldn't it? :-)

Of course, now-a-days you can just level the entire city with a bomb, and the road system just pisses people off.

Little Jimmy invites his friend Billy over...

[Allison Geode]

Jimmy: Hey, billy, want to come over and play Grand Theft Auto?
Billy: I'd love to, but mom said I couldn't play violent video games anymore, and she's even out protesting at Rockstar headquarters!
Jimmy: Yeah, my mom is protesting, too, which means we'll have all afternoon un-attended to do whatever the hell we want!
Billy: AWESOME! Should I bring my dad's Playboy and my brother's marijuana, too?