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

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

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: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?