Although, if I was going to start vexatious litigation I might not plump for Sega given their fortunes of late.
I've only ever played the first couple of minutes of SC5, and whilst I was certainly confused as to why anybody would want to buy the game, I wasn't confused about who the principal avatar was.
Sure, the design has a nod and a wink to 60's kitsch, Dee-lite and a million other things, but I don't think it's ripping off her identity or trading on the LMK "brand".
I agree that it's sad that kids play these games. They shouldn't. The games are for adults. We all (parents, retailers, game developers, publishers, reviewers) should try to control this better.
Lets be honest, the morality in the GTA is deliberately skewed. The games are amoral. They are designed that way. The "punishments" for behaving "badly" are the richest rewards in terms of the game's escapist agenda (re: shooting down police helicopters and hijacking a tank - w00t!). However IMHO, the only real value in playing in the game world is when the game player sufficiently understands the moral/physical rules, laws and conventions that are being broken or toyed with in the game. A lot of the pastiche in the dialogue and missions in the game is also aimed at adults. The dog food missions in Portland in GTA III are an example - there's an obvious (and enjoyable) reference to the Peter Greenaway film "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover". How many 12 year olds will understand that? How many 18 year olds will?
GTA:VC is even more in point. Unless you are old enough to have a real reference point for 80s culture you are missing a whole bundle of things in that game.
My point is that whilst kids can (and do) illegally get a hold of and play these games, they are not enjoying the game in same way that an older player would - as a lot of what is going on in the game world is simply passing them by.
The real worry is however that if the kids are young enough they will completely fail to see that these games are parodies of a criminal underworld set in a realistic environment. They may also fail to see that the games contain some strong (albeit humourous) criticism of the US led obsession with fast cars, large SUVs and gun ownership. In numerous ways the GTA franchise is about irony - modern society's obsession with glamorising and sensationalising crime, rampant consumerism, etc.
If you don't get that message, and just play the games thinking it's fun to run people over or shoot people, or be a criminal - then it's a sorry state of affairs indeed. Kids are generally more impressionable though, and that's why these games should be, and are, for adults only.
In the UK, GTA III and GTA:VC are "18" rated, which is the most resrticted category available. However, the games are still shelved alongside titles which are the software equivalent of Disney films. I know that certains stores in the US have policies on this but it seems to me generally that the whole thing could be better regulated.
As regards PC games, I fail to see why the software cannot be shipped with an age verification key prior to/on install. The key could be verified by referring to any centrally held information on you which confirms your age (in the UK an obvious one is your National Insurance number, but I expect a credit card would work just as well). Aside from the privacy concerns, which I think are minimal, I think this might help. Of course, cracks for the protection would probably be engineered in the way the ripped s/ware on the whole can be found on the internet. For console titles, age check verification could be used at the point of purchase. I have NEVER seen this being done anywhere, in any retail or game store in the UK. I have however read about it being used in the US. Again, this doesn't solve the problem, but it all helps.
For what it's worth, I don't agree with your general comment that gaming has "decended into the most degrading human activities possible". I think a quick scan over any critically acclaimed list of games will soon enough demonstrate that comment to be utterly insubstantial. I could name Mario Sunshine, Metriod Prime, Civ III, Baldur's Gate (series), Black and White, Super Monkey Ball, DDR (in all incarnations), Rez, Jak and Daxter, FIFA (series) and (most obviously) the (often hated) Sims as exmaples of games which while not to everyone's tastes, are inventive, new, exciting and enjoyable to play, and not (by any understand
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a bit of short on cash, non?
Although, if I was going to start vexatious litigation I might not plump for Sega given their fortunes of late.
I've only ever played the first couple of minutes of SC5, and whilst I was certainly confused as to why anybody would want to buy the game, I wasn't confused about who the principal avatar was.
Sure, the design has a nod and a wink to 60's kitsch, Dee-lite and a million other things, but I don't think it's ripping off her identity or trading on the LMK "brand".
I agree that it's sad that kids play these games. They shouldn't. The games are for adults. We all (parents, retailers, game developers, publishers, reviewers) should try to control this better.
Lets be honest, the morality in the GTA is deliberately skewed. The games are amoral. They are designed that way. The "punishments" for behaving "badly" are the richest rewards in terms of the game's escapist agenda (re: shooting down police helicopters and hijacking a tank - w00t!). However IMHO, the only real value in playing in the game world is when the game player sufficiently understands the moral/physical rules, laws and conventions that are being broken or toyed with in the game. A lot of the pastiche in the dialogue and missions in the game is also aimed at adults. The dog food missions in Portland in GTA III are an example - there's an obvious (and enjoyable) reference to the Peter Greenaway film "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover". How many 12 year olds will understand that? How many 18 year olds will?
GTA:VC is even more in point. Unless you are old enough to have a real reference point for 80s culture you are missing a whole bundle of things in that game.
My point is that whilst kids can (and do) illegally get a hold of and play these games, they are not enjoying the game in same way that an older player would - as a lot of what is going on in the game world is simply passing them by.
The real worry is however that if the kids are young enough they will completely fail to see that these games are parodies of a criminal underworld set in a realistic environment. They may also fail to see that the games contain some strong (albeit humourous) criticism of the US led obsession with fast cars, large SUVs and gun ownership. In numerous ways the GTA franchise is about irony - modern society's obsession with glamorising and sensationalising crime, rampant consumerism, etc.
If you don't get that message, and just play the games thinking it's fun to run people over or shoot people, or be a criminal - then it's a sorry state of affairs indeed. Kids are generally more impressionable though, and that's why these games should be, and are, for adults only.
In the UK, GTA III and GTA:VC are "18" rated, which is the most resrticted category available. However, the games are still shelved alongside titles which are the software equivalent of Disney films. I know that certains stores in the US have policies on this but it seems to me generally that the whole thing could be better regulated.
As regards PC games, I fail to see why the software cannot be shipped with an age verification key prior to/on install. The key could be verified by referring to any centrally held information on you which confirms your age (in the UK an obvious one is your National Insurance number, but I expect a credit card would work just as well). Aside from the privacy concerns, which I think are minimal, I think this might help. Of course, cracks for the protection would probably be engineered in the way the ripped s/ware on the whole can be found on the internet. For console titles, age check verification could be used at the point of purchase. I have NEVER seen this being done anywhere, in any retail or game store in the UK. I have however read about it being used in the US. Again, this doesn't solve the problem, but it all helps.
For what it's worth, I don't agree with your general comment that gaming has "decended into the most degrading human activities possible". I think a quick scan over any critically acclaimed list of games will soon enough demonstrate that comment to be utterly insubstantial. I could name Mario Sunshine, Metriod Prime, Civ III, Baldur's Gate (series), Black and White, Super Monkey Ball, DDR (in all incarnations), Rez, Jak and Daxter, FIFA (series) and (most obviously) the (often hated) Sims as exmaples of games which while not to everyone's tastes, are inventive, new, exciting and enjoyable to play, and not (by any understand