Posted on 11/18/2004 9:40:03 AM PST by red_is_beautiful
This time, the blood spills in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," which looks, feels and sounds a lot like its predecessors. That means you pull off drive-bys and other hard-core criminal goals, while killing cops, prostitutes and hundreds of innocent victims on the side. Some people complain that the game could desensitize children to murderous images. But it's rated M for Mature. Kids aren't supposed to have access to it, even though we know that many will. [...] There's sex in "San Andreas," as there was in "Grand Theft Auto III." For a small amount of money, you can pick up hookers and drive them behind a bush. The car rocks. Talk is exchanged. [...] The game is smart like that, but the characters aren't. The one thing I can't make happen is intellectual reflection. Characters point guns. Characters kill one another other. Not one stops to think.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
noone WANTS his children to play the game but everyone knows
that a lot of children ARE playing it. you can't watch every step of your kids and you don't want to do that. i don't want to argue with you, but i think my opinion is not that up the pole...
Most of the targets in GTA aren't innocents. Contrary to popular belief there is actually a plot in the games, not a very deep one but a plot all the same. In these games most of who you're killing are criminals (gang wars are the general setting for the game), if you're in a position where you're killing cops you probably screwed up and will need to reload your last save. Yeah there's some purely wanton mayhem in them, but that's aside from the plot and the players doesn't have to do it to have a complete and enjoyable game experience.
I am a gamer as well. I love first person shooters like Half-Life and also MMORPG's like Everquest.
I am also an adult and a parent.
I would not allow my young children to play GTA.. But I did allow them to play certain other violent games.
Why?
Because I believe there is a difference between fantasizing about blowing up aliens or hacking goblins with a sword and shooting cops, slapping "ho's" and running over little old ladies.
And if your GTA-playing kid goes out and kills someone, for example, and several million other kids play it and behave perfectly fine, I would recommend trying to find out why the kid was so screwed up in the first place that he could be so easily influenced by a simple video game, then taking it out on the industry.
As I've said before, if a video game/movie inspires some one to kill, they already had psychological problems well before that.
I love the vigilante cop missions.
I can't imagine a worse video game than one where the characters sit around "reflecting intellectually".
That's good stuff. My favorite is still the jumping, getting going really fast and finding a ramp, it's the most unrealistic part of the game but it sure is fun. Even more fun on motorcycles in VC.
When I was a kid, we had an Atari 2600. My parents didn't leave it out, and I got to play for an hour a day, max. They played it more than I did. Parents could do a better job then? What happened, y'all start slacking?
ping
There is a lot of pious talk about how it is parental responsibility to keep games like these away from their kids, not "censorship" (as if censorship weren't the medium by which parents collectively control the moral content of media images).
Get real.
Parents cannot shield their kids from the media. They cannot shield their kids from other kids who have totally permissive parents who let them have anything they want (you can bet that every kid knows someone who has GTA). That is the reality of the latchkey kid whose parents see the videogame as an acceptable alternative to having their unsupervised kids hanging out on the streets.
If you libertarians want to live in a society where millions of young people have absorbed their life lessons from GTA:San Andreas because you think that it is "free speech" to be protected at all costs, you are foolishly unrealistic.
I think they should get tow ork on that PC version. I can't stand the PS2 controls. These sorts of games are really meant to be plaeed with a mouse and a keyboard, but these snot nosed kids with their consoles get first crack at it. Life's so unfair.
ok, maybe the "killer kid" is not illustrating my concern. but i keep my assertion that violence in games should serve a purpose which complies with moral standards.
So you want the government to point real guns at companies to make them stop writing game programs with fake guns?
Someone could get (for real) hurt.
You're a dope. Get out of my country!
Destroy a weed feild
Get inked
Mow your lawn
Committ a B&E
Go for a swim
D@mn! Time to go on a diet!
'Tis much better to have a nanny state, right? That way, you don't have to worry about your kids as everyone will suddenly have to live their lives as though they were responsible for them.
You can substitute "alcohol" or "tobacco" or "pornography" or "guns" into that statement and the argument is the same: You want to make the world completely kid-friendly by taking away the rights of adults to engage in any activity you consider naughty.
Yes they can. I never went over to any friends house until my mother met their parents, strict rule harshly enforced. And all TV use was heavily controlled by my mother. That's what raising a kid is all about. And I was a latchkey kid, but there were rules, and I got checked-up on. I wouldn't let a kid play GTA and any parent that does is a flaming moron, but that doesn't mean adults shouldn't be allowed to. Attempts to reduce reality to PG-13 to make it "safe" for kids that aren't actually being raised by their parents are doomed to failure and deserve ridicule.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.