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 ...
I have Grand Theft Auto 3. It was fun for about a day or two, then certain aspects of the game bored me so I quit playing. Nonetheless, it really bothers me that the game is marketed to children. They have commercials on MTV and comedy central - I don't care that they play it after 10pm, kids flock to those stations to see South Park, Dave Chapell, and all the crap they play on MTV. The game IS marketed to kids, and the majority of people who have PS2s or Xboxes are under-age. That's where the money is, that's who the games are for.
Well, I guess one could watch "Big Jake" on TV.
Excuse me while I fall out of my chair laughing at you...
i totally agree. and i'm sick of folks that muddle up the liberal ideology of the nanny state and the pointing out of aberrations of capitalism which of course exist.
Hmmm. I have a 17 year old, and he, his father and I have had our computers networked for years and the three of us play games like Doom and kill the heck out of each other on a weekly basis. Funny. None of us have had the urge to kill each other in real life, and we do have guns and ammo available. *Scratches Head, Looks Corn-fused*
We also have a Nintendo and have played Grand Theft Auto in a few of it's incarnations. I'm no good at it, but I love watchin' the guys play. I have a "Party Like a Rockstar" bumperticker on my car, and I'm a 44 year old Female, Veteran, Soccer Mom, Conservative, Gun Owning, Bush-Voting, Flag Flyer.
People get their panties in a twist over the silliest things. If parents object, then don't buy it for your kids, search their computers and Nintendo stashes regularily for "contraband" and deal with it as you see fit.
But for gosh sakes! Don't open your mind and actually PLAY THE GAME a time or two. You might turn into a psycho-killer. LOL!
Perhaps. But why should my life be made kid-friendly due to the inability of other parents to take care of their kids?
To control the moral content of media images parents must work together through the medium of censorship.
San Andreas sold 2 million copies in its first week. It seems that the people of this country are voting with their pocketbooks against censorship.
Tell you what: I promise not to come to your house and make your kids play San Andreas if you promise not to break down my door and take my video games away.
Parents should control what their kids watch. South Park, Chappelle's Show and most of what's on MTV is not appropriate for kids.
Anyway, Comedy Central and MTV are cable channels. Having cable is totally voluntary.
I must have missed the part of W's platform where he calls for censorship of video games. Perhaps you'd be happier with a party that believes it takes a village to raise a child.
But if you censor those videos and video games, you CLOSE that pressure valve, YOU cause REAL LIFE violent actions and crimes to rise in this country.
I see. So, for instance, if we have more and more pornography it will be a pressure valve for misogyny and will result in lots less rape and sexual assault. Right ?
Your kind used to peddle that nonsense 30 years ago. Nobody does today. Gee, I wonder why ? Maybe because if a culture nurtures evil it reaps evil.
Not a big gamer, myself. I only play TOMB RAIDER on my PC. I like the size of Lara Croft's guns. :^)
"if a culture nurtures evil it reaps evil"
succinctly worded! i have to keep this one in mind.
As a serial killer wanted in fifteen states, I can honestly state that it was Pong that put me over the edge. Never could beat my sister. That's why I had to chop her up with a fire axe. You too?
I actually find that kind of surprising.
W was reelected because America is in the midst of a full bore Christian revival that sees no reason why America popular culture cannot be what it was before 1970. It happens historically. A full bore Christian revival replaced Regency culture with Victorian culture. And it was Christianity in the first place that displaced the carnal culture of late antiquity.
We have already seen the cultural reaction building up and it is only starting as America gets redder and redder. And it is what makes defenses of GTA on "free speech" ground so ridiculous. GTA was never meant for adults. It was always marketed entirely to children. It was never meant for "mature" audiences. It is a shot across the bow from mass media to every family in this country. The people who created GTA have targetted your child. So censorship is how parents fight back.
Seriesly, nope. No Playstation or Nintendo or GameBoy or whatever is used now. Haven't done much since I had my Intellivision as a kid. I do like the TR games, though. That's pretty much it. :)
But why is that the norm? Kids form up into gangs to get a sense of identity and, self-worth and belonging. And youth gangs aren't a new invention, they existed when I was a latchkey kid, they even existed when my mom was a latchkey kid. Good parents that give their kids a proper environment to grow up in can keep their kids away from these problems.
I'm not a libertarian and I don't want us to become like Holland. But I also don't want us to become like Indonesia either. I'm one of the people that put GWB back in the White House, but I didn't see forcing adults to live in a world tailored for children in his platform, maybe you can point it out to me.
for those in touch with reality that is all it is.
for others whose feet may not be quite in contact the the ground, it may lead to something else. but kooks throughout history have found excuses to go berserk, video games are just the latest one.
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