Games like GTA are a symptom of a deep problem in the post-modern west.
It's true, as the apologists say, that playing violent games or watching violent movies won't cause someone to go out and commit violence. It's also true that to look at today's youth and the violence that they seem to embrace is to look into the abyss. The abyss of morality, of ethics, of self-reflection, of the post-modern.
While I can't in good faith call for the censorship of games like GTA, I can morn the loss of the traditions and morality that once would have made its existence unthinkable. And to those who think I'm being melodramatic, I hear in the background of their smug assurances of worldliness, the sound of fiddling, and Rome burning.
Sorry, but that sounds an awful lot like someone with little understanding of Western culture.
The same England that produced Shakespeare also produced John Ford and elevated bear-baiting to royal sport. And her Golden Age was just around the corner.