GTA V (controversy discussion)

[Headshotkill]

So I watched some footage of GTA V and already know that GTA IV was better but that's just my opinion. (driving and physics!)

So there has been alot of discussion about GTA V's violence and in particular a torture-scene.

I watched the scene and really wasn't that shocked or disturbed as some said, mostly safe techniques that don't leave any permanent/dangerous injury. But it's probably also cause I've watched some nasty stuff here on the net that does cross the line and is real.

[willow512]

GTA can't release without a controverse can they? And it always has to do with violence sex drug use or any of the issues good citizens always go on about.

[Pixel Bombs]

"Think about the children!"

You mean the children who shouldn't be playing rated M games???

[EnigmaGrey]

Please, I played M rated games and I turned out just fine!
 

[PK'EZ-54]

I never played any M rated games. And I turned out insane. It's not the violence. It's the characters.

[PombeGeek]

I like the series (and this game), however the language used, especially the N-word just seems wrong... I look at all the negative press that went towards Riley Cooper from American Football (NFL) and think the gratuitous use in games needs to stop. 

 

But in full disclosure - I'm currently playing the game..

[Realmkeeper]

So I watched some footage of GTA V and already know that GTA IV was better but that's just my opinion. (driving and physics!)

So there has been alot of discussion about the GTA V's violence and in particular a torture-scene.

I watched the scene and really wasn't that shocked or disturbed as some said, mostly safe techniques that don't leave any permanent/dangerous injury. But it's probably also cause I've watched some nasty stuff here on the net that does cross the line and is real.

I thought the driving in GTV IV was better, after watching about 5 hours of GTA V gameplay (my flatmates have been playing it in turns downstairs for the last 2 days straight). But after having a little drive myself, driving simply feels better in GTA V (well, as nice as driving can feel on a console...)

Give it a chance when you've got a copy, you might be oddly surprised. I think they put quite a bit of work into getting the driving to feel the way we expect it to.

 

Also, there's no real controversy in GTA - The language and actions are pretty much representative (stereotypically in most cases) of the cultures and groups they are intending to portray.

Though I would hope that no 13yr old was exposed to quite a bit of the stuff in GTA, I know that mummy and daddy will buy them the game because they want it - then go and complain to whoever will listen (usually the media, or distributors) that their child shouldn't be seeing and hearing these atrocities in a game without thinking about who ignored the rating on the box before they gave it to their child.

 

On that note, I also think society is becoming a little desensitized to vulgar language - my mother is a primary school teacher and says she increasingly hears the C-word and the N-bomb being thrown around by children, and it's hard to properly punish them because they don't understand the offense meaning behind the words - they just heard them being used in movies and video games.

She teaches 10 and 11yr olds I think - they are already buzzing about being able to go home after school and get in a few hours of GTA V.

 

What the hell is the world coming to?

[Headshotkill]

I feel like the swearing and profanity aren't that extreme. I think that with time these words have just lost there power and can be used in normal conversation around friends. (With added sarcasm, not too frequently and in an acceptable context off cours.)

[PombeGeek]

 

I like the series (and this game), however the language used, especially the N-word just seems wrong... I look at all the negative press that went towards Riley Cooper from American Football (NFL) and think the gratuitous use in games needs to stop. 

 

But in full disclosure - I'm currently playing the game..

The usage of the word nigger/nigga is realistic. Whenever I've vistsed my family in the US, in the proper "ghetto", I heard it NON STOP.

 

 

 

 

Does that make it "right" and ok? 

[Realmkeeper]

 

 

I like the series (and this game), however the language used, especially the N-word just seems wrong... I look at all the negative press that went towards Riley Cooper from American Football (NFL) and think the gratuitous use in games needs to stop. 

 

But in full disclosure - I'm currently playing the game..

The usage of the word nigger/nigga is realistic. Whenever I've vistsed my family in the US, in the proper "ghetto", I heard it NON STOP.

 

 

 

 

Does that make it "right" and ok? 

 

It certainly makes it 'in context' adding to the immersion of the environment.

So, in it's given context it is most certainly 'right', but taken out of context it wouldn't be.

[willow512]

The usage of the word nigger/nigga is realistic. Whenever I've vistsed my family in the US, in the proper "ghetto", I heard it NON STOP.

 

Does that make it "right" and ok? 

Yes, when one brother calls the other a nigga, he's saying "You're like me. We share lineage culture and creed." He's not saying "You're inferior trash." One is a compliment underlining something shared, the other an insult. A compliment if given as such and received as such is never wrong.

 

Who are we to dictate what any group of people can or cannot call themselves?

[CareBearCorpse]

I like the series (and this game), however the language used, especially the N-word just seems wrong... I look at all the negative press that went towards Riley Cooper from American Football (NFL) and think the gratuitous use in games needs to stop. 

 

But in full disclosure - I'm currently playing the game..

The usage of the word nigger/nigga is realistic. Whenever I've vistsed my family in the US, in the proper "ghetto", I heard it NON STOP.

 

Does that make it "right" and ok?

It certainly makes it 'in context' adding to the immersion of the environment.

So, in it's given context it is most certainly 'right', but taken out of context it wouldn't be.

Django controversy remix ?

Just as controversial : are flying tanks still featured in GTA (only time i watched a friend play a while ago he was doing just that)

[DirectorPr]

GTA games are always taken way to literal by soccer moms, I believe controversy is only here because some people dislike that there's not enough drama in life, or they just need a scape goat for some tragedy.

[kinyoshi]

I still don't understand why parents are buying rated M games for 12 year olds...

[EnigmaGrey]

I still don't understand why parents are buying rated M games for 12 year olds...

We were great liars when we were kids.

[Pixel Bombs]

We were great liars when we were kids.

 

I told my mother when I was like 8 that Halo was Star-Wars and she got it. I regret nothing.

[DirectorPr]

You are devious people. I like you guys! I just stole my dads copy of GTA III, and eventually it was more or less a situation of, "Meh, hes a mature kid. Let him have the M rated games."

[Headshotkill]

Lol, when I was younger my mother and father didn't make a big deal out of buying violent games. I remember when I was 9/10 I was in the gamestore pre-playing GTA-vice city and my 3 year older sister said "Mommy mommy! He has murdered a police-man and has stolen his gun! :D" my mother reacted more impressed rather than shocked. And now that I look at myself it hasn't really done anything bad, I pretty much get the best results from my class. (7 people in total, I know it's tiny but there are classes with 2 people in them...)

[Guest]

Please, I played M rated games and I turned out just fine!

 

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say this,

 

You did not.

 

You monster!

[EnigmaGrey]

 

Please, I played M rated games and I turned out just fine!

 

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say this,

 

You did not.

 

You monster!

 

[Tooks]

Having played this game to completion I can say the only thing that annoyed me about the N-word is that it is too commonplace. It didn't offend me I just say there thinking 'so we're going to say this three times every sentance?' I can't complain though because Rockstar brought in Actual street gangs to assist in writing the lines for those characters and their initial response was "We would never talk like this" so whats in the game is actually a decent portrayal of how the gangs they're parodying actually talk to each other.

 

My mind did glaze over during most of their conversations though because I honestly couldn't understand them half the time, I don't talk street.

 

Edit: This won't matter to most of you but another thing that bugged me is I felt this game was very much a 'straight mans game made by straight men for straight men'. Its easy for a someone to roll into the strip club ingame and see pre-rendered nipples on poly-boobs bouncing on their screen but there is literally NOTHING in the game of that sort for Female gamers or Gay gamers. I know we're probably a minority especially in games like this but then they go and make the only 'sort of bi character' Trevor, the insane, old, creepy bloke. Lovely.

[k12314]

Having played this game to completion I can say the only thing that annoyed me about the N-word is that it is too commonplace. It didn't offend me I just say there thinking 'so we're going to say this three times every sentance?' I can't complain though because Rockstar brought in Actual street gangs to assist in writing the lines for those characters and their initial response was "We would never talk like this" so whats in the game is actually a decent portrayal of how the gangs they're parodying actually talk to each other.

 

My mind did glaze over during most of their conversations though because I honestly couldn't understand them half the time, I don't talk street.

 

Edit: This won't matter to most of you but another thing that bugged me is I felt this game was very much a 'straight mans game made by straight men for straight men'. Its easy for a someone to roll into the strip club ingame and see pre-rendered nipples on poly-boobs bouncing on their screen but there is literally NOTHING in the game of that sort for Female gamers or Gay gamers. I know we're probably a minority especially in games like this but then they go and make the only 'sort of bi character' Trevor, the insane, old, creepy bloke. Lovely.

 

Well, they were going for the more "commonplace American experience" kind of feel. So... Yeah. Liquor, guns, and tits and pretty much America in a nutshell, alongside fast food and crime. And the street talk isn't that hard to understand, you just gotta connect the dots.

 

Then again, this is coming from an American in a shitty, run-down town that is rather similar to Los Santos, just smaller. Seriously, GTA V is very accurate when it comes to the way gangs operate and how violent shit gets a lot.

[Maderas]

My parents had no problems buying me M rated games when I was a kid because they had the common sense to realize that normal people don't go on killing sprees because of video games. I don't care how young you are when you're exposed to it; if you're past the age of six and you're unable to separate reality from what the little men inside your TV do then you were destined to run afoul of the law anyway. Anybody who is pushed over the edge toward committing violence because of violent media were going to end up doing it eventually anyway, because there is something wrong with them.

 

Research the perpetrators of mass shootings and cross reference how often the phrase 'ticking time bomb' is kicked around. The vast majority of these people give plenty of advance warning that they're seriously mentally disturbed individuals, but it's easier to ignore them and hope for the best because 1) dealing with crazy people who don't think they're crazy is a legal quagmire and 2) keeping crazy people institutionalized is expensive.

 

Video games are just the latest scapegoat for politicians to point their fingers at. It's like blaming rape on skinmags back in the 50s. We're a species of habitual finger-pointers.

[Rathlord]

The N word offends me as a white guy because of the double standard. Two black guys can call each other that (even when they're angry at each other and screaming insults) but if I said it, even just being friendly and tossing it around like they do, they'd (try to) kick my teeth in.

 

 

Edit: To be clear, since this caused a bit of a backlash, I'm referring to the kind of people you find in GTA. Car thieves, gang members, and drug cartel members. I'm not talking about everyday people. I was on my phone at the time and at work so I didn't have much time to clarify the post.

[Pixel Bombs]

The N word offends me as a white guy because of the double standard. Two black guys can call each other that (even when they're angry at each other and screaming insults) but if I said it, even just being friendly and tossing it around like they do, they'd (try to) kick my teeth in.

Uhh, Black people arnt a bunch of animals who go into a violent rage when a white person says nigga. lol