Thread: GTAIV=EVIL! .... according to MADD

In summary-GTAIV has more attention than anything else, and MADD is trying to get a hot piece of that steamy action by bitching.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...B_e3AD90CH47G0

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants a stricter rating on "Grand Theft Auto IV."

The organization is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the independent organization that assigns video-game ratings, to reclassify "GTA IV" as an Adults Only game. The action-driving game, which includes the ability to drive while intoxicated, is currently rated Mature.

"Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke," MADD said in a statement released Tuesday. "Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable."

MADD is also calling on publisher Take-Two Interactive and developer Rockstar Games to consider stopping distribution of the game — which analysts expect to sell 9 million copies and make over $400 million at launch — "out of respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving."

In the critically acclaimed open-world game, players have the choice of patronizing a bar and then attempting to drive drunk. While virtually under the influence, the screen becomes blurred and the controls are more difficult to use. Players also have the option of hailing a taxi or walking. The intoxication effects wear off after a few minutes in the game.

"We have a great deal of respect for MADD's mission, but we believe the mature audience for 'Grand Theft Auto IV' is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game's content," Rockstar Games said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday. "For the same reason that you can't judge an entire film or television program by a single scene, you can't judge 'Grand Theft Auto IV' by a small aspect of the game."

"GTA IV" follows the criminal exploits of protagonist Niko Bellic, an imigrant-turned-gangster who travels from Eastern Europe to Liberty City, the game's fictional locale based on New York City. As Bellic, players can hijack cars, earn cash for criminal activities, shoot innocent bystanders and visit strip clubs.

MADD declined to comment further about their statement.

Now I obviously respect and understand why MADD could get so passionate about drunk driving, with all its perils and whatnot, but what do you guys think? Should GTA IV have an Adults Only rating, or is this simply the case of a bunch of attention-whores who seem to be PMS'ing non-stop 24-7 trying to exploit all the attention GTA IV gets in order to further their own agenda, no matter if the rights of everyone else is laid waste in the process? (I'm sure you can guess which way I lean on this one)

Also, one can reference this Slashdot post for some interesting comments as well as the following for an attorney's attempt to get the game an Adult's Only Rating thanks to an explicit video posted by IGN (link to the video available in the article):

Grand Theft Auto IV is one day away from release, and already Jack Thompson has begun to step up his war on the title. The embattled Florida attorney has written a letter to the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, R. Alexander Acosta, demanding that legal action be taken against Take Two and retailers for selling the game. This time, Thompson appears to have an unlikely ally thanks to video gaming news site IGN.

Thompson sent a copy of the letter to Ars Technica, and his demands are far-reaching. "Indictments should be returned against Take Two corporately and its Chairman, Strauss Zelnick, along with other Take Two officers. Indictment should also be against Sony and Microsoft which are making this pornographic game available to minors, and openly so, on their PS3 and Xbox systems," Thompson wrote. "Further, indictments should be handed down against Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, and all other retailers distributing this game to minors at their retail stores, openly, to kids who are only seventeen."

He then compares the game to, of all things, polio. "Grand Theft Auto IV is the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio. We now have vaccines for that virus... The 'vaccine' that must be administered by the United States government to deal with this virtual virus of violence and sexual depravity is criminal prosecutions of those who have conspired to do this. If you doubt me, look at the aforementioned streaming audio/video. It will make you sick."

This is where the story takes a turn, because Jack Thompson provides a link to a video, put together by the gaming news site IGN, called "Ladies of Liberty City." Be careful clicking on that link; there is absolutely nothing there that is safe for work.

The video strips the game of all context and merely shows scenes of sexual content and violence, one after the other. In fact, it can be hard to watch for that reason, and it's a rather numbing experience. The game's lead character, Niko, drives up to prostitutes, honks the horn, then shoots them. You see a simulated sex act, only to have Niko run the hooker over afterwards with his car. The video shows graphic lap dances featuring one, and then two, girls. The language is even worse, including—and excuse the stars, "F*** the s*** out of it, you nasty f******."

"This is clearly an Adults Only game. It's not even close," Thompson wrote. The sexual content shown in the IGN video is only a very small part of the game, and it can be avoided by players. The shootings are all random and, as far as we know, play no part in the actual play of Grand Theft Auto IV. We'll be sure to update the story if there's a prostitute-hunting mission, but the video seems designed to show just how depraved the game can be, and it has given Jack Thompson his best ammunition yet to fight the game.

The video is over the top, and since the acts are shown one after the other, the game can be portrayed as a nonstop sexual experience. When critics slammed Fox News over the coverage of the sexual content in Mass Effect, it was clear that no one involved had actually played the game or even watched a video of the content. With "Ladies of Liberty City," IGN has provided Jack Thompson and the mainstream media the perfect weapon to attack the game: a smörgåsbord of sex and violence that can be shown to anyone who doubts the game needs to be stopped.

It's doubtful any meaningful action will be taken, as Jack Thompson has recently been sanctioned and has so far racked up little apart from personal fame, but it's clear that the controversy surrounding the game is far from over.

It allows you to drunk drive. Pretty much every time I've driven drunk in the game I've crashed and gottewn arrested.

It also gives you the option of taking a cab and being safe.

Seems to me it teaches a valuable lesson about drinking and driving.

GTA IV is the DEVIL!

I love GTA. But I wouldn't be against the game having an AO rating, IF an AO rating didn't mean that the game is de facto banned from all retail outlets.

The game is rated M because an AO rating is a death knell. But I certainly wouldn't want a 17 year old kid of mine playing the game. Just saying.