Why do you see murder in GTA as okay, yet rape or child abuse wouldn't be?

[Ross PK]

Or to put the question another way, why do you feel okay with killing people in GTA but would not feel comfortable with commiting rape or child abuse in the game?

 

Apart from the fact that rape and child abuse is worse, surely murder is bad ebough isn't it?

 

I don't have anything against GTA, I play it myself, but it is an interesting question someone asked me on this forum, http://forums.plentyoffish.com/9851312datingPostpage2.aspx which I don't really have an answer for myself.

[Atari5200]

I see GTA games as a huge stress reliever. I can have a bad day at work, come home and run people over that I will think of as co-workers or such, or just go on all around killing sprees.

 

Raping and beating kids I can't see as stress relievers. Plus the fact that though murder is not a good thing, unless self defense or the defense of other humans (if i had a carry permit and was able to stop someone from killing lots of people at one time, think VA tech, I would take them down without problem), but there is just something more with rape or child abuse. I guess since I'm a father, there's a more moral meaning to it I guess.

 

When it comes down to it. A video game is a video game, there has been killing since the days of the Atari 2600, there's nothing new about GTA, there have been rape in games, Custer's Revenge, I'm not aware of any child beating games. The fact that you don't play any rape or child abuse scenarios in games today, at least that I'm aware of, may answer your question.

[Lord Helmet]

We've been killing things in games since the 70's. GTA just has better graphics

 

And like Atari5200 said...rape has been in games since the 2600...Its not for me, but I suppose others might like it...

 

in the end its all just a video game anyway.

[Red 5]

Or to put the question another way, why do you feel okay with killing people in GTA but would not feel comfortable with commiting rape or child abuse in the game?

 

Apart from the fact that rape and child abuse is worse, surely murder is bad ebough isn't it?

 

I don't have anything against GTA, I play it myself, but it is an interesting question someone asked me on this forum, http://forums.plentyoffish.com/9851312datingPostpage2.aspx which I don't really have an answer for myself.

 

Why is it okay to kill people in Call of Duty, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Hitman, Half Life, Bioshock, God of War, Resident Evil, Mortal Combat, Final Fantasy,

Soul Caliber, Pirates, Command and Conquer, Civilization, Goldeneye, Dark Chambers , Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Quake, Doom, WarCraft, Commando, Double Dragon, any gun game in an arcade, etc, etc, etc.

 

Why is it okay for me to shoot a cowboy in the face in Outlaw on the 2600?

 

Why is it okay to shoot poor hamburgers, irons and dice in megamania?

 

Why is it okay for Mario to stomp on a poor turtle and use its shell as a missile?

 

It's like a tootsie pop. The world may never know.

 

The only people I kill on purpose in GTA are those who I need to where the story calls for it (like any other video game.)

GTA gets crap because unlike most games, you can kill innocent bystanders if you so choose.

Granted, I have killed some innocents while driving while escaping from people or driving too recklessly, and that may be

why GTA gets so much light.

 

The funny thing is, the game gives you free will.

You can go around shooting at and stabbing or beating whoever you want.

And that's why people get so angry at the game.

 

You are never FORCED to kill people walking on the street, but you CAN.

Does this make the creators of the game bad, or are the people who choose to do it a bit twisted?

Interesting questions this game brings up.

 

That said, after 3 hours with it last night, I am impressed as hell.

Edited April 30, 2008 by therealred5

[NE146]

I was going to say.. like 90% of videogames involves killing (especially the classics). It's part of our gaming heritage

[Hyper_Eye]

Even in a game where you take on the role of something that isn't living or something completely unrealistic... or say even a puzzle game... when people lose they have a tendency to say, "I died." I don't think there is really any wonder why that is. Video games are generally about staying alive and that is often done by killing the other guys.

[Crazy Climber]

Because blowing shit up is cool, child abuse is not cool. Seems pretty simple to me

[Nukey Shay]

What kind of missions would even require such a thing? And how would that be a good storyline to want to immerse yourself in??

 

With Lifetime television, there's no reason to model a game. Rape and abuse 24/7.

[Hyper_Eye]

What kind of missions would even require such a thing? And how would that be a good storyline to want to immerse yourself in??

 

With Lifetime television, there's no reason to model a game. Rape and abuse 24/7.

 

No kidding!

[Ross PK]

Because blowing shit up is cool, child abuse is not cool. Seems pretty simple to me

 

That doesn't answer the question.

[+Random Terrain]

Because blowing shit up is cool, child abuse is not cool. Seems pretty simple to me

That doesn't answer the question.

Before video games appeared, we were trained to think that violence and murder on TV was normal or cool and it moved over into video games. We were never trained in the TV years that rape and child abuse were normal or cool, so that's why we don't usually have it in video games.

[+LS650]

We've grown up with a kind of warrior-myth mentality. You know, the lone man who has to take down the bad guys when the rest of society sits back and does nothing. Look at almost any cowboy movie as a perfect example of this.

 

It's kind of hard to justify other forms of violence in the same way.

[Red 5]

Adding to what RT said...

 

Godfather movies are always rated in the top 10 ever list.

It's fun to root for the violent bad guys every now and then.

 

Scarface saying 'say hello to my little friend' and killing everyone is cool and everyone knows it.

Same with Arnold saying 'I'll be back' and then blowing away the police department.

Even Rick does some killing in the romantic Casablanca and it makes his character even more bad ass.

 

We all love when Han Solo kills Greedo and yell and scream when the movie was changed to have Greedo

shoot first. We wanted Han to be 'badass' enough to just kill the sucker for little reason and with no justification.

 

There are thousands of examples from Pulp Fiction to Bruce Lee movies.

Every western ever made is full of great 'shoot 'em ups' that we love to see.

Same with the 'cops and robbers' genre.

Bonnie and Clyde were icons in real life and the movies.

 

It's fun. That's why it's 'okay' to have it in a video game. That's what Crazy Climber was saying, and it IS an answer.

 

The reason it's an answer is because that type of entertainment was always acceptable and cool in everything from plays as far

back as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

 

When Radio was invented, there were murder mysteries and westerns where people killed or were killed all the time.

 

I already discussed movies.

 

Television didn't take long to follow suit. Ponderosa and Bonanza had violent shootouts on just about every episode and the

country couldn't get enough. I saw Elmer fun shoot Daffy Duck in the face from point blank range 1,000 times and found it hilarious.

The Sopranos is the Grand Theft Auto of TV and was one of the most popular shows ever.

 

So it is no surprise that killing in video games is an acceptable form of entertainment.

It is just following suit of what is popular entertainment.

 

NEVER in the history of entertainment was rape or child abuse shown in a positive light successfully.

There is nothing glamorous about raping someone or abusing a child.

And while killing in entertainment may have been glorified, it would be impossible to glorify abusing a child.

Society would never allow it, and rightly so.

[dalton4life]

In prison the worst of the worst criminals look down on rapists and child molester's as less than human and will attack them any chance they get. I think it's some of that mentally there. Obviously murder is wrong, but as stated there is no absolutely no glory in raping a woman or abusing a child.

[PressureCooker2600]

Exactly what dalton4life said.

[Crazy Climber]

Because blowing shit up is cool, child abuse is not cool. Seems pretty simple to me

 

That doesn't answer the question.

I guess I could elaborate...

Basically around 5% or so of people actually act out their fantasies. I don't care who you are but everyone has had a day dream that if they acted on would land them in jail. Most people would fall into the revenge scenario, they have thoughts of finding their old High School Bully, etc.. in some scene that plays out in their head where they beat them up and end up being the Hero. Mine tend to be more on the comical, non realistic side, I would love to be Godzilla for a day or have thought what it would be like to be a Mob Boss, etc.. but I am kind of a meathead The bottom line is everyone has some dark thoughts now and then, you would be lying if you think a high speed chase with the cops would not be fun if you knew for a fact nobody would get hurt and you wouldn't get in trouble, it would be awesome, but how many people really think about child abuse? I have a feeling even the people that do commit child abuse end up feeling bad about what they have done, it's usually a deeper issue that they need to deal with, anger or maybe their parents did the same to them or something. Would there even be a market for such a game?The answer is no because it's not fun or cool it would be lame, so like I said...Blowing shit up is cool, child abuse is not, it would be a boring game that nobody would want to play, I don't even see how you could incorporate it in to a story.

Edited May 1, 2008 by Crazy Climber

[moycon]

Why do you see murder in GTA as okay,

 

Because it's not really murder, it's fake....

 

yet rape or child abuse wouldn't be?

 

I guess it would be ok in a video game....but not very popular. If you are interested in that kind of thing, just play some of those weird Japanese PC sim games (I really don't even know what you call those things) the ones where you just kind of walk around trying to bang everybody. Better that than going out and raping and abusing for real I guess.

[+remowilliams]

If you are interested in that kind of thing, just play some of those weird Japanese PC sim games

 

[Underball]

When was the last time you saw an action movie about gang members and drug dealers where when a deal goes bad, or the Cops infiltrate the gang, the action gets going with some child rape?

 

This is the dumbest question on the internet.

[SpendTooMuchOnAtari]

This is the dumbest question on the internet.

 

[Ze_ro]

Or to put the question another way, why do you feel okay with killing people in GTA but would not feel comfortable with commiting rape or child abuse in the game?

When American developers fail to cater to my desire to rape women in games, I look to the Japanese instead.

 

--Zero

[II_DeLo_II]

If a female teacher sleeps with a male student (why the F didn't THAT happen to me in high school), it's a minor offense. Reverse the genders and it's "immoral". Same thing here, just a double standard......but that's not going to stop me from virtually killing everything in sight!

[ydsavaged]

There just games.

[+Random Terrain]

They're just games.

When I kill fake people in a game, it doesn't make me want to kill people in real life, but the people who hate these games do have wild animals to go by. As we have seen in nature films, young wild animals play games that prepare them for adult life. They are practicing skills they'll need later.

 

Humans are supposed to be more advanced, so we don't have to do as adults what we played as children. And the idea that animals only play as practice for adulthood seems to be false:

 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html...9639C946396D6CF

Do animals play games? Raymond Ditmars, Curator of the Zoological Park in the Bronx, believes that small animals, at least, do, and he has arrived at that conclusion after much observation and a week of experiments. Small animals in many cases are very playful, and when unobserved indulge in games which the unobserving sometimes take for an aimless scampering about. [Full article in PDF file]

 

Although games can help you practice skills you'll need in the future, sometimes they are just games.

[A Sprite]

Why do you see murder in GTA as okay, yet rape or child abuse wouldn't be?

 

There's no worries that any murder victim will be reduced to a victim again, playing a game about optional murder.

 

Mass murder in Grand Theft Auto might even help a few rape victims blow off steam...or provide an escape from the Hell real life child molestation creates.

Edited May 6, 2008 by A Sprite