The game that I will be talking about in this post is Grand Theft Auto V also known as GTA V by Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure, open-world video game developed by Rockstar North and released by Rockstar Games in September of 2013. The open world design allows players to freely roam the vast countryside of San Andreas and Los Santos and control three lead protagonists either from a third-person or first-person viewpoint. The protagonists are three criminals and the game’s story craftily weaves their struggles into driving and shooting gameplay as they pull off heists. GTA V’s main motive is to get the most cash, the best vehicles and the best homes by snatching cars, robbing shops and so on as part of missions and when competing with online players globally. Upon its release, the game received critical acclaim, breaking industry sales records, becoming the fastest-selling entertainment product in history and the third best-selling video game of all time. Despite it winning numerous awards for its design, gameplay and presentation, GTA V still became target to several controversies for its violence and representation of women. Edge magazine noted that while “every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at”, it treated its all-male lead characters in similar vain through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence.
The game was given an ESRB system rating of Mature (17+), and an 18+ rating by the German USK system (note that most of the GTA games released previously had received a USK 16 rating), an 18+ Rating by the BBFC and PEGI as well, and R18+ by the Australian OFLC system (again, note that the GTA games released previously were all rated MA 15+). In Japan, GTA V was heavily edited for excessive violence, but only on the localization level – the game could still be played if the locale was switched from Japanese to English. Gambling of any kind is banned in North Korea and so, due to the presence of gambling in GTA Online, the game was banned. Saudi Arabia has a ban in place on the entire Grand Theft Auto series for extreme impact violence and nudity and Thailand has a similar ban on the series as well but for different reasons – the ban was placed in August 2008 when an 18 year old supposedly influenced by the game killed a taxi driver from Bangkok. The developers of the game weren’t really impacted by the bans since it was the existing system of the respective countries that prevented them from selling there — this didn’t stop them in any way from breaking industry sales records so there really wasn’t much of an hindrance.
So we have established that GTA V is a game that prides itself on player-led freedom and opportunity within a virtual, victimless yet violent world. Considering the fact that the game is set in a virtual world where even the locations and cities are fictional, is it still okay to have a gameplay that rewards brutality and crime? Does the plot desensitize players from crimes committed in the game such as stealing cars, robbing stores? In other words, do people start justifying these actions or glorifying the lifestyle in the real life? The freedom that the game offers makes some of the crimes in the game that weren’t part of the main plot seem like options that the player willfully chooses to commit.
It is clear from the widespread acclaim and the bestseller position it still holds that a massive number of people were crazy about the game. They loved the characters, the story, the freedom they had within the game, and the joy they got as they completed the missions and competed with other players worldwide.
Despite all its features that appealed to the majority of the audience, many people found this game debatable because of the degradation of women, sexism, violence, and racism present in the game. They think that GTA V pushed the limits of what’s considered acceptable by society by exposing players (who knows how young) to sexism, racism and nudity. It’s been reported that Dan Houser, the lead writer of the game, told The Guardian that GTA V’s expanded cast of three playable characters lacks a woman because “the concept of being masculine was so key to this story”. What really took this further was one of the new additions that GTA V introduced which was allowing the player to pay for a prostitute, let her perform sexual activities that are experienced in first person POV and then giving the player the option to kill her and get the money back.
Supporters of the game are quick to defend it by insisting that it’s just a game that is part of a series which makes fun of everyone, not just women. And this is true as the game has “fun dialogue” that shows characters making fun of politicians, bankers, iPhone line-waiters, marijuana legalization activists, all sorts of people really. They think its profanity and luridness is actually refreshingly progressive.
Developers and producers of games such as GTA V are sometimes accused of inciting violent behavior in youth – as are makers of violent movies or hip-hop music or certain books. Just like the folks that provide entertainment via other media, game designers also have the same responsibilities and duties concerning what should be published and shared with the world. Much like movies are assigned ratings based on content (drugs, violence, nudity, etc.), so are games. These ratings leave it to the consumer, or the parents of a minor’s consumer, to decide what level of mature content they are okay with in their gaming experience. But having ratings provides a clear guideline and people know whether or not they should be playing the game.
On the other hand, one might argue (and I for one stand in support of this) that freedom of speech is a right that each artist has. They have the right to express their creativity and share with the world their interpretation and perception of something that might be real. For example, one of the video games we discussed in class was the Super Columbine Massacre RPG game and its censorship was thoroughly debated. In my opinion, the makers did no wrong in having their work published — instead of doing all the research and writing a book about the incident or creating a documentary, the developer simply chose to do what they do best: write some code and make a game out of it. This is simply a form of artistic expression that allows the audience to experience the incident in the POV of the shooters just as they might have done with a book instead. So my stance on video game distribution and, more importantly, video game censorship is that the games shouldn’t be censored. Firstly, it doesn’t completely prevent the game from getting into the hands of younger audiences, which is its main purpose. Second, people shouldn’t be stopped from having their work reach audiences because of the content. The people should be able to experience it themselves and make the choice whether they like it or not, whether they stand with the concept or against it. Third, and this might seem like a stretch, but forbidding something actually leads to curiosity and might incline certain people to purchase a game that they might not have picked up if it weren’t banned, which flips the entire purpose of censoring the item in the first place.
Rumsha Rafi CP373 Blog 