to feel scared for our girls when kicking prostitutes in a video game

[Duckierub]

gets you more points.

Did anyone see the program about women's roles in video games? I was utterly horrified when I saw the imagery of how women are portrayed as sexual objects and kicking female prostitutes to get your money back earned you points. I was also shocked that the teen girls interviewed said it was normal for them to be molested by boys.



AIBU to think that we should be campaigning against some of this stuff?

[gotnotimeforthat]

ninja

I understand.

I quite like gaming, I've found that most games have both gender characters that you can choose to play as.

Call of duty and gears of war for example. My characters on there are perfectly normal ass kicking women.

I agree though that there are some ( a lot?) of game that are not like this.

[NinjaLeprechaun]

I'm assuming you want equality yes? Then why on earth do you think kicking or shooting a man to death is perfectly fine but not a woman?

That my dear is NOT equality.
Yes to this +1000.

[MrsMikeDelfino]

YADNBU. I cannot get my head round how any parent would let their child play games like that, they're sick.
They are 18 rated for a reason.

[knitcorner]

So one of my Facebook 'friends' bought this for his 8 year olds birthday present. He's an idiot. What can be done to stop that?! 8 year olds should not be accessing this kind of stuff!

[Duckierub]

So the campaign needs to be awareness and parental responsibility.

[MrsMikeDelfino]

So one of my Facebook 'friends' bought this for his 8 year olds birthday present. He's an idiot. What can be done to stop that?! 8 year olds should not be accessing this kind of stuff!

Stuff like that needs stopping. I have a 10 year old, and have overheard some kids talking about playing GTA and COD. What the fk is WRONG with their parents?! No way should children be exposed to that. It's FIFA, Sonic and Mario Kart all the way here at that age!

[MrsMikeDelfino]

I think there should be a campaign to raise awareness of what the games actually entail, as some parents are probably clueless and just think 'oh, it's just a game.'
No, it's not.
It's not the same as watching telly/films, as you ARE the criminal, and take on the role of being one, whether it be murdering someone/harming prostitutes etc,
It's all consuming and immerses you in the world.

[TillyTellTale]

I like to think that the issue of supposedly educated people buying their kids 18+ rated goods will end when the current generation grows up. They won't be saddled with pretentious little ideas about how games are childish entertainment, and they will be able to differentiate between My Little Pony 3: Sparkly Rainbows Take Over The Universe and Slaughter and Mayhew's Mayhem 6: Shotguns in Paris.

Just like how current parents mostly know that not all things in the cinema are aimed at children, and that not all cartoons are aimed at toddlers. (King of The Hill was nothing like Rugrats.)

[Coffeethrowtrampbitch]

Glad to see other female gamers on the thread .

The point I was trying to make has already been made better I think. Parenting is the problem, and the sort of parents who would let their young child play GTA probably don't care that it is inappropriate, or indeed care about violence against women in RL.
This says to me it is the parenting and societal attitudes which are the problem, not violent games.

[BertieBotts]

I think it's horrendous and think it should be banned.

Violence against women in a film, where it is contextually appropriate, is one thing. Violence against any specific group in a game where the object of the game is to perpetuate violence shouldn't be allowed. I know shooting games are popular but I think it's horrendous when it's so specific.

The argument against banning these games is that they are already restricted for sale only to over-18s. The problem is that many parents don't seem to think this matters and let their DC play them without checking the content themselves. When DH and I checked with BIL and SIL if they knew what was in GTAV (which they had bought for their 11 year old) they were really shocked. They had assumed that the 18 rating was for language and the presence of guns which they felt he understood was fiction. They took it back to the shop and changed it for a different game. They have now banned all 18 rated games.

I think the legislation should be stricter. It should be an offence to let your DC play a game, or, IMO, even to let them watch someone else playing a game they are not old enough to buy. In the shops I worked in games were not treated as seriously as (for example) alcohol or cigarettes. If an adult wanted to buy an age rated game for a child we were told to allow them. As long as the person doing the purchasing was over 15 or 18 (depending on the game) it was deemed fine.

Maybe there even needs to be a higher rating for games which contain potentially offensive content. Make them not allowed to be sold in mainstream shops like Tesco. If parents have to go into a special shop for adults only to buy a game for their children, maybe they'll think twice about what it actually contains. (I realise this is a bit extreme, but TBH I do find it shocking that a game which contains such material is available to pick up with your groceries).

[NinjaLeprechaun]

TillyTellTale I think you're right. Just look at how shocked some of the people on this thread are by the contents of GTA, yet I can't imagine anybody in my daughter's group of peers not knowing exactly what it's about even if they don't play.

[TillyTellTale]

Bertie

How did they spend 30-odd quid on an 18-rated game for an 11-year-old, without thinking, "ooh, I wonder why it's 18"? I put more research than that into buying a new duvet last year.

Would they take your nephew to see Saw III and be surprised by the content? Or is it just computer games they are lazy about?

[PrincessBabyCat]

GTA is rated M for Mature. You're not even allowed to buy it for yourself until you're over 17 (at least here in the US). If a child is playing this, it's a parenting fail and there's bigger problems than a questionable video game.

Video games don't cause violence or anything else. People have been murdering and raping each other long before video games were ever invented. No one that plays GTA honestly thinks that killing another human is an ok thing to do (and if they do the game is just the medium to their self expression).

But more to the point, the game is a reflection of an under current in society. Taking the game away won't make it go away. If people didn't agree with it, they wouldn't be buying the game. Entertainment makes what sells, their morals go as far as making money. If they could make just as much money with a non-violent, politically correct video game, they'd be pumping those out instead. Just like if ads without overly photoshopped women sold beauty products, they would be making those instead. All entertainment is, is a mirror reflecting society back at itself.

So while I agree with you on your point about a troubling attitude towards women, video games are not the enemy. It's a bigger more complex problem that doesn't have a quick fix. We need to change society, not outlaw all the mirrors.

[BertieBotts]

Coffee, that's not my experience. Yes there are some parents who don't care and/or think it's funny or assume it will go over the DCs' heads. But most are just ignorant about computer games. For a lot of today's parents of preteens, the games which were out when they were young were incredibly tame compared to today's offerings. If they aren't interested in games then there's no reason they would keep on top of the content of the latest things. In fact I'm interested in games but not particularly violent games (I liked a few of the original GTA games) and am constantly amazed at what they put into them these days. It makes me feel quite sick, TBH, to think that this is what the mass market are asking for. Violence, more brutal, more realistic, more gory. Yes it was stupid when you used to defeat an enemy and they would flash and disappear, but the level of detail adhered to is now almost psychopathic.

It worries me. And I think it's linked to the way that the porn industry is producing ever more brutal, extreme, and degrading content. If you think about it it's a very similar market, and it's worrying.

[BertieBotts]

Tilly, I don't know why they didn't think about what was in it. I suppose they were just innocent as to what kind of thing video games might contain. I mean if you think about it if you knew nothing about the video games industry, why on earth would you even consider that rape and brutal murder would be components in a game, played for fun?

It's fucking insane. I don't fully understand myself how the industry has ended up in this kind of situation but it's frightening.

[gotnotimeforthat]

bertie

GTA doesn't involve rape ( almost 100% sure)
The only sex Involved in the game is with prostitutes. Which is not rape.

As regards to your family being innocent and not knowing it would involve murder. Would you buy a book without reading the blurb? You get a pretty detailed guess about what the game involves simply from looking at the back of the box not to mention the very visible age rating In the corner. You said yourself they thought it was rated as an 18 because of the guns. What did they think the character was going to do the guns if it wasn't shooting people?

[britbat]

why on earth would you even consider that rape and brutal murder would be components in a game, played for fun?

There is no rape in GTA. You cannot rape anyone in GTA. Full stop.

You do not get "extra points" for kicking prostitutes. In fact, you get a "wanted level" which means the police chase you, making your life as a player more difficult.

You may not like these games, but you don't leave open containers of bleach lying around the house, do you? Treat violent video games in the same way if you think they will harm your children.

[jess888]

BertieBotts

You obviously havent played the game and this thread is all a bit silly tbh.

You dont play the game to kill prositutes which the media make it out to be, its an open world sandbox game where you can kill anyone man or women. Its simply up to the player.

[TillyTellTale]

Same reason as they are in film, television and books. Until people start regarding games as just another entertainment medium, I'm unconvinced greater regulation of gaming will change society any faster than society will on its own.

Although GTA players can't commit rape in-game. There is an event, which was apparently intended to be cannibalism, that looks like rape, between NPCs, and the player can intervene to save her.

www.psu.com/a021002/Grand-Theft-Auto-Vs-rape-scene-and-the-power-of-player-choice-%28corrected%29?page=1

[gotnotimeforthat]

In fact I'm sure you would have to park next to the prostitute and wait for her to willingly get into the car.

This campaign the op suggested is not going to go very well. As so far the majority of posters assumptions have been very wrong.

[enderwoman]

If you bought your child a new video game wouldn't you be in the same room as them at some point and notice that they've just simulated a drive by shooting or whatever? Isn't that the point that the take out the game disc and exchange it?

[FunkyBarnYardBroom]

I've noticed my son is far more angry and involved in FIFA than he is other games. FIFA is now banned in my house

[britbat]

Although GTA players can't commit rape in-game. There is an event, which was apparently intended to be cannibalism, that looks like rape, between NPCs, and the player can intervene to save her.

Yep. Played it. It's really fun blowing the heads off the "rapists" and then rescuing the victim.

So. What.

[BertieBotts]

Oh god I was just trying to make a point, don't rip me apart! Perhaps I'll post their phone number so you can ask them yourselves?

I check games rated age 7 before I let my DC play them! I like computer games, I just abhor violence against women and anything which makes that seem normal.

And yes I would buy a book that someone else had requested without reading the blurb. And I'm sure the blurb on GTA doesn't say "Now with extra prostitute kicking and sexually explicit lapdance scenes!"

Kids have played cops and robbers, "goodies vs baddies", bang bang you're dead etc for years, reenacting crime isn't exactly a new part of children's play and can be perfectly innocent and non explicit.

[britbat]

By the way, here's the cannibalism scene that has been mistaken for rape.

This may be triggering for victims of cannibalism.