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?

And I'm sure the blurb on GTA doesn't say "Now with extra prostitute kicking and sexually explicit lapdance scenes!"

I have the GTA V box in front of me.

This is a big red 18 logo on it. The front cover is full of violent imagery. Nasty looking people holding guns etc. The guidance of the back refers to "violence" and "bad language" and repeats the 18 logo.

OK, so you can't rape people in the game. Why? Because it's socially unacceptable and abhorrent. Same reason as you presumably can't beat up children, or rip apart animals and eat them raw.

Every action that it's possible to do in a game has been coded in, unless it's a glitch. That means somebody sat down and decided that it wasn't over the line, like cannibalism, bestiality or violence towards child characters clearly is.

The example with the NPCs is an interesting one because they are clearly showing cannibalism (if that's what it was intended to be) as something so awful that even in this game where you can legitimately be a morally reprehensible character, you can't commit it, in fact you have the option to intervene and prevent it.

Just because I haven't played a game doesn't mean I can't object to things being part of it. (Why would I buy a game I don't like the content of anyway?) I don't buy the excuse that "you have to choose to do it". It shouldn't be a choice. You want to include prostitutes in the game, fine, but it should be a choice which costs money and that's the end of the transaction. No beating them up to get your money back. And, obviously, not marketed at children (which I appreciate that it's not).

It did irritate the way GTA was shown in that blurred lines documentary, it just made out that the whole game about going round killing prostitutes, while failing to mention the whole interactive world and gripping storyline which it has to offer.

You'd never really need to beat up a prostitute to get your money back. A blowjob costs about $50 and by the end of the game you have millions.

The reason you can beat up prostitutes to get your money back is that you can beat up ANYONE in the game and steal their money.

That's the point of the damn game.

I don't truly understand what your problem with it is. You can't rape anyone, you can't cannibalise anyone, no special advantage is gained by beating up prostitutes (indeed beating up ANYONE usually confers a disadvantage ie you get a wanted level) and it's not marketed at children.

The only problem with the GTA series is idiot mums and dads who have such poor parenting skills that they can't keep inappropriate computer games out of their house.

I'm sure this campaign op suggested to ban this sort of stuff will go just swimmingly.

I mean a huge company like rock star entertainment are most definitely going to listen to bunch of MNetters and their false assumptions about their game.

I think just about every point made in favour of banning this game has been proved wrong by 1 or more posters.

Moral of the story? Do your research instead of making assumptions based on nothing.

The scary thing is my DS has many friends with this game - he actually asked me if he could play because they say it's really good. I don't understand the parents who allow this - clearly it is 18 for a reason.

But most are just ignorant about computer games.

There's smart phones with internet connections. It takes 2 seconds to look up a video game review and rating before buying it. If they're ignorant, it's willingly so. It doesn't take much intelligence to figure out that a game that rated M is meant for adults. It says it right on the package "17+".

In fact, it's easy enough to buy a video game and play it for a little bit to get a feel for it before handing it to your child. If you would watch a movie to make your own judgement why wouldn't you play a video game? It's not that complicated and you can set them to easy mode so you don't die easily. Not to mention the initial tutorial level will take you through all the game play so you know what you're getting into.

Yes, as a parent you DO need to be on top of new technology, especially if you're going to allow your children to access it without supervision. That includes internet, tablets and PCs. I cringe when I find out how incompetent some people are on a computer. You need to be just as competent as your kids with the devices they're using or supervise them while they're on them. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

But more to the point, I see no reason to limit the selection of video games to responsible adults because of irresponsible ones.

To quote Mark Twain "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it".

bertie

Just because I haven't played a game doesn't mean I can't object to things being part of it

Object until your hearts content. But you might want to make sure that the things you are objecting are actually in the game to begin with.

The cover has non-realistic, drawn/comic-like pictures of people holding guns looking "macho". No different to a lot of toys which are actually marketed at children.

"Violence" and "bad language" are exactly what they thought the 18 rating was for. Swearing, meh, I have a relaxed attitude to swearing as long as my DC don't repeat it. And they assumed that a bit of shooting would be par for the course - they are NOT familiar with games, content, or anything along those lines and, TBH even though I am, I don't know what would make a game 18 rather than 15 in terms of violence, I don't know whether that means it's more close range or more detailed or whether the 18 is just put on any game where you kill a realistic looking person. As I said before, they were quite happy to buy a game for my DN where he could shoot people because they felt it was easy for him to separate that kind of fantasy from reality. You can judge that if you want to but that is their decision to make.

Parents make assumptions about games, and unfortunately (IME) those assumptions go the wrong way. But it's not easy - Tomb Raider for example is also an 18 but DH went through the content and they judged that one as totally fine - but it still went, under their blanket ban on 18 games, which I think is fair.

I find the ESRB website and ratings much more comprehensive than the PEGI ones. There is sexually explicit material in GTA even if you have to know where exactly to look for it.

My son is nearly 13 and loads of his friends have it :( it will never be allowed in this house and he knows why

Princess there are adults who don't understand google.

I take the point about the prostitute being just as any other character and beating them up not being a specific routine but being the same as any other character, that does make it different I suppose.

My overwhelming feeling is that parents need to be educated, especially the non tech savvy ones, about the real content of games and if there is a bit of moral panic about one particular game, that's not really a problem in my eyes. I can see people getting upset that exaggerations are being made but I do also think that the content of games in general is often misogynist, often concerningly brutal/violent, and I would like to see it being taken a bit more seriously, not a blanket "all violent games are bad" but "WTF is the norm becoming and isn't this a bit fucked up".

My overwhelming feeling is that parents need to be educated, especially the non tech savvy ones, about the real content of games

That is what the age rating is for.

The words, pictures and age rating of this came make it completely clear it is not to be played by under 18s.

Then why do so many children have this game?

The age rating system alone is not working.

As we get more female gamers hopefully this will change but the elephant in the room is

cool mums and dads buying games with 18 certificates clearly marked on them are the problem.

If any adult doesn't understand google, then they're not buying GTA V online. They must be purchasing it on the High Street, and physically picking this up.

The game is violent and misogynistic. It should be banned.

Thank you to whoever linked that wonderful woman on Pg1. Really nice to watch thank you.

I am fully in support of this, it scares me that games are so violent, we purposefully avoid anything like that but my son is coming up 4 and I know he will be exposed to it soon with or without my consent.

BertieBotts

Agree that parents need to be educated and also supermarkets and stores need to be strict with the ratings.

I know people like to focus on violence against women in video games but on the flip side their are games like heavenly sword where the female hero literally castrates every bad guy www.dailymotion.com/video/xf7zm_heavenly-sword-tgs06_videogames

it is a great game though

NRTWT but watched the documentary on catchup this morning. I've been thinking about it off and on all day. One one hour documentary can't get to grips with the whole issue but I think Kirsty did fairly well to reach the parts she managed to without lingering too long on one aspect.

The beating up prostitutes thing is horrific and that's the point. There has been a slow creep of tolerance levels of violence and misogyny which is simply going to get worse because that's the nature of the beast where you have a gang type mentality where boys are competing with each other and showing off bravado in a lightly censored world. They are competing with their peers to 'brave out' the horror by exposing themselves and each other to worse examples. Comedians are doing exactly the same thing.

The psychology behind this is what I would like to see analysed in a documentary and perhaps this will give us some answers as to whether we need to impose more censorship in order to 'save us from ourselves'.

Ultimately though I would like to see an URGENT review of the damage this does to young people. As far as I can see many young people are simply walking about in a slightly traumatised state, having witnessed horror (one boy mentioned a father and a daughter in law), they go through their lives without having any counselling or outlet for the feelings that this kind of exposure might trigger.

A lot of girls at my daughter's school are going through a 'lesbian' phase. I think it's the only way they can keep any kind of sanity, a way of saving themselves from these boys that have turned into, well, beasts. The true test will be to see whether these beasts grow up into real men or whether they carry it with them into manhood.

bertie

Because some parents simply do not give a shit what their child does.

But this game or any game is not at fault for that.

What do you suggest the producers do? They have put a restriction on the game. What else can they do?

unrealhousewife

Please tell me you that you are not suggesting that this game or others alike are turning girls in to lesbians and boys into beasts.

Unfettered exposure to horrific sexual and violent imagery is, yes.

unrealhousewife

Have you played GTA?

The game is not for kids. Parents shouldn't be buying it for them or watching what their children are playing.
Yes you can beat up prostitutes, just like you can beat up a random bloke off the street.
I dont want the game banned. Im female and love games.

My little brother went on and on about getting GTA. I kept on my mum's back for years that it was an 18 and unsuitable. She finally gave into him at Christmas, he's 15. His friends have had it for ages. These are nice, normal parents buying these games. I think they do it for an easy life, stop the moaning etc.

Luckily for my brother he has 4 big sisters, he's got no chance of becoming a sexist, we'd squish him :)