To wonder why ANYONE thinks that this is acceptable in a game?

[joshandjamie]

I am not a fan of violent games at the best of times, but apparently now in Grand Theft Auto 5's new upgrade you can have first person sex with a prostitute before shooting her in the head. With real sex noises. You can see a delightful clip here

I think anyone who plays this is sick. But I know that there are kids in my ten year old's class who have this game. Do the parents even know that they can do this???? I cannot believe any parent would be happy letting their kid or teen play this.

Yeah, it's fucked up, but it's pretty well documented that the gaming community is full of misogynistic weirdos with no social skills and a slightly loose grip on empathy, so there you go.

The rating this is irrelevant. Anyone who wants to act out shagging a prostitute and then shooting her in the head is a fucking weirdo.

No game should have this, for adults or children. It crosses a line and it's hardly necessary for entertainment.

GTA is an awful game. It may be for adults, but the same company have made games like bully, which are clearly aimed at younger players yet still have high levels of violence.

I'm a teacher and used to work in an all boys secondary school, these games are coveted and if they're to be believed (not necessarily!) then quite a high proportion are allowed to play them at home.

There's a huge difference between it being in a movie and a game though. The film audience is watching passively and has no control over what happens. A gamer is immersed in, can control and can affect the outcome. There's a real engagement in the violence.

Why is that not bloody obvious?

I wish there was no market for this stuff.

What an over reaction to a game, even by mumsnet standards.

Carlywurly, what about the actors, director etc playing out these rape scenes in movies? Are they ok?

Aggressivebunting, as a gamer myself I find your description of the gaming community (and I would love to know where it's well documented') to be extemely offensive. If you said it about any other group there would be uproar.

I agree with FisherQueen on the previous page, additions like this add nothing to the game, which is very good to play and looks good and all the rest and is there purely to court controversy. You could play the entire series and not know it's there, I only know about it from the outrage it generates. As someone who loves games it does annoy me that if someone is talking about my hobby on Mumsnet, there is a very good chance they'll be talking about this and everyone will agree how terrible gaming is.

As a scientist, what I've read is that there's no good evidence that violence in games is worse than that of movies, however, that's with the caveat that there haven't been any particularly strong studies. From my sample size of one, I've played violent games for years and I don't have the stomach for real life violence, I hate it.

COD

Can someone explain to me what is wrong with that? serious question. Can you pretend to have sex with women in that game too? or is it 'just' violence?

My almost 16 year old asked for it. I said no already but I though COD was the better one of the two. No worries, I am not going to buy it for him either way.

Military themed violence and jingoistic themes on previous titles. I wouldn't be so bothered about 16yo and Call of Duty but everyone is different and I don't know your DC.

Look up Common Sense Media, they review games for parents and set out both the quality and the content of the game very clearly so you can decide yourself.

Thats not true. Some robust studies have shown an increased desensitisation to violence when comparing game-playing and movies.

It's not about a gamer not being able to see it as a game, its about the ongoing affect of violence exposure, especially to young minds who are forming the patterns of response that will last their whole lives. Role playing activates different neural pathways to movie watching, it stands to reason that it will have a different effect. This doesn't mean that gamers are any more violent than non-gamers. But it does mean we should at least think about the effects these kinds of games have on attitudes and out society as a whole.

Also, its just plain icky. Fucking actual prostitutes makes you a creepy sad bastard, fucking virtual ones and then pretending to shoot them......we don't need science to tell us you're a messed up little dude.

I haven't seen a good study to that effect, what shall I Google? I am interested and I don't want to just disregard anything to the contrary because I enjoy games, the truth is the truth.

I hadn't considered kids when talking about this, purely because I think letting kids consume very violent media is crazy.

I don't disagree on the content and I've already said that I'd much rather it wasn't in the game for numerous reasons. However, you're never signposted toward it, if someone seeks it out it was already in their head.

My aunt let my then 7yo autistic DN play Vice City some years ago. I had already played it and nipped that in the bud. Don't get it, GTA doesn't pretend to be anything else ffs

According to my 10 year old son, three boys in his year group have definitely got the game. He doesn't know if others have it. I know that many of his friends do play COD on their phones on school trips. My son has watched them play it including COD Zombies (I have never seen that so have no idea how bad or otherwise it is - my son said he didn't like looking at it and it made him feel sick but as he was sitting next to the kid on a coach, it's a little difficult not to see it)

My concern is that my 10 year old currently doesn't know what prostitutes are. He knows what sex is. He knows where babies come from. He doesn't know what a blowjob is. What I don't want is for any of his friends to play this game and then come into school discussing it. I know kids discuss things anyway and you can't control it, but by letting kids have access to games like this, it makes them all grow up way faster than necessary.

Yes this is an adult game. That doesn't stop lazy parents who can't be bothered to find out about game content getting it for their kids because the kids nag for it. They then share what they have learned in the school playground and before you know it, a group of previously innocent 10 year olds are discussing what 'riding a big cock' means and that it's ok to shoot a woman after having sex with her if it means you get your money back.

It also sows the seed that women are just objects. It once again makes violence against women seem like something fun.

Those gamers who are getting all offended, I'm sorry that your hobby is being besmirched by games like this. I personally cannot understand the fascination of playing any of these games - each to their own. But on the offensiveness scale, I think that someone saying negative things about gamers is way less offensive than the message this game is putting out.

Parents letting their young kids play anything, watch whatever and go online unchecked makes me properly annoyed. I suspect I'm a fair bit more liberal than the average MNer and personal choice does come into it but there's a point when it's just wrong.

Totally missed the comment about gamers being misogynistic weirdoes. Seriously?? Please link us to this well documented evidence.

I'm a gamer, but can't stand anything made by that particular company. Square Enix is more my cup of tea. My poor social skills

I think that sounds really nasty, but accept that there are probably lots of legal things that consenting adults that I would find really nasty.

However, I think it is disingenuous to say that 18 games are only for adults. When I saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (12) , all the trailers were for children's films, but there were two ads for 18 games. I know that the director of TMNT (whose name I can't remember) probably has a huge following among adult game players. However, the game ads were the only 'adult' thing promoted. If it's fine to trail game ads, why didn't the cinema also trail 18 films? I suspect because people are blasé about pegi ratings.

Also, there are loads of spin off toys for things like CoD that are quite clearly aimed at children.

If I want to check whether a 12 film (Hunger Games for instance) is OK for my 11 year old I can make them wait for the DVD release and preview it, or at a push check it out myself at the cinema. Even if I had the desire to play through a whole game before letting my children play it, I don't have the skill to check all parts of the game. I have to trust the ratings system.

However, I think the games industry deliberately publicise these products to a younger audience and then hide behind the ratings.

Urgh, that is grim. Totally unnecessary to the game play. Also, no one can talk with a cock in their mouth

Well it must have been tiny as her speech was no different to when she didn't have a cock in there

Quite a few parents join threads like this and complain either that the ratings system is too strict or that their children play these games and are perfectly normal so there can't be anything wrong with them. This being Mumsnet, it's true that they aren't the majority, but I think that says more about Mumsnet posters than anything else.

Even taking into account the fact that 10 year old boys probably lie/exaggerate about what they or their friends are allowed to do, clearly the Pegi system is ignored by many.

I love the idea of being able to direct the sex workers to shelters and helping them find support through Women's Aid (or similar). Seriously, is this an option in this game? If players could choose between killing or helping people in this game then maybe it'd play on their consciences more. Just an idea.

I don't know why these games are appealing but they are to lots of people. No way should an under 18 be allowed near it.

I love Resident Evil and killing zombies but that's because it's a break from reality.