AIBU to preorder GTA VI for DS (17) when the trailer has left me with concerns?

[ThisRubyEagle]

Hello, first time posting so sorry if this is in the wrong place. I’m a mum of two (DS17 and DD13) and I’d describe myself as a moderate feminist - I believe strongly in raising my son to respect women, call out sexism when he sees it, and understand consent. I’m not the sort who wants to ban everything, but I do have my concerns about some media.
Yesterday DS was really excited and asked me to watch the new GTA VI trailer with him. I sat through the whole thing. It’s actually better than I expected in some ways - I liked that there’s a female character who seems central and quite tough. But overall it left me feeling uneasy. The whole tone is very hyper, violent and chaotic, with what looks like endless crime, guns, and this “Florida” satire that seems to mock everyone and everything. I know the GTA series has a long history of really problematic attitudes towards women (strip clubs, prostitutes, the way female characters have been treated in past games) and even if the trailer doesn’t shove it in your face, I can’t help worrying this one will be the same underneath.
He’s now asking if I’ll preorder it for him as all his friends are getting it on release and he’ll be 18 not long after. Part of me thinks I should just do it - he’s a good lad really, does well at sixth form, and I don’t want to be the overprotective mum who makes him miss out. But the other part is wondering if I’d be letting myself down as someone with feminist principles. OH says I’m overthinking it and “it’s only a bloody game.”
AIBU to be this conflicted about preordering? Or should I put my foot down on principle? TIA

Get him red dead instead, far superior game.

You’re a good man, Arthur Morgan

Yes, I've played all of the main series ones.

That image you have posted is from the GTA3 era, so pushing 25 years old.

I don't think that's a good or useful representation of the modern games (screenshot, with censor bar added, from the GTA 5 private dance mini game).

Hate the misogynistic violence in it, not sure now having a female protagonist in it negates that

My post was for the poster saying her son had played it age 10 and it’s not done him any harm. Why would it

honestly the GTA5 clip, compared to what we see now on a daily basis online and even on the tellt is still really tame.

I’d love op to add a poll asking if the people who were commenting had actually played the game

I’m sure at a training course I was on, we watched a bit where the game play was to have sex with a prostitute and then kill her afterwards. As in tap tapping while thrusting in her. Grim. I think your reservations are valid. While he’s almost an adult, I think I’d be saying I’m not endorsing this.

Yes, it’s rather popular. By the end of this year it will have sold around a quarter of a billion copies. It’s the second best-selling game of all time, beaten only by Minecraft. The profit it makes is absurdly high.

It might well be delayed anyway, and then he will be 18 and can buy it himself.

I don't think its okay to give a game, featuring interactive porn, to a child, not least a pre-teen. I don't think you can confidently declare that it hasnt or doesn't do any harm.

I would post a link to the strip club minigame from GTA5 but most of them only seem to be available on PornHub or alike.

Have you actually played GTA5, or just the older ones?

The porn side definitely wouldn't interest him as he is gay, it was actually flying the jet planes he loved & driving the cars.

@Nat6999 but you were still happy for him to see violence against women and have it normalised

This game is going to be huge. Be upsetting for him to miss out. I would definitely allow my son at that age as I feel that is old enough

There is no rape in GTA - it simply isn't possible to do. There is consensual sex, including prostitution in GTAV though.

There is violence against everyone, not speciically women and girls, its part of the game. If you don't like that the don't buy it, your choice.

Oh, and GTA VI will allow you to play as a female protagaonist so if you wnt to go around beating up men and boys, knock yourself out (as it were).

I agree with these points but it's worth pointing out that there are no girls and boys, there are no children in GTA.

When discussing rape are posters referring to the fact that you can kill the prostitutes after having sex to get your money back. Such a grim game. Why anyone thinks it suitable for a child to play I’ll never know.

I’m a very radical feminist, but GTA is one of my guilty pleasures – I grew up on it, and I’ve played every game since the top-down GTA1. I’m looking forward to 6 (but as pp said, I would rather have RDR3 – RDR2 was the best game I’ve ever played, and I’ve played a hell of a lot. I loved Arthur).

The prostitution and other sexual and violent aspects in GTA have always been distasteful and deliberately OTT for shock value – it’s rather like the video game version of American Dad in many ways. Crass, satirical, shocking, and immature. It’s the sort of thing that teenagers often love, and in the context of a family where the themes are up for critical discussion, and the teens seem capable of understanding just how antisocial and divorced from reality it is, I think GTA5 and the older games are fine to play through for a child in their mid-teens.

I allowed my kids to free-roam with me present to supervise (literally just driving around the city and exploring the map) at 12/13 when they clamoured to, but they lost interest pretty quickly and have never been that keen since. My son played it briefly on his own at 15 but never clocked it.

I don’t know how explicit GTA6 will be (I suspect that it will actually be toned down, much as RDR2 was less sexually shocking than RDR1) but unless your 17-year-old is an Andrew Tate loving incel, already simmering with resentment towards women and girls, or very easily led and influenced without much established moral integrity, I’d say he’ll be fine.

This is not true never has never will maybe don't spread false information

I would imagine this game is right up andrew tate's street

God, bring back the days of Mario and Sonic.

I think he's more interested in raping and abusing actual real women, than he is in playing a violent, crime-related video game.

I’m sure Andrew Tate and his ilk love this game and how it depicts the treatment of women. Wonderful for impressionable teenagers and how they can re-enact treatment of women in the game.

Now they have introduced a female protagonist do they have male prostitutes/escorts who she can have sex with and then kill. Or will it still be women exploited?

I think it's murky though, if a game actively encourages and rewards the behaviour, and you have the likes of Andrew Tate talking about it as well I worry that some boys wont see how wrong it is. It just doesn't sit right with me at all.

Is the sexual violence and prostituion satirical? From what I have seen it's actively rewarded rather than highlighted in an ironic, exaggerated or critical way.

Personally, I managed to play through all the games without engaging with the prostitutes etc - most of the sexual content isn't necessary to clock the game, iirc.

I think it's all pretty over the top. There's no sexual violence as such, aside from the fact that prostitution itself is misogynistic. It doesn't really reward a player for having sex with a prostitute either; it's easier just to eat food to fill your health. There is a lot of general violence though - murder rampages are a frequent pastime, as in many video games.

I would definitely prefer the misogynistic sexual content was toned down dramatically, as in RDR2 - I think it makes for a much better story - but I really don't think it's going to terribly influence a well-adjusted, intelligent 15-year-old+ teenager, who already has a good sense of their moral integrity.

If it is a small part of the game why have it in there, why does sexual violence against women have to be shoehorned into everything? It just makes it normalised. Many things that teens are bombarded with depict violence against women, wouldn’t it be amazing if something so popular as this game actually made a stand and removed this element. Instead of doing this they have introduced a main female protagonist which really isn’t the point

I mean, the kids might not grow up to be extremists, but they may grow up to make controlling remarks to their partners, watch exploitative porn in private, deceive their wives, patronise female coworkers, randomly mock strangers, not pull their weight around the house, neglect their children, become embittered Nice Guys or turn nasty when their partner's pregnant (to everyone's surprise), all stemming from that fact that they are a little bit insensitive to the fact that other people, and particularly women, possess minds. We're running round like headless chickens wondering why oh why we have a casual misogyny problem in a supposedly enlightened age, spawning endless column inches on how intractable and complex the issue is, and then we have parents buying this for their kids. Bravo 👏