I’m curious as to how long these assholes that are completely ignorant about GTA will continue to complain about the game and its supposed negative effects on society. I knew this GTA insanity was going to happen upon its release but I now wonder for how long it will last. I was thinking about writing a response to everything that has been said about GTA IV thus far but it just was adding up to be a task of monumental proportions. I just don’t seem to have the time. Here is one quote that pissed me off quite a bit.
“We are training our kids to be killers and we are training our sons to treat women like whores.” – Glenn Beck
I’m pretty sure I can speak for almost everyone with a simple response to Mr. Glenn Beck. “You’re an ignorant douche and your show sucks.”
I thought Glenn Beck’s show wasn’t quite as bad as other programs because he actually gave Ron Paul a fair amount of air time during the Republican Primary Election but perhaps he was only doing it to boost his ratings, which is probably why he did the segment on GTA IV. Glenn Beck is just another worthless puppet with a dumb ass TV show that supposedly brings its viewers real news. Well it doesn’t, actually no news on TV is real news. The only purpose for televised news programs is to get a quick, intense, and superficial interest in whatever topic currently in discussion and also for entertainment. This is why some of them consider Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” to be competition. I’m not saying it is bad to listen to the news but you really must listen to their statements and dissect them to get anything that resembles truth.
Regardless of the validity of television news productions or their opinions on video games, GTA IV is a marvelous game. I don’t have a X-Box 360 or PS3 but I’ve played it quite a bit on a good friend’s 360. I love it and I’d like to add that I don’t think that it is a very realistic game at all. It is absolutely beautiful, but doesn’t resemble actual life.
Well maybe it does… because of course we all know when we have a head on collision and fly through the windshield of your vehicle, taking a 50 ft fall off the freeway into a park you only have to make your way to your favorite hot dog stand to purchase a few delicious hot dogs to heal your almost fatal wounds. It is also common knowledge that being shot in the face by a police officer’s shotgun will only result in a short hospital stay and you will never be given any legal trouble for driving at high speeds in the wrong lane while failing to obey any traffic laws. On top of all that, every gun enthusiast will confirm the fact that real guns have two triggers. One trigger automatically aims the gun and the other one fires it. If you ever misplace a gun don’t worry because all guns glow red when not being held by a person. (Sarcasm in case you didn’t catch it)
GTA IV is a game, not a simulator, created for adults. Now if someone says they murdered or harmed an individual because of GTA they are either insane, dishonest or both. I think it is fun to go on a mindless killing spree in GTA but I don’t really desire to do so in real life. At this point I should add that the GTA series has a lot more to offer than simple killing sprees and for whatever reason that is not the message that is being presented by anti-game advocates. I’ve played every game of the GTA series and probably stole tens of thousands of cars in game but I have yet to steal or even break into a car in reality. Same can be said with killing avatars. I’ve killed countless characters in video games but I haven’t killed anyone in reality. If any of these theories that violent media causes people to be violent in reality were true I’d either be in prison, or dead(probably by lethal injection). The only legal trouble I’ve ever had was for driving my vehicle too fast. Now I do have a morbid sense of humor and I tend to laugh quite a bit during horror movies but that is only because I think blood and gore in entertainment productions is hilarious(See GWAR for examples).
It can safely be said that these theories that GTA inspires real life violence and criminal activity is just as legitimate as the past theories which claimed Jazz music was evil and turns the listeners into savage beasts. Mindless fear mongering is all it is and all it will ever be. Luckily fear mongering never works for very long, so these foolish individuals that wish to spread these lies about video games and their effects on society will fail and everyone will move on to enjoy video games without having to hear much about how evil they are. Video games are digital interactive entertainment products, sometimes they are even digital online communities and to me every single video game is a work of art.
I’ll end this post with one more quote, this time from a games industry icon who recently wrote an excellent article related to the struggles the video game industry and censorship. It is probably my favorite article on game censorship.
“Gamers vote. Gamers buy newspapers. They won’t vote for you, or buy your newspapers, if you trash their entertainment with your ignorant ravings. Call them social inadequates if you like, but when they have more friends in World of Warcraft than you have in your entire sad little booze-oriented culture of a real life, the most you’ll get from them is pity…
…So we’ve won: accept it. Huff and puff if you must, but your audience grows smaller by the day. Your views are mortally wounded, and soon they will be dead. Games are mainstream. Drown, or learn to swim.” – Richard Bartle(creator of the MUD).
I strongly recommend you read the entire article if you haven’t already. It puts a smile on my face every time I read it… sometimes I even laugh a little bit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/28/games.censorship
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