Grand Theft Auto IV: Media Fantasies and Delusions
Grand Theft Auto IV barrels into stores across the fruited plains today and it's having precisely the effect everyone in the industry predicted it would, meaning that -- yep -- demagoguery's alive and well.
First: Fox News, referring to the game as "the king of violent video," which if we take this Fox reporter's exception to the word "games" (not appended to the end of that phrase) and assume she means "king" on a violent content scale (and not in terms of commercial success), we can read the statement as patently absurd. Unless we're going to conveniently forget media like Friday the 13th and Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street, not to mention stuff like the entire Herschell Gordon Lewis brand of splatter film -- Blood Feast (1963) and Wizard of Gore (1970) just for starters -- that Ellen Page and Jason Bateman marvel over in Juno. Think that's cherry picking? No more or less than cherry labeling a game "the king of violent video."
To Fox's credit, they had former Eidos president Bill Gardner on to comment. Well, that's what I thought when I saw his name flash onscreen. Unfortunately, Gardner turns out to be astonishingly obtuse. He proceeds to uncritically agree with the Fox reporter's assessment that the game "should have parents concerned," followed by a preternatural focus on only the so-called negative aspects of the game, with virtually no discussion about what it might be doing to, oh I don't know...reset the bar for interactive entertainment? The clip's disproportional focus on the "negative" is tantamount to taking a movie like Atonement and spending five seconds suggesting it might have been worth the Oscar, five minutes hand-wringing about the "luridness" of the milliseconds-long rape scene.
And Gardner further confounds the issue by claiming that "these games aren't the old Super Mario or Street Fight kinds of games that were out there."
Did he say Street Fighter? Really? A game that -- unlike Grand Theft Auto IV, where much of the violence is in fact optional and play-style determinative -- requires gamers to beat the living stuff out of each other?
Gardner continues, attempting to back up his point by claiming "the graphics [in GTA IV] are much greater intensity, the level of gameplay, the plot, and the story." So "much greater [graphical] intensity" makes the game somehow more, what, affective? Problematic? Dangerous? Could a claim be any more vacuous?
I don't need to say much more, do I? Gardener's comments are obviously hugely problematic, sweeping generalizations based on made-up assumptions about the relations between graphical "realism" and aggression. Even the fairly games-critical Iowa State aggression researcher Doug Gentile has pointed out that the correlation between games and aggression has more to do with "intending to harm someone who'd rather not be," not the level of graphical realism. By aggression research's definition, butt stomping mushroom-creatures in a game like Super Mario Bros. turns out to be far more likely to trigger aggressive feelings than, say, passively watching photographically explicit violence toward others, but which you're not actively causing or participating in.
(I'm not suggesting anyone stop playing Super Mario Bros., by the way -- I'm just dispelling the mythology that seems to suffuse "common sense" knowledge about games. And for the record, I salute Gardener's secondary point -- though it's sadly the only salient point made in the entire piece -- which is that parents need to be cognizant of the ratings on a game, as well as of what those ratings mean.)
Lastly, Fox uncritically plasters a comment full-screen from Tim Winter, President of the Parents Television Council, which reads:
This brutally violent video game must be kept out of the hands of children, and we are calling on all major retailers to reconsider any decisions to sell this game... Since the first version was released in 1997, the Grand Theft Auto series has lowered the bar for graphic and grotesque video game content.
Nonsense, utter and total. The only thing that's lowered the bar for grotesque content is in fact Fox's segment, which grotesquely misrepresents the game and leaves parents foundering in a sea of feckless, fact-less hype.
(You can contact The Live Desk at Fox here.)
Second: Did you see this CBS spot on the game? It starts with the broadcaster sternly, even warningly stating that "many parents and educators remain upset about [Grand Theft Auto's] violent content...they contend it's downright inappropriate, even harmful." The shot cuts to CBS's Anne-Marie Green, who misleadingly juxtaposes the game's controversiality with a demographic generalization that "it remains very...popular with boys and young adults." The sequence then shows a young male described as "a Grand Theft Auto fan," who says he plays it because it's about "getting away with all the things you wouldn't be able to do in real life." The reporter cuts back in with:
...Things like murder, sex with prostitutes, driving drunk -- all part of how to play the game in the latest edition of Grand Theft Auto.
The shot cuts back to the young male, who says he doesn't "think it carries over into real life." But the piece swiftly counters with someone extremely critical of the series, a representative of Mothers in Charge, whose son, we're told, was murdered, though we're not told how (which of course instantly invalidates the relevance of the detail). This person proceeds to claim that young people can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality, that "they don't understand that if they go out and kind of act on that, that that person doesn't get up and walk away."
Okay, I know lots of people hold irrational views about child psychology, but it's pretty upsetting that a CBS news affiliate would put such an obvious non-expert on the air and amplify such an unstudied opinion.
Even when they finally bring in Lawrence Kutner, co-author of the new book Grand Theft Childhood (which I'm currently reading, and on the verge of raving about) to counter, he's a disembodied voice on a phone with a few lines -- to his credit, economic and poignant ones -- that nonetheless feel overshadowed by the rest of the piece's foreboding bogeyman tone.
Another unhelpful info-bite, in other words, that probably just created a new batch of "Did you hear about that scary violent video game that lets you have sex with prostitutes?" GTA-ignorant non-gamers and paranoid parents.
(You can contact CBS 3 -- CBS's Philadelphia affiliate -- here.)
And finally: Jack Thompson made his flailing grab for attention by writing a letter to the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida demanding that legal action be taken against Take Two and retailers for selling the game in the first place. He further labels the game "the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio" before calling for a "vaccine" in the form of "criminal prosecutions" by the U.S. government.
Patently absurd, I know, but I figure it's better when we know what the absurd among us are up to, especially when outlets like Fox occasionally tag them as "an expert in school shootings."
Thompson incidentally follows in the storied footsteps of media "critics" like Dr. Fredric Wertham, a German-American psychiatrist who railed against comic books as a cause of juvenile delinquency in his pseudo-scientific polemic, Seduction of the Innocent. As Wertham's claims about comics, so Thompson's claims about games like Grand Theft Auto IV -- baseless and bizarre. Also: Thompson's prescription that the government should be even more involved in regulating cultural aesthetics -- standing in for responsible parenting -- should be offensive to all of us, whether on the right, left, or anywhere in between.
(You can't contact Jack Thompson, as far as I know, and that's probably for the best.)
Re-Play
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I think you protest too much, and sound as extreme as the news commentary that you critique. There is no doubt that Grand Theft Auto is violent. And most parents would not not want their children playing the game, especially younger children (who also would not be allowed to watch Nightmare on Elm Street). But of course adults should be allowed to play this game and have fun doing so. So, why does a grown adult have a problem just admitting that they enjoy the violence, its fun to them, and that children should not play it? Is that really so bad? You sound like a 15 year old trying to convince your mom to let you play.
I, on the behalf of GTA4 fans would like to thank the GTA4 gods for giving us this awesome game despite all these objections and obstructions by these crazy moms peoples.
...Wait, why am I typing this comment when I could be in line to get myself the game. peace
This article reeks of hypocrisy and was a waste of 5 minutes. Yes, media and politicians are taking this video game "lynching" a bit far. However, your insistence on analogizing between other games and movies is not only irrelevant, but absurd. The measure of "violence" has far more to do with "reality" than blood spatter or martial arts. What people are afraid of with GTA aren't the chainsaws and punches, but the sex, drugs, gangs, street crime, and countless other storylines that mimic very real ongoings in our world - ongoings that are, without question, destroying the moral fabric of our society.
What makes me most curious is why this article has such a defensive tone. Are you a co-founder of Rockstar Games or are you really that big of a geek that you get pissy when people bad talk games?
This comment was written by a 28y/o agnostic who has played video games since he was 12, has no children to worry about, and stands in the political center. In case you were wondering.
so much fuss! You know what this is all about people? Money. Plain and simple. The news sensationalizes minor stories to get people all whipped up about not-very-exciting issues. The video game industry makes violent games with sexual content to make money. The big movie studios put sex/violence into their films to make money. Then CBS themselves are complicit because they put them on TV.
Reality check here people. Every major company in the gaming/movie/tv business makes money off sex and or violence. Bucketloads of it
What to do, what to do?? Simple. Parents need to be responsible for protecting their children from the pervasive use of sex and violence in modern entertainment mediums as they see fit. The government makes a mess of enough right now, don't let them screw up the entertainment industry even more than they already do.
The pendulum swings both ways... the commentators you cite are extreme in their criticism of GTA4, and you are hollow in your defense of it. It is rhetorical for them to assault GTA4 without assaulting a myriad of other content, and it is rhetorical for you to defend GTA4 on the simple basis that it is not unique.
Unfortunately for the general public, extremism provides an inaccurate view of the situation and makes people even less likely to come to a decision as to which views they foster. An unbiased review of the effects of GTA4 on children or society would not compare or excuse it based on existing content. An unbiased review of the effects of GTA4 on children or society would present empirical evidence of the games effect, or in-effect, on actual behavior, not limited to violent crime.
So in short, Matt, your commentary is as biases and extreme as the commentators you criticize.
And as I've made pretty clear above, no one (including me) is arguing against your point about children not playing it, beely. The Fox and CBS segments don't have much to do with protecting kids, though, which is partially my point.
why does this blog list me as the author of comments i did not write? I only published the 1st of those 3 comments.
It strikes me as VERY strange that these folks are concerned about violence in a video game and its effect on children. Strong conservatives, with conservative values, who SUPPORT THE WAR. isn't war much more damaging to our children than fake violence in a game? seems very inconsistent to me.
And also, i would argue that third person games are less likely to "instill a callous disregard for life" than first-person. this is arguable, any studies done on this? the military i believe uses 1st-person shooters for training purposes.
Well, maybe u are a bit surprised, and even pleased that your views have recieved such unaminous criticism with which I concurr completely.
Still your expressed opinions "Unless we're going to conveniently forget media like Friday the 13th and Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street" probably more than anything show the complete bankruptcy of your point view.
It is sad for you if you grew up in an enviroment where the above cultural content can be considered a moral or ethical standard, and which you can then use justify something else.
Unrecognised by you, is the fact that it validates all who claim that such content reduces the individuals ability to discern universal values.
How ironic?
ajd6c8 - Sorry about that, don't know why that happened, it's probably a technical glitch on our side.
Freeze - Hardly unanimous, but I stand by everything I wrote -- it's what I believe, after all.
Holy Reactionaries, batman!
Well, if there is scientific evidence that video games like GTA4 lead to an increase in teen violence, we should be seeing a Children of the Corn like armmagedon by next tuesday-- based ont he sales of this game today alone.
I suppose one could counter my above point with "it's a game sold to adults, there shouldn't be a spike of violence."
Okay, then why is everyone worried in the first place? Either kids are playing it and there is no noticable spike in violence, or kids aren't playing it and then we have nothing to worry about. You can't choose both just for the sake of countering an argument.
Matt. Thanks for the great article. I love FOX news is leading the charge against a video game featuring theft, killing, and high speed driving while FOXs own top TV shows 24 feature on virtually every episode scenes of actual torture, theft, killing, and high speed driving, And that is why GTA4 as a sly parody of violence and culture is so funny: the angrier the people you are parodying get, the funnier it is.Keep it up! -Rzr
Blogs are supposed to be based on personal opinion, whereas articles are supposed to play a neutral standpoint. This is supposed to be more of an article than a blog so I personally believe that your opinion is null.
As far as the "article" is concerned on fox, every news agency is biased, it just depends on how they are biased. Fox News is much more conservative than most of it's counter parts due to MSN/MSNBC because of it being owned by Microsoft and CNN by Time Warner.
Good writers know the balance of writing. Opinions are just that. Bring up some note worthy articles that are solely meant for games and gaming in general for a good reference. Fox isn't the best of places to go for controversial standpoints because everything is controversial.
Thats what I would expect from those media outlets, but I do have to say that some parts of the game have been taken too far and I did not feel that it was such a 'great groundbreaking game' that the hype has made it out to be.
In saying that I've seen worse things on TV but in the context of a video game it did not sit well with me I guess I just long for a better age of video gaming.
Well people fail to realize is that the original "nintendo" generation has now grown into adulthood, and many games like this are designed with them in mind.These guys are not made for your 10 yrs olds, there are many full grown adults playing video games these days and the content is designed with them in mind.
If the parents don't want to let their children play the game or have anything to do with it that's fine. And just because people don't like the violence and think its a bad influence does not mean they have to make a big deal about it. if its so bad just put a label on the game cases or at the begging of the game saying how the things done in this game are fictional blah blah blah and don't try any of it blah blah blah. kinda like what they say before stunt shows
Notice how that every website that promotes the game seems show nothing more than sex with hookers, killing said hookers, lap dances, and random killing. THESE are the parts of the games that people hate, and THESE are the parts that are being promoted. Is there a good storyline? Really? I couldn't tell, because NO ONE CARES. The game could have the 'best intentions' or morals buried somewhere, but not a single person in their vacuous fan base would ever play the game for that purpose. There has never been any real progress in the game series in terms of gameplay, controls, innovation or anything of the sort. It's all a fresh coat of paint, over top the same old game. I'm more frustrated at the lack of anything interesting in the game to offset the mindlessness that the series has offered time and time again. So go ahead and try and defend it, because as a gamer myself I can tell you there's hundreds of games better deserving of it.
In the movies when the story is about a bad guy, we usually get a lesson out of it because in the end we know we are responsible for our actions. In this case where a game is glorifying bad things as being hip and cool and would not tell us if there's a good lesson to be learned except killing and doing something bad. I won't be surprised if the next generation of some kids turning into adults will be a danger to society will be happening. Take note of the shooting s in schools. I'm not saying in general but it's a possibility.
In the movies when the story is about a bad guy, we usually get a lesson out of it because in the end we know we are responsible for our actions. In this case where a game is glorifying bad things as being hip and cool and would not tell us if there's a good lesson to be learned except killing and doing something bad. I won't be surprised if the next generation of some kids turning into adults will be a danger to society will be happening. Take note of the shooting s in schools. I'm not saying in general but it's a possibility.
It's kid of astonishing and a bit embarrassing, so many intelligent American adults seem to be addicted to these games. The passion folks demonstrate to either demonize or defend them is also remarkable. When the next version comes out, we'll get the same hype, have the same lines to buy all the same meaningless wind of activity. All of this noise, producing nothing, while a nation sinks to its cultural and intellectual nadir. How about some of us looking for ways to expand our minds rather than numbing them on adrenaline-jolt induced endorphins. Read a book or better yet write one. Build a fort with your kid. Wrestle your wife and lose. Buy sports equipment for the poor kid in your neighborhood. Call your mother, just to say hi.. Actually learn to play the instrument that's sitting in your junk closet. Or sit around playing your games. Just stay balanced and don't let it rule your life. If your reading this, your not one of the worst off. Encourage someone whose fallen in a hole.
I don't believe for a moment that playing these types of games justify for someone to go out and do drugs or kill someone. But I think the line is blurred when children get a hold of games such as these. So really, in the long run, when a parent allows a child to play a game like this, it is THEIR fault for allowing that to happen. Movies and Games have ratings to protect children from things that they are either too young to see or too young to understand.
I personally am embarrassed that someone like getalife would say something like that. Pick your poison buddy, whether it be games, books, sports, or music, if it becomes a habit, it is considered bad. Socially, nearly everything is health, even drinking a glass of red wine a day. As someone that loves to write, codes in a few different languages, and does 3d animation and art, I feel that you just insulted the whole of the gaming industry with your remark. If you don't like the game, it doesn't mean that you have to play it.
I just read your article: “Grand Theft Auto IV: Media Fantasies and Delusions,” and I have to support your observations on the knee jerk reactions to GTA. Myself, being an aging gamer, pushing 38 cannot wait to take a stroll around the updated version of Liberty City, but I digress. The only thing I would like to say is that the folks that bad mouth the GTA franchise must take an unbiased look at media in general before making derogatory remarks about GTA. Yes, it is fun to stick a rocket launcher into a cop's face in the game and launch him across the street, but come now; it is just a game. Geez, why has nobody made the observation that RISK is a game of global domination in the vein of Third Reich. To win, you have to dominate the board by taking as many countries as you can with your marauding armies. Is this the kind of example we want to teach our kids? I did not think so.
I agree with most of these comments. I think I was raised to be trusted, and I played any game that I wanted. Children cannot buy this game by themselves at a store. So who are these news headlines directed to? Anything that makes a lot of $money$ in our economy is going to get talked about. Anything popular, famous, or widespread is going to spark some interest - whether it be good or bad. We just need to fight the people who are trying to shutdown some of our freedoms. I know most people don't want a church chior boy/girl running our country.
This is a form of entertainment.
Technology is making our videogames more realistic for a more immersive & enjoyable experience, and people are going to say "that's too realistic". And that's because "None of us are as dumb as all of us."
Parents, its up to you if you think your kid is mature enough to enjoy this awesome game. (If not, you probably got them a Wii and a DS)
I agree. Splatterhouse, Double Dragon, Combattribes, Street Fighter II... just a few examples of games I spent numerous quarters and hours playing as a kid. And to this day I haven't roundhouse kicked a single person.
They say that the difference this time around is the enhanced "realism" displayed in GTA graphically and in gameplay. Yeah, the realism of holding a controller and sitting in front of a tv. I'm sorry, but having been raised in the 8 bit generation and seeing my friends and I become family men, college grads, professionals, or aspiring entrepreneurs, I just don't buy the arguement against video games.
Mainstream media is ridiculous. Parents (and people in general) need to stop outsourcing responsibility and take time to raise kids properly.