Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

The moral lesson that drives GTA IV

SCOTT COLBOURNE

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 7:37 AM EDT 05/05/08

A couple of Harvard researches escort mom and dad through Liberty City -- and surprise, everyone gets out alive ...Read the full article

This conversation is closed

  1. J S from Toronto, Canada writes: Okay - I thought this article was about the Greater Toronto Area. As for this video game - I think it's absolutely sick and repulsive to glorify criminal activity.
  2. D A from Canada writes: Robin Hood and Shakespeare's Fallstaff must really get your goat then, JS
  3. Garrett Nicolai from Regina, Canada writes: D A, I agree. Criminal activity abounds in literature.

    Frodo destroys property that does not belong to him... yet is glorified as a hero.

    Hamlet (eventually) commits pre-meditated murder.

    Don Juan Giovanni was the most notorious womanizer the world has ever known.

    Edmond Dantès flees from prison and acquires occupation under false pretenses.

    I could go on... I'm not a fan of GTA, but really, its nothing we haven't seen (and accepted) before.
  4. D A from Canada writes: Hamlet didn't just commit murder. He committed regicide, which was by definition an act of high treason. The punishment at the time would have been something along the lines of being drawn and quartered while alive. And because Claudius was his stepfather, it was also patricide to boot.

    Falstaff is a bit better an example because he was Shakespeare's most popular character in his own time, and because he is portrayed in a comic rather than tragic light. He even gets to go to heaven when he dies!
  5. Jeff D from Toronto, Canada writes: grand theft auto is just a fairly accurate portrayal of common criminal activities in human societies globally and i'm surprised that some people are abhorred to see it in the form of a game.
    if a kid plays a game like gta and picks up a kitchen knife one day in an attempt to imitate what happens in a game, then maybe the kid's just got some genetic problems.
    even if we get rid of metal and rap music, violent games, violent movies, UFC, boxing, and just about everything violent, people are still gonna be committing violent crimes.
  6. A A from Mississauga, Canada writes: Jeff D from Toronto, Canada writes: if a kid plays a game like gta and picks up a kitchen knife one day in an attempt to imitate what happens in a game, then maybe the kid's just got some genetic problems.
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    What a ridiculous statement to make. Imitation is the primary method of learning. Kids use a fork to eat because parents do and not because it is in their "genetics". And, by the way, this game has restrictions on it so anyone letting the kids play this type of game should be paid a visit by Children Services.
  7. John Doucette from Manotick, Canada writes: Ah fun times for those who can't cope with reality! I hear that the PMO and Bay Street loves the game!
  8. Ben SGT/USMC from United States writes:

    The whole GTA thing has been fun to play since it's been around. Quite addicting in fact...I definitely plan on getting IV asap.

  9. PANIC! At The Ice Floe from Ottawa, Canada writes: Parents: Please take the opportunity to rent the game and play it by yourself for 30 minutes before letting your kids buy the game. I'm a "gamer" and I have to say that this is probably the winner of the "not made for kids" award. I would let my kids play Halo or Call of Duty (both rated M), but GTA? No way.

    The game sounds like an episode of Deadwood for *&^&^% sakes! Case in point: Even buying a hamburger gets you the quote "burger and a Hand job?"
  10. G W from Canada writes: Art imitating Life or Life imitating Art? Either way, some people really have to loosen up. It's a game.

    There are countless examples of criminal activity in literature. Anyone read Dostoevsky?
  11. Hail to the Conservatives ! from London, Canada writes: GW - Seconded - the commentary thus far has been ridiculous.
    Grow up people.
  12. asdf asdf from Canada writes: I don't understand the controversy. The game is clearly not made for kids. If kids end up playing it, how is that the fault of the game makers or publishers? If the game featured Elmo and Big Bird, and was marketed towards that audience, it would be a different story. But there's been no attempt to market this game to children.

    We have tons of R rated movies. We all accept that these arent made for children. If a 10 year old watches Scarface, we blame the parents, not the creators of Scarface. I dont see how this is any different.
  13. PANIC! At The Ice Floe from Canada writes: asdfx2: Absolutely agree! BTW: Good comparison. I would put this game on par with a movie like Scarface.
  14. Ann Nonymous from Canada writes: As a mature gamer, I find the game fun to play and not worse than a lot of movies.

    However, this is one game I wouldn't let my children play just as I don't let them watch just about any movie on TV. Instead of blaming gaming companies and the government, parents shouldn't abdicate their own responsibility for monitoring their children's activities...TV and video games are not babysitters.
  15. The Wight from Canada writes: To point out what should be blatantly obvious ...

    a) This isn't a kid's game.

    b) It is SATIRE.
  16. Mister Kong from Toronto!, Canada writes: I'm a mature gamer as well who will be buying and playing many hours of this game.

    I agree with the above posters, were I a parent my kids would not be playing this game. Parents who think it might be alright should definately rent it and take it for a test drive.

    JS - Have you ever played a GTA game? If not you might think about doing that before you criticize them. It's pretty similar in content to a lot of movies and TV shows and it's fairly difficult to understand the satire unless you've actually played the games.
  17. The Globing Male from Boston, United States writes: My 15 year old son and I went out and bought GTA IV last night. What a riot! Great game. Yes, lots of swearing, fighting, hookers, pimps, drunks, violence, etc. etc. Just like 90% of the PG-rated films out there.
    I think these esteemed social-olog-ists from Harvard have forgotten one thing:
    IT'S A GAME.
    It's not real.
    It's etertainment. Treat it as such.

    ....I'm still trying to find the sequence where you get to drive drunk...
  18. PANIC! At The Ice Floe from Ottawa, Canada writes: The drunk driving is over-rated IMO. You use your phone to call Roman and select go drinking as your activity.

    Basically the screen just sways side to side as if you were on a boat in really choppy water.
  19. Paul Hume from Canada writes: Funny how no one mentions that in GTA you can use an ambulance to ferry people to the hospital or use a fire truck to save lives. Put it in perspective people and stop watching faux news. I remember when Mass Effect got reviewed on faux news and everyone on the panel but one hadn't even played the game. Said it was full of porn and whatnot, when in reality there was one side boob shot for 30 seconds at most. Depending on the way the player played the game they may not have even seen it. 30 seconds in a 50 hour game. Geez, get a grip people. What hype over a video game. Rockstar is laughing to the bank with all the free publicity from the haters.
  20. Derek Holtom from Swan River, Canada writes: D A from Canada writes: Robin Hood and Shakespeare's Fallstaff must really get your goat then, JS

    that has to be the best post i've read in a long time
  21. Eric B from Ottawa, Canada writes: The Globing Male: another way to try the drunk driving is to call Michele for a date and take her to a bar...she'll ask you to bring her back home afterwards. In all honesty, all this feels like is as though your controller only works half the time and turns are over-emphazed -- quite annoying actually. I wound up getting out of the car and taking cab...

    I agree that this game is not made for kids (constant swearing, sexual & violent references, fighting & killing, encouragement of criminal activity) but an entertainment package for mature users this is the pinnacle thus far, about 10 times better than the next...amazing graphics, an enormous library of characters/songs/vehicles/special tasks and missions...you could hours 100h and still not get bored.

    This is the new standard....

  22. The Wight from Canada writes: The Globing Male:

    "I think these esteemed social-olog-ists from Harvard have forgotten one thing:
    IT'S A GAME.
    It's not real.
    It's etertainment. Treat it as such."

    That was precisely their conclusion: that the fake violence and sex of GTA IV and games like it had NO relation to real life violence, so the researchers agreed with you. Of course, some folks already had their mind made up about the game (without playing it, without reading real research on the subject like this) and so hate it regardless.
  23. David Simon from Canada writes: Bring back Leisure Suit Larry-and not the buggy rip-off of a few years ago-I mean the real thing.
  24. Archer Campion from Montreal, Canada writes: One thing continues to trouble me...

    Scott, you left partway through the final episode of Twin Peaks to start playing GTAIV again? I admit you were stepping from one masterpiece to another, but you really should have stayed until the end. :)
  25. Terry Terry from brantford, Canada writes: GTA? I'm still looking to replace my DOS version Chinese Checkers game.
  26. Hail to the Conservatives ! from London, Canada writes: Perhaps the uproar is not because of the game itself - but rather those parents which expose their underage children to it because either a) pure ignorance, b) acts of omission, or c) because they just do not care.

    Granted, I am a big GTA fan and am the last one to think it is society's responsibility to raise other people's kids. However, I recently found out that my deadbeat brother-in-law plays GTA IV with his four and two year olds in the room. It make me step back and think, wow, I can kind of see the problem now.

    Not me, my kid is fast asleep before I enter Liberty City :) But then again, I am an exceptional human being - LOL

Comments are closed

Thanks for your interest in commenting on this article, however we are no longer accepting submissions. If you would like, you may send a letter to the editor.

Report an abusive comment to our editorial staff

close

Alert us about this comment

Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.

Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.

Back to top