Grand Theft Auto 4 will officially be the greatest video game evar. My first experience with the GTA game was at my kid brother’s crib. He has the version called ‘Vice City’. I started playing the game on a Saturday evening and I never stopped. I might have played that game for 36 straight hours if I didn’t have to eventually go to my job. What makes the game so hypnotic is that the storyline is dense and well scripted on so many levels.
The larger debate that looms will deal with the social ramifications of games like Grand Theft Auto. Do I think that video games desensitize us to violence? Yes, and mostly no. I think that real violence desensitizes us to violence. It isn’t just the wars that we find ourself stuck in the middle of but all the armed conflicts that are ocurring globally and being transmitted to our eyes through the television and the internets.
I won’t make a tacit defense for these video games either. They are certainly part of the problem that cause young minds to become disenchanted and ambivalent about their future. Life is cheap in the video game world. With that being said I think that every parent has to be a pro-active monitor on the amount of media that your kids have access to. It’s a tall order I’m sure and I can clearly remember giving my parents a ton of headache for their money.
We aren’t going to be able to stop the production and sale of these games. Nor should we. The hyper-reality violence contained in the game has no bearing on society as a whole as much as the real violence and terror that we commit on the daily as humankind. Let’s stop starting wars and then maybe we can consider banning video games. But until that time… Rockstar Games is that shit.
Hells Yeah….My issue is this: If these games and movies are what desnsitize us then me and most of the people I know should be pitiless psycho butchers.
I think it’s the real. My senior year a dude from my way punched a teacher….then a whole bunch of other ones got popped. It’s like people just need something to happen and realize, “Oh, we can do that.” Then it’s on. If anything, I think the games just give us better aim.
I remember when Mortal Kombat came out and parents/lawmakers were flipping out on that. This was before the high school shooting craze of the late 90s. I wonder if they would have blamed MK if kids were getting frozen or having their heads pulled off or their hearts pulled out or shot with harpoons instead of shot. Probably so.
If anything GTA keeps me from murking people. Do you know how many days I came home from slaving in corporate America and let off some stress with a tree and a brew and just walking around San Andreas with the .38, catching one shot kills? Made me feel alot better and it was probably best for society.
The problem is that people assume that video games and animated entertainment are purely in the realm of children which is ludicrous. I remember my man swindling his mom into getting “Heavy Metal” by proving it was animated and saying the rating on the box was a misnomer. Just because its not all real life actors and film doesn’t mean its instantly kiddie.
You have adults that have grown up with video games and want to play them as adults. Now if only cRap music could figure that out. (YAH TRICK YAH!)
AWESOME POST DALLAS!!!
Agreed on all points. I usually point to the proliferation of horribly violent Japanese games and their relatively peaceful society in comparison with the west. It’s proof that there’s not causation of violence inherent in these games.
You’re 100% correct, it’s this violent society that we’re living in that has more of a direct correlation.
And that gif, killer!!! NO HOMO!!!
Damn this is a good post with a point that unfortunately will be completely ignored by people looking for easy answers.
“You have adults that have grown up with video games and want to play them as adults. Now if only cRap music could figure that out. (YAH TRICK YAH!)”
…no doubt
The goat arcade experience is Street Fighter 2 any version….
People use to get in to real fights after games ….Steal starter jackets , steal bikes,
The fights after Street Fight games >>>>>>>>>>. The Game
Another goat game is The first resident Evil
That first time the dogs crash through the window you jump …It does not matter who you are,,,,,
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Also I got some new stuff on my site to check out…
I had a similar experience. I played the version before Vice City. First I watched some one else play for 1-2 hours around noon. Then they let me play and I stopped some where around 8 or 9pm, I was seriously hungry.
40, I don’t know why, but I’m laughing hard at your comment. Some times I just want to go and blast monsters, kill some gangsters or bust shots at cops.
IMHO, parents should really-really keep the GTA series away from youngsters. Young kids are still developing mentally. Although extremely violent video games do not have direct influence in most cases, I would deter children from those games, especially if you know your child is effin crazy.
However, if parents do allow their children to play those games, then they should really supervise and discuss the ramifications of killing two cops, plus 1 innocent bystander in GTA.
I love GTA!
/\ Word to what 40 said…I used to sit in meetings and know I had to go home and play some GTA afterwards.
If anything it could have made me a worse driver…I pulled some stunts that made me realize I actually had a car note and insurance and this wasn’t a car I just walked up on and hopped in.
A quick correction first … Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will officially be the greatest video game evar.
Now that we’ve got that clear, nah I don’t think video games desensitize us to violence. I’m mercin’ people all the time on the 360, but I haven’t raised a hand to anybody in years. Seeing real shit go down makes my stomach turn. I can’t handle that Faces of Death shit either. It’s just that video games are what they are, not really real, son.
40, you make too much sense sometimes.
“Another goat game is The first resident Evil
That first time the dogs crash through the window you jump …It does not matter who you are”
^ truth. I still remember the first time those dogs came crashing in.
BTW, Rafi Kam on the .gif
I had so much fun playing Vice City, you don’t even know! Although I got shot the hell up because I heard René & Angela’s “I’ll Be Good” and had a screaming nostalgia attack. GTA: VC’s soundtrack was perfection. And if anything, the GTA series has kept my road rage in check. Running over people in those games has kept me from snapping on fools in real life. I can’t wait to drive around Alderney and kill people. And don’t let them have a fake Ikea or Jersey Gardens. I will set that shit on fire.
You know what’s also a really therapeutic game? The Sims 2. Something about all those little happy characters living in an idyllic suburbia is really soothing. Although I had one character cheat on his wife while I wasn’t paying attention and it took me forever to smooth that over.
Indeed GTAIV is akin to crack. It’s gonna make me spend $400 just to play it & I’m not even on video games like that.
BioShock is the NEW and IMPROVED crack. For my peeps equipped with the xbox 360, TRUST!
It cracks me up. My brother and I used to watch Daffy Duck get shot in the face every Saturday. We havent killed anyone yet. People are either homicidal or they arent. Many killers today, dont even know about GTA.
I cant wait for it come out so I can kill some cops and pick up a few hoes.
Hey Dallas,
Hot post and totally on point. This September I’m publishing the book “Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Modern Pop Culture”. You can read more about it at http://www.pornandpong.com. I’ll make sure you get a copy… *early* (as Freeway would say).