Apparently, Mothers Against Drunk Driving aren’t busy enough wagging their fingers at people who drive drunk in real life. Now they’re going after sloshed speedsters in virtual reality!
The Associated Press reports:
Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants a stricter rating on “Grand Theft Auto IV.”
The organization is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the independent organization that assigns video-game ratings, to reclassify “GTA IV” as an Adults Only game. The action-driving game, which includes the ability to drive while intoxicated, is currently rated Mature.
“Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke,” MADD said in a statement released Tuesday. “Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable…”
In the critically acclaimed open-world game, players have the choice of patronizing a bar and then attempting to drive drunk. While virtually under the influence, the screen becomes blurred and the controls are more difficult to use. Players also have the option of hailing a taxi or walking. The intoxication effects wear off after a few minutes in the game.
Er… when you’re sitting at home pretending to drive drunk in a video game, you’re not out driving drunk. You probably haven’t even left the house for days. You are a menace to nobody but yourself.
Keep in mind that this is a game where you can do the following:
- Get a hooker
- Kill the hooker when you’re done with her
- Walk down the street stabbing people
- Kill the cop who comes after you for walking down the street stabbing people
- Jack the nearest car and plow it through a crowded sidewalk
- Drive the car off a cliff
- Repeat
I’d list more, but I only got the game yesterday. That’s not even getting into the stuff like the strip club you can visit or the misogynistic, profanity-laden TV shows you can watch within the game. It’s pretty much a sociopath starter kit, but these nearsighted MADD scolds don’t care about any of that. That stuff doesn’t help them raise funds.
Bottom line: They’re not having a good time, so neither should you.
Everyone was up-in-arms with GTA 1,2 and 3 and now 4. Yet they are launched, bought and played by adults and children alike. It just reinforces the fact that bad publicity works quite well. MADD needs to stick to real people in real cars.
I can’t wait until this too fades from our collectively short memmories.
…next !
Couldn’t agree more with this article. This game is everything that is incorrect, but it’s just that - a video game. I doubt that anyone in their right mind will be like “Huh - I just was able to drive drunk virtually, so let’s go see if I can do it in real life” - and anyone who does .. well, words cannot say.
As I was just listening to Maxim Radio’s review and information on cheat codes for this game not more than 5 minutes ago, I would say the general consensus on the most important part of the game is how to get the x’s off the females tatters.
Priorities!
Wow, I would think MADD would like a popular game showing the effects of driving drunk to sober people (assuming you aren’t gaming drunk). But the worst part is calling it a “violent crime.” Indeed, it can be deadly, but such verbiage will only cause the sort of backlash that leads to winking at drunk driving.
For real. What exactly is the point of this game? I’ve never played it. You get points for doing the stuff Simon described? Is it an online thing? Do you win prizes? I find video games very dull.
Believe it or not, everybody already knows that drinking and driving are bad, right? Guess what… people do it anyways. Hundreds of people across the U.S. get arrested for DWI every day, even though we all know it’s wrong. Is making a game out of it supposed to make us feel bad, or is it more likely for people to try it in real life after playing it in a game.
I know it may be hard to imagine people being that stupid, but the world is full of stupid people who think that the normal rules of society don’t pertain to them. How many times in the past few years have teen-age boys been arrested for killing for fun? Setting transients on fire for fun? How often did this occur 20 years ago? My point isn’t that games make people evil, but they do tend to provide unimaginative, unintelligent people with ideas about what constitutes “fun”. Some of those stupid people act on their ideas.
Just watch the news and see all of the things people do that we all know is wrong.
Granted, GTS is just a game, but it’s a game that gives SOME people the idea that crime is fun and acceptable in today’s society. Ask any teacher who has been teaching for more than a couple of years about how teen attitudes have changed over the past decade or so. They can give clear, first-hand examples of “gangsta” attitudes that hvae been brought to the forefront by games such as GTA.
Setting transients on fire for fun? How much carbon do they give off? Someone call Greenpeace fast!
Ever hear of the Wild West?
And most don’t. Too bad for them, huh? They don’t get to decide for themselves.
so just like in real life you could prevent it by walking or hailing a cab.
whats the problem again?
Actually in the game if you get in the car drunk the character says “I probaly shouldn’t be driving”
Well, in fairness to MADD, their area of concern is “Drunk Driving”, not the use of prostitutes or stabing people, etc. So it makes sense they would object to this.
Now, as for the… “Er… when you’re sitting at home pretending to drive drunk in a video game, you’re not out driving drunk. You probably haven’t even left the house for days. You are a menace to nobody but yourself.”
This seems to imply that because this is a video game, any anti-social tendencies are automatically excused. Well, let’s just follow this trail and see where it can lead us.
If the game was set up so that everytime the main character killed or assaulted someone, racial slurs were uttered, would this be cool? There are many people who would love to hear “Take that, n*gger!”, or “Take that, cracker!”, or “Take that, ch*nk!”, or “Take that, Jew bastard!” everytime they snuffed someone on the game screen. Since the whole thing about GTA is the anti-social tendencies it pushes, why not add race baiting as well?
After all, it is just a video game. Nothing to object to, right?
Seriously. Who gives a s***. GTA 4 just shows the twisted side of human nature, the things every human being would like to do when their pissed. For all we know those MADD f***ers are just trying to find something else to do other than fighting for a cause that will never actually be fulfilled anyways, so these bastards decide, “well this video game has drunk driving in it, lets try to make some bucks off that” Why do people try to target a video game for their own personal satisfaction? Are they that f***ing low that they’d feel good for going after a game? honestly, MADD is wasted money, wasted time, because nobody cares and nobody’s going to listen to them after something this childish
Works for me. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.
Yep, just a video game, who cares.
You probably shouldn’t add a whole lot of racist crap because it wouldn’t sell very well because people don’t like that, but oddly enough people don’t mind driving drunk when it won’t have an actual effect, just like they don’t mind dying in video games since it won’t have any actual effect.
Are you suggesting that dying in a video game is going to make people more ok with dying? That seems silly, just like the presumption that doing something like drunk driving in a video game (and if you have tried the game driving drunk in it is incredibly difficult and best to be avoided) will make people more prone to drink and drive.
Of course, I did play hungry hungry hippos as a child and now eat marbles like it is my job.
If the player does better while sober than drunk (which would be expected), it is probably a good thing. Would MADD prefer the kids learned this lesson behind the wheel of a real car?
Operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated is not a violent crime any more than discharging a firearm is a violent crime.
I agree completely with MADD. “‘Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke,’ MADD said in a statement released Tuesday. ‘Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable…’”
Yet playing GTA is a choice, sure it’s full of violent crime but it is also 100 percent preventable to paraphrase something I agree with.
Utterly ridiculous, starting from the allegation that driving drunk is a violent crime. Driving drunk is not any more a violent crime than carrying a gun is.
While it may be a crime, it is not inherently violent. Plenty of people drive drunk every night while creating zero violence. They shouldn’t, but they do.
As a person who can’t stand hate against video games like GTA, I have to constantly go around and explain that games are just the same as rock n roll and comic books were and even novels in the 18th century. People always make media whipping boys in order to spout their crap and video games are an easy target.
GTA (especially IV) gives context to all those things. It’s the freedom to carjack people and stab them. There are people who recognize from the beginning that its a video game so doing all these things doesn’t matter to them. Also some people (like me) don’t like the idea of wantonly jacking people if you think about it in the real world perspective. That coupled with what the character’s motives and actions are and you get the reason why hookers lay stabbed.
It’s unfortunate that simple people sometimes play games like GTA and are the ones who people who don’t play games define as the “children”.
Ugh…once again, the nanny staters among us miss the entire point. If your kid goes out and tries to reenact GTA, who’s fault is it? The console manufacturer’s? The programmers’? The store that sells them? The raters for not making it inaccessible? Or is it YOUR FAULT for not taking the time to know what your kid is listening to, watching, and playing, and not raising him to know the difference between right and wrong, and fantasy and reality? I’m not saying it’s great and wonderful for everyone to play these games, but guess what: it’s your job to raise your family. Not mine, not the government’s, and not every business’. It’s yours. Take responsibility now for what your children are exposed to, teach them to guard their minds against things that will harm them, because ultimately you will be the one held responsible for them. Every time you create some new body to set rules or call the government in to preserve what little innocence is left in the world, you sacrifice real liberty in the name of “the children.”
I think it’s fair enough it should be rated Mature Only. Most adults have the common sense to know not to drive drunk, and if they don’t? They were going to do it anyway, regardless if they played the game.
Way to encourage PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
When something goes wrong, always blame it on video games, movies, TV, or music.
Well, in my opinion, this game is anti-drunk driving because it is a pain in the ass to try to drive drunk. The camera gives me a headache.
What’s next? Is PETA going to get mad that one of the things to do is rid the city of pigeons, or as the game calls it “Flying Rats.”
When is the last time MADD made the news before this? They are using this game for their own publicity as much as anything else, just to show that they are still around. Everyone uses everyone GTA sells tons more games because MADD is being petty, and MADD pretends to be relevant.
Stupid people will do things that get themselves and others killed. MADD, drunk driving laws, and terrible consequences are not going to sway them. Sad, but true. I don’t like people who drive drunk any more than MADD does, but they are out there and all we can do is be responsible ourselves and encourage others to do the same.
Attacking a video game for “promoting” something that is clearly wrong is retarded, but it’s had the affect that both sides of the issue want.
It’s amazing that people don’t catch on that quite a bit of the anti-social content in the game is delivered with a satirical edge. Have we become that stupid and literal that we can’t take a joke? Do people think that Rockstar really thinks killing hookers is a good idea or that the adults (and adults are the only people who are supposed to be able to buy this adult rated game) can’t distinguish between dark humor and realtiy?
Some folks seem to want America to be wrapped in protective foam.
Stick to real life, MADD. What next? Banning old Foster Brooks routines?
Being against Drunk Driving is a good thing. But, stick to real life. Otherwise you look like a bunch of goddamn fools.
I think a lot of people miss the point of these type of games.
I purchased a copy of this game, have played it. and i love it. as i have the previous GTA games in the series, i also have burnout, call of duty 1,2,3,4, crackdown, bully, condemmed 1 and 2, oblivion, etc, etc.. the list does not need to be exhaustive.
My point is this im 30 years old, ive been playing violent games since i was about 10, have owned just about every console/ computer since the sinclair zx81 and have been a computer geek since then. Im now a manager for a construction company earning a lot of cash and have had no more than speeding ticket on my criminal profile, own my own house and have wife and two kids and have been happily married for 10 years. do i like playing violent video games? yes. when i have played them does that make me want to go out there and kill somebody? no. why? because i know the difference between where the line is drawn in reality and in a game.
The whole point of these games is entertainment, an escape from the routine of everyday life.
I know that if i have a bad day at work, instead of venting my anger on my boss, i can go home, turn on my xbox and maime a few innocent (virtual) people without getting 60 years jail time in real life. Once ive done this i feel calm again and go about my day Knowing ive not hurt, annoyed or upset anyone. think about it.
You see the problem with todays society is NOT kids or adults being ‘corrupted’ by video games at all in my opinion. its down to lack of disipline of some of todays parents, sometimes not because of any fault of there own, its mainly down to the authorities and there politically correct ways. youths these days know full well that they can get away with anything now because if a parent/ teacher smacks them or shouts at them in an extremely agressive tone they can automatically get into serious trouble as the authorities now categorise such acts as ‘abuse’ which tyhese day holds a prison sentence and/or the parents child being taken into care. so you see because of this these kids now do not know the difference between right and wrong. I remember when i was a kid and one day i stole a bay of sweets from my local corner shop and was caught in the act by the shopkeeper who immediatley whisked me off to my house to inform my father of the situation. Needless to say i got a dammed good hiding for my actions and never stole anything again. I rest my case.
BRAVO, deano bravo. You pretty much said it right there. Bad parents like to blame everything but themselves. Political correctness feeds into bad parenting, because no one wants to believe that their pwecious widdle flower should be corrected or held responsible for their actions.
Well… I actually played the game drunk, and the drunk driving mode made me throw up…. spinning camera etc… The first thing I thought when I got done puking was, “damn, next time one of my GTA buddies wants to go out drinking, we’re taking the taxi home.”