Way back in the day, when I first got the original 8-bit Nintendo system, I would play so often that callouses developed on my thumbs. I played this Kung Fu game, Legend of Zelda, Duck Hunt, and Super Mario Bros. But I bet if I were a kid today, I'd want to be playing Grand Theft Auto (GTA). I mean, it just looks really cool.
The big news nowadays is that GTA San Andreas, one of the best-selling games of all time, contains hidden content where the player has not-very-explicit sex with different girlfriends. It requires a plug-in available off the Internet, but the problem is that the content is there at all.
My question: Why all the moral outrage when sex should be the least offensive thing you can do in the game? I mean, come on, the game's titled GRAND THEFT AUTO! Apparently, gratuitous murder and other gangsterism is OK. I guess now I know why the Europeans deride us as hypocritical sexophobes.
My answer? Well, I don't really know. I mean, I do think it would have been psychologically detrimental for an 8-year-old me to have played GTA even without the sex scenes. But, at the same time, one of my favorite GameCube games I know is Medal of Honor: Rising Sun where you kill a whole bunch of Japanese soldiers. Why is depicted sex that much more harmful than kids committing videogame murder?
6 comments:
The moral outrage is the violence it inspires, not the sexual content. I'm surprised you have a copy of this game.
i don't have a copy actually. i was saying that if i were a young kid, i'd probably want to play it.
i agree the real moral outrage should be focused on the violence in the game, but the big news ruckus is only centered on the sex thing. weird.
Let me be devil's advocate for a moment. No doubt the violence can be conscience numbing, and the moral outrage we have toward sexual perversion seems meladramatic. However, there is something about sexual perversion that has a rotting effect to our person and soul that other immoral acts do not. I am appealing the what St. Paul writes in I Corinthians, where a man who lies with a prostitute, sins against his own body; it has a double effect since sex is a means where a man and women become "one spirit" so to speak. So I can see the puritan influence in our culture has affected our thinking to revolt more to sexual immorality than others.
I do agree with you, though, that the whole idea of stealing autos, killing and mayhem ought to be reason enough not to play. The sex in the game makes it that much MORE repulsive to our moral sensibilities.
Good observation, TS!
Excellent point, TS! Ditto to Underground's thoughts...
I have a copy of this game and believe the hype. It's good. Really good. Part of what makes it sooooo good is the freedom to kill and destroy anything and anyone.
You can invite a hooker into a car with you, find a shady spot and the car goes up and down, side to side while your cash is depleted, obviously reflecting you paying her for her service. The most disturbing part? When you're done, you can jump out of your car and beat her to death and take back your money.
So with my rambling aside, I COMPLETELY agree with you. I have the sense to know right from wrong, a 10 year old might not.
thanks, gamebrain, for all the sordid details. it really blows my mind what lows popular culture has sunk to.
wait ... did i just say that?! man, i am getting old!!!
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