Rockstar Games, the publisher of the computer game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, has recently come under fire from the U.S. House of Representatives, which has successfully demanded a Federal Trade Commission investigation into possible ratings deception for the embedding into the game of hard core sex scenes, a.k.a. the "Hot Coffee" patch. It can be activated with a downloadable modification now widely circulating on the Internet. Meanwhile, GTA: San Andreas has been effectively banned in Australia for ratings now considered misleading given the hidden content.

Truth in labelling IS important, but as The Boston Herald's teen correspondent Steve Ryan writes today, in the end, what matters most here is not really regulatory action. Rather, the "Hot Coffee" dust-up raises appropriate questions the innate tone of the game's content (even without the added spice); and about the responsibility of parents to exercise good judgement.

The basic concept of the "GTA'' series remains the same from game to game. The player takes the role of a hit-man who, in order to expand his mob or drug empire, must perform favors for various gangs, routinely beat up innocent civilians, steal cars and kill cops. None of this is exactly child-friendly. But it seems only the game's sexual content is worthy of objection. Hidden within "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' and accessible only with a software modification reportedly created by hackers, a pornographic feature has sparked a firestorm the graphic violence never did....Maybe the lewd sexual acts are crossing the line, but no more so than the countless assassinations and vehicular homicides any "GTA'' player will commit in the game....no one is forcing parents to buy these games for their children. If they do not want their children to play it, they should take it away - or better yet, not buy it.

There will probably be few cases explicity known where Grand Theft Auto or any other specifically-named computer game is said to have directly led a player to emulate in real life the despicable online role-playing in which they engage. Although a June murder in a Tapei, Taiwan gaming parlor was directly inspired - according to this report - by a session of the video game, Blade&Sword Online.

But while such direct links are relatively rare, the cumulative impact on some youths of computer and video games (such as GTA) featuring simulated hard-core crime and violence may prove considerable. While most kids can steer the course between fantasy and reality well enough, why would any parent benignly sign off on a fantasy world filled with graphically animated, simu-sociopathic violent crime? Mush-minded Democratic Party moral relativism? Middle- and upper-class absentee parenting? Or, one of the parents works in the "entertainment industry"? Um, yeah, quite possibly - any of the above.

GTA players, as Ryan writes, "perform favors for various gangs, routinely beat up innocent civilians, steal cars and kill cops," and engage in "countless assassinations and vehicular homicides." Methinks that what many of these young gamers really need is a summer in Outward Bound, three hours of nightly cello practice, and community service on weekends. Perhaps it's early yet for clinical treatment including electro-shock therapy, as the Chinese are now dispensing to some young gaming addicts.

Perhaps.

Related post: "Unlocking The Porn In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at August 1, 2005 06:30 PM