2005-07-02

San Rabia

I'd forgotten how useful Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas can be in getting rid of negative mental calories. To those who say it promotes violence, I shoot you in the head!

In five years working with gaming fanatics I only ever met one person who strongly objected to these titles and I think that had more to do with their accessibility to children than anything else. That concerns me too, but they do have an 18 rating. Should all adult-only entertainment be banned because of sloppy parenting? Likewise, anyone who goes on a mad killing spree because they played this game probably had issues before they first put the disc in the tray. It can be a catalyst at most, but it's always easier to have a knee-jerk reaction and place blame than examine the real cause. (I'm preaching to the choir here, I'm sure.)

Where you are welcome to draw a speedy conclusion is that I could give you better directions around San Andreas than I could around Norfolk.

posted by thisismarcus @ 20:43 

2 Comments:

Blogger Tom said...

I'm glad I never worked on a game like this. There was a time when the company I used to work for talked about getting this license. I would have a pretty big ethical dilema if they did.

My big problem is that I think it reinforces a bunch of stereotypes and glorifies a bunch of behaviors that I don't like.

It is easy to blame sloppy parenting, but it is damn difficult to control what the other parents on the street are letting their kids do, and therefore what peer pressure will force on kids.

The label "adult entertainment" is something that is harder for me to easily equate with games, as well.

Was I the one person you were talking about?

17:37  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

I hear what you're saying. It's a complicated issue. I'm actually more into the driving 50+ kinds of vehicles with retro tunes than the killing.

And no, I didn't know your opinion on this. I talked about it a bunch with the sales guy that left in January and has kids.

18:02  

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