4 ms·

GTA was a lot more controversial in the past than it is today. It used to be the subject of moderate to heavy moral panic, since it's a game about committing c

GTA was a lot more controversial in the past than it is today. It used to be the subject of moderate to heavy moral panic, since it's a game about committing crimes; stealing cars and running over cops / hookers. Hearing people whine about GTA today feels like a blast from the past.

Insanity 1y ago
Totally fair point, the first one I played was GTA III in the early 2000s, and I definitely remember some of these conversations. Similar to how DOOM and Mortal Kombat had a lot of controversy, but like you, I had assumed that this was mostly in the past.
- ted_bunny 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - Spivak 1y ago
    It is normal and okay. Every 8-14 year old boy wants to play guns even in the absence of video games. The video games we're talking about are play violence. If they upped the realism to depict actual mature themes, like the German soldier begging for his life, then we're talking about content not appropriate for kids. What's funny is that boys don't grow out of this, the entire genre of dad action movies is the same play violence. The only reason they might not be appropriate for kids is because they feature sex.
    - pmarreck 1y ago
      > @ted_bunny "In the past" is inevitabilist framing. I don't think it'll ever be normal or ok to let kids play mass murder simulators. Just because our culture has decided to accept it doesn't mean the matter is settled. If there was any actual evidence to support the assumption that "mass murder simulators" have a negative long-term effect on humans, this wouldn't be nonsense. (I do know that it does have a slight short-term effect on violent tendencies.) EDIT: I noticed that comment was removed but I didn't want to delete my reply to it!) Similarly, if there was evidence to support that people engaging in "forbidden" sexual content in a fictional context, somehow influenced real human behavior in that space (does "cheating wife" porn encourage more actual cheating, or "incest porn" encourage more incest?), this group's righteous campaign might actually have substance instead of being devoid of it. Otherwise you're basically just doing baseless thought-policing based on Argumentum ad Nauseam fallacies. "I don't like the fictional content you're engaging with... Just because!" People really have some major difficulty for some reason discussing these things rationally. For example, take a brother and sister, raised separately, who meet by chance and end up feeling intense GSA (genetic sexual attraction). It just so happens that the sister is infertile. They want to have a relationship. Who is actually harmed by that, again? Anyway. Also related, my previous comment on this story which was posted yesterday, pointing out the hypocrisy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44614427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44614427
      - gjsman-1000 1y ago
        [flagged]
perihelions 1y ago
There's actually a statue of Hillary Clinton in GTA IV (2008), in commemoration of her many battles against the series. [0] https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Statue_of_Happiness https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Statue_of_Happiness
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  [flagged]
veeti 1y ago
Kids these days probably never heard of Jack Thompson's crusades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist)
iamtedd 1y ago
"Today" being 10 years ago. Collective Shout's campaign was in 2015.

Insanity 1y ago

Totally fair point, the first one I played was GTA III in the early 2000s, and I definitely remember some of these conversations. Similar to how DOOM and Mortal Kombat had a lot of controversy, but like you, I had assumed that this was mostly in the past.

ted_bunny 1y ago
[flagged]
- Spivak 1y ago
  It is normal and okay. Every 8-14 year old boy wants to play guns even in the absence of video games. The video games we're talking about are play violence. If they upped the realism to depict actual mature themes, like the German soldier begging for his life, then we're talking about content not appropriate for kids. What's funny is that boys don't grow out of this, the entire genre of dad action movies is the same play violence. The only reason they might not be appropriate for kids is because they feature sex.
  - pmarreck 1y ago
    > @ted_bunny "In the past" is inevitabilist framing. I don't think it'll ever be normal or ok to let kids play mass murder simulators. Just because our culture has decided to accept it doesn't mean the matter is settled. If there was any actual evidence to support the assumption that "mass murder simulators" have a negative long-term effect on humans, this wouldn't be nonsense. (I do know that it does have a slight short-term effect on violent tendencies.) EDIT: I noticed that comment was removed but I didn't want to delete my reply to it!) Similarly, if there was evidence to support that people engaging in "forbidden" sexual content in a fictional context, somehow influenced real human behavior in that space (does "cheating wife" porn encourage more actual cheating, or "incest porn" encourage more incest?), this group's righteous campaign might actually have substance instead of being devoid of it. Otherwise you're basically just doing baseless thought-policing based on Argumentum ad Nauseam fallacies. "I don't like the fictional content you're engaging with... Just because!" People really have some major difficulty for some reason discussing these things rationally. For example, take a brother and sister, raised separately, who meet by chance and end up feeling intense GSA (genetic sexual attraction). It just so happens that the sister is infertile. They want to have a relationship. Who is actually harmed by that, again? Anyway. Also related, my previous comment on this story which was posted yesterday, pointing out the hypocrisy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44614427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44614427
    - gjsman-1000 1y ago
      [flagged]

perihelions 1y ago

There's actually a statue of Hillary Clinton in GTA IV (2008), in commemoration of her many battles against the series. [0] https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Statue_of_Happiness https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Statue_of_Happiness

FirmwareBurner 1y ago
[flagged]

veeti 1y ago

Kids these days probably never heard of Jack Thompson's crusades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist)

iamtedd 1y ago

"Today" being 10 years ago. Collective Shout's campaign was in 2015.