"hot coffee" scandal?

[orangerful]

So I attempted to watch the G4 special yesterday on 'sex in videogames'. Nothing very new was said, mostly the same stories you hear anytime anything controversial happens in any form of entertainment. Regular people defend their media because they don't think censorship will help. Conservative/Government types freak out and want to take control. It's that lovely little dance of "you do it or we'll do it for you".

The big deal is that Rockstar LIED. And that needs to be punished. And not by changing the rating of their already controversial game from Mature to Adults Only. Especially since retailers like Target and Wal-Mart refuse to carry AO titles (instead of pulling the current M marked boxes from the shelf right away, most Target stores just had sales on the game...so now little Timmy who shouldn't be playing GTA anyway can get it for only $20!). The ESRB should fine Rockstar or do something to take the wind out of their sails/sales. Perhaps force them to recall the GTA:SA titles and not re-release anything for 6 months or something like that.

Cuz really, I have no problem with the whole 'sex in the game' thing. I had no desire to play GTA anyway. But I'm sure the person who enjoys shooting cops and beating up prostitutes probably would enjoy a extra sex game. Plus, it's not like it's easy to access. You have to know how to hack or mod your game to get to it, so that's a bit of work, more power to you. (honestly, the graphics aren't even that good)



I'm pretty much anti-censorship. And after trying to argue one way or another about it, once you're anti-censorship, you can't sit there and make exceptions. BUT I am pro-ratings. I think the ESRB and the MPAA both are valueable tools. Yes, TOOLS! Parents need to use these tools and stop blaming the ESRB and MPAA for their children's problems. GTA is Mature, that's ages 17+ only. It says it right on the front of the box. If little 8 year old Timmy asks for it, YOU the parent must say no. Wal-Mart employees are paid crap, they have bigger worries than what YOUR kid is playing. Plus, where does an 8 year old get $50 from! It's not like with cigarettes and alcohol, where it's relatively inexpensive bought a pack at a time, so you could see some nicotine addicted teen saving up his pennies for some camels. But a videogame is $50, that's a good hunk of cash to give your kid.

Of course, I'm not a parent, and parents in this day and age...yadda yadda yadda. Actually, they still have no excuses. They have a kid, it's their problem. If they spent the money to buy the kid the Xbox or PS2 or CPU with enough whatever to run a videogame, then they can take the time to moniter their children.

Perhaps if we all didn't jump up and down like monkeys everytime we hear the word "SEX!", kids wouldn't be so interested. You make it taboo, you make it more interesting. Is it any wonder that GTA:SA is now back on the Amazon.com best sellers list? Suddenly, it's a collectible.

I have to say GTA:SA upset me. I wasn't really sure what to think of it. It's one thing to have a mafia-style white guy killing people, it's almost funny in a twisted way. But when they put GTA in the ghetto, with an african-american as the main "gangsta"? Part of me was really upset at the promoting of this stereotype, especially when you get the feeling that the group playing the game is upper-middle class WHITE males. But then I saw letters in Game Informer from african-american gamers, saying how cool it was to finally have a black character they could play as. And then I related, because I loved the Tomb Raider and Buffy video games. Especially Buffy, since she looked a a bit like me. But then again, the whole mafialand set up was easier to swallow because the mafia-culture has become almost it's own genre of fantasy fiction. But the ghettos in california are very real. It made me uncomfortable to think that someone out there might be playing that game and being desensitized. Not to the violence, but to the existence of that world. Making it seem cool to live like that.

As you can tell, the "hot coffee" scandal doesn't bother me as some other bits in video games.

What do you all think about this supposed "scandal" or the state of video games in general?

Comments

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about video games (or if anything has changed in the past several years), but I couldn't get an R-Rated movie at Wal-Mart without being 18, so hopefully they're doing the same thing with certain video games. Maybe?

I'm with you regarding parents. The ratings don't mean anything if they aren't being used properly, and it doesn't seem like parents are actually raising their kids these days. My parents would never have let me get anything like that when I was a kid, let alone buy it FOR me.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Wal-Mart and Target will not stock the Adults Only games, but they have the M ones. They do keep them behind glass though, so I suppose to get one out, you'd have to ask an employ and then it would be up to them to refuse anyone under 17...i guess. I know I have lost the ability to tell people's ages from sight so it's up to the employees to enforce it.

Yeah, my folks would not have let me seen an R movie unless they had previewed it. Or they would "edit" it for me by telling me to cover my eyes or leave the room (though usually anything sexual was so embarassing for me to watch around my parents that I'd get up and leave anyway).

I think we still have a generation of parents that is not familiar with videogames and how they function. I think by the time people like you and me are "responsible adults" watching over children (ours or others) that our understanding of the industry will be greater....but who knows, but then it might be a little chip implanted in their brains! haha.

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

I think we still have a generation of parents that is not familiar with videogames and how they function.

True, parents today might not be familiar with videogames, but they should be familiar with parenting. I don't think a lot of parents are exercising any kind of authority over their kids, in letting them dress a certain way or playing certain games. Kids seem to be growing up WAY too fast (cell phones in 5th and 6th grade? please.. there's no reason to have one that early), and while I don't think parents are to blame, there are things they can do to keep their kid from becoming "12 going on 25." But I digress

If parents are going to fork out the money for the game system, they should take the time to pick out the games and set rules for what the kid can and can't play. I mean, the ratings are easy; they still say "Age 17 and Up" or whatever under the 'M.' Parents have no excuse to say they didn't know a game was going to be violent when it says so right on the box--in either the rating OR the title (sometimes) OR the picture on the box. (Cause I'm not sure about them, but a guy with a gun doesn't make me think "nonviolent.")

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

oh yes, I totally agree about the whole 'lack of parenting' problem. I shouldn't have said "unfamiliar", I should have said "afraid of". Like, they buy it cuz the kid asks for it and then have no clue what to do with it, so the kids end up controlling them. It's not every parent, but they always seem to be the ones who end up with psychotic children who make the news...ever notice that?

But, yeah, I feel sorta depressed when I see little girls come into the library with short skirts, makeup, and purses on their arm. I mean, dress up is fine, but if they are already putting on makeup every day as a small child, I would worry about what sorta self-esteem issues they will have when they actually hit puberty.

but I digress. :-)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

haha, yeah, I'm bad. I know that Italians are not very fond of that image. I have no decent defense for that.

See, I'm never sure if it's "african-american" or "black"...it changed to AA when I was in elementary school and I think it went back to "black" while I was in college and no one told me. Honestly, thanks for clearing it up.

Yeah, I'll admit it, I stereotype as much as the next person. And it's annoying because we really can't escape them! I think stereotypes are bad, then I go to a gaming convention or a star wars club meeting and everyone there sorta fits a stereotype...and then I feel bad for thinking that. It's so hard to figure out what's insulting and if I should be insulted or be insulted for other people...I dunno.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

All I could think of while watching the G4 special was how everyone still seems to be reacting to "SEX!" the same way they did in the 'Kinsey' movie! *sigh* why did it have to be puritans! why!!!

Yeah, I read somewhere that there was no "genetalia" shown, (though obviously you see some boobies! but who cares about that? I mean, come on, if we're gonna be prudes, let's go all the way!).

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I actually can't remember now haha. They ran it over and over on G4 with the crotches blurred out. Like I said, it's just silly.

btw - we all know my parents never had sex. The stork brought me. DUH!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

haha, I wasn't being that rough on myself.

I totally agree with the "just be" concept, but how many other people do? I live in fear of insulting someone by accident so that's why I stumble over terms and stereotypes. Plus, i hate being stereotyped myself (being blonde and female...and also a star wars fan). So I start to think hard about stereotyping and freak out and usually end up babbling, and while babbling stereotyping other people haha. It's rough.

*sigh* at least I have random people to debate with online. haha.

[persephones-rev.livejournal.com]

Parents need to use these tools and stop blaming the ESRB and MPAA for their children's problems

Don't really know the complete deal about this game, but I agree with what you wrote. :)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

well, it's the usual story : the current arguments going on with the politicians hardly has anything to do with what spurred the arguments. They just used this as an excuse to try and attack video games again. The game is about killing people, car jacking, and having sex with prostitutes to earn health (and then beating the prostitute to get your money back) yet suddenly everyone is shocked that some hidden sex game is hidden in the code (which you could really only get to if you knew how to hack, something these "innocent" children they are protecting won't know how to do anyway).

So all the politicians and "Parent groups" (whatever that means) are jumping up and down with the "video games are evil" chant (the same chant that THEIR parents did when they came home with Def Leppard albums) even though really the whole issue is not that the sex was in the game, but that the video game company LIED to the ratings board (by first submitting the game with the code, then saying that hackers did it, then coming out later and saying they knew it was there all along).

*sigh* It's just a frustrating cycle, and I'm sure nothing will come of it, but it still annoys me.