What a wingnut. I’ll admit that the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise isn’t for me, but even I know it’s not intended for children. How do I know this?
Because I can read.
The game is for adults. It states so right on the game. It is labeled with the ESRB rating of MATURE. What does that mean? From the ESRB website:
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
The game is clearly not intended for kids. Why is Glen Beck saying that it is?
Not only does Beck rant against Grand Theft Auto IV, he delves into the topic of military history, focusing on how soldiers have been trained to fire their weapons over the years. He claims that during World War One, American solders couldn’t shoot the enemy because they weren’t killers. Killing another human being was not a natural act. They had to be trained to kill other human beings.
If Glen Beck actually believes that, I’ve got a couple local Civil War battlefields, Antietam and Gettysburg, that I’d like to show him.
Video games aren’t just for kids. Like any form of entertainment, some video games are intended for children. Grand Theft Auto IV is not one of those.
RonAndrewSchooly
/ May 3, 2008My bet is that he read this book,
Link
It’s a great book written by an Army Lt. Col. about the psychology of killing in combat. I read it nearly 10 years ago and enjoyed it.
At the end of the book, there is a chapter on desensitization to violence caused by video games. It was the worst piece of misinformed horseshit that I had read up to that point in my life. He tried to liken the training that combat soldiers receive to violent video games. Up until that chapter, I had a lot of respect for the author- he himself is a combat veteran and he was saying some things that not a lot of people in his position would say. But then this chapter. He didn’t even have any good research to support his argument.
I think he just added it in to a later addition of the book so that he could appear on CNN and MSNBC during the late 90s- early 00s wave of school violence. He’s an “expert” on the issue.
Jesse Jace
/ May 4, 2008I can’t get enough of these attention-starved “experts on video games.” Their observations about the industry make for some truly precious comedy. If you want more, I recommend the self-important sermonizing of David Sheff. His 1994 book, Video Games: A Guide for Savvy Parents, although now slightly dated, is full of goofy little inaccuracies that beautifully decorate his mighty cake of misinformation. You get the standard bogus stats illustrating the link between games and crime, etc, but the beauty is in the little things. One of my favorite parts is where he misquotes the famous Mortal Kombat line “FINISH HIM!” as “FINISH HIM OFF!” Come on, even my dad is more savvy than that.
Ryan O'Hara
/ May 5, 2008Glenn Beck has a TV show because he states his ill-formed opinions as fact.
Sidenote: Rick, you’re frequently misspelling peoples names. That’s the kind of blogging I would expect from Glennn Bek.
Rick
/ May 5, 2008Yet you still were able to understand who I was referring to.
Ryan O'Hara
/ May 5, 2008I had to ask Josh Whedon.
Rick
/ May 5, 2008My point was that if you are going to pick apart my spelling, you’d better pack a lunch. It’s an all day job.
Steve
/ May 5, 2008Glenn Beck is not only an asshole and a moron, he’s the biggest embarassment to rightwing politics since the heyday of Art Bell. Which is why he’s still on the radio and television, despite being so obviously incompetent (and a ratings loser on TV). The Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys love having a brain-damaged loudmouth like Beck on the air, so they can stand next to him and appear to be Edward R. Murrow by comparison.
Excruciatingly unfunny, consistently ill-informed, willfully stupid: That’s our Glenn.
Ryan O'Hara
/ May 5, 2008“My point was that if you are going to pick apart my spelling, you’d better pack a lunch. It’s an all day job.”
When people see that you can’t even be bothered to check the spelling of someone’s name they assume that you didn’t put any thought or effort into your post. And they aren’t wrong to do so.
Scrutineer
/ May 6, 2008If you believe GTA’s publisher doesn’t intend the game for kids because “It states so right on the game” that it’s for adults, then you are extremely naive. Do you also believe the tobacco companies who say they’re horrified by the idea that kids might buy their products?
I don’t agree with Beck that GTA will turn today’s kids into sociopaths, but your post is still silly.
Rick
/ May 6, 2008Do you have any evidence that Rockstar Games (the company that produces GTA4) intends this game to be played by children? If you are going to reject the idea that it’s an adult game even though it is labeled as such, you should have some evidence that proves the contrary.
Rick
/ May 6, 2008Anyone that would get all pissy over how many N’s I put in someone’s name is really not someone who’s readership I care about. In fact, I would prefer if they spent all of their Internet time doing something else other then reading my dumb blog.
I find it amusing that you would say that since I sometimes spell names wrong, I don’t put any thought or effort into my blog posts. I still have the email you sent asking me to plug your new blog. That was something I was happy to do. I’m pretty sure I spelled something wrong before you asked for the plug.
Speaking of your blog, I noticed that you removed the link to Bent Corner. Why would someone go to the trouble of asking a fellow blogger to plug their blog, and then remove that blogger’s link from their blogroll?
I think most bloggers would be embarrassed to do that. I know I would.
Jesse Jace
/ May 6, 2008“Why would someone go to the trouble of asking a fellow blogger to plug their blog, and then remove that blogger’s link from their blogroll?”
Because Ryan O’Hara also thinks GTA4 is for kids, and is offended at your assertion that it isn’t. There, you heard it here first. I blew the lid off it.
Ryan O'Hara
/ May 6, 2008“I still have the email you sent asking me to plug your new blog. That was something I was happy to do.”
As do I. Here it is:
How are you doing? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but both Schooly and Parker Rios have joined Doomsday Thingy. If you could give us a plug on Bent Corner that would be great. Unless you think we suck. Then please tell everyone how much we suck. Thanks.
- R
“Speaking of your blog, I noticed that you removed the link to Bent Corner. Why would someone go to the trouble of asking a fellow blogger to plug their blog, and then remove that blogger’s link from their blogroll?”
I asked you for the plug when I read and could endorse your blog. After you said that you spell things wrong and will continue to do so I removed the link. I can’t endorse that. You just said the same thing yourself.
“Anyone that would get all pissy over how many N’s I put in someone’s name is really not someone who’s readership I care about. In fact, I would prefer if they spent all of their Internet time doing something else other then reading my dumb blog.”
And now they will.
Rick
/ May 6, 2008I noticed about two weeks ago that there was no longer a link to Bent Corner over at Doomsday Thingy. I said that I often spell things wrong yesterday.
That’s just a lie Ryan.
It’s not as big of a whopper as telling everyone that you wrote a story that was going to appear in an anthology for Image Comics, but it’s a lie none the less.
Ryan O'Hara
/ May 6, 2008“I noticed about two weeks ago that there was no longer a link to Bent Corner over at Doomsday Thingy. I said that I often spell things wrong yesterday.”
I removed the link a while ago and stopped coming here after you said something stupid. You continued to leave comments on my blog so I gave yours another chance. You’re still saying stupid things. For instance…
“It’s not as big of a whopper as telling everyone that you wrote a story that was going to appear in an anthology for Image Comics, but it’s a lie none the less.”
Rick
/ May 6, 2008I may say stupid things, but at least I don’t lie. Like you do.
Is Doomsday Thingy your blog or do you share it with Schooly? I thought since he was the one that writes most of the posts, he was at the very least the co-owner. Maybe I should just ask him since you seem to have such a problem telling the truth.
Ryan O'Hara
/ May 6, 2008Maybe you should stop saying things that would make Brian Bolland’s lawyer salivate.
Scrutineer
/ May 6, 2008Rick, Rockstar doesn’t label GTA4 “M (Mature)”. That’s done by the ESRB.
“Do you have any evidence that Rockstar Games … intends this game to be played by children?”
I didn’t say I know they intend the game to be played by kids. I said the ESRB rating doesn’t tell us who Rockstar is actually targeting. Maybe they only want adults to play GTA. Maybe they don’t care if kids manage to sneak copies past our nation’s ever-vigilant cashiers. An “M” on the box doesn’t tell us much about Rockstar’s intentions.
Rick
/ May 6, 2008Scrutineer, don’t they have to submit the game to the ESRB and then print that rating on the game’s packaging?
Jesse Jace
/ May 6, 2008They do, and they have to make sure the game’s content meets the criteria for the rating they want the game to get. You might remember the trouble that occurred with the game Manhunt 2, which Rockstar had to tone down in order to get an M rating. No major publisher wants their game to be rated AO (Adults Only) because there are so many retailers that won’t sell such games, regardless of demand.
Rick
/ May 6, 2008Are any games rated AO?
Jesse Jace
/ May 6, 2008Here’s a list. They’re mainly PC games.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products
Rick
/ May 7, 2008Thanks. I don’t normally pay attention to the game ratings. I always kinda figured that the more expensive you make a game, the less likely the kiddies will play it. Maybe that’s not correct.
I remember World of Warcraft and EverQuest having warnings that game content could change because of online interaction with other gamers. Something like that.
Jesse Jace
/ May 7, 2008The way I see it, there are a lot of parents who don’t get very “involved” in their kids lives. They have no little or no idea what their kids are doing with their free time, let alone details about the video games they play. Those same parents are probably the ones giving their kids the most spending money. In the parent’s eyes, that discretionary budget keeps the kid occupied so the parent doesn’t have to spend so much time being an actual parent. More money, more freedom, less supervision, less discipline. It’s just a theory, but it makes sense to me.
Rick
/ May 7, 2008I think also kids from divorced homes factor into this. Even when I was a kid, the divorced kids I went to school with always had the most money and the nicest toys. Not only would they get gifts from each parents, the parents would be in a competition to see how could get the biggest and greatest toy. I remember when I was in the 5th grade going to a friend’s birthday party. His mom gave him one of those games where you try to get a metal ball through a maze by turning wooden knobs on the side of a box. We were having a lot of fun playing with it until his dad showed up with his newest girlfriend and the a gas powered go-cart. I don’t remember us playing with the table top maze game after that. We were too busy taking turns on the go-cart.
I bet a majority of the kids that are getting their hands on GTA4 got it from their divorced dad trying to look like the cool parent.