GTA V Proves a Lot of Parents Still Don't Know or Care About ESRB Ratings 621
Deathspawner writes "Grand Theft Auto V has shown itself to be potential GOTY material, and has even managed to break a sales record already. But aside from that, the game has also become one of the most adult-oriented games ever released, with torture, drug use and sex prevalent not long after beginning the game. You'd expect this gameplay to deter most parents from picking the game up for their young children — but not so. An anonymous editorial at Kotaku written by a video game store employee says that out of the ~1,000 copies sold in the first week, at least 10% of them went to parents accompanied by a child. Clearly, this could be interpreted as a problem. Techgage adds that this is one of the biggest problems facing gaming today. With one breath, many parents criticize video games for being so violent, and with the next, they're saying 'thanks' at the counter after picking up these very games for their kids. While ESRB ratings and other warnings about violent games for kids have good reason to exist, many parents still ignore them, aren't aware to them, or simply don't care about their warnings."
Logical fallacy (Score:5, Informative)
The fact that someone bought the game while accompanied by a child does not mean they're buying it for the child. My brother often takes his kids to the game store, and and may buy game for himself or for his kids. Or, frequently, both.
That said, yes, there probably a lot of people too clueless to realize that the one game that is probably the most famous of all games in the world for not being for kids isn't for kids. But trying to estimate the number of people in that category by counting the number of people who happen to buy it while having a child in tow is just as clueless, in quite another way.
Re:I wouldn't be so sure. (Score:2, Informative)
Clearly that's just japanese tentacle porn, it doesn't count.
Show them Grave of the Fireflies.
Re:Some people... (Score:4, Informative)
Stealing cars and smacking down ho's wasn't something you wanted them growing up emulating.
If that was all you did in GTA 5, I'd probably agree that some youths could play it.
But that is NOT what GTA 5 is like.
In GTA 3 you had the option of picking up a prostitute. The car would rock back and forth, you lose money and gain health, then the prostitute gets out. It was a little controversial, but you could just as easily see this in The Sims by making the characters 'WooHoo'.
Contrast this with GTA 5 where you are encouraged to see and repeatedly play a minigame with graphic topless lap dances and get points for interactively molesting women. This is not a stripper dancing in the background, this is full on realistic boobs-in-your-face interactive softcore porn.
So lets say you're fine with your seven year old watching interactive porn. What about the violence?
Look at the older games, you could avoid some violence, and even though you were playing a bad character you could keep the violence to a minimum if you wanted.
Not so in GTA 5. You are required (as the player) to engage in gratuitous torture. We're not talking about mild depictions of something bad going on. This is you as the player being required to commit heinous virtual crimes. It is very explicit, and very graphic. Even many adults balk at that point in the game.
If you are looking for a game of "stealing cars and smacking down ho's", a game that you can let your pre-teen child play, then go get Need For Speed.
This game should have been rated as AO.
Re:Some people... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Some people... (Score:5, Informative)
"Most religions really have the same message. Be good to each other. The details and names are different. But that's really what it boils down to."
That's, like, deliberate ignorance. Take a course on comparative religion or something.