Grand Theft Auto V: Can It be Protected under Freedom of Speech?
Grand Theft Auto V is currently “the most profitable entertainment product of all time” with a profit of 6 billion dollars (Batchelor, 2018). The video game is an open world one that focuses on action-adventure; players get to control three main characters that are criminals living in the fabricated state of Los Santos (Wikipedia, n.d.). In the game, players are allowed to act freely, doing all sorts of things, from playing golf to knocking down random people (Kain, 2013). Being given that privilege along with the missions, players are capable of doing any violent, sexist, and even racist act. It became criticized by people for taking part in demeaning women, depicting torture in an awfully realistic manner (Wikipedia, n.d.), and promoting violence. Buyers of the game love it regardless. The realness of it and the “sheer level of detail in this world” (BBC, 2013) creates a thrill because they do whatever it takes to gain money and be able to do more pleasurable things such as buying the most expensive cars. They are also capable of doing things that are forbidden in real life. In other words, to them it is a depiction of reality in an exaggerated way which makes it all rather silly. This shows there are two sides to the issue, those who love the game and see no harm in what they’re playing and those who feel like it does nothing but harm and violation to human values. Some actions have been taken in order to ban the game such as in Australia in which Target and Kmart, two retail chains, banned the game because of its violence towards women. They took the decision after noticing the majority of their customers wanting the game gone. Players of the game claimed this is censorship (BBC, 2014). This all leads to questions regarding ethics and the harm the game really creates. Ethical approaches such as virtue ethics and deontology would be put in consideration to understand whether the game violates freedom of speech and should be regulated or censored or whether it is within part of freedom of expression and banning it would be limiting people’s freedom.
To establish the ethical responsibilities of game producers, deontology and virtue ethics are key. Deontology is all about duty and rights. Producers have the right to choose their content as long as they don’t violate their duty to act according to the right for the people not to be harmed. Harming a customer can mean that it would be justified to censor the whole concept. They also have a duty towards minors (Reynolds, 2002, pp. 6); yet it is mostly important for the parents to take care of that responsibility since producers already make it clear that Grand Theft Auto is 18+. When it comes to virtue ethics, it is the choices that people make that determine how virtuous they are. In the game, the choices are limited to acting violent (Reynolds, 2002, pp. 8). There’s the example of the torture scene in which Trevor, one of the protagonists, is assigned by the “FBI” to torture a man who is accused of being a terrorist in order to get information out of him. The player may use different tools such as a sledgehammer and electric cables to torture him (Hern, 2013). Apparently, one could notice how the man would be willing to say all of the information without the need of torture (Kain, 2013). The National Organization of Women argues whether escaping our world by playing such games is really the right thing to do and question the fun of it all (Reynolds, 2002, pp. 9). This brings us to the question of freedom of speech. Critics of unregulated media claim that this much freedom can justify offense and discrimination, harm is not a matter of majority vote, and attacking one person is the same as attacking a whole society (Greenawalt, 2005). The Supreme Court decision taken regarding controversial video games has been that they are protected by the First Amendment and are treated the same way as movies; critics believe they shouldn’t because video games are interactive and all this exposure to violence may lead to desensitization of it (Mathews, 2015). In addition to that, speech that entices criminal acts and done intendedly is considered criminal (Packard, 2013, pp. 321).
In order to judge the ethical work of the game designers we need to ask whether it is the game itself or them that are bad. We also need to make sure whom the game is harming exactly (Sicart, 2009, pp.12). Even when video games raise moral questions, we need to take into account the fact that it is a designed object that has its own reality. People act differently in it because of its difference in values and morals.
One big issue regarding the game is the behavior towards women and their representation. They are usually portrayed as strippers or prostitutes; one of the character’s daughter even has “Skank” on her back as a tattoo (Hoggins, 2013). In addition to the fact that the video game degrades women, one can’t ignore that GTA V simply makes fun of everything and everyone from country music to Facebook (Kain, 2013). Knowing that, the way the game can harm the users is possibly by dehumanizing them and making them accept all the cruelty they are forced to do in the game. It makes them normalize what it offensive and criminal in the real world.
A lot of research has been done to prove the harm video games do. Most of the studies show a correlation between violence depictions and aggressive behavior on children but not a causal relationship. The fact that most of the research is done on teenagers is a limitation for this debate since it is the parents’ responsibility to know about the content and the reason why the company has rated the game for adults. Besides, having adults say that they feel uncomfortable (Kain, 2013) doing certain moves in the game or acknowledging the darkness of game may prove that it might not be as harmful to users as people think it is. However, when it comes to the meaning of the game and the messages it’s trying to send, it would be reasonable to say it is up to the designer and not the audience because of the limitations of the things that a player can do to win. That gives responsibility to the designers because of all the bad representations that it promotes and the players get used to. It’s as if the company, Rockstar North, deliberately wants to make people feel unease.
Reality does have its dark moments where racism, sexism, and dehumanization of violence still exists and is seen by everyone on the news. GTA V is merely a dark, twisted comedy of reality, but there are things that can not be ridiculed. Censoring the game won’t do people any good because there will always be other games that will be just as harmful and controversial. Limiting the age of users is really important and raising awareness to parents on how intense the game is is just as important. One thing the company can do is include more options to what people can do in order to level up and discourage abuse within the game.
References
Batchelor, J. (2018, April 9). GTA V is the most profitable entertainment product of all time. gameindustry.biz. Retrieved from https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-09-gta-v-is-the-most-profitable-entertainment-product-of-all-time
BBC (2013, September 20). Exploring the controversial world of Grand Theft Auto 5. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-24173266/exploring-the-controversial-world-of-grand-theft-auto-5
BBC (2014, December 4). ‘Sexually violent’ GTA 5 banned from Australian stores. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30328314
Greenawalt, K. (2005). ‘Rationales for Freedom of Speech’ in Moore, Adam D.. Information Ethics : Privacy, Property, and Power, Washington University Press, Washington, p. 279; 282
Hern, A. (2013, September 18). Grand Theft Auto 5 under fire for graphic torture scene. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/18/grand-theft-auto-5-under-fire-for-graphic-torture-scene
Hoggins, T. (2013, October 4). Grand Theft Auto V is designed deliberately to degrade women. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10355275/Grand-Theft-Auto-V-is-designed-deliberately-to-degrade-women.html
Kain, E. (2013, September 21). ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ torture scene is satire. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/09/21/grand-theft-auto-v-torture-scene-is-satire/#1b6b73ab50df
Mathews, R. (n.d.). Ethical responsibility of video game manufacturers. Chron. https://elearn.lau.edu.lb/bbcswebdav/pid-275662-dt-content-rid-829098_1/courses/JSC_419_11_201910/Ethical%20Responsibility%20of%20Video%20Game%20Manufacturers%20_%20Chron.pdf
Packard, A. (2013). ‘Sex and Violence’ in Digital Media Law, Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ, pp. 318; 304
Reynolds, R. (2002). Playing a “good” game: A philosophical approach to understanding the morality of games. International Game Developers Association. 1–12. Retrieved from http://www.igda.org/articles/rreynolds_ethics.php
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Controversies surrounding Grand Theft Auto V. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_Grand_Theft_Auto_V
Wikipedia (n.d.). Grand Theft Auto V. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_V
