GTA 5
Grand Theft Auto V also known as GTA 5 is an action-adventurous video game where you play as a black guy from the hood roaming San Andreas doing missions in order to survive. In this game you play the role of this guy and start doing missions, such as stealing, killing an enemy, delivering drugs, running away… So basically this game has most the acts of violence and crimes. Moreover, this game represents the main character who is a criminal as a black guy from the hood, which a little bit racist and giving the audience the wrong impression about the black toned people. Also this game shows women as a sexual object, servant, and a product. Why did GTA got so popular and developed? Why are some people addicted to this game even though it gives a lot of wrong impression about a certain population? The question is asked by a lot of media literates and as the comment on a blog showed, is because the people are free to do whatever they want. It’s a place where they can do crimes without getting punished and act freely without the regulated limits. For the fans they don’t see it as a bad guy killing and committing crime, they see it as a need for survival. On the other hand, some people consider GTA to be racist, violent and offensive. Since the government’s job is to protect the people’s safety, in some countries they banned the games and in others they considered it as a right. GTA 5 is now banned in 9 countries. For example Australia, the law prohibits the sale of video games that support any illegal activity (News Desk, 2010). GTA breaks a lot of ethical standards such as crime, violence, hate speech, gangsters, drugs and sexism. It might create an illusion in the player thinking that you can still do bad things and not get caught. This will make them commit things that are harmful to themselves and the society. So, it’s better that if the game is censored. However, it’s not really the content of the game that may cause harm, what if a kid watches superman and think that he can fly it doesn’t mean that we should censor the movie. Moreover in the game you have the choice to kill or not kill so this goes to the person’s mentality. Therefore, instead of banning games we should limit it to certain ages.
Some behaviour studies show that our behaviour is affected by what we see. According to Mathew, no clear evidence that proves that there is a relation between video games violence and real-life violence, the producer of such projects should hold the ethical responsibility to protect their audiences from potential harm (Mathews, N.D.).When they do this, they are protecting themselves from any possible accusation in future. Nowadays the government is putting a lot of rules and restrictions when announcing or creating a game. One of the most effective ways is the age rating systems, in which they show it to a certain audience, they take feedback and then they decide on the restrictions (Mathews, N.D., para. 3). When doing so, they give the consumer the choice to either purchase the game with all of what it has, or to not get the game.
Regarding to GTA series, the games are rated M-short for mature content-which means 17+ (Mathews, N.D.). Moreover, on the GTA V website, they ask for age confirmation before they give you the account.
On the other hand, in GTA the player is controlling the character and his actions. They have a choice whether or not to be violent, they mostly go for violence because they’re doing what they need to survive in the city. For instance, when I play GTA, I kill to get money so that I can get food, house and other thing. I try sticking to the rules but at the end of day I need to stay alive, but that is not necessarily what I do in life.
It has been implied by many that the GTA series might result in increased violence, increased participation in crime, and reduction of respect for women (Reynolds, 2009). However, this huge generalization and accusation is not proven. Although when I started playing GTA V I started cursing yet just like a child I repeat the words I hear the most. According to Reynolds the game is very expensive however, from a consequentialist’s point of view, we should take measurements before decisions (2002, p. 5).
The game definitely have more impact than films and T.V. because the player is the participant, the main character and the decision maker, however it depends on the nature that is playing. For instance, I can watch a documentary about how good drugs make you feel and start doing drugs and my friend might find it dangerous. So, it depends on age and personality. In this game you are given the freedom, you either choose whether you want to be a good citizen or bad. Thus, the responsibility goes to the user. As long as the person is mature and in good mentality, the game should be approved.
References
Kilhefner, J. (n.d.). Ethics in Game Design. Demand Media. Retrieved from
Mathews, R. (n.d.). Ethical Responsibility of Video Game Manufacturers. Demand Media.
Retrieved from https://www.chron.com/
Reynolds, R. (2002). Playing a “Good” Game: A Philosophical Approach to Understanding the
Morality of Games. IGDA. Retrieved from http://www.igda.org/articles/rreynolds_ethics.php
Quora. 2016. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-like-GTA-V
News desk, Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2010-12-29/blacklisted-worlds-banned-video-games
