OMG The Grand Theft Auto Thing

Ponygurl

Again, those aren't "real world" scenarios. A head is not going to be alive after it's chopped off- it's taking back into fantasy. Strippers and sex workers exist- and it's advocating violence against them. Where are the male prostitutes getting picked up and killed in this "game?"

iuventus

That would just be gay!

Ponygurl

Haha! Actually it sounds like that movie "Stranger at the Lake." But see, that's a film...not something you participate in to earn points and win a game. Fuck it, I'm sticking to scrabble myself. I would rather know how many points I can rack up with the word "xi" than kill prostitutes.

VisualFallacy

I find this interesting reading, being a girl who loves playing GTA (and Saints Row for that matter)... not that I think my sex has anything to do with anything at all, but these games are enjoyed by many a female gamer.

The thing that I like about GTA is that the stories are 'believable' (to a certain extent), and I think in their story situations this means the main protagonists need to be male... I'm happy for you to berate me for thinking that... but women wouldn't be stupid enough to do what the guys do in this game (;)). I play Saints Row and always have a female main character, and it works, but I genuinely don't think it would with GTA.... I could go on forever but I'd only leave bigger holes in my already permeable argument, nothing's perfect.

I'm aware you can play as a woman via GTA online, although I avoid online gaming for the best part so couldn't tell you how this works out/whether you can pick up guys and then batter them around the head. I feel like it should be pointed out that you can pretty much kill anyone in this game... if you get caught doing it you go to jail , if you don't, you get some cash... that goes for hookers, grannies, guys in suits etc etc etc.

I'm not saying that this game is saintly and doing absolutely nothing wrong, but I'm also saying that it exists because people enjoy escaping into a game and having fun in the gamescape. The fact that children are playing these games is crazy... that's not who they're designed for and blame for that doesn't rest with the game content, but with the industry, parents, social pressure and the kids themselves. That is a WHOLE different argument. Gaming hasn't caused our kids to become lazy and unambitious, it's down to the change in society since the internet became widely available, since there's an app for everything etc etc, basically since kids don't really have to think for themselves if they don't want to. This isn't all kids, it's some,and it's sad, but there will always be those that want an easy life rather than a rewarding one.

Anyway, I didn't want to get involved in all of this, but I find it interesting and it's hard not to get sucked in... carry on!

Pet

Ponygurl said:
Grow the fuck up.

Well said!

Pet

KatRobin said:
Pet, Alison's tweets appear under the Little Things on this site menu.

I don't see a "Little Things" menu, I'm afraid. Perhaps that's because I'm not very good at the Internet. I see "Discussions" "Activity", "Inbox", "Pet", "Mark All Viewed", and "Sign Out" -- but I don't see "Little Things".

Sartori · Post edited by Sartori at 2014-11-26 08:56:10

Pet said:

KatRobin said:
Pet, Alison's tweets appear under the Little Things on this site menu.

I don't see a "Little Things" menu, I'm afraid. Perhaps that's because I'm not very good at the Internet. I see "Discussions" "Activity", "Inbox", "Pet", "Mark All Viewed", and "Sign Out" -- but I don't see "Little Things".

Front Page - ie www.goldfrapp.com

Pet

^ Ah! I haven't looked at that for a very long time. I always go straight into the forum.

KatRobin

I'm going to just add this last little comment then go snivel in a corner with my embroidery ..
As long as there are games in which BOTH sexes can be violently mutilated, hell, let's include animals too, then THTS ALRIGHT THEN.
But I assume you guys all pay your taxes right? Well it'll please you to know I've been on yet another pastoral teacher training course today at your expense ( nice cake, the death by chocolate was DEVINE); cos us teachers aren't meant to teach any more- our job is to parent, be social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, oo...let me think....you get my drift. Hey ho. Bugger the nation. We re all DOOMED anyway. I thank you and goodnight.
( sniggers and trudges off in wicked mood... :-t

rewak

Ponygurl said:
Again, those aren't "real world"
scenarios. A head is not going to be alive after it's chopped off- it's
taking back into fantasy. Strippers and sex workers exist- and it's
advocating violence against them. Where are the male prostitutes getting
picked up and killed in this "game?"

I believe they live in games like Fallout, Fable, Dragon Age, Skyrim (sort of), the list continues. Why does that specifically matter though, really? The reason there are no male prostitutes in GTAV is because the main characters are straight, simple. They could put in a bisexual or gay character one day but these ones weren't. You can only give free reign to an extent, then you have to pass off for character. There are some games that have very rigid characters, GTA is one of these, and then there are games where the characters are mostly blank for you to put yourself or a fantasy into. And that's all this stuff is, any of it, no matter how real it pretends to be it's all fantasy. Do you think because someone plays Call of Duty that they're suddenly inclined to joint the army? If that were true they'd stop pestering us with recruitment ads, they'd be filled!

But what does matter in all of it are people running around screaming "WONT SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?" That's what sparks me off because these aren't fucking kids toys! They're very clearly rated 18 right on the cover with a description of content given. It IS illegal to supply a minor with a game they aren't of age to consume, so why the actual fuck do none of the twits who write these articles claiming children are being corrupted get investigated for actually giving their child the game in the first place and not bothering to check it's content properly until their kid is actually half way done? There's your solution, enforce it.

LuDux

A vigilante dustman attempts to track down a serial killer responsible for the deaths of the dancers at a local strip club.

whisperit · Post edited by whisperit at 2014-11-26 15:15:18

A feminist critique of GTA eh? - count me in! Simples - "Who has the power?" Right now, it's men - they are the ones who are in government, in the top jobs, who have most money, who do the killing, the rapes.

Obviously, there are exceptions, but this is generally true. Inverting gender roles in GTA so that - for instance - female characters in the game become killers of men, does not have the same meaning as the way it works now, where established power dynamics are reinforced. Instead, it would become subversive, and therefore potentially liberating.

Still horrible, though.

rewak

Which in itself is anti-feminist, if you take the true meaning of feminism to be a fight for equal rights and treatment. Personally i have no problem with any of it, i mentioned the latest Tomb Raider as being solely about a female doing nothing but kill men, it was one of my most played games last year, so was GTA V. You've totally hit the nail on the head with the first paragraph though whisper, if i want a feminist battle i'll look to ones that are situated in reality where if something changes the effects are felt, not entertainment where if something changes nothing matters.

Ponygurl

Yay!!! Whisperit, you're back! :-* I hope you take part in the Christmas Challenge- I missed you AND your penguins! Xoxo

@Rewak You're missing the point. Does Tomb Raider objectify men to be used for sex, then killed?! Objects used for temporary pleasure- but so much anger afterward that the object (in this case, men) are killed?! It's the male Psyche. Women hold the power when it comes to sex..men hate that. (I'm talking the "Straight World" right now) That's the real world Rewak. No "game" fantasy. The male psyche is coming out through the game..women are punished for their sexual power. It's being perpetuated rather than corrected. The whole fucking world knows this. Men for whatever reason can't get sex in the real world, so they pay for it. Then they view the female as an "object" they have just paid for. Then the object is degraded because it has power over them.

rewak

Do you know the plot of GTA V?

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