[RD] This is just vile

[Manfred Belheim]

There's a very entertaining youtube video where they get a bunch of old people/pensioners to sit down and play GTA and do whatever they want. Once they've learned how controllers work, within minutes they're just running people over and engaging in mass gun battles with the police whilst laughing their heads off. Then they all say they'd never buy it for their grandkids.

 

[Ryika]

The article was from 2005, no doubt there have been a few cases since then. Sure, it's still an extreme minority, but it has happened. (And I wouldn't suggest banning it, even if I wasn't playing it myself.)

Again a pretty ridiculous case of misreporting in my opinion, and a well-known one, too.

Moore was in that police station because he was suspected of having stolen a truck. According to his own words, he attacked the officers because he didn't want to go to jail, not to reenact a rampage he played in a video game. The only thing that even brought GTA into the controversy is that he said "Life's a video game. Everybody's got to die sometime.", and had been playing GTA - like millions of other people - in the months before he shot those cops.

There's nothing here that would show a causal relationship between GTA and his actions - not anymore than any other case of <he had watched/played violent thing x, then he did a violent act himself> at least, which is why the trial against Take-Two didn't go anywhere.

 

[Yeekim]

In school we all had to read a book where the protagonist murdered an old lady with an axe.

 

[Commodore]

Many gamers have complained that Steam moderators have removed games featuring nudity, but have allowed a school-shooting simulator to remain on the store.

They actually took the game off the store.

It will be coming back soon though as Valve is making a stand for free speech. In an announcement on policy changes regarding what is or is not allowed on the store, Valve has basically said they are going to allow everything as long as it's not straight-up illegal. Their reasoning being that they should not be the ones to determine what is or is not available for sale. That is something that is up to each individual consumer to decide.

This is why I like Valve. They treat people like adults that can make their own decisions instead of treating them like children that need to be "protected" from all the "bad" things in this world. Now I'm not so naive to think Valve is doing this because they genuinely care about free speech, but if their desire to make as much money as possible advances the cause of free speech, I'll take it.

 

[Ryika]

It will be coming back soon though as Valve is making a stand for free speech.

Probably not. The game was not taken down for its content, it was taken down because the creator of the game is banned from Steam and just made a new account to circumvent it. I don't think the new content policy changes that.

I very much agree with the rest though.

 

[Commodore]

Probably not. The game was not taken down for its content, it was taken down because the creator of the game is banned from Steam and just made a new account to circumvent it. I don't think the new content policy changes that.

I should have been more clear in what I meant. When I say it will be coming back, I don't necessarily mean that exact game, but Valve is now opening the door for someone to make another one like it.