Grand Theft Auto IV controversies

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Grand Theft Auto IV (often abbreviated to GTA IV and GTA 4) is a sandbox-style action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North.^[1] It is the ninth title in the Grand Theft Auto series and the first in its fourth generation. Grand Theft Auto IV was released worldwide (except Japan)^[2] on 29 April 2008 for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Prior to and since its release, the game has been subject to a great deal of controversy.

Contents 1 Jack Thompson 2 Glenn Beck 3 New York City officials 4 Edited release 4.1 Australia 4.2 New Zealand 5 Mothers Against Drunk Driving 6 Chicago Transit Authority lawsuit 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Jack Thompson

In 2007, Jack Thompson, a Florida lawyer who had previously campaigned against other Grand Theft Auto games, stated he would take various measures to prevent the sale of the game by Rockstar to minors.^[3] On 14 March 2007, Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, filed a lawsuit^[4] against Thompson in Florida in an attempt to pre-emptively block him from trying to declare its games a public nuisance. It would be a crime to sell games declared to be a public nuisance, effectively banning such games, which they believe would be a violation of First Amendment rights.^[5] Thompson responded by filing a countersuit,^[6] accusing Take-Two of violating federal RICO statutes (the charge was later dropped), committing perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiring against him with third parties to deprive him of his civil rights.^[7][8]

Both parties reached a settlement on 20 April 2007,^[9] and agreed to drop their respective lawsuits. Under the terms of the settlement Thompson is barred from suing to block the sale or distribution of any future games published by Take-Two or any of its subsidiaries. He will be restricted to communicating through Take-Two's attorneys on any future matters. Thompson will still be able to maintain his outspoken stance against the publisher's titles, as well as still being allowed to act as counsel in lawsuits brought against Take-Two by other parties. For their part, Take-Two agreed to drop its contempt of court lawsuit against Thompson regarding alleged improper conduct during the Bully court hearings in Florida,^[10][11] which, if found to be in contempt, could have resulted in Thompson seeing jail time.^[12][13][14]

Thompson filed a document with a federal court in Florida on 18 September 2007,^[15] that claims that the assassination target of a mission in GTA IV is a lawyer character based upon himself. When the main protagonist enters his office and pulls a gun on him, the lawyer yells "Guns don't kill people! Video games do!" Thompson has threatened that unless the similarities to himself are removed from the game he will "take necessary and proper means to stop release of the game".^[16]

On 25 April 2008, it was reported in Metro that Jack Thompson had written a letter to the mother of Strauss Zelnick, Director of Take-Two Interactive. In the letter, which strongly criticised the game, Zelnick, and his mother, Thompson called Grand Theft Auto a "murder simulator". He went on to say that "The pornography and violence that your son trafficks^[sic] in is the kind of stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son putting into the hands of other mothers' children". Thompson then questions Strauss Zelnick's upbringing and says that his mother should be ashamed of herself, and that she "...spared^[sic] the rod and spoiled the child. That would explain why he has brought you, by the way he presently acts, to shame." He finishes by saying "Happy Mothers' Day, Mrs Zelnick, which this year is May 11, two weeks after your son unleashes porn and violence upon other mothers' boys. I'm sure you're very proud." Neither Take-Two interactive nor Rockstar Games have made any comment regarding the matter.^[17] Thompson subsequently claimed he sent the letter to Zelnick's lawyer, not his mother, and that the letter was formulated as a parody intended to induce feelings of "shame" in Zelnick.^[18]

[edit] Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck, a conservative US talk-radio host, said on his program on CNN's Headline News about the game: "We are training our kids to be killers, and we are training our sons to treat women like whores." Glenn Beck said the US military have never considered videogames to be harmless fun. Beck spoke of soldiers refusing to shoot their rifles in WWI. Beck said "Senior officers found if they trained the soldiers by putting a human silhouette on the bullseye during target practice, they could actually condition men to shoot more easily. The technology progressed, so did the training techniques. Paper targets evolved into electronic simulations and welcome to the great-great-grandfather of the videogame developed by The Pentagon." Beck said the method was so successful that the firing rate of soldiers who had to shoot another human being for the first time went from 15% in WWII to 55% in the Korean War to over 90% in Vietnam and "now that number is almost one hundred." Beck also said the Journal of the American Medical Association said the introduction of television in the 1950s caused a doubling of the homicide rate in America.^[19]

In the second segment of the show, Beck spoke to Jack Thompson via satellite, as well as Gavin McKiernan, national grassroots director for the Parents Television Council. Thompson called the game "a murder simulator." He said "What makes the sale of this game a criminal act, which Take Two knows is a criminal act, is the incredible levels of simulated sex in the game. You can go into an adult strip club, have oral and anal sex, S&M between women in the club (it should be noted that this is impossible to perform in the game). And indeed to sell this to a minor [...] is a criminal act." McKiernan said "This is really an adult product we're talking about [...] Thirty years of medical research has shown over and over again in thousands of studies the potential effect for violent media to have on children, on the developing mind as you grow. And common sense tells you and the medical profession has backed up, there is definitely a difference between casually watching a two-hour movie with horrific acts and participating [...] and not for two hours but you can spend seventy or eighty hours on Grand Theft Auto just to finish the game and that's if you're good at it." Thompson said the game should be rated Adults Only, saying "the sex in the game was taken out so it could even be sold to adults in Australia." Thompson said "because Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, so forth will not sell an Adults Only game, the ESRB comes up with a phony rating [...] Therefore it is being sold to teens. This is criminal act which is in violation of 47 states and the federal jurisdiction's laws regarding sexual material harmful to minors."^[20]

[edit] New York City officials

After the release of the first trailer for the game, New York City officials were appalled with the choice of their city as the inspiration for the setting of Grand Theft Auto IV, and said that a game like GTA does not represent the city's crime levels accurately.^[21] A spokesperson for Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers".^[22] As a response, Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, accused New York City officials of double standards, for criticising video games but not other forms of entertainment, such as books, films and television shows, which use New York City as the setting.^[23]

[edit] Edited release

While there is no official confirmation as to what was removed in the edited version of the game, unofficial reports claim that when picking a prostitute, you can no longer select the 'service' you want^[24] and that all sex animations have been replaced with a view of the back car bumper^[25] and blood pooling has been removed^[26]. There is also a noticeable increase of swearing while playing the game.

[edit] Australia

Despite confirmation in February 2008 that the Australian version of Grand Theft Auto IV would not be edited in any way,^[27] Rockstar later told The Sydney Morning Herald journalist Jason Hill that the Australian version would be edited.^[28]

Grand Theft Auto IV was awarded an MA15+ rating on 11 December 2007. In a post on his blog, Jason Hill stated that a Rockstar spokesperson confirmed to The Sydney Morning Herald's video game section, Screenplay, that the company had produced a special version of Grand Theft Auto IV to comply with the Australian classification system. The spokesperson would not comment on what has been cut from the game.^[28]

[edit] New Zealand

It was announced on 15 April 2008, and subsequently reported across the Internet, that the New Zealand release would be receiving the edited Australian version^[29] with Take Two Interactive Support Team citing "time scales and logistical reasons" as the reason^[30]. Later, on 5 May 2008, it was confirmed the original version of the game had been submitted to the OFLC^[31]. On 21 May 2008, the original and uncut game was now officially classified by the New Zealand OFLC thus becoming legal to sell in the country.^[32]

[edit] Mothers Against Drunk Driving

The organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) sharply criticized an in-game option that allows players to drive while intoxicated and called for a stricter rating on the game that would effectively ban its sale in the United States. "Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke," MADD said. "Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime, and it is also 100 percent preventable." In an interview on National Public Radio with a senior high school student he mentioned that as in life the choice to drive drunk in the game is also 100 percent preventable. MADD is asking the Entertainment Software Rating Board to bump Grand Theft Auto IV's rating up to AO for Adults Only from M for Mature and calling for Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games to consider stopping distribution out of a sense of social responsibility, or out of respect for those who've been hurt or killed by drunk drivers.^[33] The ESRB describes that the game includes "Use of drugs and Alcohol"^[34] Rockstar issued a statement to the Associated Press. "We have a great deal of respect for MADD's mission, but we believe the mature audience for Grand Theft Auto IV is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game's content."^[35] When attempting to enter a car while drunk in the game, the main character, Niko Bellic, will remark that he shouldn't drive drunk, and the player is encouraged to call a taxi instead. In addition to being extremely difficult to drive a car while intoxicated, in-game police will pursue the player if they are seen driving while intoxicated.

[edit] Chicago Transit Authority lawsuit

Take-Two has filed a lawsuit in response to the Chicago Transit Authority pulling ads promoting GTA IV from their property, violating a contract for the ads to go until June 2008.^[36] A CTA representative said that the ads were removed due to complaints in 2004 surrounding the ad campaign for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.^[37] Miami-Dade Transit might also be facing a similar lawsuit due to similar circumstances.

[edit] See also

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Liberty City
• List of characters in Grand Theft Auto IV
• Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack
• Marketing for Grand Theft Auto IV

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• www.rockstargames.com/IV, Grand Theft Auto IV Official website

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