Ban GTA IV, astronauts: Family First NZ
April 28, 2008 – 10:10 amJust quickly (as I’m attempting to move house this week): Family First NZ want GTA IV banned. What’s new.
National Director of Family First NZ, Bob McCoskrie, says it’s completely unrealistic to believe that young people will not be influenced in their attitudes and behaviours by constant exposure to this type of material.
Their press release quotes David Grossman, author of Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill, who suggests games like GTA are killing simulators. Grossman compares violent video games to the kind of simulators astronauts use to learn with:
?Certain types of these (video) games are actually killing simulators, and they teach our kids to kill in much the same way the astronauts on Apollo 11 learned how to fly to the moon without ever leaving the ground? The interactive quality, the intensity of the violence, the physiological reactions, all serve to connect the player?s feelings of exhilaration and accomplishment directly to the violent images of video games.
Thank god there’s no astronaut games for the Xbox. We’d have kids flying to the moon when they should be doing homework! Chaos.
NZ’s Chief Censor Bill Hastings says parents who allow their children to play a restricted video game are breaking the law.
“The racing game has been given an R18 rating for a good reason and parents should monitor what their children are playing.”
Expect two weeks of much the same coverage here.
6 Responses to “Ban GTA IV, astronauts: Family First NZ”
GTA is a racing game? Ha.
By Tuna on Apr 28, 2008
I think there is an increased level of ‘racing’ in this GTA, but a racing game it is not. I get the feeling Bill found racing to be an easy (and safe) description.
That’s what makes GTA special — the fact you can’t pin point a genre.
By Mike on Apr 28, 2008
What a bunch of morons. They’ve obviously jumped on the Fox News bandwagon, making blind accusations towards games they’ve never even played.
By Kyle Milenr on Apr 28, 2008
Fantastic, spelled my own name wrong.
By Kyle Milner on Apr 28, 2008
It’s quite common that those who demand something be banned, have never actually seen, played or read the item they want censored. Quite stupid too.
By Mike on Apr 28, 2008
I work at a company where people play video games for cash prizes. Most of these games have some aspect of violence. They used to blame tv, before that rock and roll, etc. Someone is always looking to blame someone for their actions.
By Ben on Nov 7, 2008