GTA V - Amnesty condemns torture scene

[Vivid Kazumi]

The scene should be a wake up call to most americans.this is what criminals like bush and obama call "advanced interogation" and is still used today against people

 

[Milanezi]

I must be a horrible person: that was one of the few moments in the game I TRULY loved. I couldn't stop but smile as I made the prick puke out information (that he was willing to give anyway, but as Trevor says "Torture is for the torturER"). I didn't even have to use those adrenaline injections, I went slow and steady, enough to keep it long, painful and efficient. Heh, I guess my ancestors were inquisitors or something hahahahahaha (maniac laugh)

 

[Milanezi]

This scene was very mild, by the way, I've seen plenty of feature films and even some tv shows with 'worse' scenes. if you can't handle it, this game offers you the option to skip both cutscenes as well as playable portions of missions that you're not cut out for. There's even an achievement for doing enough of it, it's the "Mouthbreathing Beatnick" achievement/trophy.

"Knife or fire? KNIFE OR FIRE?!" heheheh That was heavier

 

[Depulcator]

You mean to tell me a group hates something about GTA?! NO WAY! Get in line with the others.

 

[Demongeneral109]

the fact people are debating this is extremely entertaining, more entertaining than the mild torture scene. if you think Trevor is bad, you don't want to know what I would have done being gifted an undocumented and told to just make sure he disappears pretty much, let alone after said undocumented tells me that he has a family and where they live while I have his conditioned trust.

This is a questionable response, not to mention it expresses strong racist undertone. You seem to be a troubled individual, the exact fuel for the arguments Amnesty and "liberals" are posing. That statement alone makes you a perfect candidate for psychiatric evaluation. Not meant as an insult, full respect for your freedom of speech - but that opinion is definitely suspect!

As for whether the torture was mild or not is not what I feel the concern or outrage is about. I feel it's more focused on the specificity and detail put into THAT portion as a PLAYABLE scene, versus say making the Helicopters a little easier to fly while SHOOTING at something! (Lord knows that needs adjustment) Just a thought...

look at his post count and history, obvious troll is obvious

 

[Esvees]

Just played through this scene yesterday, it's frankly disgusting. I'm not squeamish, I've worked in war zones, but this was completely uncalled for.

It's not even remotely funny, so you could hardly call it dark humor as the "joke" at the end is entirely on the victim. The victim for all anyone knows is innocent, there is nothing at all to suggest he is anything other than a guy unlucky enough to meet the wrong person once and provide a description. And the information from the torture checks out, so you could hardly call it a skewering of torture as a way to gain information.

Then to top it all off, the entire mission is scored on how nastily you torture the victim.

There are some instances where the game gets the tone right and is funny, but I found a lot of it borderline and unfunny. At times it is just plain nasty (take Floyd's treatment by Trevor for example). There are moments I feel really insulted as if Rockstar thinks we're all moronic teenagers like Michael's son to find this shit funny, despite the mature rating.

This crap really is giving games a bad name. I'm all for realism, freedom of speech and violence in context, but this was pointless. Rockstar won't care as I didn't buy many of their games previously either, but I'm not supporting this silly shocking for publicity's sake anymore.

 

[nokori3byo]

I haven't read this entire thread but assume some minor SPOILERS are being chucked around here.

I can definitely see why people would have a problem with this scene and it definitely made me uncomfortable, but I don't in any way feel that it "glamorizes" torture. I saw it more as being a moment of complex character development for Trevor, whose subsequent actions reveal a more nuanced understanding of torture as a means of asserting power. Also, being part of a controllable video game sequence, it had the effect of compromising the player's sympathies and bringing about a discomfiting shock of recognition: just as the psychotic Trevor is a cat's paw for government agencies, he's the player's only interface with that portion of the game. For T's establishing character moment earlier in the game, we saw him do something loathsome, brutal, and cowardly only to be thrown into his shoes moments later ("What!? I don't want to be this guy!"), whereas in the torture scene becoming a "hands on" advocate of GTA's long-alleged sociopathy is the only way to progress.

 

[ghostshoot27]

I'm confused as to why the game feels it's necessary for it to make a point about torture at all. I mean....torture is clearly bad and dehumanizing. Isn't this sort of a well established fact by now?

That said, I would prefer if video games didn't try to take political swipes at people like movies have been doing more and more recently. I find that sort of "entertainment" tiring as it's always deliberately one-sided, making sure to paint the other side as poorly as possible. I've actually stopped watching movies as often as I used to because it's got to the point where I can't go see a new movie without some lame political stance rammed down my throat. If video games start down this path too, I'm not sure this is a hobby I'll maintain as I get older.

I play games to get away from the stupidity of reality, so please stop trying to remind me how stupid reality is.

I would prefer if video games didn't try to take political swipes

AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAAHA! Where have you been the past year friend. I fucking positively love the irony in your post. Games have been used as soap boxes for as long as I can remember, LOOK AT THIS FUCKING THREAD! Its about some fool trying to use a game as a soap box. Every one uses games to further their agenda now. Game to voilent make a blog post. Game doesn't have a women make a blog post.

 

[Netrigan]

What? The entire mission, the other characters are questioning how shaky the info is.

Well, yes, but there's only so much cover "satire" will give you. Having finished the game there's quite a number of places where I think they stepped over the line and having someone say "satire" afterwards doesn't wash. Does satire make it okay the host of Fame Or Shame is bullied non-stop about his sexual orientation? Does satire make it okay to make light of torture by mixing gruesome actions with glib humor.

Rockstar doesn't exactly make their positions on issues vague. They've got no problem stopping the game so a distinguished Mexican-American can deliver a sermon about how all the stuff you just did was morally reprehensible... but it's a really, really, really lazy way of getting your message across. There's an anti-torture message there, but playing it for laughs in the middle of a completely meaningless mission is probably not the best way to address the issue.

 

[briankoontz]

We seriously have to still be having threads like this? Artists need to be able to put whatever in their work that they feel is true to the work. I wrote a short essay (in March 2006) about the modern political reality in America where Patrick Henry was tortured - is that to be condemned too? Am I a bad person for communicating reality to other human beings?

According to the Housers and whoever else made that creative decision, torture is part of their vision for their exaggerated simulation of the American Dream. As long as it's not gratuitous, we have no place in saying it shouldn't be there.