GTA V: Too Violent?

[Something Amyss]

Slaughtering dozens of people, including both cops and bystanders, fine. Pull out a guy's tooth in a cut scene? Too violent.

Huh.

I don't get this attitude.

I mean, I don't really like the scene, but it's interesting where we draw the line. Let's not forget that in the first scene with Trevor as a playable character....

Spoiler

he stomps a dude's head in.

That should be at least similarly horrific.

"Gratuitous sex crowbarred in"? I've done every mission and every side mission I've found... I'm only 61% done but I've not done the nasty yet. You can't really claim its crowbarred in if you can avoid it. It's unfair to visit hookers and lap dancers constantly and then complain about the amount of sex.

How'd you get to 61% without playing as Trevor?

 

[Thr33X]

SNIP

Actually, I'm subscribed to a number of YouTube channels currently playing the game (which is a problem in and of itself I'll talk about in my own topic), so I know the exact rundown of the given scene, but thanks for the disclaimer AFTER THE FACT for the benefit of those who might not know.

For the record it's the CONCEPT of having to engage in the act that's the hotbed here, not the CONTEXT. In other games where such act that might be seen as extreme, you're given the option to skip it- "No Russian" from MW2 instantly comes to mind. What it is the fact that A) the norm in gaming for torture is usually you the player are being tortured, not doing the torturing, and B) the fact that this game is rooted in sense of psuedo realism, like MW2 was, in comparison to more grisly depictions of violence such as Kratos ripping heads off with his bare hands or any MK fatality. Those are in fantasy worlds, which is why they aren't as talked about as much. GTA is as realistic as a game can get in terms of setting, which is one of it's greatest strengths, and as can be seen in threads like this, also it's biggest controversy.

In the end though, it's doing it's job...making people talk and creating memorable experiences. It's not always gonna be like a trip to Disneyland though.

I question the wisdom in watching something vile as "entertainment". I understand the idea of your entertainment challenging you personally and emotionally, but when it's not occasional, it becomes normal.

Not that anyone actually gives a rip about my boundaries, though.

I'm OK with games like Saints Row IV, because while the violence is omnipresent, it's not challenging emotionally, it's incredibly unrealistic and it engineered to be funny more than anything. Once the games start to get gritty in their violence, I get uncomfortable pretty fast.

It's within your rights to feel that way. It's always going to come down to personal preference, so when certain people try to rip you for stating your preferences because it's "just a game", flip 'em a bird (or two) because that's how you feel and just because it's not what they feel doesn't devalue your opinion.

 

[Something Amyss]

I just wanted to drop in to inform people here that the Daily Mail yesterday (or possibly the day before) ran with the following header for a double-page spread about GTAV:

"A GAME THAT SPAWNS VIOLENCE".

what console command do I use to spawn violence in GTA?

 

[Simonism451]

Slaughtering dozens of people, including both cops and bystanders, fine. Pull out a guy's tooth in a cut scene? Too violent.

Huh.

I don't get this attitude.

I mean, I don't really like the scene, but it's interesting where we draw the line. Let's not forget that in the first scene with Trevor as a playable character....

Spoiler

he stomps a dude's head in.

That should be at least similarly horrific.

The difference is in the way it's presented to the player. The first is usually done from a relatively remote point of view and over relatively quick while the latter stretches on over several minutes, uses several more cinematic camera positions, audio effects and spoken dialogue that is more intense than the usual stuff. Think of the usual gameplay violence as an eighties action movie and the torture scene as the opening of Saving Private Ryan. Additionally, despite your claim it's not merely a cutscene but something that requires player interaction, which distinguishes it from the scene with the biker.

 

[Muspelheim]

Yeah, no sale after all, GTA V. I'm not terribly unreasonable, but I don't really want to be doing that. I'm sure it makes a bit more sense in full context, but I'd rather not. Maybe if there's an option to skip it.

Not too violent in itself, just a bit over my personal tolerance.

As weak and in dire need of gettings over and reality checks that might make me.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's not that I'm appalled, it just feels tasteless. Like a child trying to impress me with too much of the wrong stuff.

 

[Zenn3k]

Video game that is notoriously violent, is violent. NEWS AT ELEVEN!

 

[ninjaRiv]

It's not that bad of a scene and it's over pretty quickly anyway.

EDIT: Just a bit more on the actual scene in question: Come on, it's not even the worst thing you can do in the game. I ran over a dog in it yesterday. And its owner. Then a kicked a man to death. Also, some people say "Rockstar has gone too far" and I believe these people kind of... Forgot Manhunt?

As for there being too much violence in video games... I think that's entirely personal taste. Video games have never been as violent as films and books or even comic books. So if you can't stand the torture scene in this, you probably can't stand violent books and films and that's, like I said, personal taste. So... No, I don't think video games are too violent, I just think some people over think it a bit.

 

[Britisheagle]

Too violent for what? For a videogame ? When we have horror and gore videogames ? Or is it because of the realism and interactivity ?

Also, this is a game for adults . Since when do we dictate what an adult should engage in? Once you are of age , the choice you make are and should be your own( as long as you aren't hurting someone obviously) . If that means buying an overly violent videogame , so be it .

There is no such thing as " too much " , when it comes to adults . The person in question should be the only one to decide if anything is too much for them , and then, they can decide not to partake ( and in this case buy ) of it .

Before this post I was unaware of this part of the game, so are you telling me it is optional? I am an adult after all but I would not feel comfortable being part of a torture sequence, fictional or not. And as an adult is there explicit warnings that something as sick as this is in the game? Seems far worse than the "controversial" parts of MW2 that had the media swarming like lies on shit.

It is tasteless more than violent. And not for sake of story neither, like the infamous scene from Spec Ops. It is literally just there for the sake of it and it is played out like a joke - not resentment.

 

[ninjaRiv]

Too violent for what? For a videogame ? When we have horror and gore videogames ? Or is it because of the realism and interactivity ?

Also, this is a game for adults . Since when do we dictate what an adult should engage in? Once you are of age , the choice you make are and should be your own( as long as you aren't hurting someone obviously) . If that means buying an overly violent videogame , so be it .

There is no such thing as " too much " , when it comes to adults . The person in question should be the only one to decide if anything is too much for them , and then, they can decide not to partake ( and in this case buy ) of it .

Before this post I was unaware of this part of the game, so are you telling me it is optional? I am an adult after all but I would not feel comfortable being part of a torture sequence, fictional or not. And as an adult is there explicit warnings that something as sick as this is in the game? Seems far worse than the "controversial" parts of MW2 that had the media swarming like lies on shit.

It is tasteless more than violent. And not for sake of story neither, like the infamous scene from Spec Ops. It is literally just there for the sake of it and it is played out like a joke - not resentment.

There's the age rating plus Rockstars reputation that kind of tells you it's going to be violent... But yeah, perhaps an obvious "There will be blood" warning IS needed.

It's part of the story, which is why people don't give out too many details on the scene. It's built up to and is actually relatively important to one character, imo. Sure, it's over the top... But it's Rockstar.

 

[cerebus23]

If people do not like violence why buy grand theft auto at all?

I guess it boils down to me personally if you do not like something then do not buy products that sell it.

Lets not forget that gta5 is a social commentary on society as a whole, our need wants fears and hyprocracy served up on a steaming hot platter. Some of the reviews have pointed out how brilliant the game is at that, it is not wanten violence, for the sake of violence.

That torture scene has people talking about the game, what they should be talking about is the use of torture in general not the fact it was put in the game, maybe that scene changes a few pro torture minds out there.

Would also be nice if people played the games they want to speak about, right at you fox news that runs off half cocked to attack video games every chance they can, while ignoring the facts, like there was no sex in the sex scene in mass effect, most studies show little or no cause any different from any movie book or sporting event when it comes to violent tendencies, and for the vast majority of sane people games are a release for whatever is bugging you.

Too violent? maybe when we get photorealistic virtual reality games then there will be a marked difference in our comfort levels of violence, but nothing is that real or gritty yet. Nor are our brains as yet fooled between reality and fantasy matrix style yet.

It is all pixels and fake people, with fake blood and brains.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Oh, please. Watch this montage of deaths in the game Demonophobia and tell me that GTA is "too violent". GTA is Teletubies compared to the crap I've seen.


This is a game that makes you feel sick to play or watch someone play.

Or if you want more of a connection with the characters getting horribly killed then you can play Corpse Party. It's one thing to see someone horribly hurt and killed, it's even worse when you know the character as more than just a flat NPC character.

 

[EHKOS]

Yeah, because that torture victim was real, "it" felt pain, "it" isn't just 1's and 0's and you're not just making millions of tiny colored lights move in a pattern of your choosing.

Ugh seriously, this type of argument never ceases to aggravate me.

If you really believe that, why are you even playing videogames at all, unless you exclussively play just for the high score? Why play GTA if not to experience what it feels like to recklessly drive cars across the highway and into other cars and pedestrians? I mean, it's just thousands of little pixels on the screen, it's not like when formed together they can represent characters and situations that you can empathize with or feel engaged with.

Heck, this post is nothing but pixels.

Yeah, you can get immersed, but my argument is like the safety word. You can pull out at any time, you don't have to feel guilty, because pulling out that dudes tooth isn't going to affect him for the rest of his life. At the end of the day, you really never did anything bad to anyone. In the moment you can feel the rush of speeding down the freeway in a tricked out Banshee, but you won't have a warrant on your head after you turn off your system.

I suppose it's just a way to rationalize it, if things get too hot.

 

[omega 616]

"Gratuitous sex crowbarred in"? I've done every mission and every side mission I've found... I'm only 61% done but I've not done the nasty yet. You can't really claim its crowbarred in if you can avoid it. It's unfair to visit hookers and lap dancers constantly and then complain about the amount of sex.

How'd you get to 61% without playing as Trevor?

Ignoring the obvious sarcasm, I didn't.

If you're talking about when you first meet him he is doing somebody over a kitchen counter, it's not crowbarred in, gratuitous or lasts long.

Although people applaud game of thrones and that has plenty of sex.... Only seen the first half of episode 1 and there is enough going on then. So seeing a digital bumper twice isn't going to make sexual deviants.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

As for me, I don't see what the problem is. None of those people are real, and so long as I don't take the game into the real world and start committing actual acts of violence, then there is no harm done. At worst you're disturbed and can't look away, but that's actually a strength of video games--it forces you to confront the disturbing rather than hiding from it--not a weakness.

I think of games as being like a movie where you're in the shoes of the protagonist. A movie in which you have no attachment or sympathy with any of the characters is a movie you probably won't recommend to all of your friends. Even if the victim in that torture scene isn't real, the sympathy you feel for him as he begs for his life is no less valid than the sympathy you'd feel when Simba finds his father dead in The Lion King, or when Rose realizes that Jack has frozen to death in Titanic.

Storytelling as a medium is meant to communicate meaning or invoke empathy in the audience. All that I felt during that sequence was disgust and repulsion, and the meaninglessness of that sequence is even lampshaded by Trevor afterwards when he's driving. There are movies, and even other games, that have used torture, but then it seemed to serve a purpose or the victim deserved it in some way (ex:Taken, The Last of Us). In GTAV, it's seemingly placed only for shock value.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

Let's not forget that in the first scene with Trevor as a playable character....

Spoiler

he stomps a dude's head in.

That should be at least similarly horrific.

I didn't forget it, I just wanted to pick one example that I thought stood out. There's also the scene where...

Spoiler

...you blow up a man's head for Lester on live television...

...but I didn't want to make the post longer than it needed to be by mentioning everything that could be considered horrifying.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

It's not that I'm appalled, it just feels tasteless. Like a child trying to impress me with too much of the wrong stuff.

Right, it doesn't serve the plot in any significant way, and it doesn't humanize or add anything to the characters. It simply exists for it's own sake.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

I'm about 1/4 through the game and I'd prefer to have less violent options available on certain missions. Feels like, too often, you're only allowed the most brutal, shallow, and senseless course of action in a given situation.

For some players, that's all of the fun, but at some point you have to draw a line; it sounds like you've found yours.