GTA 5 released to high-acclaim, but its launch was marred by criticism from the mainstream media, saying that the game promotes and rewards violence, even being called the cause for the attack on an SA school teacher, but the voice actors of the game have responded, saying the claims are all a “misconception”.
“Anyone who has any conception at all about the games and hasn’t played them should go play the games before they open their mouths,” said Ned Luke, who plays Michael de Santa. “The biggest misconception is that it glamorizes violence. It really doesn’t. If you look at my character, Michael, he’s rich, but he’s a miserable man. Even in the commercials you see that. This is a guy who’s struggling with his life’s decisions.”
De Santa explains that the story of Michael is not about violence, but rather about a family man who has lost his way.
“He’s trying to become a good guy, but he can’t. He just has all these demons that he’s battling. It’s the struggle. Take that and look at how he loves his family even though he wants to kill them and that’s what it is,” Luke said. “Look for the relationships. Look for the humor. Look for the irony and the satire in the game. That’s another big misconception, ‘What, do they think we’re serious?'”
L-R: Steven Ogg, Shawn Fonteno and Ned Luke
Steven Ogg, who plays psychotic Trevor Phillips in the game, said that games are often the scapegoat to any act of violence.
“The hypocrisy drives me crazy,” Ogg said. “It just sets the wrong focus. Why not talk about gun control? Why not talk about parenting? Why not talk of lack of family values? There are so many other things to talk about. Look at what’s on TV.”
“There’s a lot of intense stuff out there. Video games are just an easy scapegoat. My nephew plays this game. I asked my sister if she was worried because there’s some pretty nasty stuff in there and she said, ‘I know he’s not going to go to school tomorrow with a gun. He’s not like that.”
Shawn Fonteno, who plays Franklin Clinton and was a real gang member, said that the blame on games often detracts the real problems with parenting and negligence.
“People already have it in their mind that GTA is for kids because it’s a game,” Fonteno said. “Then they hear about the violence and they’re instantly going to attack because it’s a game. Now, if it was a movie it would be a different story and these same people would be out there supporting it. GTAV is like a movie. Once they get the game in their hands, they’ll see. It says it big as day–Mature. It’s not for the kids to go get. It’s for Mature audiences only. If kids get it, then that’s on their parents.”
Source: PC Advisor
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I love that “(criticism of the game) sets the wrong focus” bullshit. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” BS, if you put out a game with x content, you are inviting criticism of that content. Now be a man and face it head-on, instead of trying to change the subject like a coward, which is all these three did from start to finish, if you read the article carefully.
“De Santa explains that the story of Michael is not about violence, but rather about a family man who has lost his way.”
…who is also rewarded for huge amounts of violence, just like the others. Now, don’t get me wrong, I personally take no issue with violence in video games in general. I don’t think all sorts of violence in the media can do harm to the emotional/psychological well-being of a person (though I think some can). But this is just another way they are trying to shift focus from the obvious truth that the game is largely about getting ahead… by being violent.
“Look for the relationships. Look for the humor. Look for the irony and the satire in the game.”
Check, check, and check. Now it is time they address what ELSE is in the game, such as senseless violence or overly explicit sexual dialogue that cannot be attributed to humor/irony/satire and for which no explanation apparently can be given (because they didn’t).
Also, some of you are being quite disingenuous to imply that parents
have all the power in the world to keep their kids from playing or otherwise
seeing this game being played. One way or the other, we all know most
kids are going to come into contact with some of the game’s worst content.
So cut the bull. And considering that even some of us seasoned GTA
gamers were a bit uneasy about some of the stuff they put in this one
(They have simply gone too far), and considering how entirely unnecessary a lot of it is, there’s no reason we can’t give Rockstar at least SOME of the
blame… because, you know… they’re the ones who made it that way?
Lastly, these people should be ashamed for contributing to the development of such an awful game, even overlooking all the morally questionable content. Graphics/presentation are about the only truly good things about it. The story sucks because you have to play three pathetic little losers who don’t even know who they want to be in life, and the gameplay sucks because they only took out a million cool features/activities from previous GTAs to make room for mostly boring activities. No one ever said, “Gawd, I wish I could do yoga in this game!” Get real.
P.S. – The REASON people are harder on video game violence than movie violence is that one doesn’t encourage the “viewer” (which most certainly will include a great number of kids, once more, don’t try to act like you don’t know this) to actively participate IN said violence… Duh!