My son has just been presented with a video game console by his uncle for securing the first rank in his class. When shopping for games for this I came across a video game CD which read Grand Theft Auto- Libert City Stories. From the name of it, it sounded pretty innocuous but on close inspection of the outer cover, the credits read MATURE: 17+: BLOOD & GORE: INTENSE VIOLENCE: STRONG LANGUAGE: STRONG SEXUAL CONTENT: USE OF DRUGS.
On further enquiry my son told me that he had already played this game before at a friend's place. The Protagonist in the game is in charge of some mission where he is aloowed to steal cars from strangers, kill them(you actually get points for killing innocent bystanders!!!) , do all kinds of gory stuff and eventually complete the challenge.
The questions that are buzzing in mind right now are
1. Where are we heading?
2. Are we allowing stuff like this to thrive in our system that will de-sensitize an entire generation which will spawn cultures where some lunatic(normal person who's had a bad childhood) walks into a school and opens fire killing a few children and adults, as just another daily occurence?
3. The US Government allows sale of such games excusing itself by saying that the game developers have clearly stated that it has MATURE content and is for 17+ age group only. This crops up more questions? What happens to those countries where piracy is a thriving business and unscrupulous hawkers sell these games with no regard for the buyers age? What have we done wrong? (most of the games sold for these consoles are bought in the grey market by the children themsselves for as little as 1 $US per CD. So does the US say "Serves You Right!" ?
4. Even if the cover warns you that only those above 17 years are eligible for buying this game, what kind of a person who is 17+ would want to buy such games unless he/she is a deranged psychopath?
5. Are we forcing the common people to take a re-look at what the religious fanatics have been preaching all this long.
6. Are we hastening the process of Societal degradation so that the world can see a new order begin all over again.
7. Would you like it if you saw a young relative of your's play such a game?
8. Do the people who like such games more susceptible to becoming terrorists?
9. Are we not producing a generation which cares about nothing but completing the challenge? Is it not the stuff terrorists are made of?
10. Are we not better-off being in the stone age? Then we would kill only to survoive and not for fun.
Tsink about it.
Ramdev Baba and the marinaded mutton chops
8 years ago
2 comments:
GTA!!!
i have played this game. yes, you can kill anyone including pedestrians. no, you don't get points for killing them. and people don't become terrorists playing this.
there are millions of cops to stop you when u commit a crime. and no one will kill anyone in real life after playing this. i mean, which madcap has machine guns in their clothes cupboard? the worst an immature student will do is stab someone with a geometric compass and draw a few drops of blood. and mature people don't do any such thing. there have been gangsters since history can remember and 2000 years ago there were no guns or GTA games or playstations. there were evil minds at that time too!
I have a son aged 12 who siad the sme thing to me "I have already played this in my friend's house"
I've lived in guilt and all kinds of emotions after that.
I was wondering if taking the game away would help...but like my husband says, he might for your sake not play here, but is there anyway to stop him from lpaying it elsewhere without seeming too intrusive??
A tough question but an even tough time for us parents who lived off lagori and I spy....
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