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July 22, 2005

Disappointing, Not Surprising

This country is going to hell. Gamestop has decided to stop stocking Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Probably because parents might buy this game for their kids, and it has (shock) sex in it now accessible via a difficult to apply mod (on the PS2 at least). I guess using a prostitute, killing her and taking the money back, massacring pedestrians and stealing things is fine family fun, but consensual sex isn't? For shame, Gamestop. You try and act like you're above this, but instead you show how unenlightened you actually are.

Posted by ben at July 22, 2005 10:52 AM

Comments

I couldn't agree with you more.

Posted by: Olive at July 22, 2005 11:55 AM

Ben,

Unfortunately, places like Gamestop, Best Buy, and even Wal-Mart aren't in business out expressing ideals. They're in business for the purpose of making money, and pretty much that's it.

One of the biggest political factions within this country (ironically) is the religious right. Because of their organized behavior, they're commonly known to threaten businesses via boycott if they happen to carry anything they don't like.

It happened in the 80s, too. This is a whole repeat of the Tipper Stick / Dead Kennedys fiasco.

In the case of Wal-mart, they realized long ago that it was in their "best interest" (read profits), to proactively ban things.

Jack Thompson is an old face to the censorship crowd. Just like Tipper Gore and Joseph Liberman, all of these pro-censorship pundits are looking for "morality issues" in order to get future potential swing voters. Sad.

What can you expect with politics, though? Hilary Clinton used to sit on Wal-Mart's board of directors before her husband ran for president. What does *that* tell you about her agenda?

Ahh, I really wish people were more liberated and more open minded when it came to issues like these... Then again, I wish more people could think for themselves.

Posted by: SeventhCycle at July 22, 2005 8:08 PM

We have a similar, but different rating system here in Australia, and I'm afraid we went through this when GTA3 was released. The game was pulled from the shelves, and the hookers removed before being restored to stock. They didn't even consider bumping the rating, because there IS NO adult only rating for games here. Anything that qualifies is either mutilated, or not sold here at all.

I don't blame the game stores though. They still want moms and dads to come into their store, and a stunt like this will make those people think "oh! their taking the naughty game off the shelves! their good people!" I blame the ratings systems for not highligting enough the target audience.

Go to a video store and you will not see adult movies lying out in the open like you would games. They are hidden behind some curtain in the far corner of the store. Also, the store owner would send a 14 year old on his way if he tried to rent one. The same can't be said for the games unforunately.

I also blame the media for making stupid yet riot inducing headlines like "Video Game makes kid kill!" That one is so old and tired I usually get angry at my daily newspaper whenever I see it. Bad headlines are more likely to kill.

Posted by: TychoQuad at July 22, 2005 8:13 PM

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