I HAVE been informed towards Target taking the video game Grand Theft Auto V, off their shelves.
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Doing a little research, the cause of this was a petition.
Which leads me to a question. Why now would the people against the game, try now to take it off the shelves, especially since first, we have an “R” rating for games now, and second, the game has been in Target and all other retailers for more than a year?
I mean, I know that the game is controversial in more ways than one, but that kind of element has always been a drawing point of the GTA franchise.
Look at GTA: San Andreas for example. The infamous Hot Coffee mod led to a similar instance to the current game, but that still did not stop the game from being sold in stores, albeit in a modified version. And even though the cause of the ban was due to violence towards women, that’s why we have an R rating here in Australia now.
It’s obviously rated that rating for a reason, yet it’s also designed to prevent games from being banned from the stores, lest they edit the game to appear to a lower rating. And here, the so-called powers that be think that children are able to play the game and supposedly get warped by its influence.
Once again, they are missing the point of the R rating. Given the petition was done by victims of sexual violence, I can empathize with their cause, but jumping the gun and banning the game, when there are contingencies in place to keep everything under control, that is just plain mad.
The only people that could possibly be affected are those who don’t know the difference between fantasy and reality.
And taking GTA:V off the shelves is not going to be a logical solution.
Big W will still get it in, as will EB Games. They have what many others wield: Common Sense. And that is what Target should realise as they continue on with their forced-upon plans.
The game is not the problem. It’s the type of people who play it. And if the methods and protections we establish do not get adhered to, then what’s the point of having them in the first place?
Craig Davidson, Port Macquarie