Violent game banned by Australian retailers

This
week Target and Kmart, two of Australia's
largest retailers, took the decision to remove the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto 5 from their stores
because of its graphic scenes of violence against women.

Grant Theft Auto 5 is the
latest title in the successful gaming series and was released a year ago.  It is set in the fictional American city of Los Santos and gamers
control criminals as they rampage through the town committing a series of
crimes to rise to the top of the gangster underworld by any grotesque means
necessary.  It has been criticised for
its levels of violence, particularly for its depictions of torture and the way
it often portrays women as strippers and prostitutes.  The
Guinness Book of Records has named the series as the most controversial
video game in history

Explaining
its decision, a spokesman for Target said it had “been speaking to many
customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of
concern about the game's content.  We feel
the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our
customers.” 

Clearly
the chain’s decision was business focused rather than part of a wider moral
crusade but it was prompted by a petition calling for its removal from stores
because of the levels of violence against women.  It is worth noting that Grand Theft Auto allows players to be violent not just towards
women but men too.   However GTA’s
depiction of female characters is broadly one dimensional with women portrayed
in the main as prostitutes, nags or powerless damsels in distress; hardly a
healthy role model for the 21^st century.

GTA is
no stranger to controversy and it has come to be seen as the nadir of violent
gaming.  However, there are equally
concerning games such as the updated version of 90s bête noire Mortal Kombat which allows players to
kill their opponents in numerous stomach churning ways and Call of Duty is infamous for the episode in which players are
invited to slaughter bystanders in an airport.

There
are lots of games which are not violet and misogynistic but it’s the nature of
promotion today that, in order to secure media coverage, developers need to
provide a product that will be talked about and sometimes pushing the
boundaries is an easy way to do this. 
We’ve seen the same in other forms of media including music videos.

There
has been a backlash from gamers against Target’s decision but so often the
level of debate has descended to ‘I play GTA and I don’t run down prostitutes’
- but this is missing the point. 
Research from Canada published earlier this year looked at far more
subtle, but equally concerning, links between the types of games played and
gamers’ moral reasoning and ability to take the perspective of others into
account.

Hours
spent playing violent video games was found to be effectively stunting
emotional growth. Interestingly, there was no correlation between the amount of
time reported playing non-violent video games and moral reasoning levels.

Following
the ban in Australia
there has the predictable outpouring of threats and abuse against those who
initiated and signed the petition. 
Perhaps this toxic behaviour is itself an illustration of the possible
effect of these violent games.

If you are thinking of buying a console
such as Xbox One or PlayStation 4 this Christmas it’s worth bearing
in mind that there is nothing wrong with gaming per se – as long as players
don’t spend too long doing it.  The key
is keeping abreast of the content of the games being played on the device.  Grand Theft Auto 5 is rated 18 and this
rating is not an indication of skill but of content.  In the same way most responsible parents would
not be happy with their children watching an 18 rated DVD they need to keep a
similar eye on the games which are being played and make sure that they use the
parental controls available on these platforms to protect their children – not
just from age inappropriate games but, as these consoles can be used to access
the internet, from potentially harmful online content too.   You can find out how to do this here for Xbox products and here for PS4.