Rockstar is the balls of the video game industry. Since its inception by the characteristically red-headed Scot, Dave Jones, in 1997, the game has taken the brunt of the debate over video game violence. And it's no wonder. What GTA did was take every imaginable suppressed human inclination toward violent actions and give them a space to play. If you ever imagined snipering people, stealing a car or running over pedestrians, this game gave you a place to run wild. And even if you had never imagined doing those things, you would after playing the game.
The critics believed that such wild imaginings would have practical repercussions - people would start pulling each other out of their cars and playing chicken with the police on the highway. Anyone exposed to this level of unrestrained, primitive, illogical street warfare would immediately become a sociopath. There is no evidence for such extreme thinking, and although we should admit that - for some unknown reason - playing GTA actually has a cathartic effect that both terrifies and excites the average, law-abiding citizen, it isn't a cult that will end with mass suicide. At least, there is no way of knowing that it will.
Still, despite being blamed by almost every parent and psychologist in the country for violent-inclinations in the human race, the makers of GTA have boldly chosen to ignore the disgruntled and take the game's concept to the most extreme level imaginable. It's almost as if they're inside the subconscious of the average gamer, and have been listening to all the terrible, scary thoughts that are quickly beaten down by the socially-installed conscience. If the social superhero is the super-ego, making sure that humans stay away from acting on their primitive desires by making them feel bad for even thinking about it, then GTA is the arch enemy trying to completely disrupt that plan.
If you ever played any of the GTA games and thought "my favorite part about this isn't really even the missions, it's the unrestrained killing-of-people" then don't think Rockstar wasn't listening. If you spent hours hunting the streets for pedestrians to run over, or secretly wished to see a little more blood... then Christmas has come early. April 29th, to be exact.
I consider myself to be a relatively stable human being. I know that I won't ever go about the streets murdering people or stealing cars, but if you think that you may be influenced - or pushed beyond the psychological boundaries that keep you in check - by GTA IV, then think about sticking to Mario. In fact, proof of psychological stability would be a damn sight better than whipping out your driving license to purchase a copy of the game. It might silence the horde who are about to go crazy over the newest, improved version of total-chaos-to-the-human-race, who are afraid that the things on the screen will immediately begin jumping out onto the streets and into their kids playgrounds . I can't say what people will do, but it seems like there's enough violence in the world for it not to notice another edition of GTA.
http://www.mahalo.com/GTA_IV_Leaked
Sunday, April 27, 2008
GTA IV: Most Brazenly Violent Game Out-Violences Itself
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Curtis Richardson: 13-year-old, Shot Dead in Gang Territory
On March 17th, 13-year-old Curtis Richardson was shot dead in front of his home.
"He was walking with his friends when one of his friends threw up a gang sign and they came back and started shooting," said a 13-year-old school friend of Curtis.
A resident named Vincent said that he was one of the first on the scene. "I ran around here and checked his pulse. He had a pulse but he wasn't moving or nothing," said Vincent. Vincent said that his father was shot and killed across the street a few years ago.
In South Central Los Angeles, these crimes are part of everyday life. The area is geographically divided by gangs, with Richardson's house resting on the cusp of the divide between the Bloods and the Crips.
"I've been living in a war zone since 1987," said Sister Herron, a resident of South Central and leader of the Youth Advocacy Coalition.
Herron was joined by author and civil rights activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson on the street where Richardson was shot. After a 35 percent upsurge in homicides this year, this coalition of civil rights leaders were asking Los Angeles to put violence on hold for 40 hours. After being passed by Los Angeles city council, the moratorium started at 6:01 pm Friday, the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. was assassinated 40 years ago. Sister Herron reminded the crowd of the many children and teenagers who were killed in just the last month.
So why don't kids get the message and stop joining gangs? Because it's a lot more complicated than it looks. It's not a case of "just saying no." It's a case of massive, grand-scale bullying and defying an accepted way of life. "I've got family members in gangs, friends," said one of the girls at the memorial. "I mean, it's possible, you don't have to gang bang, but it's hard."
For many teenagers in Los Angeles, joining a gang isn't a decision they get to make. They're pressured by friends and even family members, as some gangs have an ancestry that is hard to defy.
And the rules of gang warfare are even harder to defy. In fact, turning a blind eye to the symbols of gang territory can be dangerous or even deadly. The girls from Richardson's high school explained that even having dyed hair can be a dangerous flag in an area that is controlled by the blue Crips gang or the red Blood gang. "I could walk around the corner and I might not come back," said one girl, who has a wide red streak in her hair.
There have been numerous programs in Los Angeles to try and curb the gang violence that is segregating the city, but nothing offers an infalliable solution. The girls from Richardson's school were sceptical that things could ever change.
"Some people learn and some don’t."
"Some people change their lives and some people don’t."
No matter how many activists come into their neighborhood trying to spread a message of peace, life and death are still just blocks apart. The police still had to patrol Curtis Richardson's memorial so that mourners could gather there. There are still reports of murdered children, and officials announcing that the deaths were "gang-related." The scariest thing is that this isn't a new problem for Los Angeles; it's become a trade mark.
