Thursday 24 September, 2009

After another thirty minutes playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas I was overwhelmed at the amount of racial slurs used and the racist ideas that the game is displaying. It makes me wonder if the idea that having a game as horrid as this one out on the market is a good or bad idea. I have never before thought that video games led to violence in the youth, but after playing San Andreas and thinking about the things I'm doing within the context of the game makes me rethink my previous notions. This is a very violent game, and the structure of the game allows for the player to do pretty much any illegal activity in the book, from murder to prostitution. Theses are very graphic ideas that is available for the player to participate in. It just makes me think more about whether or not creating these numerous illegal activities in the video game world will make it seem OK in the real world. Are video games just the "gate way drug" to violence?

Do you think there is a difference between allowing players to do illegal things in a game and promoting illegal activities in general? In other words, does GTA promote illegal activities simply by virtue of allowing players to do them in the game?