Niko is Russian, therefore Rockstar is prejudiced against Russians.

RE5 is in Africa, therefore Capcom is prejudiced against black people.

Apparently you're not allowed to do anything involving minorities without kid gloves.

The game has been out for 10 minutes and already some advocacy group has criticized it. That has to be a new record.

here we go again.

As a dual citizen of both the US and the Russian Federation, I approve this game's stereotyping of my kinsmen, as it shows that our countrymen are of that rare breed of men who have the balls to go around and blow stuff up.

Take that JCWI!

I'm glad UK's Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants told me this. As you can see, I base all of my views of life solely on the way life is depicted in games like GTA. After all, I'm a gamer!

@NullsRevenge: Techincally, it's not even out worldwide yet.
Those of us in California, Hawaii, Alaska, Orgeon, Washington, and Nevada still have upwards of 3 hours to wait.

my dear god!

I've somehow jumped through some sorta wormhole and apparently it's the late 19th century!

@RickyTV: Funny, I thought I was the only one.

boo its fake, get with it. pac-man are you yellow enough eat more.

Do they not know of the previous GTA's?
Sterreotype's are a must for this game its part of the fun. Be it good or bad.

Soon we're going to start hearing complaints from Hookers Local 419, because they have graphs that prove that the streets of New York are not lined with the bodies of dead prostitutes.

Damn right. And furthermore,
The figures show that yellow pizza pies with a slice removed are not proportionately responsible for any decrease in pellets, power or otherwise. This plays on untrue stereotypes. Ban this "Pack-Mans" immediately!

So wait is it OK now to use more 'truthful' stereotypes?

LOL. Yup because 40 years of cold war propaganda, Soviet stereotyping and the current media's obsession with demonising Russia all over again doesn't have any effect at all.

GTA IV it's all you buddy! I hope Niko doesn't have a Mexican friend otherwise R* will truly be fucked.

I think we'd better stop using humans as video game characters because it seems no matter what nationality the character happens to be (except caucasian, apparently), someone gets pissed off.

That is, of course, until we make contact with alien races or create true AI. Then we're completely out of options. ;)

@Danin: I thought Niko was Serbian? Am I confused?

Hasn't GTA always been a long standing exercise in stereotypical behavior?! Hell! It's the Eastern Europeans' turn! Welcome to America >:)

It's a bit strange to see this little tidbit at the end of an article that just talks about the impact and scale of games like Grand Theft Auto, but then again with the recent controversy laden articles, it seems that any article that doesn't make controversy the main focus is out of place. Seems kind of sad to me.

Well there's one big problem with this logic--do they realize that the GTA III "anti-hero" was the most generic white guy ever?

I realize the storyline isn't as deep in GTA III vs. Vice City (didn't play it so I couldn't tell you much about the character), San Andreas, or GTA IV, but still, they have introduced a variety of main characters. This has to be taken into account--it's not like every game Rockstar makes claims that Eastern Europeans are bad people.

(Maybe spoilers, but not really:)
In fact, from what I've heard about the story (really just the introduction) Niko Bellic isn't even a bad guy--just a guy coping with a bad situation he's been thrown into searching for the opportunity of success.

So just realizing that Niko isn't an evil man could promote the stereotype that Eastern Europeans (even the good ones) might be prone toward crime stereotypes, BUT given the broad range of characters GTA has introduced us to in the past, it's hard to take this criticism to heart.

Please let me know when i can sue someone for my shit stinking cause im tired of the smell .

Every single day, I wake up, get dressed, go to school. Attend my classes, talk with my friends, eat more food than is necessary to support my body weight, go home, play games, watch TV, then sleep. And it is boring as all fuck to everybody but me.

No, not all immigrants cause crime, not all minorities wake up planning to commit murder, not all of the characters played by Cheech Marin are stoners. But those stereotypes carry a dramatic element that is exciting to an outside viewer. It's far more interesting to watch a story about a beat cop than a desk cop, despite the fact that both contribute to helping keep a city safe. And for a damn good reason - it's exciting!

Nobody's here to claim that all immigrants who come to America and contribute to crime, but it's an equal fallacy to claim that immigrants who come to America will never be forced into a life of crime to survive here. Thing is, the story of an immigrant who comes and gets a nice job as a bank teller or a secretary is a far cry away from entertainment.

And that's all this game is.

Political correctness needs to die in a fucking fire

@Captain Impulse: Apparently he's generic "Eastern European".

Captain Obvious strikes again!

If you can make an argument against this without using the phrase "political correctness" or some variant, I'll give you a dollar.

Anyway, I blame Borat. He made the Eastern European the en vogue minority. However, I would imagine that Rockstar doesn't have their main character molesting goats and 69'ing big fat guys.

But I think you have to be sensitive to the advocacy group. There are millions of dumb kids in flyover country whose only interactions with an Eastern European will be in this video game. Are they smart enough to see a difference between a character and reality? Perhaps. But considering how often most use stereotypes to shape their perceptions of the world (and they do -- a lot), I can feel their frustration.

@Maldron: I agree with you Maldron. Good show mate.

This game could have been about any ethnic group, and the series focuses on a different one every time. I hope they go North American Yakuza next time.

oh sh*t...
why this again

deja vu?

I am not so bothered by what they are saying. I am however disturbed by what they are implying, which is gamers will not be intelligent enough to sepearate reality and fiction.

@mind in rewind: Is that sarcasm, or did they seriously just label him generic Eastern European?

In defence of the article, they're not criticising the stereotypes of Russians, or even Eastern Europeans, but of Eastern European immigrants. I can't think of any movie or game that has a lead character being an Eastern European immigrant, and with the large increase of immigrants from that part of the world, especially in Western Europe, they have a point that it's a damning account of what a slowly-increasing percentage of people, of which there has not really been before.

On the other hand, jeez, Council of Welfare of Immigrants - lighten up, it's just entertainment!

@Bashcraft: Space Marines? Weren't people saying Cole from Gears of War was a poor stereotype of black people?

@Shindokie: Read my Messages:
Maybe you should, you know, submit that to Multi-Tap?

@I_Hate_This_Place: Yeah. Of course. Great idea. Let's just discard every single moral convention around.
Bring back blackface, big noses, and huge lips. We can't possbily remain politically correct on any issues. It must die, and now.
[/sarcasm]

@DGUW: Maldron did it already. But can I have the dollar since I pointed it out?

@Brian Ashcraft: Your right.

I think Niko is from the former Yugoslavia. I won't speculate any further because there was a huge debate of whether he is Croatian or Serbian based on his name. Anyways being a Eastern European I was extremely excited when Niko was revealed as an eastern European. I think I'll feel more of a connection with the main character as all of my immediate family are immigrants. Another reason I was excited to hear about Niko is that I was getting tired of Italian mobsters always being the focus of crime games/movies.

I didn't hear anyone bitching about the "stereotype" of black men high and crime in GTA:San Andreas. This kind of crap just fuels the fire.

@Maldron: ... I didn't want to say noth'in but as an immigrants, you might want to see my to-do list (though I've been lazy lately):

[ ] Kill
[*] Steal
[ ] Drive on the wrong side
[*] Spread Disease
[*] Eat Children
[*] Bring more relatives over
[ ] Get to 110MPH on the I-110

It's sad what gets blamed on immigrants. What's even sadder is of the small cases of crime that happen, how much of it is learned behavior only once they are exposed to American society. As you pointed out, people will never talk about the many immigrants who come to America, get jobs, raise respectable families with deep values, and have kids who go on to become outstanding citizens becuase that's just not interesting.

On the other hand, not many of these civil liberties groups have a chance of normally being heard so when opportunity knocks, they answer. In GTA4's case... Opportunity kicked down the door with both hands swung outwards with a perverted look on its face yelling: "WHO LOVES YA BABY?!"

@Brian Ashcraft: Oh Brian <3... you little usurper you <3

@okenny :): On the other hand, not many of these civil liberties groups have a chance of normally being heard so when opportunity knocks, they answer. In GTA4's case... Opportunity kicked down the door with both hands swung outwards with a perverted look on its face yelling: "WHO LOVES YA BABY?!"

That's a fucking beautiful analogy.

@doing:
lol, thats funny. if i didnt think u were being sarcastic, i'd point u in the direction of all sorts of articles that disagree with you

well, i guess this goes along eastern promises as sterotyping eastern european immigrants as criminals

@turbofreak: Really? You didn't see any of the uproar it had back then? Or of the Haitians in Vice City? Hell I even remember a bit of backlash about Italian-Americans being stereotyped in GTA 3. It's always happened, there was even that little bit in The Inside Man by Spike Lee that pretty much had a go at GTA: SA.

Stereotypes are living examples. For goodness sakes, if anyone takes a walk outside and encounters any individual, that person alone is bound to be a stereotype.

There is a difference between stereotype and racism. If one does not wish to be a part of a particular stereotype, then simply do not... By saying that it is a representation of ones countryfolk, that would mean that one places a stereotype upon ones own people... Kind of like saying "You represented a person from my country as a thug. You know, we're not all thugs and I take offense to that".. Inversely, why would one assume that their own countrymen would be portrayed as thugs, as opposed to that individual? *nod*

Well, this was totally unexpected.

@Brian Ashcraft: if that comment doesn't made it to the Multi-Tap there is something wrong with the system

@NullsRevenge:
RE5 ain't out and the advocacy groups are already foaming at the mouth.

@Maldron: Thank you Maldron. I know i'm not the first to say it, but good show.

Wtf? Can't someone create their own art and piece of media in peace with their own free rights without someone misjudging it and saying it's prejudice?

I don't think it's hurting the chances of Eastern European immigrants going to the US.

@DGUW:

Yeah you have a point about stereotypes there, we wouldn't want any of those dumb southern redneck right wing hicks in "flyover country" to get the wrong ideas about other people simply because they come from somewhere else? They grow em real dumb down there, not like where your from.

The ironic thing is there is actually some bits of really poignant dialogue in the game regarding immigrants in America, particularly from Roman, Niko's cousin, and Kiki, a woman Niko can meet.

But besides that, I'm a little less than halfway through the story, and I've never got the impression than Niko does what he does because he's an immigrant. In fact, when they delve into bits of Niko's backstory and experiences early on in the game (of which I'll be vague, to avoid any possibility of spoilers), you see that Niko being an immigrant is probably the last reason he is who he is.

Frankly, in my opinion, it seems like the JCWI is more working off their own stereotypes about the game than the game is working off stereotypes about immigrants. Sure, there's a number of eastern European criminals in the game, but there's a number of white criminals in the game, black criminals, Irish-American criminals, etc. It's a crime drama essentially set in New York. Not surprisingly, it's going to involve criminals of pretty much every ethnicity found in New York.