"Why is it valid to assume that all bad acts realistically portrayed in a game will be imitated in the real world, but it's out of the realm of possibility that those same bad acts cannot also deliver a deterrent message?"

Unfortunately it's because that wouldn't be deemed "newsworthy."

Because then it wouldn't be newsworthy in the US.

@bangbangblah: Stupid Ninja...

There really needs to be like some even ground struck between gamers and politcians. It really strikes my nerves when they say we use them as training devices.

Well mr.cop, you kill people for a living, I make fake money for killing you.

If only there could be some international...town meeting sort of thing...to get politicians to actually play these games on the level we play them. Then we could get some freedom

So, the fact that I can get drunk and go raiding means I shouldn't do that in real life?

"Why is it valid to assume that all bad acts realistically portrayed in a game will be imitated in the real world, but it's out of the realm of possibility that those same bad acts cannot also deliver a deterrent message?"

What a marvelously written message. Now I see why you are there and I am here Owen.

I suppose we'll hear of children rushing out to be Republicans once they realize there is a TV show called "Republican Space Rangers" in the game.

One could add that Niko and whenever you're hanging out with will admonish you if you get behind the wheel drunk--telling you you shouldn't be driving and such. Every time.

--sigh--, I hate sensationalism.

See you guys later, I'm going to scratch my head and magically learn how to fly a plane, UPSIDE DOWN!

Doesn't anyone else think that, someway, retailers would find a way to sell GTA4 even if it was rated AO?

Would having an AO rating really stop the game from selling as much?

I personally don't care if it does, of course I going to buy it either way, but at least the media couldn't repeatedly attack it the series.

@Scazza: Aha! Fast like lighting, and moving through the shadows!

this is why I dropped journalism for communication...all they do is spin, spin, spin, and then they'll get dizzy and not know what they're talking about...like now...

I haven't had the pleasure of playing GTA IV yet, but I was wondering if the effect was anything like that of Fables.

Because adding a blur filter really doesn't seem to give any valid representation of drunkenness. And to be honest, I don't really see how a videogame can. As the player is (well, supposed to be) sober whilst playing, are you not just thinking, 'hey, this is annoying, I can't control Niko properly'?

@Krondonian: I actually got a headache driving around drunk.

"Why is it valid to assume that all bad acts realistically portrayed in a game will be imitated in the real world, but it's out of the realm of possibility that those same bad acts cannot also deliver a deterrent message?"

Because they think were idiots who cannot tell the difference between a fantasy setting in a video game and the real world because it has HD graphics

@Krondonian: Driving drunk in GTAIV is harder than driving drunk in real life.

@Clamchop: So it inverts the controls/adds effects/fucks up the camera?

...and I don't want to know how you can make that comparison...

You know, I'm really scared by how many people have said that driving drunk in GTA is harder than driving drunk in real life.
...
How many people here have driven drunk, and how many won't now that they've played GTAIV?

You can also take a cab. It's not like you're forced to drive drunk.

don't drive drunk...end of story. why is this so hard for people to do.

celebrities take a taxi, HIRE SOMEONE

anyone who drives drunk is a fucking moron and shouldn't be on the road sober or not.

@Krondonian:
It blurs everything, messes with the camera horribly and if you're driving, causes the car to go everywhere. Also, as soon as you sit in the car, the cops are after you. It's not enjoyable at all.

Walking drunk in the game is also a pain, and not fun at all. Calling a cab is the best way to remedy the situation.

"The Grand Theft Auto IV Drunk Driving story fits perfectly, and we will see versions of this for two months, if not more."

This is the sad, but true reality of American journalism. I don't know why it is so popular to beat subjects like this into the ground. I always thought the idea of news was to inform people so they can be educated about the world. Not trying to sensationalize every little thing into an end of the world crisis.

@Darkest Daze: Okay then, cheers. I was just thinking if it was anything like the Fable drunk effect, or being really tired in Bully, it wouldn't be all that bad.

@Dullshimmer: A privatized sector requires a continually increasing level of funds to satisfy stockholders.
Therefore, they need not do their jobs, but instead, provide information that will keep people coming back to them, regardless of quality.
Hence, instead of hearing about the world, you hear about whatever will get you to listen to them, fear being one of the best methods.

Want to know the ultimate irony of all this?
Years ago, a PSA used a driving video game (Outrun) to educate people on drunk driving. They showed people how being drunk seriously effected how well you could play a driving video game, and by extension, a real car.

+ Watch video

Just saw the news clip and the ignorance in it is mind boggling. The police officer figured that a person who mastered driving drunk in the game would take the next logical step and assume they could also master driving drunk in real life -_-.

This is your life!
The Movie
rated U for everyone

Coming Soon...

This is your life!
The Video Game
rated M for mature

@Darkest Daze: I disagree. Walking around drunk is a blast. It's Euphoria's big shining moment in the game. It does suck when you've only got a scrap of health, though. *Falls on face... dies... fuck*

My next experiment will be getting drunk in the game while being drunk in real life. :D Will they cancel each other out? Will the funky camera make me vomit? The answers to these questions and more, in the next installment of "I Need a Life!"

With all the crimes in GTA (car theft, murder, manslaughter, drug use, solicitation, wearing a leather jacket with track pants)it is amazing how the DUIs are managing to get all of the press this time around.

Hell, do they actually know how hard it is to drive properly when ur drunk in GTA4?? Honestly driving drunk is way easier in real life! (Dont ask...)
And who in their right mind would play the game and then re-enact that kind of shit?
I cant drive straight for 5 seconds when drunk in the game, crash my car into a cop car and get arrested... Sounds like fun in real life? Not to me...

@TheStarterWife:

"...wearing a leather jacket with track pants..."

*Snaps fingers in vague "z" pattern* You tell 'em! Mmmmmmm-hmm! *neck-roll*

:p

Wasn't there a drunk driving segment in Vice City? Or was it that Miss Cleo got Tommy Vercetti got high? Anyway I remember a real similar mission to the "drunk driving" gameplay in GTA IV. Same sorta thing - camera is shaky and lots of motion blur. Why didn't anyone make a stink about that then?

So it's ok to blow someone's head off with a shotgun, but it's not ok to drink an drive?

@AryzonaBay: There was a mission in Vice City stories where Vic gets knocked out and breathes in cocaine fumes and has to drive a van high on crack... and it amazingly makes the driving even worse than normal, if that is even possible.

@Hylian: I think its because deaths caused by drunk driving are much higher than ones caused by shotgun related head trauma. ;D

Seriously though yeah drunk driving is a rather high leading cause of death / accidents that is by far easier to cause than firearm related ones.

I guess I'm about due to go slug it out with some turkeys after having beaten many many turkeys to death in Turbo Turkey Puncher 3000 on DOOM 3... Oddly enough, I still haven't done that and that was a couple of years ago when I played that "turkey murder simulator".

Oh snap, I live in Savannah GA, In the game I got home without crashing into anything for once

"I mean, if driving drunk causes things to get blurry and trippy, why wouldn't I want to do it? I get bragging rights if I pull it off. Driving drunk is like playing Halo in Legendary mode and living to tell about it. There's fun in the challenge."

Watch out for that overachieving mentality.

@_Hayko:
"This is your life!
The Movie
rated U for everyone

Coming Soon...

This is your life!
The Video Game
rated M for mature"

This isn't necessarily applicable to this particular case but it isn't without merit to rate games more harshly than other media. I feel that it stems from an inherent bias in the medium (this bias does not have to be intentional). All games convey some conflict that the player becomes a part of. Then, from the players perspective, there is my character, me, with what I am doing and I believe, generally presented in a positive or at least understandable light, and them, the enemy, with its evil or at best sympathetically misguided goals. And I, my character, is not a bad guy, despite whatever bad things he does.

So, to some degree, I feel games will always present any issue with bias and misinformation as such as won't be presented to the player like he is a third-party (or if it is, the issue is usually an afterthought).

Like I said, this isn't especially relevant to the drunk driving issue, but still, by presenting the player the ability to drive drunk without sharp consequence, which there isn't because I can fly out of the windshield and be alright (which is fun, by the way), it does instill this sense that the player, I, can drive drunk.

This might be especially worrisome as immersive as GTA. I also think it is more likely that a player might be influenced by the game to drive drunk that he might be influenced to murder.

We're not drones by any means. But if deny that games to affect us, we deny that they are legitimate media. Legitimate medias do influenced people. Classic examples are Clark Gable's effect on undershirt sales or, more relevant, cigarettes in old films. And it's not something we can toss aside saying that we'll just keep the kids away, because even as adults, we are affected.

Ultimately, my point is that the issue is worth considering. I think we're too used to defending ourselves from the likes of Jack Thompson that we forget that the games are fallible.

And just we because we don't consciously think, "Well, I'm gonna drink a fifth of vodka and hop in my automobile," doesn't mean that somewhere, that thought seems a little less scary.

"Why is it valid to assume that all bad acts realistically portrayed in a game will be imitated in the real world, but it's out of the realm of possibility that those same bad acts cannot also deliver a deterrent message?"

It isn't.

Why not try some real solutions like bringing back Prohibition or even making cars illegal? The latter would also reduce our energy needs and the money we save not buying gas could go into things like paying off debt, buying more video games, and generally bolstering our flagging economy.

Or maybe we could just blame foolish behavior on fools?

You make a great point in that last paragraph, Owen.

I'll add to that: what about the good actions? How many times have gamers saved the world and fought in the name of peace, justice and other positive values?

Surely, if we can be steered towards crime, murder, drug trafficking and prostitution by a game, then we can also be influenced to do "good" things by other games. What about Okami's underlying environmental message? Or Shadow Of The Colossus's tale of love conquering all? Ratchet & Clank's vibrant defense of Lombax-robot unions?

Hmm, I wonder why the media never cover the positive aspects of the videogame culture, the solidarity that sometimes exists between gamers, initiatives like Child's Play, married couples who met through brutal online FPS sessions, etc. ?

Ironically, I always call a cab whenever niko takes a friend out for drinks.

Its a lot faster to take taxi...

Daily show had a segment about GTAIV which showed the perspectives of the majority gamers.

It's got a subtle, indirect way of saying FU to the latest media bandwagoners on the reality of the game and the gamers that play it

Is it me or did the kinda hot blonde one seem kinda into the game and on it's side. All she had to say was "wow" and she emphasized SOME in "some police."

@Krondonian:
it made me feel sick

Oh and really...I drive better drunk in the game and don't crash into building and newspaper machines nonstop. IRL I dunno. I always have a DD.

gta iv shows the dangers of drinking and driving... and not wearing your seatbelt... AND going to bad websites (going to www.littlelacysurprisepageant.com at the TW@ cafe.)

i actually found it educational, and logically decided from it that driving drunk was stupid, as i ended up running into a cop, and unable to escape from his lvl 1 area of annoyance, ended up in the ocean (along with my car), along with the person i went to the bar with.

This reminds me of 2 Live Crew's debacle. Pure sensationalist BS.

I'm a little disturbed by the comments stating "It's easier to drive drunk in real life". Maybe that's because my brother was hit by a drunk driver and died en route to the hospital. He was revived, but did not walk away unscathed...he received a lovely artificial hip before he even turned 21, and will forever walk with a serious limp.

Personally I think the drunk driving aspect of the game is a great scare tactic that should prevent people from attempting to drive drunk. It is amazingly difficult, and when the cops start chasing you (and they will) it is pretty hard to get away. The only better way to handle this is if your companion flat-out refused to get into the car with you.

@DarkDragonDave:

That cartoon is hilarious. It reminds me ALOT of the work of John Kricfalusi (sp?) of Ren & Stimpy fame.

Microsoft have to implement a way to stop youngsters getting games like this. I know it's supposed to be down to the parents to police it, but most parents don't give a shit. Raise your hand if you've played COD or GTA with a gamer who's clearly just hitting puberty. There must be a way to stop younger gamers playing age rated games. For the good of society and gamers trying to enjoy a mature title online, there must be something that can done through software.

So... what if I'm getting drunk and playing GT5?

@shufflemoomin: There IS an easy way: parental controls. They take a few seconds to set up and they are password-protected.

Granted, a lot of parents don't know about parental controls, but if they can't get involved long enough to find out about such a simple and straightforward thing, then the influence of videogames isn't the kids' biggest problem...

I still think that nothing (be it hardware-based parental control or strict enforcement of age ratings in stores) can replace parents spending just a few minutes with their child to know what they are playing, and deciding whether it's right for them or not.
Again, if a parent can't spare a few moments for their child, the kid's got a much bigger problem than videogame violence.

@shufflemoomin: I understand the online problem with 10 year olds cussing at you. But If A persons parents allow their kids to play their games then they should have every right to. I would have been mad at age 16 (you have to be 17 where i live to buy gta) If I wouldn't have been able to play because some asshat thought my 16 year old age voice was annoying.

When you are drunk Niko says "I shouldn't be driving" and it's really hard to drive. It is in no way promoting drinking and driving. It sure is fun trying to walk around drunk though.