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I have them, I think I'm old enough to play them and not be tempted to go out and immitate what I see on the screen at 41 years of age. I however have never allowed my daughter to see me playing this or any number of other games that I feel are innappropriate for her age.
I have another game that is for the Sega Saturn, it comes with a gun and you get to shoot and kill people, you can aim where you want and the bank robber or whatever buckles over and grabs that part of his body, its pretty cool. I've had those for 13 years and I have YET to go out and blow anyone away in response to the video game violence.
I think of it as an adult playground. You can be as bad as you want, but not without consequences if you aren't any good.
People like chaos and mayhem. It's kinda like how a bench clearing brawl is usually the most exciting thing you can see at a baseball game, only it happens every five minutes in GTA games.
Could somebody please explain the appeal of these games? Is the U.S. becoming a nation of wannabe car-jackers?
Other people have already addressed why these games are so popular, but the real issue at hand is that parents need to wake up and realize that these games, and games and TV in general are acting to program children today... program them on how to behave, what to buy, how to dress, what to eat, etc.
Fundamentally, that is the truth, whether or not it is intentional or just a side-effect of the entertainment mediums isn't important. If you love your kids, get them involved in something else and ensure that when TV is on or games are being played that there's no emulation of destructive behavior involved... acting like a car jacker or thug in general isn't really a bright thing to allow your child to fantasize about.
For those of you who partly answered that the game lets you explore the world, what do you think of the MS Flight Simulator series? You can do quite a bit more exploring, without murdering people.
I love that as well.
It doesn't have the same sense of humor or the same rush of adrenalin you get in GTA, though. At least not for me. Combat Flight Simlutor... now you're talking.
For those of you who partly answered that the game lets you explore the world, what do you think of the MS Flight Simulator series? You can do quite a bit more exploring, without murdering people.
I like being able to do things on a video game that I would never do in reality, thats a HUGE part of the fun for me.
Fundamentally, that is the truth, whether or not it is intentional or just a side-effect of the entertainment mediums isn't important. If you love your kids, get them involved in something else and ensure that when TV is on or games are being played that there's no emulation of destructive behavior involved... acting like a car jacker or thug in general isn't really a bright thing to allow your child to fantasize about.
I agree.
But I can imagine that it is hard thing to do, especially when the parents still 'cater to their own inner child' (read: are hooked themselves).
It would be like asking an alcoholic parent to stop encouraging his under aged kids to drink beer with his own alcoholic behaviour. I mean if you as a parent drink beer, it seems hypocritical to ask your child to do otherwise.
Location: Los Angeles, which as I understand was once upon a time ago part of the United States of America
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nl2134
This, from a mid-20's guy...
I don't play a lot of video games, but I am a huge, huge, huge sports fan. Thus, the majority of the games I play are sports games. I own NBA2K8 and Tiger Woods 08, two very fun games to play, but after awhile, it's the same thing over and over again. The games like Forza, super realistic ones get boring after awhile because, well, it's too super realistic and you're just making laps around a track.
My friend, very much so addicted to video games told me to try out some first person shooters (FPS), because the 360 specialized mostly in FPS's. I bought Rainbow Six: Vegas and I liked it. Did the mission, but now that I'm done with it, I can't do anything else. I don't want to do the whole story again on Impossible, because I pretty much suck at video games already, and the extra 'Terrorist Hunts' are literally impossible for me. This has turned me away from these FPS games.
I also tried the Orange Box, another FPS. Not my thing...and with one part left which should take me no longer than 3 hours at the most, I can't even bring myself to finish the game. Attacking aliens = not much fun to me. Same with third person shooters, like Gears of War. I'm not really into the whole shooting thing for no reason either.
Not a fan of RPG's. I can't sit still and read through the whole story or whatever, and I get antsy easily.
GTA appeals to me because it's a little bit of everything. The map in GTA4 is MASSIVE, I mean it's HUGE. It's almost like driving through a mid sized American town like a Madison, WI (the game is modeled from NYC), and you can do whatever you want. If you want to just drive a car around and dick around, you can do that. The soundtrack in this game is so awesome, it's like literally driving around the city, with your hood down, flipping channels (they have the Reggae (Marley), Jazz (Coltrane, Thelonious), Rock (Smashing Pumpkins, Stevie NICKS!)) and just chilling. See, it's not like Forza or Gran Turismo where the controls are ultra sensitive, yet it's realistic enough where you can't seriously expect to go 160mph and make a sharp turn...
If you want to do some missions, you can do that also. Not to give much away, but you need work and there are a few sources for work. You're trying to collect debts owed, so it's not like you're shooting necessarily, you just gotta get the job done to get your money.
If you want to try something new, you can actually now date girls. Yeah, I was surprised too.
See, to me, the game doesn't have to be totally violent. Yes, later in the game you have to start using genade launchers and such to do your missions, but you can be non-violent, and do all those missions, cruise around in cars, chase suspects, etc. I'm definitely not addicted, but I really, really really enjoy playing the game.
Flight Simulator is a little too boring for me. My baby bro (he's 21, don't worry) LOVES it, but he can sit there for hours playing that game. I need some action, and when he does too, he loves GTA, to cruise around in cars and go on long police chases. I mean, it's just fun.
I can't really express anything more to you. I'm not going to tell you to rent it or buy it, and I will admit, it does bring out an unsavory group of teenagers, but I find the game extremely fun, funny with a great storyline. I've played it since the first GTA, when I was a teenager, and have since played GTA2 also. I used to just cruise around in the car without doing missions, going on chases, but 4 is so much more...
Well, I understand, but there are games such as Battlefield 2 where there's plenty of action, but it's in the context of fighting soldiers of enemy nations rather than stealing cars and murdering people for profit. BF2 is faily popular, and so are the CoD games, but these GTA games seem to be very different in context from war games.
Location: Los Angeles, which as I understand was once upon a time ago part of the United States of America
849 posts, read 1,046,634 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sean98125
I love that as well.
It doesn't have the same sense of humor or the same rush of adrenalin you get in GTA, though. At least not for me. Combat Flight Simlutor... now you're talking.
I like FS 2004. I've done a good bit of touring in the DC-3, which is my favorite plane of the bunch.
Well, I understand, but there are games such as Battlefield 2 where there's plenty of action, but it's in the context of fighting soldiers of enemy nations rather than stealing cars and murdering people for profit. BF2 is faily popular, and so are the CoD games, but these GTA games seem to be very different in context from war games.
I see what you're saying.
I can't respond as to why GTA is so much more popular, other than from my personal perspective because I probably can't properly situate my thoughts together. haha. For those so-called 'hardcore gamers', some posted on message boards how the midnight launch brought out the more 'unsavory' crowd, those who were a little rowdier, as opposed to when Halo 3 was launched, more nerdy people stood in line and it was a lot more civil. Also, the person who reported this also found more mothers willing to wait in line with their kids at Midnight (no less on a Tuesday morning) just to get the game, so the mass appeal is rampant.
At the same time, FPS games like Rainbow Six: Vegas (1 and 2) and Call of Duty 4 are more popular than you think. CoD4 was probably the Game of the Year for the 360 last year, and RS:V had a very nice showing. Why? Because of multi-player option. I guess with more interaction and a nicer package, it's easier to pick up and run with it.
Sorry if I jumped around, but it's difficult to answer. I started playing GTA in the late 90's when the game wasn't popular at all (I downloaded the demo on a whim from CNET), and before I knew it, 4 came out and people were waiting outside for hours waiting for the game. I missed like 10 years in between or something.
i love these games I play them when im angry and it calms me down. Have you tried any of the games?
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I mean if you as a parent drink beer, it seems hypocritical to ask your child to do otherwise.
