Life… is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.William Shakespeare, "Macbeth", Act 5 scene 5
Between all the hubbub over what Karl Rove knew or didn't know and whether or not he broke any laws and now all the noise about GTA San Andreas and the now-infamous Hot Coffee mod, it feels like truer words have never been spoken.
The activists and foam-at-the-mouth types are screaming over porn being fed to their kids, Congress is vowing to investigate and pushing for more legislation, and Rockstar and Take Two are playing dumb (and I don't mean that in the "silent" sense).
Here's the thing… Rockstar and Take Two probably deserve to get slapped around for playing dumb when the Hot Coffee mod was first revealed and trying to say "it was all some modder's fault". What, they didn't expect anyone to be able to check the PS2 disks and find it there? Morons. Now, it's possible that the Suits at Rockstar and Take Two were unaware that this content was on the disk… there's a long tradition of "easter eggs" and other unlockable content in game code, and it's possible that some programmer left if in the game when it was supposed to be removed. (Unlikely, of course, but it is possible… though you can bet that little perk is going away fast now!) But for Take Two to try and pretend the content wasn't there is just inane and, frankly, they deserve the losses they're projecting just for being so damn dumb.
Having said that, I would really like it if someone would shove a copy of the damn game in the first available orifice of the next person who screams that "Rockstar is exposing our kids to porn!" Folks, the original game was rated M. That means 17 or older, please. TRUST ME, 17 year olds have access to many better forms of porn than the chunky graphics they're getting off their PS2. And if your 13 year old is playing the damn game (as I heard one loser bemoaning on TV the other night), IT'S YOUR DAMN FAULT FOR LETTING HIM PLAY IT! Game ratings exist for a reason and you, as a parent, have a responsibility to know what your kids are playing and to say no when they want to play/watch/interact with something inappropriate for their age.
Videogames, as with movies, books, TV and music, are a medium that appeals to, and are targeted to, many different age groups. There is content out there that is inappropriate for your 13 year old (and 99.9% of it is getting the appropriate rating for that content). So please stop whining that GTA is bad for the kids. It's always been bad for the kids and it's no different now.
The best part of this, however, is the change in the rating of the videogame. GTA San Andreas is now rated AO: Adults Only. What this means, by definition, is that you now have to be 18 or older to play the game. The difference in the content is one of degrees, and it's a minor distinction at best ("prolonged" violence or "graphic" nudity). The reality here is that the change in the rating's not going to affect WHO can play much at all. And their game experience probably wouldn't be much different than an M rated game.
Which is not to say that it's not going to affect anything. Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and retailers across the country are falling all over themselves to let the world know they're not selling this "filth". Take Two took a hit on Wall Street and they're speculating that losses could top $50 Million thanks to the change in ratings.
But this has nothing to do with "protecting the kids" from anything and (arguably) everything to do with punishing a publisher for producing content that certain people find objectionable. But that gets into freedom of expression territory, and the reactionaries are learning that this won't work. So they'll have to settle for the punitive approach.
And we have to sit here and listen to the sound of these furious idiots.
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