It may be reaping massive amounts of critical acclaim from videogame reviewers, and it may be about to smash sales records left, right and centre, but it hasn’t taken long for the content of Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) to attract dissenting voices from the activist community.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving call for rating change on Grand Theft Auto IV. Image: GillyBerlin/Flickr.
Specifically, the American Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) organisation is demanding that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), which assigns influential age-rating classification to videogames, moves GTA IV from its current ‘M for Mature’ rating through to ‘AO’ or Adults Only.
In ratings classification circles, videogames given an AO rating are considered dead in the water and are all-but unheard of, with software publishers often preferring to apply subtle edits to gameplay content in order to qualify for the considerably more retail-friendly ‘M for Mature’ stamp.
Rockstar Games, the creator of GTA IV, recently made such edit alterations to its controversial videogame sequel Manhunt 2, which was initially slapped with a crippling AO rating by the ESRB due to its levels of realistic violence.
In the case of Grand Theft Auto IV, an open-world adventure involving car theft, murder and revenge, MADD is pointing accusatory fingers because players are able to drive vehicles while drunk in the game.
“Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke,” exclaimed MADD in an official statement. “Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable.”
Further to its call to the ESRB for a revised rating, MADD is also appealing to developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two Interactive to pull the game from store shelves as a mark of respect “for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving.”
The scenes causing alarm with MADD involve the player taking lead character Niko Bellic into a bar before later attempting to drive a stolen vehicle from the establishment. During these sequences, the screen blurs wildly, car handling is much harder to grasp, and, given the sandbox nature of the game, innocent pedestrians and other vehicles can be struck by the player.
It is worth noting however, that driving under the influence is not the player’s sole solution, and Niko can also walk to his resulting destination or hail a taxi. Also, the visual and gameplay effects of intoxication wear off in a matter of minutes.
“We have a great deal of respect for MADD’s mission, but we believe the mature audience for ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game’s content,” said Rockstar Games in a statement issued to the Associated Press. “For the same reason that you can’t judge an entire film or television program by a single scene, you can’t judge ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ by a small aspect of the game.”
In related news, Grand Theft Auto IV has already smashed release-day videogame sales figures in the UK. According to trade publication MCV, GTA IV sold 609,000 copies (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined) in its first 24 hours of availability both online and on the high street.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the previous holder of the release-day sales record in the UK was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which sold 501,000 units when it launched (exclusively) on the PlayStation 2 in 2004.
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