Not your father's video games
By Gregory Zeller	write the author
May 02, 2008 | 03:12 PM It's Christmas in May for video-game enthusiasts — not to mention crackheads, carjackers and gang-bangers — as "Grand Theft Auto IV" roars into your favorite Major National Retail Superstore. In case you've been living under a rock — or, considering the game's controversial content, hitting the rock — here's a refresher: In the "GTA" series, players assume the identities of seedy underworld types and spread carnage like peanut butter. Grand theft is like jaywalking compared to some of the other digitized crimes waiting to be committed: Drug dealing, drive-by shootings, prostitution ... they're all here, not so much hiding behind the game's M rating (for "mature") as lurking like a back-pocket switchblade. How do you win? You don't. This is what they call a "sandbox style" game, meaning there's no real objective, other than exploring the virtual world and doing as much damage to life and property as possible. Told in a cinematic style, the "story" involves Bosnian war veteran Niko Bellic, a merchant marine from the former Yugoslavia who comes to Liberty City (played convincingly by Manhattan) to chase the American Dream, but finds himself in an American Nightmare of crime and occasionally-sadistic punishment. The Entertainment Software Rating Board's M rating — which is "voluntary," according to the ESRB website, and completely unenforceable — is not expected to diminish sales. Industry insiders predict "GTA IV" will sell upwards of 9 million copies in its first week; at around 60 bucks a pop, those first-week receipts will bury video-game records and eclipse opening tallies for most Hollywood blockbusters. A lot of smack, certainly, for unrepentant producers Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive. The "GTA" saga is hardly alone when it comes to games championing violence. Video games, of course, are inherently violent; shooting, killing and dying are as much a part of gaming history as Super Mario himself, and titles such as "Mortal Combat" and "Halo" have long redefined "a bloody good time." But this is a whole new sublevel. Characters spew constant profanity. Anti-defamation groups blasted "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" for promoting hate crimes (the game involves a gang war between Cuban and Haitian immigrants), while hackers were able to unlock secret sexual content "accidentally" left in the game code of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." The ESRB briefly downgraded (upgraded?) "San Andreas" to an "adults only" rating, and many retailers pulled the title. But programmers were able to edit out the sexual elements in time for the holiday rush. There are several competing schools of thought here. Conservative pundits decry these games as the devil's work and fret loudly over "the children." Psychoanalysts debate their true effects on society. So do national courts, which are currently considering multiple lawsuits blaming Rockstar and even retailers for violent crimes committed by players — including the case of an Alabama teenager and avid "GTA" fan convicted of shooting to death three police officers and stealing a patrol car. And here are some unavoidable truths: Violence-as-entertainment is hardly new, including violence-as-entertainment-for-kids (exactly how many shotgun blasts to the face did Elmer Fudd suffer?). Neither is video-game sex; secret codes that allow you to get with a hooker in the back of a police car are extreme, but my circa-1983 Atari computer had a "Strip Poker" title that pitted the player against a still-life opponent (female only) who dropped a layer with every losing hand. Here's the rub: Games promoting violence and drugs and illicit sex will do no harm to youngsters if parents monitor what their kids are doing. The ESRB ratings are guidelines, not laws, and even if Best Buy and other retailers have instituted in-house policies to prevent minors from purchasing taboo titles, the last and only line of defense is at home. Lisa won't even let Zach — who's only allowed the watch PBS Kids, the Food Network and baseball — play "Lego Star Wars," because the little Lego guys are routinely chopped into colorful little pieces. That seems extreme to me, but if the alternative is "GTA," I'm on board. As long as I can play when he goes to bed.