Target Australia pulls GTA V from the shelves due to ignorant PC whining....

a reply to: 74Templar
Well, im a psychologist first, and I will tell you that video games absolutely DO affect kids and desensitise everyone. Even more so than movies and tv, because it is an immersive action, not just passive watching.

However, im a game fan second, and will always back the side saying that its correlational, rather than connected. Playing violent games doesnt MAKE you violent any more than owning guns makes you violent. Its more the opposite effect, than violent people happen to prefer violent games and firearms.

But its all a moot point really, because those ESRB ratings are there to prevent kids from being desensitised by whats contained. If its rating freaking 17+, then children shouldnt be playing it! Simple as that. Adults can make their own decisions what they like.

a reply to: 74Templar

The feminazis strike again, they have been on a rampage . Recently bullying a scientist in tears over a shirt he was wearing. Just after landing a probe on a friggin comet. But never mind that , polo shirts with nude cartoons on them and a video game that is all ready rated mature by the esrb rating is opressing muh womenz. These hordes of feminist lunatucs need to be banned and ostracized from society.

a reply to: Qumulys

Lol, I'm sure PC users would be lining up in droves that having been the case...

What gets me about this decision (and of course now Kmart here have jumped on the bandwagon too), is it was 13000 people that made the choice. Not a million, or even half a million, but 13000. We have had higher numbers at the protests around Australia and the gubment still won't listen....

On top of that, the game is over a year old. So basically these companies were gleefully pushing the hell out of it when it was new, re-released and everything else, but now the interest has waned, and it's obviously not profitable anymore, they suddenly get all moralistic and rip it off the shelves.... Sounds like a convenient plan to rid themselves of old stock they are going to lose money on to me....

originally posted by: HanaDambi
Why do you seemingly care so much about this? It's not like you can't go elsewhere and buy it if you want to play it.

You and others should be more concerned about Target and it's links to child labor...

Thankyou for being the very first person to miss the point....

This isn't as much about Target's decision, as it is about it's willingness to cave to social media pressure, when the people ranting and raving about how evil this game is are probably the same people that are happy to let their kids watch Nicki Minaj's ass on Saturday morning. That these people have no clue how the rating system actually works, and rather than take responsibility for their kids and what they do, would rather group up en masse and whine until they get their desired result.

Which, in reality, is just a circumvented way to hate on the big retailers.

I should mention that Woolworths and Target here are both very big reatailers. Target is part of the Coles Myer group, owned by a company called Wesfarmers. They are basically the big two when it comes to Aust retail chains, and have their hands in everything from supermarkets, clothing chains, hardware, you name it.

They aren't going anywhere any time soon trust me.

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: 74Templar

I'm way behind on video games, but is this the one that allows the "first-person shooter" to have virtual sex with a willing female? If so, I can understand the complaints.

I do believe the newer PS4 version does allow it, but it is not explicit or graphic, nor do you see any nakedness. But answer me this. How is that representation any different to the graphic imagery of sex and violence that is most MA+ movies these days? Most adult movies get pretty full on now, sex scenes barely qualify as porn, and the violence is skyrocketing. I recently watched a movie where they had a slow motion gun fight and showed bullets entering and leaving the bodies of the bad guys, in a pretty graphic fashion. I have played GTA from end to end, and the violence and gore is fairly tame by comparison, even to other games.

So many people have no idea what they are buying when they buy a video game that the kid is simply dying to have.

And that right there is the crux of the problem. Some mother buys an R18 game for their 15 year old kid without even looking to see what it is about or the level of violence in it. We have so many tools as parents at our disposal to make an informed choice regarding our kids these days, yet when we make the wrong one, the fault isn't our own for making a poor choice, let's get all our friends involved and stick it to the man. It's his fault we're stupid after all.

originally posted by: nonspecific
I'm a little on the fence about this and it's causing me problems.

One the one hand although I dont play games anymore I remember playing the first to GTA's and loving them. Now I am a parent and dont like the idea of my son playing it before he is an adult(exactly like I did)

What it shows is you are willing to take a hand in your son's upbringing, which is what I am driving at here. Rather than take the easy road and cave or get nasty with some store chain for allowing it, you show a conscience in regards to raising your children.

If Target is a general type shop then I think I agree with there decision in the same way they proberblly don't sell pornography.

If your an adult then you can go and support a dedicated games store where they take more care in who they sell things to and keep a few quid out of the big boys pocket.

It's not a major thing for a retailer like Target to stop carrying this game, more that the PC whiners are probably out there patting each other on the back on a job well done sticking it to Target, while their kids download porn and MA rated movies off the web as it's happening. A lot of the time the only reason people really buy this sort of game from one of the big market chains is because they bulk buy and can go cheaper than a smaller game store that more likely cares about the kind of person buying their games. End of the day, I get most games from ebay anyway, comparable prices and no queues either....

originally posted by: Ridhya
a reply to: 74Templar
Well, im a psychologist first, and I will tell you that video games absolutely DO affect kids and desensitise everyone. Even more so than movies and tv, because it is an immersive action, not just passive watching.

Oh no arguments there, I have little doubt the entire media section is driven towards desensitisation of people. I guess when the real bombs starts falling and the real bullets start flying, people will lay down and die easier or not care about it. In fact, you could go as far to say the modern music video scene has more of an effect in labelling women, objectifying women, and even that leaning towards violence stems from half-naked women prancing around in a music video than the GTA game does.

However, im a game fan second, and will always back the side saying that its correlational, rather than connected. Playing violent games doesnt MAKE you violent any more than owning guns makes you violent. Its more the opposite effect, than violent people happen to prefer violent games and firearms.

I have to say gaming is a release for me, as it allows you to do things that you could not possibly do in real life, nor would you want to. The average joe doesn't play these games and then go out and do it in real life, and if they do, well I'd have to say they were already pre-disposed to it anyway, and any kind of trigger could be responsible. I remember the Columbine shootings being linked to Doom. Look at how tame Doom is compared to today's stuff by comparison. In the end it's about education, both of yourself and your kids. Blaming a higher power for putting a game in front of them is akin to blaming someone who gets fat because there was cake on the table. We always have a choice.

But its all a moot point really, because those ESRB ratings are there to prevent kids from being desensitised by whats contained. If its rating freaking 17+, then children shouldnt be playing it! Simple as that. Adults can make their own decisions what they like.

^Exactly this.

I have been into GTA since the first one came to light, it never made me violent in the 15 years i play these games.
They are taking the GTA universe too serious , it is the whole idea from Rockstar to portrait humanity as a bad joke in GTA.

Almost everything in the game is insulting to anything , that is the point: to create a experience wich scenario is impossible in real life.

a reply to: 74Templar
For sure, music videos and tv shows can be far worse. Game of Thrones and Robin Thicke being recent examples. Objectification and subjugation of women is becoming so so much more prominent in every media. I think its why boys these days have no idea how to treat or talk to girls.

At the same time, for the kids who DO have fantasies of power - and there are far more than you'd think - video games just fuel their desire, and they want to do it in reality. But again, they have somewhat of a predisposition, and the ratings are there to prevent impressionable people from obtaining certain material.

For the record in GTA 5 there is full nudity and it basically shows that women want to be treated like # and submit to you. But as noted, its sort of a parody of how terrible people are.

Just wanted to put my two cents in,

As being a gamer myself I may be a little biased, I have never once play a video game (let it be gta, cod, battlefield, half life, halo, etc) stopped and said gee, i wonder what it would be like to do this in real life. Why? My parents didn't raise me to be a little #.

I was even raised on violent horror movies, and my parents never batted an eye at what I played(who let's an 8 year old play resident evil?). The most violent things I've done was defend myself in fights and join the marine corps. Imagine a world where kids where allowed to do what they wanted because they were taught wrong from right!

I love the game,


I couldn't care less what stores do or do not sell

and find it funny at some of the arguments to have the game banned,

Look I get the point of young minds but like many have pointed out its rated R,

What these Sex workers that started this campaign should have done was start a different campaign as well to have parents fined or arrested for providing children with restricted material instead of this charade, but to each their own.

Otherwise its seems like yes there is concerns but its not really for the kids is it?


I have a copy on both PS4 and 3, yes the new version does give much more detail but the issue arises if one can be influenced by entertainment so much to actually perform such sick act like violence towards women then there are much larger issues with the individual that need to be addressed, not stores selling legal products under legal classifications.

To those that are upset about Target and K-Mart pulling the game,

Start your own petition to have people sign agreeing not to shop at these stores because of this incident otherwise what is the problem. OH its a rant, sorry my bad, rant away I agree and disagree at the same time and have explained why in this post.

Politically correct is the hammer they use to side step peoples rights and force them to do things they don't want to do.
Back in the old days it was "safety" then that was dumped for the overused "for the children" now "PC" is the device. The name of the hammer changes but the doctrine remains the same, the .0001% forcing the rest to conform to their ideas. People have got to stand up to these witless, do nothing couch potatoes pushing these ideas.

Someone's started up a counter poll to get the bible taken off the shelf from target for encouraging violence against women, already got over 10,000 people onboard

www.change.org...

There's also another one to stop it from being banned from Big w as that's this woman's next target

a reply to: WeAre0ne

If that's the case the whole basis of their argument is false, because they claim you get 'health points' for said actions.....which I'm thinking is just a big load of BS, unless it's some sort of PC hack.

But I prefer those retailers not stock and sell R18+ games anyway, leave that to the gaming shops that have a concerted interest in their consumers.

originally posted by: 74Templar
So first it was Woolworths here pulling a "if you don't love it, leave" shirt from their shelves due to some whiny little turd posting on social media about how the slogan is racist, and offensive to Muslims. Enough ill-informed, whiny little voices got behind a cause they knew nothing about, disguised as nothing more than having a shot at big retailers, and of course they caved, and removed it from show. A three second look showed that most people here didn't think it was racist, or even offensive. Just a simple truth. If you aren't happy here, and are content to cause our society problems, then leaving is probably your best option. (Don't get me started on Halal in this country.....)

Now Target Australia, after claims by the PC groups (aka the loudest, ill-informed bunch of whiny little scumbags this country has to offer) that GTA V promotes violence against women, has elected to pull the game from it's shelves.

I often wonder if the "yeah" crowd has ever even seen the game, or played it. Or perhaps looked on the label and gone "Oh, look at that. It's R18+. My 14 year old Johnny should probably not own or play that, because I'm a responsible parent."

Yes, that means that if you are under 18 years of age, it is illegal for you to buy it or even play it. No less illegal than cigarettes, alcohol, or any other 18+ movie on the shelf. But to hide behind the excuse that it promotes violence against women?

C'mon. Seriously. I have played the games from the original way back in the late 90s. So have many of my friends. Do I get off the game and think to myself, "right, I'm gonna go king hit some poor woman on the street, shoot a few cops and steal a car." Of course not. Since games began, there has been cries of how it warps young minds, turns men in misogynistic wife beaters, gun toting loonies and the typical scum of the earth that will either wind up in a shoot-out with the cops, in jail or dead.

So here's a tip for anyone who thinks their little 14 year old Johnny is going to suit up as Trevor, Michael or Franklin and go on some real world course of mayhem or go out and beat his girlfriend to a pulp.

Monitor what your kids do. What they play, what they see online. Be open and honest with them that the games they play are just that - games. That real world actions have real world consequences. Teach them to respect others, men and women included, and that violence, whether it be against either sex is DEAD WRONG. I know, some real pioneering stuff there huh?

And sorry to say, but if you let your underage kid play a game like GTA V, then you are part of the problem. My daughter is almost 14, and I WILL NOT either play the game in her presence or allow her to play it. When she's 18? Being an adult, she can then make her own informed decisions, with my help and guidance, should she so desire it.

But for god's sake, jumping on the bandwagon because you know someone who knew a guy who played GTA V and was found out later to have beaten his wife, and using that justification to tar every single man and upcoming man with the same brush, then using that ignorance and the screaming voices of your 1000 other ignorant-minded friends to push your idiotic agenda, is really just the absolute ceiling of ignorance and stupidity.

And Target? You are just as much to blame for allowing the ignorant masses to once again take the "we're too lazy, so someone else can decide for us" way out of the problem.

It's called parenting 101 people. Try it for yourself. You'd be amazed at the results.

Well you do realise that if you don't love Targets decisions in Australia you could always leave, as you seem to think it's socially acceptable to wear slogans like "if you don't love it, leave"
I dislike the P.C. state that this country is becoming (I've only just read this morning that child protection groups are campaigning to ban children from sitting on Santas lap for photos, *sigh*) but if you can't actually see why a Tshirt with a slogan as such is offensive to not only Muslims but a broad range of Australian citizens then you are ignorant.
You can go purchase the game from plenty of other stores so I really don't understand what the big deal is here.
Note: I'm Australian born and bred and not of the Muslim faith and even I find that slogan highly offensive.

originally posted by: DarthFazer
a reply to: 74Templar

The feminazis strike again, they have been on a rampage . Recently bullying a scientist in tears over a shirt he was wearing. Just after landing a probe on a friggin comet. But never mind that , polo shirts with nude cartoons on them and a video game that is all ready rated mature by the esrb rating is opressing muh womenz. These hordes of feminist lunatucs need to be banned and ostracized from society.

Really, the "social cause" bane of humanity is behind this one? They already pissed me off by steamrolling over the comet landing by focusing only on clothes (OMG, how cliche could they be? Girls focusing on CLOTHES) Come on, don't the feminists have a region of the body on someone else to make their faces useful with? Look, here's a tip: Be. A. Parent. Moderate the entertainment and don't wantonly buy, buy, buy just because Jr wants something. And here's a tip to feminists: Encourage. Being. A. Parent. Instead of stirring up crapstorms over something you don't like, encourage parents not be such blindly spendy idiots. Otherwise, leave the grown adults the hell alone and let them buy what they want for themselves instead of getting it yanked.

originally posted by: JohnnyC
Someone's started up a counter poll to get the bible taken off the shelf from target for encouraging violence against women, already got over 10,000 people onboard

www.change.org...

Yeah saw that one,

another to change the stores violent name and logo. Target with a target (shooting target) logo.

I had a laugh but I feel its quite relevant due the reasons of violence and what not to pull the game.

Big W, not sure its pulling the game could also do with a name change as the W could stand for a few sexual slang words.

Yeah protect the children, when ever you hear that as one of the causes to act on situations like these there is some other agenda behind the scenes being hidden so as to not expose the real reasons people push for things like this.


Its one hell of a joke in my eyes, some of the reasons that I read.

I am all for stopping violence especially to women, that enrages me that women are treated the way they are but what also enrages me is people should understand the choices they make and what their choice might consist of down the line.

Society is ignorant when in a group, most individuals as individuals can think for themselves but are afraid to own up to their mistakes and need to take things out in other areas where they can ruffle a few feathers.

originally posted by: skalla
a reply to: 74Templar

It's nuts. You Aussies are really in danger of getting all soft and emotional and stuff.

It's just not right i tell you. You'll be banning mullets and refusing to cut the sleeves off of your shirts soon. Bunch of raving jessies.

I think the PC Groups in Australia are pushing to make Hello Kitty, My Little Pony and Barbie Dress-ups the only available video games in stores..

Probably shouldn't joke about things like this, it will probably happen...lol