“Everyone’s a rat”, GTA IV can get anyone easy media exposure
It seems that grabbing the lime light at the expense of the game Grand Theft Auto is no longer reserved for soul less lawyers. Now people with aspiring political hopes and non profit organizations are jumping on the band wagon also. Earlier this week US presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama made sure to chime in with his thoughts on GTA IV and the video game industry as a whole and now Mothers Against Drunk Driving have lowered themselves to using Grand Theft Auto IV to promote their agenda.
“Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke,” MADD said in a statement released Tuesday. “Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable.” MADD is also calling on publisher Take-Two Interactive and developer Rockstar Games to consider stopping distribution of the game. MADD is upset by the fact that in the game the player has the option to go to a bar and have a few drinks. When the player exits the bar he is stumbling drunk and actually falls down every few steps. The screen is extremely blurry and it becomes almost impossible to control the character with any sort of precision. The player then has the option enter a vehicle and attempt to drive away.
Now lets look at all the facts first before passing judgment to quickly. First and fore most the game gives the player the option to easily hail a taxi to take you to your destination. But in the game the main character Niko Bellic’s brother Roman owns a taxi service and makes the offer to you that you can call and use his taxi service free of charge any time. Second, when you enter a vehicle an attempt and I do stress the word “attempt” to drive while Niko is intoxicated it is the next thing to impossible to drive the vehicle. If anything MADD should be praising Grand Theft Auto IV for its efforts to try to educate people to the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol. After reading this article I tested this feature in the game, after knocking back a few at the local Irish bar in the game I attempted to drive home. The ride to the bar took me a total of two minutes, the ride home took almost ten minutes. By the time I got to my destination I had ran into several people and countless cars. I found while under the influence operating a vehicle to be almost impossible. One thing that publisher Take-Two Interactive and developer Rockstar Games should consider is increasing the chances of being pulled over and arrested by the police if the character chooses to drive while drunk. In my little test I did pass at least three police offices and never once did any of them attempted to stop and arrest me. I think it would go a long way to building some good will toward the game if Rockstar Games would consider making this adjustment in a downloadable patch update of the game.
I have always applauded MADD for their efforts in their fight against Drunk Driving. But here is a little hint to the members of MADD. You should probably have one of your representatives actually play the game before you start making statements about it. If some virtual people are run over and killed in a videogame it may go a long way in making real people see the real dangers drinking and driving in real life.