Let’s be honest, Rockstar’s 24-year-old Grand Theft Auto series is no stranger to controversy from law enforcement and parents. A new lawsuit to ban GTA has been filed in America to get the automotive hijacking game banned due to a 135% increase in carjacking in 2020.
GTA V has been going for eight years and is, according to Market Watch, “the most financially successful media title of all time. It took 8 years for critics to want the record-breaking title banned due to an alleged rise in carjackings. It’s well known that GTA has been on the violent side from running down hookers to taking intoxicating substances there isn’t much you can’t do and that’s why we think it’s so successful. Can a violent/lawbreaking video game make someone violent or a criminal? Let us know!
Who wants the GTA ban?
Philanthropist and activist Early Walker suggest the game is at least partly responsible for the increase and he met with Marcus Evans, Illinois state Rep. Together they drafted legislation to “amend a 2012 law preventing some games, including GTA, from being sold to children in Illinois,” Fox 32 reported.
The new bill amends the 2012 law “to ban the sale to anyone of video games depicting ‘psychological harm’ including ‘motor theft with a driver or passenger present.’” reported Chicago Sun-Times.
We’re assuming that GTA was already an age-restricted game due to its “mature” rating and violent contents.
This bill changes the definition of a “violent video game” to “control a character within the video game that is encouraged to perpetuate human-on-human violence in which the player kills or otherwise causes serious physical or psychological harm to another human or an animal.”
So would this mean that Minecraft would be classed as a violent game? You have to kill for food after all.
In an interview, Walker said “I feel like this game has become a huge issue in this spectrum,” he told the Sun-Times. “When you compare the two, you see harsh similarities as it relates to these carjackings.”
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