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Target (AUS) Pulls GTAV from shelves

H

HowZatOZ

Banned
That is beyond stupid. It is R rated, who is complaining about such a game's depiction of violence when movies go untouched? Doesn't really matter, Target has been crap for yonks.

I know this is going to be a super controversial comment, but why is violence against women being used as the excuse (don't get me wrong, it should never be an excuse to do such a thing in real life)? What about male violence? Why is this even a thing?
 
R

reptilescorpio

Member
They already made all their launch $$$ for the current gen version and sold the exact same content in the PS3/360 version for the last 12 months.

Are they donating all those profits to an abuse charity? lol
 
K

KAP151

Member
toastyToast said:
Is it because the violence is in 1080p now? What complaints are they talking about?
Click to expand...

"TARGET is under pressure to take popular video game Grand Theft Auto V off its shelves in time for Christmas because it “encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women”. "

More here. http://www.news.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/sex-workers-campaign-to-shut-down-grand-theft-auto-v-due-to-its-sexual-violence/story-e6frfrt9-1227143245292

Really boils my blood. I fucking hate the censorship in my country.
 
D

Dunkley

Member
So excuse me for never having played GTAV, but what are those "depictions of violence against women"?

Is it just the fact that you can kill female NPCs?
 
Y

Yagharek

Member
It's a shame Activision doesn't publish GTA because I'd love to see them pull all Skylanders toys from Target's shelves in retaliation.
 
T

toastyToast

Member
KAP151 said:
"TARGET is under pressure to take popular video game Grand Theft Auto V off its shelves in time for Christmas because it “encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women”. "

More here. http://www.news.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/sex-workers-campaign-to-shut-down-grand-theft-auto-v-due-to-its-sexual-violence/story-e6frfrt9-1227143245292

Really boils my blood. I fucking hate the censorship in my country.
Click to expand...

Betty said:
Depictions of violence against women.
Click to expand...

Ah, The first person mode.

Oh well, Big W has better prices anyway
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Banned
Wow, beyond ridiculous. Fuck those feminist groups who called for this.

Let me be clear I have nothing against women or feminists in itself, but this is just abhorrent. I feel like this should not be pulled from shelves because there is no mission in GTAV where you purposely have to harm females. Actually I think men are being displayed as worse persons then women.
 
M

mrklaw

MrArseFace
KAP151 said:
"TARGET is under pressure to take popular video game Grand Theft Auto V off its shelves in time for Christmas because it “encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women”. "

More here. http://www.news.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/sex-workers-campaign-to-shut-down-grand-theft-auto-v-due-to-its-sexual-violence/story-e6frfrt9-1227143245292

Really boils my blood. I fucking hate the censorship in my country.
Click to expand...

is there sexual violence in the game? I thought you could only have sex with prostitutes, and then if you choose, you can attack them afterwards. That is just violence, not specifically sexual violence - it isn't rape etc (unless that is possible in the game?)

and any violence against women is also possible against men - the game is entirely non-discriminatory and doesn't encourage violence against women specifically
 
S

Skux

Member
The Warehouse here in New Zealand pulled R18 stuff a week ago too, including GTAV.

It's such a backward move. Not only are they hurting their business but they're buying into the myth that this content is corrupting people.

Betty said:
Depictions of violence against women.
Click to expand...

Never mind the violence against men, the torture scenes, the massacres you can commit, murdering police officers and so forth...
 
R

reptilescorpio

Member
mrklaw said:
is there sexual violence in the game? I thought you could only have sex with prostitutes, and then if you choose, you can attack them afterwards. That is just violence, not specifically sexual violence - it isn't rape etc (unless that is possible in the game?)

and any violence against women is also possible against men - the game is entirely non-discriminatory and doesn't encourage violence against women specifically
Click to expand...

It's a knee jerk reaction to a false claim by a group of idiots as Target have already made 12 months sales off the old version and have already got the launch sales of the current gen version.

Safe, easy choice for them.
 
S

Stereogatari

Banned
Is there some underlying social or political reason why Australia is particularly touchy with violent games? Just seems so anamolous compared to other culturally/limguistically similar countries.

Do Christian/family valued pressure groups have unwieldy amounts of influence?
 
I

iMax

Member
Mr Cooper said Target would continue to sell other R-rated DVDs and games.
Click to expand...

ESRB should probably make a new descriptor for this kind of thing. I really don't think GTA is the only game guilty of this, not to mention films and TV either, so I'm surprised they're just zoning in one one title in particular.

Additionally, I don't believe there's any explicit example of 'player violence against women' in GTA that's necessarily scripted. It's like those academic studies that claim these games "reward players for killing prostitutes" when in actual fact, Rockstar merely supply the mechanic—frankly, it says more about the player than the developer when they choose to make free choices such as this.
 
D

dumbyugi

Member
Target's really the only loser here. People will just go elsewhere for the game. Hell there's probably going to be some people who think it's going to get pulled from shelves everywhere who will buy multiple copies from other retailers in the hopes that they're worth something later.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
because it “encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women”.
Click to expand...
That's just flat out incorrect. The game most certainly does not encourage that to any degree.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
Stereogatari said:
Is there some underlying social or political reason why Australia is particularly touchy with violent games? Just seems so anamolous compared to other culturally/limguistically similar countries.

Do Christian/family valued pressure groups have unwieldy amounts of influence?
Click to expand...

No, not really. Target will just be trying to push their brand as "family friendly".

I don't really see it as a big deal and ironically this is the way things should work. If a company has a problem with something? Don't sell it. As long as everybody else can make their own choice (ie not banned in Australia) then it is ok.
 
C

codswallop

Member
Don't stores like Walmart in the US do stuff like this all the time?

It's part of why creators of movies and games often try to get PG ratings.

And I agree, if they think selling R-rated games hurts their image, it's their choice to not sell it.
 
J

jimi_dini

Member
KAP151 said:
"TARGET is under pressure to take popular video game Grand Theft Auto V off its shelves in time for Christmas because it “encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women”. "
Click to expand...

Quite funny.

Killing virtual men is a-okay, but don't kill virtual women, bro.

dark10x said:
That's just flat out incorrect. The game most certainly does not encourage that to any degree.
Click to expand...

GTA V stopped giving you money for killing pedestrians? At least on PS2 pedestrians dropped money. I would consider that as encouragement. Yeah, you also get police stars after some, but that's simply a risk/reward mechanic. And you could even "get your money back" when killing a hooker, which is quite frankly disgusting.
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Banned
codswallop said:
Don't stores like Walmart in the US do stuff like this all the time?

It's part of why creators of movies and games often try to get PG ratings.

And I agree, if they think selling R-rated games hurts their image, it's their choice to not sell it.
Click to expand...

No.
 
S

slit

Member
codswallop said:
Don't stores like Walmart in the US do stuff like this all the time?

It's part of why creators of movies and games often try to get PG ratings.

And I agree, if they think selling R-rated games hurts their image, it's their choice to not sell it.
Click to expand...

No, not really.
 
S

saunderez

Member
iMax said:
ESRB should probably make a new descriptor for this kind of thing. I really don't think GTA is the only game guilty of this, not to mention films and TV either, so I'm surprised they're just zoning in one one title in particular.
Click to expand...
In Australia there already is such descriptor and it's enough to get the game Refused Classification. GTA V didn't get Refused Classification so clearly the board didn't think the content constituted sexual violence (which it doesn't).
 
A

Artorias

Banned
codswallop said:
Don't stores like Walmart in the US do stuff like this all the time?

It's part of why creators of movies and games often try to get PG ratings.

And I agree, if they think selling R-rated games hurts their image, it's their choice to not sell it.
Click to expand...

I don't know how often it happens, but Walmart once pulled a DVD with classic Disney shorts because some ridiculous group convinced them that Mickey Mouse says "Awww shit" when he clear as day says "Ah skip it".

I thought that was funny. I'm sure they listened to it, knew it was incorrect but decided to cave anyway to make the discussion disappear faster.
 
E

elfinke

Member
This is due to that specific Change petition that circulated earlier this week, yeah? I received it and junked it - while sympathising with the women's experiences and need for support - disappointingly I knew this was going to happen.

It was like having fallen into a timewarp reading through their petition which treads over the same old incorrect ground as before:

https://www.change.org/p/target-wit...yers-to-commit-sexual-violence-and-kill-women

It's a game that encourages players to murder women for entertainment. The incentive is to commit sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get 'health' points – and now Target are stocking it and promoting it for your Xmas stocking.
Click to expand...

etc. etc.
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Banned
elfinke said:
This is due to that specific Change petition that circulated earlier this week, yeah? I received it and junked it - while sympathising with the women's experiences and need for support - disappointingly I knew this was going to happen.

It was like having fallen into a timewarp reading through their petition which treads over the same old incorrect ground as before:

https://www.change.org/p/target-wit...yers-to-commit-sexual-violence-and-kill-women



etc. etc.
Click to expand...

Disgusting is their ignorance
 
M

Muskieratboi

Member
Sigh.

While I am disturbed slightly by the video in the change.org petition that started this thing off, I do not condone the removal of an entire possibilioty space (I.e. The Game) because One single procedurally generated option that a player can choose out of a *very* large number of choices proves to be disturbing.
 
OccamsLightsaber

OccamsLightsaber

Regularly boosts GAF member count to cry about 'right wing gaf' - Voter #3923781
I remember shooting up men AND women in that game. What are they talking about?!?
 
K

kyser73

Member
The thing that intrigued me most is how the bus ad for the game can be a trigger mechanism for PTSD-style flashbacks.
 
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