Support NeoGAF

[shinobi602]

Really great responses.

Trevor, Franklin, and Michael

Michael

GTA's main voice actors have rallied around to defend the game from accusations that it encourages violent behaviour in children, calling the criticisms "hypocritical" and a "misconception".

"Anyone who has any conception at all about the games and hasn't played them should go play the games before they open their mouths," Luke told PC Advisor.

"If you want to take something out the game, take out of it that here's a guy who loves his family, who's kind of lost. He's trying to hold it together. He's trying to become a good guy, but he can't. He just has all these demons that he's battling. It's the struggle. Take that and look at how he loves his family even though he wants to kill them and that's what it is. Look for the relationships. Look for the humor. Look for the irony and the satire in the game. That's another big misconception. What, do they think we're serious?

"As an actor, I got to go out and do all these crazy things and then go back home to my wife and my son and go out in the back yard and throw a baseball around like a normal all-American dad. I think that's what these games are. People who take them too seriously and go, 'Oh, this is life.' No, this isn't life. This is imagination. It's just fun. You definitely don't want GTA raising your children. But it's not a bad release from them, when you need to get away.

Trevor

Steven Ogg, the actor who plays sociopathic Canuck Trevor Phillips, says that detractors should compare GTA to other mediums before they pass judgement, arguing that nothing depicted in the game is any worse that what's often shown on TV or in cinema, and that there are other, much bigger, contributors to social violence than video games.

"The hypocrisy drives me crazy, it just sets the wrong focus. Why not talk about gun control? Why not talk about parenting? Why not talk of lack of family values? There are so many other things to talk about. Look at what's on TV. Breaking Bad had that episode where ******** got his face blown off. There's a lot of intense stuff out there. Video games are just an easy scapegoat. My nephew plays this game. I asked my sister if she was worried because there's some pretty nasty stuff in there and she said, 'I know he's not going to go to school tomorrow with a gun. He's not like that.'"

Franklin

"I know a few people that live that kind of (violent) lifestyle and when they play GTA they can relate to it," Fonteno explained. "It has an impact to the point that they're happy that they can just play it in the game and not have to relive it in real life. And that's the big key thing with this, man. It's just a video game. And people that have lived that life and have done them things, as I did, can just have fun with it in a game. You can leave it there and nobody's getting hurt and you're just having fun.

"People already have it in their mind that GTA is for kids because it's a game. Then they hear about the violence and they're instantly going to attack because it's a game. Now, if it was a movie it would be a different story and these same people would be out there supporting it. GTA V is like a movie. Once they get the game in their hands, they'll see. It says it big as day -Mature. It's not for the kids to go get. It's for Mature audiences only. If kids get it, then that's on their parents."

Source: PC Advisor via GI.Biz

 

[Chuck]

Well, yeah. It doesn't.

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

I read all of that in their respective voices. Was pretty dope.

 

[Derrick01]

Excellent points from all 3 of them. It's hypocritical and honestly pretty lazy to use a game as a scapegoat for your poor parenting or because you don't want to focus the argument on guns or shitty mental health systems or whatever else is more important that's being ignored.

 

[PenaltyMan]

Any person whom still thinks THA VIDYA GAMES are corrupting children is probably well over 50 years of age and believes mainstream tv is the most honest source of news.

 

[Calmine]

I read all of that in their respective voices. Was pretty dope.

Haha me too.

 

[chickdigger802]

I read all of that in their respective voices. Was pretty dope.

doesn't help that mike actor is talking about family. Trevor is talking about faces being blown off. Frank is talking about thug life.

 

[SystemBug]

They all seem real cool. I hope we get more interviews from them.

 

[spindashing]

I read all of that in their respective voices. Was pretty dope.

Haha, same here.

 

[Papercuts]

I read all of that in their respective voices. Was pretty dope.

Hahah, me too. Every steven ogg interview is trevor screaming.

All 3 make great points.

 

[MavFan619]

I think it's awesome to get their perspective on this. Could not agree more with all three of them.

 

[SJRB]

All three make excellent points, but Ogg really nails it. Blaming videogames is hypocrisy in its ultimate form.

 

[Black Door]

I read all of that in their respective voices. Was pretty dope.

I'm part of the club. Yes!!!

edit: God, I can even see the psychiatrist rolling his eyes and giving doubletalk responses during Mike's VA's response

 

[Heimbeck]

I Luke there view on things and Ogree with them.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

They use hammers to dig.

 

[GumDumpster]

Anyone see South Park this week?

Sort of addresses this.

 

[Madao]

nothing new. voice actor speaks common sense. mainstream press is stupid.

if only it was possible to time warp into the future to the point video games are accepted the same way movies and TV are...

 

[RockmanWhore]

I find it kind of funny how some people blame GTA or movies like Scarface for praising violence. You'd have to just watch the first part of the game/movie, it always ends up pretty bad for the protagonist. And in GTA, most of the heroes just want to end being gangsters but they don't have much choices.

Then there is Trevor, I haven't finished GTA V though

 

[SuperSah]

I want a live video of these guys doing the voices.

 

[spindashing]

I want a live video of these guys doing the voices.

I still get mindblown on how closely the voice actors resemble the characters.

The same goes for Jimmy and his VA, though Jimmy is a little bit more fatter.

 

[DigitalOp]

Fantastic replies. I think this interview should be used as reference material.

 

[Oppo]

I'm glad that they brought up the acting angle. By the same argument that videogames cause children to become violent, we should discourage all forms of child acting performance, lest they become the characters they are emulating.

 

[IcyEyes]

Until the masses think videogames are for "kids" there is no way to be free from this hypocrisies.

Nevertheless a videogame have a level of immersion and interactivity that cannot be underestimate.

 

[Neiteio]

I love these guys.

 

[Salex_]

Perfect statements, I agree 100 percent.