Yeah, that's what I was about to say. I don't really care what Target does on the other side of the world to me and I don't believe many other people do either, I think the main grievance was that the petition writers were reheating the same hyperbolic "GTA is a psychopath-training simulator encourages players to kill prostitutes!" nonsense that the tabloids have been peddling for the last decade. There certainly are ways GTA could improve in representing female characters, but it's not helping when people exaggerate.Cranyx said:Yes you can kill hookers in GTA, but do you know who else you kill? Everyone. You're not incentivized to go out and murder prostitutes anymore than you are to cause other types of general mayhem and destruction. Should Prostitutes be the one character group in GTA whom you can't kill, or is Bob taking the stance that Grand Theft Auto should remove the violence from its games?
Having never played the games I just need to ask one question. Does killing other ordinary citizens grant you any boon in the game? Do they do anything for you? If not then there might be something to it. Bob isn't taking the stance that GTA should remove all violence but when a GTA game comes out what is the thing the news media pretty much always mentions? The fact that you can have sex with a hooker to restore your health and then beat her to death and take your money back. At this point, by the description he gave of 4 and 5, it does seem kinda stupid to keep it in there. There are better ways to have a mechanic like that that maybe doesn't involve the potential of killing the person. Its also seen as just more dehumanizing of that particular group of people.Cranyx said:Yes you can kill hookers in GTA, but do you know who else you kill? Everyone. You're not incentivized to go out and murder prostitutes anymore than you are to cause other types of general mayhem and destruction. Should Prostitutes be the one character group in GTA whom you can't kill, or is Bob taking the stance that Grand Theft Auto should remove the violence from its games?
Well, I think the issue is less "oh, you shouldn't kill them", and more "hey, instead of using hookers as an excuse to put 'sex' in the game, perhaps we should point out the ways that being a prostitute is NOT good for the prostitute at all? Y'know, with abusive pimps, even more abusive 'customers', and getting treated like crap by everybody in society for something they were likely forced into, that sort of thing?" I don't think that sex workers should be "immune" when you suddenly whip out an assault rifle and go on a GTA-style Rampage, but it's probably best not to trivialize their portrayals to "oh these girls are just SO happy to take your money and give you sex", and just ignore all the abuse they falsely receive from virtually every part of society, especially when Rockstar is trying to give the characters of the "GTA HD-era" more meaningful depth and story than the "personified Ids" of the "GTA 3D-era".Cranyx said:Yes you can kill hookers in GTA, but do you know who else you kill? Everyone. You're not incentivized to go out and murder prostitutes anymore than you are to cause other types of general mayhem and destruction. Should Prostitutes be the one character group in GTA whom you can't kill, or is Bob taking the stance that Grand Theft Auto should remove the violence from its games?
Damn those ninjas. There is always someone who has the same arguments as me.Cranyx said:Yes you can kill hookers in GTA, but do you know who else you kill? Everyone. You're not incentivized to go out and murder prostitutes anymore than you are to cause other types of general mayhem and destruction. Should Prostitutes be the one character group in GTA whom you can't kill, or is Bob taking the stance that
Grand Theft Auto should remove the violence from its games?
Killing citizens gives a tiny amount of money. The amount is always tiny. Even when you kill a sex worker you just gave money to have sex with you, you will generally get a lot less money from it then you spent before. Whether sex gives you health, i am not sure but i don't think it does, though don't quote me on that.KazeAizen said:Having never played the games I just need to ask one question. Does killing other ordinary citizens grant you any boon in the game? Do they do anything for you? If not then there might be something to it. Bob isn't taking the stance that GTA should remove all violence but when a GTA game comes out what is the thing the news media pretty much always mentions? The fact that you can have sex with a hooker to restore your health and then beat her to death and take your money back. At this point, by the description he gave of 4 and 5, it does seem kinda stupid to keep it in there. There are better ways to have a mechanic like that that maybe doesn't involve the potential of killing the person. Its also seen as just more dehumanizing of that particular group of people.Cranyx said:Yes you can kill hookers in GTA, but do you know who else you kill? Everyone. You're not incentivized to go out and murder prostitutes anymore than you are to cause other types of general mayhem and destruction. Should Prostitutes be the one character group in GTA whom you can't kill, or is Bob taking the stance that Grand Theft Auto should remove the violence from its games?
When you kill a civilian sometimes they'll drop cash. The idea being that it's the money they had on their person. Relatively speaking it's petty cash. I'd argue that there's more benefit to killing cops, at least early on in the game since they always drop a gun. Then again it's significantly harder to escape the cops if you kill a cop vs. a regular civilian.KazeAizen said:Having never played the games I just need to ask one question. Does killing other ordinary citizens grant you any boon in the game? Do they do anything for you?Cranyx said:Yes you can kill hookers in GTA, but do you know who else you kill? Everyone. You're not incentivized to go out and murder prostitutes anymore than you are to cause other types of general mayhem and destruction. Should Prostitutes be the one character group in GTA whom you can't kill, or is Bob taking the stance that Grand Theft Auto should remove the violence from its games?
Because the news loves to sensationalize. You can have sex with her to restore your health and leave it at that, or you can kill her immediately or you can not interact with them.KazeAizen said:If not then there might be something to it. Bob isn't taking the stance that GTA should remove all violence but when a GTA game comes out what is the thing the news media pretty much always mentions? The fact that you can have sex with a hooker to restore your health and then beat her to death and take your money back.
You can buy food from a hotdog vendor to increase your health and kill him to get the money back as well. Same mechanic, different dressing. And killing people in general gives you money drops and sometimes weapons and ammo.KazeAizen said:Having never played the games I just need to ask one question. Does killing other ordinary citizens grant you any boon in the game? Do they do anything for you? If not then there might be something to it. Bob isn't taking the stance that GTA should remove all violence but when a GTA game comes out what is the thing the news media pretty much always mentions? The fact that you can have sex with a hooker to restore your health and then beat her to death and take your money back. At this point, by the description he gave of 4 and 5, it does seem kinda stupid to keep it in there. There are better ways to have a mechanic like that that maybe doesn't involve the potential of killing the person. Its also seen as just more dehumanizing of that particular group of people.Cranyx said:Yes you can kill hookers in GTA, but do you know who else you kill? Everyone. You're not incentivized to go out and murder prostitutes anymore than you are to cause other types of general mayhem and destruction. Should Prostitutes be the one character group in GTA whom you can't kill, or is Bob taking the stance that Grand Theft Auto should remove the violence from its games?