| windbane said: Uh, it's not fair at all. GTA is not used by the government as a simulator for anything. Beck did not describe the mission-based software that the government uses. What did they use after WW2? Pong? Give me a break. GTA is no worse than a lot of R-rated movies. It does not deserve an NC-17 rating (which is the equivalent of Adult). The only thing Beck got right is that videogames are no different than other forms of pop culture. GTA is not a murder simulator. There is no research to back up that playing any kind of videogame leads to more violent behavior. In fact, there is evidence showing the opposite to be true. |
America's Army was developed by the US Army because they (desperately) needed to update the technology behind their simulators, decided to move upto the Unreal 2 Engine, and wrote off a lot of the expense as a recruitment tool. From what I understand most of the simulations used by the Army are based off of America's Army which is far (FAR) less graphic than Grand Theft Auto.
Beyond that, it is fair to question whether any content deserves the rating that it currently receives; the ESRB should be able to justify why it gave Grand Theft Auto a "Mature" rating, while it gave Manhunt 2 and Oblivion an "Adult Only" rating.
One last thing to consider is whether a lot of R rated movies do not deserve higher ratings; over the past decade I have been very aware of a lot of "Rating Creep" where content that used to justify a PG-13 rating is showing up in G rated movies, and content that would justify a NC-17 movie is showing up in R rated movies. This is not saying these movies need to be re-rated, but it is fair to ask why the standards have changed and how much further they will change in the near future.
