Ethical Analysis of Grant Theft Auto

The game grand theft auto revolves around a character amassed in a life of crime and gang
activity and thus must undertake numerous, often violent missions to make money or to gain
power. So far there have been 5 versions of this game released, with the next game in the series
GTA 6 to be released within the following year. The game was developed by Rockstar games,
which is a recognized brand within the field of video games having created other games such as
NBA 2K. This game is highly controversial due to the excessive violence, pornography, swearing
and display of drugs throughout the game.
The game is rated R18+ under the USK, ESRB and Australian rating systems. The game is
either censored or banned throughout countries around the world. Countries such as Japan and
Greece have censored a number of scenes throughout the game, while countries such as Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have outright banned the game. The game GTA is infamous
for its controversy and Rockstar has often used this to its advantage as promotion for its game.
Ethical questions this game raises include: the effect this game has on society by
promoting violence, especially in an interactive medium such as gaming and whether this game
demeans women through its overtly sexual representation of female characters.
Ethical response includes the fact that this game is an expression of freedom of speech
and that it does not glorify violence but rather just shows it. Furthermore, this game does not
pretend to be a game for children and explicitly makes it clear that it is meant for sound-minded
adults.
My overall view of this game is that I do not believe that it has negative ethical
consequences for society as long as companies ensure that the game stays out of the reach of
children as much as possible