Target and Kmart ban GTA V in Australia due to 'sexual violence'

[John Williamson]

Grand Theft Auto V will no longer be available to Australian customers in Target or Kmart stores following an online petition which suggests the game is "grooming yet another generation of boys to tolerate violence against women."

The group behind this petition have personally experienced violent attacks so their desire to eliminate possible causes of such abhorrent behavior is noble. Unfortunately, trying to get a game banned for having a mature theme may not be as overreaching as they hope.

As of writing, the petition has accumulated over 45,000 signatures and focused on the removal of GTA V from Target stores. However, Kmart has decided to emulate Target’s policy. Meanwhile, the author of the petition, Nicole Survivor, is pressuring other retail stores like Woolworths and Big W to follow suit.

“We’ve been speaking to many customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of concern about the game’s content. [...] We feel the decision to stop selling GTA 5 is in line with the majority view of our customers,” said Jim Coope, Target’s GM of Corporate Affairs explaining their decision.

In a bizarre and rather hypocritical follow-up, Coope said they would continue to sell other R-rated movies and games. We wonder where is the logic behind this then.

Some of the counter-arguments revolve around the game being predominantly played by an adolescent audience. However, the game's R18+ age rating means a minor cannot purchase this game unless a parent has bought it on their behalf.

Another claim involves the idea that video games inherently cause violence as players feel the need to recreate acts within the game. This notion has been around for some time but generally there's just as much data indicating the opposite, that gamers tend to be less violent since they release aggressive tendencies in a fantasy world. Many studies and decades later, judging the effect of video games on different persons may be an endless task given the unique nature of each person's psyche.

For now, removing the year-old game from sale is only angering Australian customers (they've got their own petition for lifting the ban) and once again put them at the forefront of video game ban controversies.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/59066-target-kmart-ban-gta-v-australia-due-exual.html

 

[Camikazi]

Why is violence against women so damned evil yet the murder, beating, shooting, cutting and all around violence against men just fine and dandy? Either all violence is bad or stop bitching and realize it is a game and isn't as bad as you seem to think.

 

[Uncle Al]

You know, it's not the games, then guns, the drugs, the fast cars or any of the other hundred things that kill; it's the unassuming parents that give this stuff to their kids to make them happy without first teaching them the fundamentals of life. We have generations of adults that don't do these things because they had loving parents that drove the message home. Often with very harsh means that would put a parent in prison these days. Until the law and the courts join the parents in TEACHING instead of punishing, the parents will be too scared to do the right thing and the cops and the courts will continue to have to deal with the outcome. Is it really that damn hard to understand? You'd think by how that Not So Supreme Court would know .... no?

 

[DKRON]

Apparently they claim that you kill women to gain hp points lol

 

[cliffordcooley]

Unfortunately, trying to get a game banned for having a mature theme

Mature? That's like suggesting our prisons are prospering with maturity. Stop labeling immature themes as mature. If it is not allowed in society then it is not mature content. Adults only yes, but mature no.

 

[BMfan]

I should start a petition to ban this because of all the Violence against men.They kill a lot more male cops and gangsters.
Who is going to stand up for our rights?

I can't wait till we live in a world like the early scenes in demolition man.

 

[Guest]

PC police at it again. They think they know best for everyone. How about personal responsibility? Oh wait you need mommy and daddy to tell you everything.

 

[cliffordcooley]

How about personal responsibility?

That is exactly what these Australians are doing, and you are too naive to see their actions for what they are.

 

[EClyde]

I'm against the ban...yet I am sure that what people learn they emulate. Watching this stuff over and over has an effect and I don't see it as positive. Did you see the interview with Michael Brown's lawyer? He said that the shove he gave the store owner wasn't a smack down which in his mind made it OK.

 

[Guest]

Violence against women is bad yes. But in this game you can kill, men, cats, dogs, elk, deer, swine, cows, chicken, birds, whales, dolphins, sharks, the list goes on. But Target are withdrawing this game from sales because feminists claim it promotes violence against women?? That is daft and incredibly sexist. This is exactly the sort of thing purveyors "gender equality" are supposed to be fighting against. Anyone supporting things like this petition should be terribly ashamed of themselves.

 

[davislane1]

I'm against the ban...yet I am sure that what people learn they emulate. Watching this stuff over and over has an effect and I don't see it as positive. Did you see the interview with Michael Brown's lawyer? He said that the shove he gave the store owner wasn't a smack down which in his mind made it OK.

Published research speaks to the contrary. Even casual observation demonstrates the falsity of the video games cause violence narrative. For instance, the past decade of gaming has seen millions of hours played on God of War, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and GTA. Where's the spike in dismemberment deaths, burglaries and "stealth" murders, surging military enlistment, grand theft auto?

This GTA ban is feminism run amok.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Hi, I live in Australia, feel free to ask me questions.

Basically, it's yet another bunch of SJW with no jobs (government allowance allows this) and plenty of time to come up with junk on the Internet. No one yet knows why they aimed at Target only, and why after all the game series and time GTA5 has been available.

Also, if you check the comments on the original petition, half of them are people +1'ing the petition just so they can have the ability to write a comment like "this is freaking stupid".

 

[davislane1]

Hi, I live in Australia, feel free to ask me questions.

Basically, it's yet another bunch of SJW with no jobs (government allowance allows this) and plenty of time to come up with junk on the Internet. No one yet knows why they aimed at Target only, and why after all the game series and time GTA5 has been available.

Also, if you check the comments on the original petition, half of them are people +1'ing the petition just so they can have the ability to write a comment like "this is freaking stupid".

I'm curious. Do the Australian people see the AU govt.'s regulations on such matters in the same ridiculous light as most Americans and Europeans? That is, is it as over the top to you as it is to us?

 

[EClyde]

I'm against the ban...yet I am sure that what people learn they emulate. Watching this stuff over and over has an effect and I don't see it as positive. Did you see the interview with Michael Brown's lawyer? He said that the shove he gave the store owner wasn't a smack down which in his mind made it OK.

Published research speaks to the contrary. Even casual observation demonstrates the falsity of the video games cause violence narrative. For instance, the past decade of gaming has seen millions of hours played on God of War, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and GTA. Where's the spike in dismemberment deaths, burglaries and "stealth" murders, surging military enlistment, grand theft auto?

This GTA ban is feminism run amok.

Research is not fact. I do my own research and disagree with their findings

 

[Jam Jack]

I'm against the ban...yet I am sure that what people learn they emulate. Watching this stuff over and over has an effect and I don't see it as positive. Did you see the interview with Michael Brown's lawyer? He said that the shove he gave the store owner wasn't a smack down which in his mind made it OK.

I'm sorry but how does Michael Brown have any relevance? What proof do you have of watching this stuff over and over has an effect? What people learn they emulate? Does that mean we should never cover events such as the second world war in history class? In fear of creating a generation of miniature Hitlers? Just because they learnt about it?

 

[Jam Jack]

I'm against the ban...yet I am sure that what people learn they emulate. Watching this stuff over and over has an effect and I don't see it as positive. Did you see the interview with Michael Brown's lawyer? He said that the shove he gave the store owner wasn't a smack down which in his mind made it OK.

Published research speaks to the contrary. Even casual observation demonstrates the falsity of the video games cause violence narrative. For instance, the past decade of gaming has seen millions of hours played on God of War, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and GTA. Where's the spike in dismemberment deaths, burglaries and "stealth" murders, surging military enlistment, grand theft auto?

This GTA ban is feminism run amok.

Research is not fact. I do my own research and disagree with their findings

What research have you conducted may I ask? I am interested to see how your findings are different to those of countless experiments and publicised research by people certainly smarter than me and you.

 

[captaincranky]

Forgive me if I'm incorrect about this but, don't rape and spousal abuse predate the video game industry by centuries. You ask Jane Seymour, she'll tell you what a creep Henry the VIII was.

To his credit he did found the Church of England and refrained from using her head as a bowling ball. (But then, bowling wasn't invented until much later anyway).

I think "Greensleeves" was the backing track for Henry's antics. Maybe they could work that into the next GTA.

 

[Guest]

Now if only sells hit a new record for GTA 5 for the recent publicity them feminists have give this game! The irony, I'd so love to see their faces then!!!

 

[Emexrulsier]

I hate all this equal rights for woman lark it's just bs. They only play this card when it suites them, I wonder how many females have made a complaint when they see car insurance advertised as females only, or Restaurants that advertise mums eat free. Yet just last week a mum complained to Tesco supermarket in the UK that stores were advertising "toys for boys" when her young daughter (who she claimed was the one who made the complaint yet she is only 7 yrs old) likes to play with them aswell.

 

[EClyde]

I'm sorry but how does Michael Brown have any relevance? What proof do you have of watching this stuff over and over has an effect? What people learn they emulate? Does that mean we should never cover events such as the second world war in history class? In fear of creating a generation of miniature Hitlers? Just because they learnt about it?

The proof is in your avatar. Perhaps in the 80's you would have had am avatar that was dressed in cowboy clothes.

 

[EClyde]

What research have you conducted may I ask? I am interested to see how your findings are different to those of countless experiments and publicised research by people certainly smarter than me and you.

I do research everyday. I see what is tossed at us and how it effects people. If you don't do that too you might

 

[Jam Jack]

The proof is in your avatar. Perhaps in the 80's you would have had am avatar that was dressed in cowboy clothes.

Jokes on you Sir, I was still but a sperm in my fathers testes during the 80's. This picture just so happened to be in my downloads folder on my work computer so It had to suffice.

But I don't understand how a stupid picture of a child in any way answers or even relates to the points I raised.

 

[JakeT]

It's gift buying season in most large economic markets world wide. If I wanted to hype my product and guarantee free publicity for it because I fear it may be on its last gasp as a franchise anyways, I would plant certain seeds for them to be picked up by some amateurish or inexperienced feminist group wanting to make a mark for itself. This has worked many times for other games and I think it even helped GTA sales but I can't remember which one, maybe all of them.
Just a thought.

 

[davislane1]

What research have you conducted may I ask? I am interested to see how your findings are different to those of countless experiments and publicised research by people certainly smarter than me and you.

I do research everyday. I see what is tossed at us and how it effects people. If you don't do that too you might

Then demonstrate it. All you've said thus far is "I do research every day." Where's the data?

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Violence is bad. Period. I'm tired of all this politically correct bullshiznit! There is no such thing as a "hate crime" just because the subject is of a different skin color. There is no such thing as "gun violence". Why isn't there "knife violence" or "vehicular manslaughter violence"? Or maybe it should be vehicular humanslaughter because it has the word man in it? It's wrong to be violent against women? No it's wrong to be violent against anyone! Women are people just like men and vice versa. Freaking pisses me off all this stupid fail logic people come up with! Creating stupid legislation, laws, rules, bans, etc. All of it a stupid waste of time, slowing down the progression of the human race.

Banning video games because of violence is stupid. Good parenting will prevent our youth from believing everything seen in a video game is acceptable and normal.

RAWR!