BBC Radio 1 recently interviewed Lazlow Jones, one of the developers of Red Dead Redemption and the voice of DJ Lazlow in the Grand Theft Auto series. They asked him how he feels about accusations that games like theirs cause violence in children. A question that shouldn’t even be asked because it’s so frikkin stupid, and he explained the stupidity of it succinctly:
Our games are not designed for young people. If you’re a parent and buy one of our games for your child you’re a terrible parent. We design games for adults because we’re adults. [BBC via Kotaku]
I want to tattoo that on the inside of the eyelids of any newscaster who reports the manufactured controversy that game manufacturers are somehow beholden to only produce games for children. Oh, Becky and Jason didn’t realize there might be violence in a game called Grand Theft Auto so they let little Madosyn and Dakota play the game and the little angels saw adult-themed things, like cars getting stolen? Cry me a river, you stupid, sh*tty parents.
I liked this quote from the interview also:
If you tell a gritty crime drama with violence and profanity and call it The Sopranos you’re handed a load of awards to put up on the shelf. You do the same and call it a video game and you’ll have certain organizations up in arms.
I don’t have a joke for this or anything. I just like this dude. He can steal imaginary cars with me anytime.
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“If you’re a parent and buy one of our games for your child you’re a terrible parent.”
I would fuck this guy. No homo.
“If you tell a gritty crime drama with violence and profanity and call it The Sopranos you’re handed a load of awards to put up on the shelf. You do the same and call it a video game and you’ll have certain organizations up in arms.”
Someone give this man an award, a hooker, and a beer.
I bought Rockstar’s Table Tennis for my nephew. Am I a bad uncle?
Yeah, but there are a lot worse ways to earn that title.
…or better?
This man is my hero
Lazlow is correct. The games are not in my home because I have kids, I know the content of the games, and I have the intestinal fortitude to look my kid in the eye, stand my ground and tell them NO. It’s not going to scar them for life. They’ll survive it. And I don’t CARE of the OTHER moms get it for THEIR kids. I’m NOT another mom. I’m this child’s mom, and I said NO.
Shesh, with what is on TV and on the internet these days, I would say video games are a non-issue. You have to pay quite a bit of money ($50+ isn’t chump change to a kid) and get a physical disc. In the meantime, little Johnny is pulling up pr0n in the school yard on his phone’s browser.
Kudos to Priss!
Fucking well said!
Xcalibar you are a bad uncle because that game sucks
If you named your kids Madosyn and Dakota, you’re a terrible parent.
Your common sense makes too much, well, sense. How dare you? LOL
games are not the problem at all. I watched Transformers on TV last night and they sensored the part when the family’s dog pisses on one of the Transformers foot, however 5 minutes later the family was talking about masturbation openly…why the fuck cant we show dog piss but we can say “masturbation” or “ass” but not “asshole.” They censor the “hole” but not the “ass”…wtf is up with that?
Three cheers for this guy! I’m bookmarking this and saving it to show to every moron who whines about “ADULT STUFF O NOES” in videogames. Look! Just because it says “game” in the title doesn’t mean it’s for kids! Sheesh. It’s all because parents are too lazy today to put a little effort into looking out for their kids, I say–it’s soooo much easier to just plop them in front of the TV and put in the flashiest new videogame, as opposed to real parenting.
I got my kids a movie called “One Night in Paris” and now they want to have sex! Some one should sue this Paris Hilton! He is obviously pushing her smut on to kids! DvD Players play thin like Bolt or the Little Mermaid i thought all DvDs would be like that! Is the DvDer not a Kid’s toy?
“Our games are not designed for young people.”
Does that go for Bully? I mean, kissing guys is a little over the top but it IS rated T.
Also he happens to be one of the best things about the GTA series, especially in GTA3 and San Andreas.
Ever since I played the first GTA I’ve got this constant urge to run over any Hare Krishnas I see
I like how he tells it straight, no way any organization can tweak those words against him.
lazlow is a cool dude. he’s had his own radio show in the past and is a guest now and then on opie and anthony, among other shows.
If a game ia rated M,then common sense should tell you it has mature content.Don’t buy a game that is not rated for children and then bitch about what type of content it has.You wouldn’t give a child a movie rated MA,and not expect them to hear profanity,or see extreme violence,or graphic sex scenes woild you?
This guy is an epic win, that’s for certain. The people who named their kids madolyn and dakota? You suck. Rename or GTFO.
This guy. I like this guy.
*In Christopher Walken’s voice*
As a kid, I grew up in Oakland, California and East Dallas, Texas. We didn’t have Xbox 360 back then, just Atari 2600 and River Raid 2 and a few other games.
But, we did have pushers, pimps, hookers and lots and lots of bullies. Getting my ass kicked everyday until I got older, wiser and started doing ass kicking myself. All young boys went this route.
I will say this. The lessons I learned were life saving. I was always aware when bad people were around me and knew when things were going down.
How does this story relate to young kids and adult oriented games? For the most part, it doesn’t. But at the same time, as a parent, I don’t want to shield my kids from the ugly world. Both my son and daughter are 13 and 14. I allow them to watch R rated movies. I all them to play M rated video games. At 12? No … 13 and 14, absolutely.
if you dont like the game dont post about it you little whining bitches, lets see you make a game, lets see your kids grow up to be even bigger bitches! fuck off homos
Dormammu your just a faggot in denial and too much of a pussy to let your kids have fun
Dude, I’ve owned and played every GTA that has come out since 3, and at that time I was only 10 years old in the 4th grade. I can honestly say that I’ve never stolen a car, shot or beat anyone to death, picked up a prostitute, crammed 10 cars into a garage, or done any work for an organized crime ring. seriously if your child can’t distinguish a game from real life, Don’t buy that shit!
Dear rockstar faculty,
You’re an idiot.
Not because of your stance on this game, but because you obviously can’t comprehend a fucking thing you read.
Kisses,
-Jacktion!
I am sick of these organizations trying to dictate what people should and should not do. It is the parents responsibility to care for and censor the things that their child comes in to contact with.
I am a terrible parent, seriously, I play RDR with my 5 year old. He loves it.
A fucking men. The Sopranos comparison is perfect.
Priss-
You are a shitty parent because you go on internet messageboards baiting people into praising you for something that parents have been doing for 20 years. Get a life.
Hypocracy is complaining about how much sex and violence you see on your DVR nowadays…
I’d love to comment but we are late for our Star Trek convention. That is how to raise children!
My wife teaches in elementary school & says her students are always kids talking about playing GTA, Gears, MW2 etc. Blame the parents, not the games!
He speaks the truth.
I have to say that if anyone thought it was a good idea to let a child play these games, they are either a) mentally incapable of judgement b) Don’t know about game ratings or c) bought the game to shut their spoilt kids up. I praise the guy in the interview because he told them the obvious answer those idiots needed to know, but should’ve known in the first place. Rockstar don’t do kids games.
Love the comment in the interview, and it wouldn’t even be a problem if the parents would established what is real and what isn’t, but obviously they aren’t ready for parenthood if they can’t even tell their child that in the first place. Let them kill people, and do prostitutes, and shoot cars to make them blow up (I’d figure rolling over cars and them blowing up would be enough for the dumb child to say “hey this isn’t real”) but please if the parent wants to censor a child do it themselves, other wise establish the ‘real from fake’ policy on your children
i hate to be a diddy daddy, but this article is biased. i’m not saying that video games indefinitely lead to violence but it’s undeniable that they give influence to violent personalities. i agree with lazlow, but for the newscaster comment – to author; it’s not the newscasters who believe what they read on the news, its the organisation about five levels above them you should be “tattooing”.
just saying.
Thanks, literal Jonathon.
I hate how so many uninformed people think that video games are mostly played by kids. An example is the Mass Effect sex controversy by fox news. The truth is 75% of all video game players are 18 or older.
[www.theesa.com]
@Kristabell
how progressive of you
it’s not the violence in bully
or the fact you are playing a bully
no
boys kissing boys that’s the worst possible thing in a videogame
people like you should be shot.
(ow and I’m a huge homophobe btw, I just use my brain as well)
yea lazlow plays in my hometown (Kansas City, MO) on his show “Church of Lazlow” on 96.5 The Buzz every afternoon. He’s got some very straightforward insight on a lot of issues. He’s not always right, but who is. Either way he hit this one on the head, totally agree
oh, and while im not homosexual, appeltaart, i seriously doubt your last statement “i just use my brain as well” if you honestly think thats the worst thing in a video game.
What a bunch of hyprocrits. They know fairly how appealing their games are for young adolescents; and maybe way more than for adults.
fairly well*
pointless comments
@ Chance
Learn to sarcasm dude…
Appletaart was commenting on the fact that someone else found the men kissing men thing to be the problem…
sigh
Is everyone stupid, i have a son that that i let play grand theft auto, he is the most placid kid i know, not a violent bone in his body and would never steal a thing, then there is other kids who also play the same games who might grow into little shites, its nothing to do with the games, they would have gone that route anyway, as the world has always been long before these games
Nobody cares about children designing this kind of games…
Okay, first off in my own opinion
I’m 18years old and my parents
don’t believe in censering, I don’t agree
with it ether because your blocking the
kids from the real world, let them learn
things young, I’ve learned a lot from my
past and I’m still learning. Just let the
kid live and learn. From what I learned
its made me a better person, and who I
am today.
Also, it all depends on how the parents raised the child.
This guy is my hero. :)
if your kids go out and kill someone its not the games fault ..the kid was retarded to begin with
How about this? if you buy this for your kid it means you trust them enough to know they wont do ths, stupid fucking pricks