Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

by Nike Okami

Log on at the nearest cyber-cafe in the Grand Theft Auto IV universe. Enter the given address, www.littlelacysurprisepageant.com.

Seems innocent enough. After all, it’s just a beauty pageant site for children - for all you know, you’re gonna be treated to some videos of cute little tykes, showcasing their (ahem) “singing prowess” and proud little virtual moms hugging their wet-nosed winners, beaming with faux pride.

Instead, you get the following message from your friendly neighbourhood Liberty City Police Department.

“This website for child beauty pageants has been shut down. Your IP address has been catalogued and an investigator will be contacting you soon. We see all, we know all.”

Wow. Well, Rockstar sure had you pegged. You’ve just been punked. And so on, and so blah.

However, like all real-world media blitzkriegs powered by lazy parents who don’t know better, the multi-million selling Grand Theft Auto IV for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 has been pegged for promoting child pornography. Controversy is GTA’s middle name, after all. These games have been showcasing cop-killing, drug trade and prostitution for years now. Shame on them; is there nothing sacred? Can’t they at least spare our poor innocent children?

So after all the hullabaloo, including the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) condemning GTA IV for “glamourising” the so-called paedo paraphernalia, where exactly is this pornographic material that violates the rights of children everywhere?

Nowhere. No images. No videos. No links. No words even remotely matching “pornography”. Hence, it’s not too hard to name what the material is: A figment of some over-sensitive, attention-monger’s imagination.

This incident exactly points out the one thing wrong with the non-gaming community. Without any proof, or any substantive evidence to fall back on, a crusade is being launched against a famous franchise. All because it pulled a little “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” routine on some gamers, mocking internet culture and pulling a quick ‘gotcha’ in the process, with the link actually leading to a Rockstar site promoting the game when used in a real web-browser.

Let’s say this is a reference to child pornography in general, even when it’s not stated explicitly in the game. What happens when you visit this site, knowing full well what the contents may suggest? A five-star wanted rating, which in the Grand Theft Auto universe translates to FUBAR in mortality terms.

What does this indicate to all those who play the game? This suggested material - “And you know what it is,” the game subconsciously tells you - is wrong. Illegal. Unacceptable. Unethical. You can and will go to jail for it. A GTA title displaying the wrongs and punishments for societal smut. And its critics are fuming?

I’m not trying to defend GTA IV’s violent or titillating content. I can’t claim to be a long-term fan or player of the franchise. However, I do think we should unite in calling this sham for what it really is — a harsh, over-reactionary excuse for a sham and an unfortunate attempt to draw controversy towards the gaming industry, not to mention Rockstar in general.