April 30, 2008 -
San Diego's 10news has a video report on John Douglas, described as a 20-year video game industry veteran. Douglas likens Grand Theft Auto IV to porn:If adults want to do it, that's their choice. But that's not where the problem is... Personally, I think it's sick and twisted... They should be putting this stuff behind the counter so that the adults that want it can come in and ask for it, like they would an adult magazine...
According to 10news, Douglas left the game biz because he became "burned out" over the increasing level of violence in games. He believes that the video game industry markets adult games to children.
Douglas's past involvement with the video game industry is unknown. He is currently president of Grand Design Productions. The company's website describes it as in the business of creating "faith-based, family-friendly entertainment with valuable spiritual and moral messages."
Comments
Also, one of the theories on moral development is against religion, since it keeps an individual's level of moral development to the minimum (doing the right thing to avoid punishment (Hell) and/or to seek rewards (Heaven)). This makes the theory highly criticized, and I'm just saying it...
This sort of thing is why I have issues with some religious people. Those people (just some religious people, not all) always see themselves as having the moral highground, and that what they think is right for everybody (damn egocentrism).
Because they're self-absorbed and/or brainwashed in their 'My way or the highway, we're the only good people on earth, you're all going to hell no matter how good you are unless you join us, you godless heathens' logic.
I routinely get visits what what's-his-names' witnesses every other month or so. (can't remember the name for the life of me) Those pompous windbags really piss me off.
Am I the only one seeing a pattern here?
It's okay for a paycheck but when those stop, it's suddenly cool to slam games eh Douglas?
GTA IV is less than 1% "adult" material, get a real job.
The speculation ends here. Christians view anything not geared for kids as porn. Seems they want to pretend to be children all their lives...
Just had to get your opinion in there?
Guess what buddy. I don't care if you think it's sick and twisted (because I know I am not sick and twisted) I don't CARE about your opinion - how dare you ram it down my throat and call me sick and twisted? I don't CARE that you think entertainment should all be faith-based (narrow-minded prick), family-friendly (there are many things I can do with my family - videogames among them - GTA 4 and other FPS games make no pretensions of being family friendly. Irrelevant remark), with valuable spiritual and moral messages. I don't WANT Spiritual messages. The last thing this world needs is more people shoving their religious beliefs down my throat - Be religious if you want. DON'T ever fucking tell me to be. I'll be what I want. Believe what I want. And I am RIGHT to think that way - you are an ignorant skumbag for believing only your belief is right or valid.
As for moral messages - uhh. Why should GTA 4 contain them? It's entertainment.. nothing more. Why should it contain good moral messages? I don't see your point. Should I not eat because food doesn't contain moral messages? Go away.
I'm so sick of people like this.
I thought retailers ask for a valid ID if they think you're underage.
@Pinworm
You're not the only, although what set off my alarms is the name for his current company - "Grand Design Productions."
John Douglas doesn't seem to see that a lot of titles in circulation today are non-violent fares geared for kids. Mario Kart Wii is one example.
It looks to me that's he's just following the videogames=violence bandwagon for contoversy and attention's, more than he his showing genuine concern for the industry.
No-one is criticizing his games, for what reason is he jumping on the I hate GTA bandwagon? Probably the same reason most other detractors are chiming in, look as though you are involved with the biggest game ever and get some free publicity for yourself! The old "faith-based, family-friendly entertainment with valuable spiritual and moral messages." must not be selling very well.
I can understand being appalled at the crime in Liberty City, but not the entire industry. Right now, GTA's topping the charts, but it's always the non-violent games that make history: Mario, Myst, Sims, etc. Check out the new Guiness Gaming records book for the best-sellers of all time.
"Yeah, I'm 24-years-old. I know what it is. You can't get in trouble in a game," said Perez.
Perez agreed that children shouldn't be playing violent games.
But he plays on because it's not a crime to play "Grand Theft Auto IV."
I'm sorry but if that isn't a loaded statement I'm not sure what is. You can all but hear the mock sympathy inherent to the way that sentence sounds. Almost as if it's describing a poor child who doesn't know any better.
Bad journalism at its worst.
Read this : http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/234364714.html
I think it would have been nice if Mr. Douglas had stated his bias and perhaps his conflict of interest though. If Gamepolitics can declare it whenever a story involving the ECA comes up, other should as well. Why has this stopped happening in the media?
such as how to sacrifice your goat properly, or cast fear into people by damning them to hell just because they don't believe the way you do, or burning them at the stake because their religion may actually help people!
heh, if GTA games are porno when played by these people, than the bible is the thickest issue of Playboy ever to exist out there in my eyes.
why? just cause it contains more violence than most other mediums available, and its violence is preached daily around the world.
if read in one way it can be good, but interpret it another and its bad.
its all in how you want to look at it, just as with anything, theres no "this or that" about it.
maybe i should start pushing anti-religion propaganda all over... its easier to find flaw in religion that preaches "holier than thou art attitude", despite in the same context its supposed to be a "live and let live", than it is to find a flaw in a vid game thats less violent or graphic in nature than an action flick or on basic cable late night.
i won't and i wouldn't mind you, i do have my beliefs, but these crackpots make me wonder what version of the bible they got... as i don't seriously think the thing once mentions digital or false representations of people.
This guy is putting the FUN back in Fundimentalism! But only if your FUN is boring.
Woah
They'll run out of hot air eventually, once they realize that their arguements are hollow. (And we'll do something about that when you do something about your abominably unsafe streets :p )
"They should be putting this stuff behind the counter so that the adults that want it can come in and ask for it"
Never been in a Gamestop or EB before have you Mr. Veteran?
Well sir, then tell me why Cigarettes are displayed openly? I'm very certain that smoking kills more people than GTA does. How about alcohol? I'm very certain that kills more people than GTA does. As per porn, in Canada, we don't keep it behind the counter. Porn is stored on the top shelf of the magazine rack out of reach of children.
@Twin-Skies
"I thought retailers ask for a valid ID if they think you’re underage."
See, this is where I feel there needs to be a choke point. Retailers should receive a backhand or a fine for selling ANYTHING that is labelled age x and up to anyone that is not age x and up. GTAIV is not meant for children. Period. Not just video games, but any thing that is age restricted.
I know that many people state it won't harm them etc, etc however there IS a reason for the rating and to say that children should play it with their parent's permission is irresponsible and hypocritical. I don't care how you parent your children, if you want them to allow them to play this game, it's your choice. If you do this however and ever mention the ERSB in a negative way and to a lesser extent in a positive way you're a hypocrite.
There is a solid fact that remains however. No matter how good a parent the person is, a determined enough teen can always find a way to obtain what they want, be it through friends, irresponsible retailers [you exist, just yesterday I watched a store clerk accept a High School Student Card (ages 13-17) as valid ID when I got my copy] or wherever they will get what they want. Most people drink before they come of age and don't become drunks. Everyone [you're lying if you say you didn't] looks at porn before they're of age. Therefore people who liken video games to porn and use that as a reason to ban them should take a reality check. Please, learn to check your firewall logger or your browser of choice's cache. I guarentee that your child 13+ is already looking at much more vivid and graphic porn than GTAIV's cursing and wriggling Victoria Secret commercials.
Don't you love the paper calling him a veteran game designer and not even doing a check on his resume(ie if his game involvement is unknown, shouldn't a non-biased reporter include what games the guy worked on?)? It would be like me going on CNN/Fox news and claiming to be a retired military officer acting as a "military analyst", when I only served in the army as an enlisted for 7 years, and CNN/Fox not checking to verify my credentials.
If the media wants to be balanced, they should interview several different game developers(the bigger and more well known companies the better and not some 2 bit company no gamer has likely ever heard of, ie Grand Design) to get varying views on GTA4.
Entertainment with spiritual messages = INSTANT PHAIL
JT did reference this guy before as a "whistleblower". He also noted the founder of whattheyplay.com (former 1up editor) as a whistleblower because the website says some games are inappropriate for children.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:19 am
He claims to be a vet of the business yet nobody knows what projects he has worked on. Sounds like someone form the anti video game bandwagon is going to try a new tactic and claim they used to be in the business so they can claim all games are porn. Thus ensuring their argument will now be valid.
“They should be putting this stuff behind the counter so that the adults that want it can come in and ask for it”
Never been in a Gamestop or EB before have you Mr. Veteran?"
I was wondering about that as well. If "all games" are porn, then wouldn't that make the games he makes at Grand Design porn as well? I can't imagine all 100 versions of Mario as being porn, but hey maybe what the princess's dress is porn? However, this is likely one of the same groups that think the women in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazine is considered porn as well.
Yeah, Gamestop has all of there games behind the counter. Walmart has them locked behind glass(most of them at least), so you have to get a worker just to touch the box. This guy obviously must not buy games often.
On a sidenote, he doesn't know bookstores very well and how magazines like Playboy are stored(unless its just the company I work for is different). The store I work for all the "adult" magazines are located with all the other magazines, just higher up then all the rest. I find it funny that books on sexuality are not shrink wrapped and contain just as much nudity if not more then the magazines and are located in a place where kids could easily read them(and they likely do, since we had to move the section away from where an employee could keep an eye on it because some church said they were going to boycott us if we didn't get rid of it).
They bribed kids to come to church with candy, they said my mom was going to Hell because she listened to the Rock & Roll radio station, and I once saw the pastor put a gun to a girl's head to "play a trick on Satan." I also felt really uncomfortable being baptized in a swimming pool by some creepy old guy. I stopped going to that church because I was afraid of getting "burned up" for listening to Journey and The Police when my mom was driving me to school.
Does that make me an expert on ”faith-based, family-friendly entertainment with valuable spiritual and moral messages?” I think it does, and since I'm an expert, I'd like to describe John Douglas as a bigot, a hatemonger, a racist, a hypocrite, and a liar.
I'll be rightfully called ignorant for this, but stick strongly behind the phrase "Love the god, not the religion".
While I'm not religious myself - agnostic (if you don't know what that is, it's basically more pretensiously atheist) - religions are simply horrible. Not the actually beliefs, most of the time, but the thing is.. they don't follow the beliefs.
The Christian and Catholic churches have entirely become about money.
Now, I know churches need money. But they are taking far too much.
And why doesn't the pope donate? They expect everyone but their members to donate. If you hadn't realized, the pop is filthy rich. Horribly rich. Why doesn't he use some of his money?
Anyway, I hate religions. Not necesarily the beliefs, but definitely the religions.
Gift.
@ Gameclucks
Can't say I blame you for how you feel. I was emotionally and mentally manipulated by the Born-Agains in much the same way; trying to guilt-trip me in convincing me that what I liked was "wrong" and that my friends and family were going to burn because they weren't "saved." Then I woke up one day and I realized that I wasn't a bad person for what I liked and for being who I was. As long as I was good and treated others with kindess and respect, that was enough. But to this day I still carry a grudge against those types.
One of my best friends is a Christian, and I was both surprised and glad to hear her say she believed that way of forcing religion on people was wrong. She plays violent games, listens to Metal and likes Horror movies. My talks with her, as well as others on here, have shown there are far more open-minded and tolerant Christians out there than there are the fire and brimstone types like you and I encountered.
Applying the label "veteran" to this guy is misleading at best.
This alone should discredit him instantly. This guy has no credibility. He is simply another bible thumping moron trying to shove his own beliefs on others.
Granted I love hearing the same bigoted theories and opinions coming from the readers of this sight, that they hate to hear from others. I love hearing you guys classify all religions and their followers as Zealots and bigots.
Very nicely done and very hypocritical of you all.
I really like this comment:
It insinuates that there is not market for faith based games. You are right in a sense. Ther is no blockbuster market for it. But there is a nice little niche market. It is the same market for faith based movies and faith based fiction. It is a smaller and less vocal market than the "hard core gamer". But it is a very viable market.
Here is another one:
Do I need to start. Here he is clumping all religious people into the same ball. We are not all alike and are not all bigoted zealots. I guess all gamers are violent sociopaths as well. Am I right?
I like entertainment geared towards a more mature audience. I may not be a fan of violenct or sexual content, but I like murder mystery and criminal drama shows. Bones and NCIS top the chart of my favorite TV shows. But you guys don't care. All religious people watch 7th Heaven and nothing else.
I am glad to be associated with such openly hypocritical people. It is such a wonderful experience.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Hey, same here. Everyone has their own personal beliefs. I shape mine based on my experiences. Believe me, these "Born-Agains" you speak of, they would roast me on an open fire for what I have experienced.