Writer Matthew Orona let his four-year old son play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and documented the action for an article on Bitmob.
Asked by his father to jack a car waiting at a red light, the boy “quickly looked up at me with disgust and refused, stating that the car was already owned by the person driving it.” After finally grabbing an unoccupied car, the boy, unfamiliar with the controls and driving a bit too fast, ran over a woman on a sidewalk. His reaction? “He was incredibly ashamed of himself and profusely apologized.”
The boy rounded out his time by attempting to complete missions which aided other citizens, piloting a police car, ambulance and fire truck. While driving an ambulance he passed a fire house with a shiny red truck out front which mesmerized him, as it would any four-year old boy. Rather than ditch his passengers however, the boy completed his mission by bringing the ambulance occupants to the hospital before asking his dad to guide him back to the firehouse.
Orona summed up the experience:
Every child is different and, as parents, it is our responsibility to cater to their individual needs. I understand not every kid is like mine, so I wouldn’t recommend that every parent allow their child to play Grand Theft Auto. But I would recommend that you listen and pay attention to your little ones to determine what they are capable of handling and what they are not ready for yet. They might even surprise you and find the light in something thought to have been so dark.
Comments
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Really? All of you guys are saints in video games? Dang, and here I thought it was normal to drive on the sidewalk. For the challenge, of course. GTA is a lot more fun when I've got the keystone cops chasing me up to my mansion steps.
In fact, when I'm faced with a deliberate moral choice, I generally pick the option that makes the game as difficult as I'd like -- hence, I release the Little Sisters in Bioshock, willingly giving myself slightly less Adam to work with. Or I'll unleash three straight earthquakes and a tornado on the metropolis I've so painstakingly built in Sim City, just to see if I can put out the fires. Moral considerations? Pshaw. Just another turn of phrase for "abusable game mechanic."
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Fangamer
Fangamer
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
When given the choice in a story driven game, I always go good, with very few exceptions. But with mindless games like GTA, I run over as many people as I can. My favorite one of those was the Die Hard Trilogy for Playstation. I loved running over people and getting blood on the windshield, which would prompt Sam Jackson's line, "You aimin' fo those people!"
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
This is my gaming style. Good in RPGs and the like, but love having fun in GTA.
-Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis-It is best to endure what you cannot change-
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
aww now I feel bad about driving the fire truck on the sidewalk actualy trying to run people over. oddly enough I do usually find it hard to be the bad guy in games.
Im the good guy in fallout 3 VERY GOOD also I never take my dog out to fight he stays at home so he doesnt get hurt and die I even found him a couple of dog bowls and I collect lunch boxes too.
in fable 2 I own everything I am literally king and I keep all the rents low my people wuv me.
infamouse I was the good guy there too even though I maxed out my good points I still stop to heal people.
dragon age yup good guy even so far as to keep morrigan out of the team so I could romance her without having to make bad choices.
Mass effect 1/2 I was a good guy of course Krogan wuv me Quarians (especially Tali heh) wuv me Geth wuv me Rachni wuv me Im allways nice to all the other species too.
that said sometimes its fun to save your game and then MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAARHAAARHAARGHHHHHH KILL DESTROY MURDER MUTILATE HEE HEE HEE ahem.
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
I know what you mean. I'm always a good guy. Though, I make some exceptions. In Infamous, though I chose to be good, I often deviated from that when there were choices I thought Cole (character wise) would be more likely to do. And I did take energy from enemies when I really needed it. In Red Dead Remption, I did the same thing, though it made more sense to be good anyway since the story missions show Marston in a good light anyway, so being evil felt inconsistent. Even in games without a morality system, I commit acts that, even if they aren't neccesarily "good" leaned towards it or were lesser evils. Even in GTA IV, I never intentionally run over civilians. I guess that's just how I am in games. Though, I think some of that just might have been me being conditioned in Mercenaries to not kill civilians, since you lost money and favor from the factions (except the Russian Mob).
Though, when you have a game that you simply have to save then do whatever... and the ability to call in airstrikes... like carpet bombs... and with whole cities such as Pyongyang... MUHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! HERE COMES THE RAIN YOU POOR BASTARDS!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
hm, that's interesting. But is exposing your 4 year old to GTA a good idea? Not saying your child will become a killer or something like that. I'm concerned about showing your kid bad language, and nudity. But then again, each children are different it could affect them or not.
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
"I'm concerned about showing your kid bad language, and nudity. "
Remember folks, violence is ok. It's just bad language and naked people that we have to worry about!
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Hear, hear!
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Did you even read the article?
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Why does that concern you? Children hear bad language and see nudity all the time. What's the problem?
Andrew
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Seriously here. I hate these "sheltered kids" arguments. I played GTA II when I was a kid and I've played almost every other GTA since (Have not played Vice City or Liberty City stories). I haven't killed anyone, I have a spotless driving record (no accidents, collisions, or citations) (*knocking on as much wood as humanly possible*), I haven't beaten up any prostitutes - or had one so I guess that's a moot point, and the simple fact is the kid has probably seen porn in a library, at a movie, or something. But as we all know, it's perfectly ok for a kid to see some mamary glands, as long as it's not in a video game.
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Papa Midnight
http://www.thesupersoldiers.com
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Papa Midnight
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
"the kid has probably seen porn in a library" -- Man, I know kids start looking at that stuff at a younger age than anyone expects, but I'd still be pretty shocked if a four-year-old managed to go unsupervised at the library long enough to find any adult material.
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Fangamer
Fangamer
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
I have a friend who played San Andreas mostly because of the airplanes within the game. He loved flight sims and wanted to be a pilot, and he wasn't too amused when I played and ran over an old lady.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Flying in a senset while listening to Freebird = feeing awesome.
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
I know the feeling. I have a hard time being evil in games like Fallout and Mass Effect.
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
my first run of games with moral issues (like fall out, mass effect, KOTOR, etc) is always how I would or want to react to... which usually leave me on the "good" side.. more or less...
it's my second run that leads me to the dark side (since i want to see what else could happen)
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Damn, I know that feeling too. I keep telling myself to keep trying to play evil in Knights of the Old Republic or Fallout 1/2, but... I just can't do it.
The only times I did was in Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight because it barely made a difference, and in Jedi Academy because I hated the character Rosh Penin (which is understandable, because he's a douche voiced by Jason Marden).
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
Same here. Felt my gut wrench a bit in Mothership Zeta when I killed an innocent Alien worker.
Re: Four Year Old Plays GTA, Stays Nice
A heartwarming story.
Unfortunately certain people reading it will be goign white as a sheet and wantign the father jailed for child abuse or something.