VICE CITY “RACISM” SPARKS PROTESTS FROM US HAITIAN COMMUNITY November 26, 2003
From GamesIndustry.biz:
Activists from the US Haitian community have joined in a protest against Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City at New York’s City Hall, claiming that the title “advocates the killing of Haitians as entertainment.”
Update: I’ve written more on this issue here.
I haven’t played the game myself so I can’t comment on its content, but I just wanted to point out this “article” (http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/local_story_310210921.html) from a few weeks ago. You’ve probably already seen it, though.
So there we have yet another ignorant reporter preaching about the horrors and evils of interactive entertainment. Huzzah! -_-;;
Delete the bracket from the end of the link… >_
kill all the haitians! how do you not find this offensive. regardless in which context it was use, I find rockstar game and its parent company very ignorant.
a suggestion: for the next game, use the country where you or your ancestors came from.
It really depends on your definition of “offensive”. And “context”. And “ignorant”.
You should really send your suggestion to our office, not post it anonymously in the comments of this blog.
Jurie, YHBT. And you know it. And indirectly, it’s my fault. Sorry about that. Still, you said you wanted more comments…
You know what they say. “All news is good news.” :)
It’s a fascinating coincidence, that people decided to protest the treatment of Haitians after the game has already been out for a year –and just in time for the release of the GTA double pack. Verrrrry fascinating. :)
[Disclaimer fun! My statements are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rockstar or Take-Two.]
What Jay said. I advocate that any game franchise push as many buttons as possible, but be -very- careful to draw a line in the sand, somewhere, and never cross it.
Good example: all the free press enjoyed by the weenies plugging their Columbine mod for Doom 3.
So Take-Two has promised to remove the line in future versions of the game. That was assuredly not what I was expecting!
But then again — WHAT future versions? They’ve already re-released it once.
And now all the existing “uncensored” versions are hot stuff. Get yours now, before the censor gets it. ;) Just in time for the double-pack; just in time for Christmas! Truly, truly fascinating.
[Disclaimer AGAIN! My statements are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rockstar or Take-Two.]
SOME OF YOU GUYS WOULD FEEL VERY DIFFERENT ABOUT SOME OF THE COMMENTS THAT YOU HAVE POSTED IF YOU WERE THE ONE BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. PUT YOURSELF IN THE SHOES OF A HAITIAN AND MAYBE YOU WILL SEE HOW DISCUSTING THE COMMENTS IN THE GAMES ARE, AND IF YOU STILL FEEL FINE WITH IT THEN YOU ARE DISCUSTING.
I can’t decide whether I’m more discusted by the widespread misinterpretations of the game (you wouldn’t blink if a cuban mafia boss told a goon to “kill all the haitians” if it was in a movie), or by the fact that everyone seems to be having meetings behind my back to change the spellings of arbitrarily chosen words.
We secretly decided to start spelling “disgusted” with a ‘g’.
Seriously… what?
Listen, if protesting groups can manage the immense scope of these trite victories we’ve seen here, then nothing can stop them from forcing us to spell words… slightly differently.
Someone must kill stop the haitians! (I said STOP).
Okay, that last post doesn’t make a lot of sense, since the strike-through tags on the word “kill” didn’t work.
But even then, I guess it doesn’t make all that much sense.
Sorry Jurie. I didn’t want to be one of the people you closed anonymous comments because of (not that I’ve ever posted anonymously, mind you). I promise to make less worthless comments in future.
IM fine with it do you know why ,
IT IS A FREAKING GAME!!!
“for the next game, use the country where you or your ancestors came from”
my ancestors were german…. now people are lining up to buy games that depict them being shot…. it’s so terrible the hate these people have for my ancestors.
sob… weep… oh the humanity!
okay, where do i get in line for my lawsuit check!?!
oh yeah i forgot it’s only racist if blacks are getting shot… nevermind.
OH YEAH!!
i am part native american
and part black, believe me
I know what racism is,and it
doesnt come from a game
and maybe people would not “depict”
germans if they had not started two
world wars.
ppl are always gunna hate other ppl, humanity will never totaly get along, no matter what. ppl need specifics to focus hatred on, and i think its better to focus on a general group, with just a slight dislike, than a specific person with complete hatred, who may get killed. hatred of something is required to reinforce friendship with all others that are not in this group, without exclusion, there is no exclusivity. people need exclusivity to feel special, and it reinforces their friendships, although it does exclude some, it allows the others to band together and thats a step in the right direction. rome fell because there were no enemies left, no one else to hate, and they broke apart from within fighting amongst themselves. people need a target, the fact that many targets are based on race is only because race is a large group who are similar and obviously diferent from themselves. although we all need something to hate to obviate love and friendship, i believe that we should choose something else to hate, but whatever category is chosen will be discriminated against by those that differ in that catagory whether it be what race, gender, or what flavour ice cream they like, humans must vent anger at something
we are not enemeis but friends,we must not be enemies though passion
may have strained,it must not break
our bonds of affection,the mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched,as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature
“and maybe people would not “depict”
germans if they had not started two
world wars.”
Germany didn’t start WW1. Austria was the first government to acually declare war on another country (Serbia). Then Russia delcared war on Austria. germany declared War on Russia. France declares war on Germany. Then England declares war on Germany. Like i said before germany didn’t start WW1 as much as Russia did.