Fake Outrage FTW!

June 16, 2008

So, apparently there’s been very little outcry about GTA IV since it was released. This of course, is unacceptable, since there MUST. BE. OUTRAGE. about the game. And so, UK’s the Sun launches this story:

Video game has spoof perv site.

This, of course is misleading. Someone at the Sun didn’t do a lot of fact checking (why bother when you can run such an inflammatory headline and sell a bunch of papers).

The article describes a “cheat”:

fans have now found a “cheat” which lets the main character achieve a “five star wanted rating” by clicking on a child beauty pageant website in the game’s virtual internet cafe.

Naturally, its not a cheat. A “Cheat” allows you to gain something by inputting a code. This is something the programmers intended. What’s more:

The fake site – littlelacysurprisepageant.com – displays a message from virtual authorities saying it has been closed down. It warns that anyone caught looking at it will be investigated and features the warning: “We see it all, we know it all.”

And so, there’s nothing outrageous about it. There’s nothing to see except a message that the site is closed. So…what’s the issue?

“I was looking on the internet for cheats and the name of this caught my eye as my daughter is called Lacey. This crosses the line. The makers have obviously sat around and discussed putting this in, and it’s not on. What will they do next?

“It’s disgusting. It could lead people to indulge in things like that. It is totally sick. I won’t play it again.”

Yeah! Because there’s nothing more offensive than the acknowledgement that there are pedophiles out there and that the police shut down their websites!

/snark.

I’ve complained about the articles that came out before the game was released, about the violence and the “Murder simulators” (as a certain Mr. Thompson calls them). But at least those articles are complaining about something. This…is outrage over (literally) nothing.

Written by grinningskull | Filed under: GTA IV |