After grand theft auto is banned in a country a reader admits that he wouldn’t be upset if the same thing happened here to protect his son.

Earlier this week there was a news story about the country of Tajikistan Grand Theft Auto banas well as Counter-Strike. This has been met with a lot of favorable comments from a lot of players, but I have to say that I don’t find it all that incomprehensible. I don’t know why they banned it, maybe their reasons weren’t good, but as a father of a seven year old son I can completely understand why people would be concerned about video games their children are playing.

A reader commented just last week about what the average age of players is Call of duty he used to be in his teens. That was certainly my experience and if they did now it has moved on TO Fortnite and other free-to-play games, then I imagine it’s a very different and more enjoyable experience. Certainly, most of the people on GTA Online appear to be much younger than they should be, judging by the age bracket.

When you’re a kid, the one thing you want above all else is to be treated like an adult and do all the forbidden things that adults get to do. Sex and violence in movies and video games is usually a kid’s first introduction to a lot of concepts they’re too young for, and I won’t say it’s completely unhealthy, but there’s a line somewhere, and Grand Theft Auto crosses it in my opinion.

My boy isn’t allowed to play GTA 5, but I know for sure he has friends and probably behind my back in the house. What worries me is that while adults may see it as a parody of the worst of Americana, for a child the whole parody and satire goes completely over their heads and they take everything at face value.

The language is as strong as it gets, the treatment of women is terrible (it makes sense that the men are all terrible people, but still), and the violence is relentless and treated as fun and funny. Criminal activities, including theft and drug dealing, are treated as normal and without any moral consequence, even though there is a story context when playing GTA Online.

I don’t think I’m a pearl clutching fool to say I don’t want my seven year old playing that kind of game.

But like I said, he did. Despite my best attempts to stop it. I don’t even want a ban and I certainly wouldn’t campaign for one, but if it happened I’d be perfectly happy. I would instantly sacrifice my ability to play this game if it meant kids couldn’t. I don’t think that’s unreasonable and I’m sure many parents would agree.

In today’s world, there’s basically no way to prevent kids from accessing any type of sex and violence you can imagine, and I don’t even want to think about what kind of porn they’ve already seen.

Of course, I’m sure a lot of people will say “It’s never done me any harm”, but when the parents reading this were kids, we didn’t have a game with the sophistication and complexity of GTA 5. Neither did the internet” or was it in its early days and extreme content wasn’t nearly as easy to come by.

I have been following the news for the last few months and it is very clear to me that we are not becoming more peaceful or understanding as a society, quite the opposite. Are video games part of the problem? I don’t know, but I know it doesn’t help me. Especially not GTA 5.

By the reader Bors

Reader features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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