[Insanity]

Man, having “GTA 5” and “No Mercy” as targets in the same conversation is strange. GTA5 is IMO really mild for a game, while I do think No Mercy probably crossed the line.

But I haven’t played a GTA game in a decade so maybe I’m misremembering..

[lupusreal]

GTA was a lot more controversial in the past than it is today. It used to be the subject of moderate to heavy moral panic, since it's a game about committing crimes; stealing cars and running over cops / hookers. Hearing people whine about GTA today feels like a blast from the past.

[perihelions]

There's actually a statue of Hillary Clinton in GTA IV (2008), in commemoration of her many battles against the series.

[0] https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Statue_of_Happiness

[Insanity]

Totally fair point, the first one I played was GTA III in the early 2000s, and I definitely remember some of these conversations. Similar to how DOOM and Mortal Kombat had a lot of controversy, but like you, I had assumed that this was mostly in the past.

[veeti]

Kids these days probably never heard of Jack Thompson's crusades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist)

[iamtedd]

"Today" being 10 years ago. Collective Shout's campaign was in 2015.

[ta1243]

GTA5 shows everything wrong with puritan morality. No problem with drugs, guns, shooting innocent people, etc, but have sex with a hooker and the camera pans away. At least under after when you then go and kill them and steal their money.