Media paper

Nicholas Caruso
Media Paper

When I think about someone or something that changed media as we know it, I think about controversy. And when I think about controversy I think about violence, sex, drugs: all things that put into one pot and stirred up can become a heinous concoction. Few forms of media can create such a dastardly brew, but the one I’m talking about is in the gaming industry. That’s where Rockstar Games comes in. Rockstar Games is a video game developer and publisher, based in the United States. They are well known in the gaming industry and outside of it, due to the relentless titles that have produced over the past twelve years When Rockstar Games are brought up in a conversation with non gamers; they instantly think a negative thought, that’s how big of an impact they have had on our society. They have had such an impact that politicians have waged full scale wars against the company, in hopes of burning it to the ground to never hear a peep from them again. But Rockstar is relentless; they fight the system and show that nothing can hold them back.

Rockstar Games was founded in 1998 in New York City, around the time when gaming was starting to rise in popularity more and more. The games produced around those times were very good, but none of them really dealt with real life situations, true to life characters, or anything really out of the realm of science fiction. This is not saying that games back in 1998 weren’t violent, but when Rockstar moved into the picture, they took things to a whole new level. It took a couple of years to get Rockstar into the gaming industry’s eye. Four, to be exact. In 2001, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto III. This game single handedly changed gaming history, and revolutionized how gaming is seen in the publics’ eye.

GTAIII was the first of its kind, in terms of story, style, and most of all, its ambition push the industry to its limits. The game was extremely violent for its times. Gamers could steal cars (as the title would elude), pick up prostitutes, kill innocent pedestrians, and much more. The games story was also, dark, gritty and very unorthodox considering the time period in which it was developed in. The industry ate it up, it was a masterpiece, but not everyone thought so. Wal-Marts all across the country started checking I.D’s for everyone who purchases a game rated M for mature. The lawsuits started to rain down on Rockstar’s head, and made one of the greatest enemies known to the freedom of expression.

Enter Jack Thompson. An activist and former attorney with a gigantic chip on his shoulder. Infamous for attacking N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton CD and 2 Live Crew. To understand where Jack Thompson stands on the freedom of speech I have chosen a quote regarding 2 Live Crew’s lyrics, said by Mr. Thompson:
"I understand as well as anybody that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of a free society—but there is a responsibility to people who can be harmed by words and thoughts, one of which is the message from Campbell that women can be sexually abused.”

Clearly, the man is delusional. He has proved more than once that he doesn’t even know what he is saying half the time, and most importantly, he shows no interest in caring about what other people think. He doesn’t understand the fact that people can make choices, no one can get brainwashed from a video game, no one can get brainwashed from a song, it’s all a persons choice. And if someone even considers using gaming, music, movies, or TV as an outlet to find a way to kill, rape, or murder, those people have a physiological problem that was never taken cared of or evaluated before they were put in a situation where they were in front of a Grand Theft Auto III, or if they put their headphones on to listen to Straight Outta Compton.

During the first few years of GTAIII’s release, many crimes were committed and pinned on the game. Most of these crimes involved a teenage male murdering a family member or close friend, then usually blaming the video game for putting the ideas and encouragement. Jack Thompson always felt the need to intrude and make the situations worse and because of this, he became public enemy number one in the eyes of gamers. This man was a renegade that would stop at nothing to put Rockstar Games down. But what Mr. Thompson didn’t realize was that Rockstar was a renegade company in their own right. They made games that changed entertainment as we know it, and because of that no matter what, business was always good for Rockstar.

In 2002, Rockstar released a sequel to Grand Theft Auto III, GTA: Vice City. This game took the idea of the previous one and made it fifty times better. The story resembled the Al Pacino classic: Scarface, except was grittier and more violent. To sum up GTA: Vice City, it was a great success as many would assume. But, like its predecessor, it was followed by controversy. This game was so “bad” in the eyes of the Australian government that before its release, it was censored. The game was literally just censored, watered down, and over all destroyed because of how the government thought it would effect the youth. Not until 2010 were the censors removed from the game. That’s eight years, eight years it took a whole government to realize what a foolish move they had made. Oh, and let’s not forget Jack Thompson. He helped out the families of two idiot kids who decided to murder a bunch of people. Both times, the theory of the game having anything to do was rightfully dismissed. You want to know why? Because the kids were on anti-depressants. They were both psychologically malformed, therefore saying a video game helped them want to alone makes no sense. You have to have a real problem to go about doing something as drastic as murdering your father, step mother, and step sister. That’s what Cody Posey did in September 2006 at his ranch in Hando, New Mexico, and Jack Thompson was there to try and take Rockstar down, once again.

In between 2002 and 2004 Rockstar released more games that broke the usual template of what a game should be. Such as Max Payne 2: The fall Of Max Payne, Manhunt, and Red Dead Revolver. Out of those three, Manhunt brought the most controversy to Rockstar Games. In order to understand the games controversial background, you need to know the basic plot to the game. You play as a guy on death row who is dropped into an abandoned city and is the main star of a snuff movie. Basically, you need to kill your way out of the city and once you follow the directors’ orders, you will be released. So basically, you spend 95% of the game killing people. From firsthand experience, this game is brutal to say the least. The executions are so realistic; I could understand people getting physically ill from playing this game. The game was so graphic in fact that if you live in New Zealand and posses the game, it counts as an offense. Bottom line, Manhunt was made to brew controversy. Here’s a quote from a former Rockstar Games employee Jeff Williams on Manhunt:

“There was no way to rationalize it. We were crossing a line."

Fast forward to the year 2004. Rockstar games is on top of its game, a sequel to GTA: Vice City is released. GTA: San Andreas, the highest selling game on the Play Station 2 with 17.3 million units sold. Again, Rockstar pushed the boundaries and really strutted their stuff with this one. At the time of its released, I remember personally getting the game, and I remember all of my friends getting it. Looking back on it now, I realize that Rockstar had the industry in the palm of their hands. They were really in control of everything and continued to rake in the cash. GTA: San Andreas was one of those “must have” or “must own” titles for its time, and I still believe every hardcore gamer should give it a spin, it’s definitely worth it.

What GTA: San Andreas is mostly remembered for is something Rockstar probably wishes was never discovered. Within the story line of the game, the main character, CJ, is required to date in game girlfriends. The gamers’ job is to play little mini games in order to win you’re girlfriend over. Well, Rockstar had added a little “something” to the mini games. It’s known as Hot Coffee. A little mini game in which the players are to basically take the girlfriend into their room and have sex with them. Now, Rockstar got rid of the mini-game by basically burying it in coding. That didn’t stop hackers to find the game on the PC version, and when it was found, the gaming community exploded. No one thought Rockstar would go THAT far, not only did they thing Rockstar wouldn’t go that far, they thought it was nuts to try and hide it!

As you probably could have guess, Jack Thompson jumped right on this burning freight train and just added to the fire. Accusing Rockstar of trying to brainwash the youth by “training” them to be violent. A new face appeared in the political spectrum, Hilary Clinton, our very own Senator! She joined the Hot Coffee party by taking sides with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB). With ESRB (one of Rockstars’ main villains), Jack Thompson, and Hilary Clinton against Rockstar, New legal actions were taken against the company, including the Family Entertainment Protection Act. This was a bill enforced and shown by Hilary Clinton which basically says that if you sell a Mature or AO rated game to a minor, you will be charge a $1000 fine or be sentenced to 100 hours of community service. This onslaught brought forth to Rockstar a gigantic headache. 85% of the gaming market had been forced to remove Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from their shelves. All of the games in production were recalled. People began trying to sell their copies on eBay in hopes of trying to make some major coin, and failed due to eBay taking them down from the main pages due to the fact that it went against its terms and policies.

Growing up during Rockstars prime as a teenager, I really got a first hand look at how they changed Gaming as a media outlet. For example, they changed the way games are played. Before, everything was very one-dimensional, but after the release of Grand Theft Auto III, games have copied it's template countless, and I mean, countless times. Rockstar titles literally have their own style and way of presenting their stories and quiet frankly no one can match up to them.

Like I said, I grew up during the era of THE Rockstar games, and I really got close to seeing how they sold. Having an uncle that has a video game store, I grew in and around that place. So, I would see, first hand, how these games would influence and sell to the market. People would line up outside the door to get a Rockstar game. No exaggeration, the line would be outside of the door. I remember peoples' parents complaining because their kids would do stupid things and blame the acts on the games. It would happen quiet frequently to be honest and I remember it bothering me at the time, same as it does now. If you're kid doesn't understand how certain things work, they shouldn't be able to even get near a gaming console or watch certain movies. This whole trend with children playing violent video games stirred up a lot of controversy in my neigborhood as well as the world.

Did this bother Rockstar? Did Hot Coffee really bother them? Did making children turn into sociopaths bother them? No. They moved on, they continued to create masterpieces. They continued to brew their trademark controversial beloved games. Now, Rockstar is one of the most recognizable icons in entertainment. Almost any teenage male has played a Rockstar title, and it has even spread to the older ages as well. The games continue getting pumped out, on and on and Rockstar shows absolutely no sign of ever stopping.