How Much Is Too Much?

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GTA 5 is out and it brings a fresh load of controversy with it. The outrage-o-meter is usually on fire whenever a new GTA (or similar games) comes out. Sex, swearing, extreme violence is part and parcel of the series, but this time round it's said to have overstepped the mark.

The criticism is levelled at the mission 'By The Book'. It involves the player taking part in interactive torture on an informant to extract essential criteria for a hit. The player (through the character 'Trevor') has a variety of torture methods at their disposal; jump leads for electric shocks, pliers for tooth extraction, a gasoline can filled with water for waterboarding or a wrench for general body trauma. This isn't just a one weapon choice either; the player has to go through four attempts before enough information is given. This gives the player the opportunity to experiment with the different methods of torture. After the ordeal is finished, Trevor is told to kill the informant but he defies that order and instead drives to the airport and lets the victim flee. During the drive, the 'moral of the story' is explained:

The torture sequence is supposed to be satire. It's a criticism of torture methods used by authorities, sending  out the message that the use of torture as a means of getting information isn't the way to go. The informant in the game is willing to co-operate, yet the  torture is given anyway. Trevor's assertion is that torture exists only for the torturer to get his kicks, but it's dressed up as a necessary evil in order to obtain crucial information. However, under these circumstances, said victim would pretty much say anything in order to stop their ordeal, so reliability  is then called into question. Torture = wrong is the general message here.

 It could also be argued that by putting the player into the position of torturer, the game is trying to abolish the myth that violent video games create psychos. The idea that's frequently peddled by hysterical moral crusaders is that people who play these games can become severely warped by them and carry out real life atrocities as a result. However, many players on various media have stated that 'By The Book' is too brutal and simply horrible to play; having to actively control the torture made them feel uncomfortable. Driving around and randomly running pedestrians down is fun, but having to actually concentrate and hit/rotate the control pad in order to extract a tooth is not fun, far from it. Not to mention the fact that the mission itself can't be skipped; you have to play it, assume the role of torturer, in order to progress in the game - again, many players object to that. So, it doesn't sound as if this sequence is spawning an army of twisted sadists, in fact it suggests quite the opposite; that, generally, people know the difference between the virtual world and the real world and that even things in the virtual world can get too much and repulse them. 

 To quote the 1996 movie 'Scream' - "Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative". I.e. Unhinged, inhuman people exist regardless of media, media can just give them extra inspiration sometimes. If someone is going to kill, they're going to kill; they're not going to kill specifically because a film or game tells them to. 

As for the outrage/criticism about this particular segment of the game, I'm on the fence. On the one hand, I can understand people's objection to the mission. The graphics are quite detailed as is the audio; the victim's pleas for mercy are particularly upsetting to hear and the tooth extraction genuinely made me wince/ look away. However when it comes down to it, it is just a game. Despite the realistic visual/audio, these characters aren't real and the player hasn't actually tortured anyone; plus the sequence had to happen in order to get the general message about torture across. It's hard for me to actually take either stance here because I believe it all depends on what you, as an individual, can handle. This mission has shocked and appalled many, but it's also been over-hyped/exaggerated for others. I don't truly believe there's going to be a concrete answer to the question "Has Rockstar gone too far here?". It's up to the player to decide...

Incidentally, if curiosity gets the better of you, then you can see the mission in question here: