Video Games are Meaningful, We Promise!

Fidget’s Tom Chick shared why he stopped playing the new Grand Theft Auto IV Downloadable Content, The Lost and the Damned. The whole article is a must-read, but here’s an excerpt:

I’m not asking for choir boys or political correctness. On the contrary, I love a little real world grit with my M-rated games. I love ambiguous characters. But you have to earn it, Rockstar. If you just dump it into my lap at the very beginning of the game and expect me to sit still for it, I’m probably going to stand up and walk away. For something morally reprehensible, thrill me like God of War, fascinate me like Killer 7, or hide it among solid gameplay like Saints Row 2. Or better yet, let me make my own choice and live with the consequences, something you were clearly tempted to do in Grand Theft Auto IV, but couldn’t quite manage. Because I’m capable of handling virtual atrocities of my own doing. Just ask the citizens of Megaton. Well, you can’t because I vaporized them. But the important difference is that I did it myself. Bethesda didn’t do it for me and then expect me to watch and cheer.

What’s more, I’d like to remind Rockstar that with great commercial success comes great responsibility. It would be nice to see a modicum of social conscientiousness in what is arguably the face of videogaming presented to the world at large.