Overshadowed by Controversy: Difference between revisions
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** Besides wanton violence, ''GTA''{{'}}s sexual content also came under intense scrutiny, most notably the (previously) [[Dummied Out]] "Hot Coffee" minigame where CJ engages in casual sexual intercourse with a number of women. The minigame, which was discovered and re-enabled by Dutch software engineer Patrick Wildenborg, sparked significant controversy especially in the United States, where now-disbarred lawyer [[Jack Thompson]] and senator Hillary Clinton campaigned against the game and called for stringent ESRB regulations. And contrary to initial statements by Rockstar that the mod was the product of "hackers" who made "significant technical modifications to and reverse engineering" the game, this would be proven [[Blatant Lies|untrue]] when similar code was found in the console versions, and could be re-enabled through a third-party tool. It is later revealed that there was some tension within the company over the contested scenes, and Dan Houser lamented about the [[Double Standard|double standards]] in the United States with sex and violence keeping them from pushing the boundaries of the video game medium. They were however forced to hastily disable the minigame as the potential Adults Only rating the scenes would garner were not worth the decreased sales.
** ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' [[Sarcasm Mode|didn't disappoint]] [[Moral Guardians]] either, with its drunk driving sequences and the usual violence. Sensationalist media played up on a number of incidents allegedly inspired by ''GTA IV'', like when a bunch of teenagers were arrested after participating in a crime spree in New Hyde Park, New York, and when a Thai man shot and killed a taxi driver in apparent imitation of the game, which led to the series as a whole being banned in the country. In a more recent incident, an eight-year old boy (unwittingly) shot and killed her 90-year old grandmother, again apparently being desensitised to the game. A minor controversy also ensued when British tabloid ''The Sun'' played up on the presence of the in-game website "Little Lacy's Surprise Pageant", which was seized by authorities as a child pornography site in the game's lore (Little Lacy Surprise being a fictional brand of children's underwear in the series, with said brand supposedly hosting a child beauty pageant). Visiting the site on the in-game web browser gives the player an instant five-star wanted level, satirising intense law enforcement response and raids against suspected paedophiles, though in no way does the game (or the series in general for that matter) encourage or put players in the role of a sex offender, for much the same reason as to why [[Hide Your Children|there are no children]] to be seen in the games in the first place, though the series did paedophilia-related jokes from time to time with no apparent criticism.
** Unsurprisingly, ''[[Grand Theft Auto V]]'' courted controversy, this time over its portrayal of women and a torture sequence carried out by [[Ax Crazy|Trevor Philips]] to an Azerbaijani individual who is believed to have links with terrorists. Politicans, advocacy groups and even video game journalists deemed the mission in poor taste. Asked about performing the torture sequence, Trevor's actor Steven Ogg said that he treated it like "just another day at the office", and was focused more on not making mistakes during filming than the scene's ethics. The sequence along with a few others was censored in the Japanese release due to the country having more stringent guidelines; ironically enough the German release was uncut considering the country's history of censoring and banning media deemed unsuitable to the youth. As for the portrayal of women, certain commentators remarked how females were unfairly treated ingame, one of them being GameSpot journalist Carolyn Petit. Adding to the complication was that the game was released at the time when the Gamergate controversy was taking place; the less said about the latter, the better. Not to mention that ''GTA V'' was also released just as when the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting was still fresh off people's minds, with a number of politicians calling for the game to be cancelled or banned pre-emptively. In 2021 the game attracted controversy once again, but not because of whatever sociopolitical backlash the series historically got over the past few decades, but due to franchise fatigue from fans who are understandably [https://kotaku.com/gta-fans-are-starving-and-rockstar-keeps-giving-them-n-1847652818 sick and tired] of ''GTA V'' being continually re-released and anxious over the next major instalment. The trailer for the so-called "Enhanced and Expanded" edition for the [[PlayStation 5]] and [[Xbox Series]] consoles was panned for offering practically nothing in the way of actual improvements to the game's graphics or gameplay, instead using vague marketing buzzwords rather than a thorough comparison of what was changed.
** Also in 2021 was when Rockstar's parent company [[Take Two Interactive]] staged an inquisition against unofficial porting projects for ''GTA 3'' and ''Vice City'' as well as shutting down total conversion mods for said games and ''San Andreas'', some of which were over a decade old and were in no way intended to deprive Take-Two of revenue. Fans were none too pleased to say the least as modding has been an integral part of the ''GTA'' community.
** On top of the series being the butt of numerous controversies and lawsuits, it was reported that series co-writer Dan Houser cited changing sociopolitical attitudes as the reason why he left the company, as he felt increasingly uneasy with satirising modern American society without attracting controversy or offending anyone.
* ''[[Mafia III]]''{{'}}s social commentary sits right smack in the middle of the civil rights and racism issues the US is facing in recent years, especially with its portrayal of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], Confederate apologists and racist Southeners as [[Acceptable Targets]]. [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|Needless to say]], said right-wing/alt-right bigots took to Steam to review-bomb the game in what they saw as turning the ''Mafia'' series into an agenda-pushing propaganda piece by "social justice warriors". Not helping matters was series creator Daniel Vávra's connection with the Gamergate movement either; Vávra left 2K mid-way through ''Mafia II''{{'}}s development out of dissatisfaction over the publisher's demands for the game.
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