Target pulls Grand Theft Auto 5 off shelves in Australia

[Argi]

Someone should go into their stores and put empty boxes with GTA V covers on the shelves.  ###### Target.

[blank]

Keep in mind that Target Australia isnt the same company has Target.

[chrisj1968]

Well its TARGET. I don't shop TARGET anymore anyways. there are other avenues to buy GTA5 right? Steam? or other downloading services that are legit..

[astropheed Veteran]

I wish I could make a petition for Target to sell GTA V, but sadly I don't think many people would sign it because as far as I can tell only crazy people with nothing better to do sign petitions.

 

Also, since when is 40,000 customers the majority? How are they not bankrupt?

[IsItPluggedIn]

The thing is they probably sold less than 40 000 copies of GTA V so more people signed the petition that bought the game. Because nobody in their sane mind would buy a video game from Target Australia, it is at least 15-20% more expensive than other, game specific retailers.

 

Time for some generalizations here. Every time I go to target, the majority of customers i see are middle aged women,(usually with kids). not sure if there has been any studies on this. But if target see's this as their largest demographic, they will likely side with groups of people who say they stand for this demographic, even through a lot of middle aged women i know hate feminists.

[astropheed Veteran]

Every time I go to target, the majority of customers i see are middle aged women,(usually with kids). not sure if there has been any studies on this. But if target see's this as their largest demographic.

 

Actually I find that to be a reasonably fair assessment. That's pretty much exactly what I see in Target.

[Pupik]

Why do people see violent games as such an issue but not films?

Because "back in their time" there were no video games and there was no crime or violence on the streets... until the violent video games showed up.

[neufuse Veteran]

Well its TARGET. I don't shop TARGET anymore anyways. there are other avenues to buy GTA5 right? Steam? or other downloading services that are legit..

Are you talking about not shopping the USA chain Target? because it's not the same company (going by the location in your profile)

[compl3x]

Yeah, Target in Aus and Target in the US ain't the same company.

 

 

What I've seen on the news this morning about this doesn't fill me with hope that the media can report on anything even remotely accurately. Context has been abandoned in favour of 'it's a game where all you do is kill women!' Except it's not.

[chrisj1968]

Are you talking about not shopping the USA chain Target? because it's not the same company (going by the location in your profile)

 

oh ok. thanks for clearing that up for me.

[mstefanik]

Wasn't there a similar controversy with GTA where the player could beat prostitutes unconscious (with a bat or crowbar, IIRC) and then steal their money? I realize that games are fantasy, but that sort of graphic use of violence does seem to be over the top. Then again, I'm a greybeard and a younger version of myself would probably argue that it's much ado about nothing.

[GotBored]

I don't agree with it personally, being in the United States, but's it's Australia's laws and rules.

Germany, is the other country that heavily sensor's / bans games.

 

Something to consider, In the United States, violence is accepted, sexual is taboo and censored.

In Europe, it's generally the opposite. 

 

Highlander, the Tv Series were shot with violence and sex scene's.

The Us version received the violence, with edited sexual content, and in Europe the violence was censored, with full sexual content.

 

Not Australian laws and rules, it was one retailer (Target) who decided they didn't want to sell it. Every other store that sells consoles and games still stock GTA V in Australia.

 

The thing is they probably sold less than 40 000 copies of GTA V so more people signed the petition that bought the game. Because nobody in their sane mind would buy a video game from Target Australia, it is at least 15-20% more expensive than other, game specific retailers.

 

Time for some generalizations here. Every time I go to target, the majority of customers i see are middle aged women,(usually with kids). not sure if there has been any studies on this. But if target see's this as their largest demographic, they will likely side with groups of people who say they stand for this demographic, even through a lot of middle aged women i know hate feminists.

 

Target is a budget department store, its mostly middle aged women with kids from low income households who shop there. They are also typically on the pension and don't work so have lots of free time to winge about unimportant things.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Kmart Australia joins Target Australia in pulling GTA 5 from shelves.

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

Genuinely ridiculous, I could name about half a dozen films that are so much worse that GTA.

 

Yes you can kill/run over women but no where in the game is it actively encouraged or rewarded.  

[game_over]

It's worrying how easy it is to change a course of action by applying a little bit of pressure, are we all that easy to control?

 

There is always somebody, somewhere trying to change everything they don't agree with, why not just ignore it? 

[simplezz]

Here we go again. SJW's descend on Australia.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Kmart Australia joins Target Australia in pulling GTA 5 from shelves.

 

Should read "Kmart Australia joins Target in helping to promote how fun GTAV is by banning it from their crappy shops"

[compl3x]

This is more sad than anything else. There are some really serious issues regarding violence towards women in our society and instead of lobbying the government to enact law that better protect women against things like domestic violence or to provide more funding for women and children fleeing domestic violence a bunch of slacktavist decide that boycotting a store selling a piece of fiction is the best way to spur societal change.

 

They describe this game as sickening. I think the parole system in my state that continually lets out violent offenders that have gone onto commit murder of young women sickening. I think a justice system that has turned a blind eye to decades of child abuse with religious institutions sickening. I think the cover-ups of the abuse of women in the military is sickening. I think the indifferent attitude of the police and society as a whole towards sex workers who are abused, raped and murdered sickening.

 

But hey, those are real issues that would take much more effort than an online position to alter.

[Xerxes]

Target's loss. Order elsewhere. The rating system is there for a reason. Why don't they pull "R" rated movies from the shelves next?

 

That is half the problem right there, the amount of Australians ignorant to the rating system is alarming. Many parents just buy games for their kids without even thinking and refuse to take responsibility for their own screw up (always someone else's fault). So the rest of us law abiding citizens get punished like this...

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

This is more sad than anything else. There are some really serious issues regarding violence towards women in our society and instead of lobbying the government to enact law that better protect women against things like domestic violence or to provide more funding for women and children fleeing domestic violence a bunch of slacktavist decide that boycotting a store selling a piece of fiction is the best way to spur societal change.

They describe this game as sickening. I think the parole system in my state that continually lets out violent offenders that have gone onto commit murder of young women sickening. I think a justice system that has turned a blind eye to decades of child abuse with religious institutions sickening. I think the cover-ups of the abuse of women in the military is sickening. I think the indifferent attitude of the police and society as a whole towards sex workers who are abused, raped and murdered sickening.

But hey, those are real issues that would take much more effort than an online position to alter.

Jackpot!

[cork1958]

It's always only taken a few bad apples/loud mouths, to spoil it for everyone else. :(

 

I agree. Bad decision on Targets part.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

GRAND THEFT AUSTRALIA (The Jimquisition):

[Skiver Veteran]

Kinda off topic but it put a smile on my face so I'll just leave this here (try and get past the formatting)

 

 

My Stupid GTAV Story

 

 

There's been a lot of news lately about a ban on a particular video game and while I don't have much else to add on the idea of banning something (hopefully everyone agrees that this is bad news), I do have a bit of an ode to the game.

I'm a 29F, married for 2 years. I got married in fall 2012. By spring 2013, my husband was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma.

It suuuuuucked.

That summer was horrible. We were confined to our little newlywed apartment, terrified and shocked and exhausted. We spent a lot of time inside, and both being gamers, a lot of time playing games. I spent a lot of time in Fallout NV just shooting random people out of rage and frustration. My husband slept for about 16 hours a day, and laid in bed playing Skyrim or watching Netflix the rest of the time.

It was lonely, scary, just awful. Not exactly the honeymoon phase of marriage lore.

Then, in September, I bought my husband GTAV. I'd never played a GTA game but my husband liked the 4th one so I figured why not. I brought it home and he played it for about a day, but then said the controls too difficult (on chemo, a LOT of things are difficult). I like driving games and he said the driving mechanics were great, so, I popped it in one day while he was sleeping.

About five minutes in, for the first time in months, I laughed at something.

I forget what it initially was but something stuck, and got through the ######ing horrible despair, and I actually laughed. And by the time Lamar goes on his rant about being on the top of a list, I was trying so hard not to laugh loud enough to wake my husband I was practically hyperventilating.

Sure enough, I woke him up.

He wandered out into the living room, shocked to see me playing it still. He figured I'd just give up after awhile, what with this game being so notoriously offensive to women and all.

But there I was, robbing a jewelry store, ###### that I kept hitting the tunnel wall during my escape. I apologized for waking him and said he could go back to sleep, but he wanted to hang out, keep watching. I was further by that point than he'd seen, and he was mildly interested.

By the time Trevor got ###### about his action figure ("The cheek of it!") we were both doubled over, laughing hysterically. Sure it was stupid; especially for two massive Aaron Sorkin fans... but something about it got through to us both.

We played that stupid game for a year, watching the other play, laughing and challenging each other to do stupid crap. "Five bucks says you can't get the yoga ball all the way up Chilliad."

We laughed at other things more. Started doing more things together.

He never slept 15 hours again.

I've never given much credence to "this game/band/movie saved my life" stories. For some reason they seemed childish and immature.

But now I get it. Now I understand what it's like to have a thing unlock a part of you that either wasn't there before, or feared dead. I thought I'd lost my sense of humor in the hospital room that first night in June. And I thought I'd lost my husband's sense of himself completely.

If it wasn't for that stupid, stupid game, that very well could have been true.

So sure, to some that game will incite a bad attitude. I certainly wouldn't let the writers raise my daughter. But for me, a grown adult (the target audience, I might add) I understood the satire. I appreciated the humor. I needed the outlet.

It helped me.

Please, sign any counter banning petitions you see. Don't go down this road of banning things for all to appease the few. For some of us, an outlet like this means the world.

Edit: My husband would be so disappointed if I got gold and didn't say "That's GOLD Jerry!" Thanks random Redditor :) Also my GOD, how did you all read that?! My apologies, written on mobile, didn't realize it was just a giant square of words.

 

[LaP]

Target's loss. Order elsewhere. The rating system is there for a reason. Why don't they pull "R" rated movies from the shelves next?

 

Hollywood is still making R rated movies? The only thing i see these days is PG-13 crap.

[compl3x]

GRAND THEFT AUSTRALIA (The Jimquisition): 

 

 

Pretty much nailed it.