EOC, Week 3: Grandma Sues "Grand Theft Auto"

Florence Cohen, 85 years old, of New York has sued Rock Star Games and Take Two Interactive Software Inc. She claims that she bought “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” for her 14-year-old grandson without knowing the game contained sexually explicit scenes, and adult rated content. The game did have a rating of “M” which stands for Mature. The “M” rating means that the game is only to be played by video game players that are age 17 and older. Cohen argues that even though the game says 17 plus, the game should not be allowed to contain adult material for adults over the age of 18. Rock Star Games and Take Two Interactive Software Inc have responded by taking out the hidden content in the games and re programming the video came to avoid unlocking sexual content.

I feel that Florence Cohen was indeed entitled to sue Rock Star Games and Take Two Interactive Software Inc. I myself know that this game has always had this kind of content and never really cared, but at the same time I never saw it from the grandmother’s point of view. The fact is that even if the game needs to be hacked to achieve this content, it’s still available to minors. Anything containing sexual content must be at least rated for views 18 and older; because it was not given this rating Cohen had all the right to attack the makers of the video game. Now if the game was rated “R” Cohen would not be able to go after the software companies, and at that point I would say it was the grandmother’s responsibility, and she should go take a walk and eat some egos! However the facts are stated, and sorry Rock Star but you have to be more careful when it comes to who you market your games too. Still the games are great, and I wouldn’t discourage any player who has read this to continue to play as long as they realize this is a game, not life.