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Gamespot wrote:Sex workers cry foul, say game "accrues points to players for the depiction of rape and murder of prostitutes."

The Grand Theft Auto franchise is getting attacked from all angles. Joining the ranks of politicians, policemen, and attorneys in their crusade to see the game lifted from shelves are the nation's sex workers. On its Web site, the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA is asking parents to assist them in calling for a ban of Take-Two Interactive's controversial game.

Citing a 2001 document from the National Institute on Media and the Family's David Walsh, SWOP is calling "on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto."

The organization quotes various points from Walsh's paper, including, "Children are more likely to imitate a character with whom they identify with. In violent video games the player is often required to take the point of view of the shooter or perpetrator."

Though the organization admits to being "adamantly opposed to any and all forms of censorship," as concerned parents themselves, they "wish to inform other parents of the potential danger extremely violent video games pose to children." Likewise, in the interest of promoting the rights of sex workers, the organization is opposed to the depiction of the rape and murder of prostitutes.

In the games, players can solicit "services" from prostitutes by driving their cars slowly near them. No sexual acts are in clear visible view, but during the "transaction," the player regains health and loses money. Though the player cannot actively rape prostitutes in the game, a possible rape is alluded to once during the storyline of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The prostitutes, like every other character, are also subject to homicide at the hands of the protagonist.

According to its Web site, SWOP USA is an organization dedicated to improving the lives of sex-industry workers and to the promotion of a safe working environment for the industry.

Whores wrote:Sex workers cry foul, say game "accrues points to players for the depiction of rape and murder of prostitutes."

Hookers wrote:Though the organization admits to being "adamantly opposed to any and all forms of censorship," as concerned parents themselves, they "wish to inform other parents of the potential danger extremely violent video games pose to children."

Darth Quorthon wrote:Shoot, you beat me to it. Guess I took too long writing out the post.

Spice Runner wrote:This stems from that silly notion that some people hold about video games influencing people's actions in real life. I don't know how that point system works in GTA, but I'm sure it doesn't encourage people to go out and murder prostitutes. These sex workers should parroting those anti-video game loons since they look like idiots.

Molyneux wrote:
There *is* no points system in GTA; the closest thing is a money counter, and you don't get any more money for killing prostitutes in that game than you do for killing anyone else.

Actually, one of the best ways to get some cash in that game is to kill *pimps*.

Hookers wrote:Though the organization admits to being "adamantly opposed to any and all forms of censorship," as concerned parents themselves, they "wish to inform other parents of the potential danger extremely violent video games pose to children."

Molyneux wrote: There *is* no points system in GTA; the closest thing is a money counter, and you don't get any more money for killing prostitutes in that game than you do for killing anyone else.

Actually, one of the best ways to get some cash in that game is to kill *pimps*.