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Steven Levy bringt es in Newsweek als erster Amerikaner, von dem ich lese, auf den Punkt:
First of all, let me express my shock—total jaw-dropped, head-slapped, loss-for-words shock—upon learning that a hidden scene in the videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas depicts a somewhat graphic sexual encounter. Who would imagine such a thing in a game that lets millions of people vicariously engage in simulated cop-killing, ‘ho-running, drug dealing and drive-by shooting? Even though you can run the game for weeks and not play this scene, the very idea that it’s buried in the code suddenly changes everything. Does this eliminate GTA’s chances for a Christopher Award (which affirms “the highest values of the human spirit”)?
No way is that scene family-friendly. GTA is not a kid’s game. Despite its appeal to teens, its key audience is young adult males who grew up on Super Mario but now crave the more-grown-up entertainment they consume everywhere else—the stuff of action movies, beer commercials and Maxim magazine. Its creators believe they are engaged in an artistic enterprise, no less than the auteurs behind adult fare like gangster films, rap music and HBO sitcoms. Within the community of gamers, GTA holds a position roughly equivalent to that of “Scarface” in the film world—a breakout hit that’s a creative breakthrough as well, albeit not without some controversy.
The issues get dicey when it comes to teenagers, who have a keen interest in games no matter how they’re rated. The simulated sex scene is a red herring—any kid who is savvy enough to download codes to hack a game is certainly clever enough to find real pornography on the Internet. The big question is the effects of the games themselves, which eat up an incredible amount of time, much of it in the service of hostile actions. Are they a harmless way to blow off steam, or training grounds for psychopaths? Steven Johnson’s recent book “Everything Bad Is Good for You” argues that complex epics like GTA actually make you smarter. My gut tells me that simulating the actions of a heartless gangsta is something to discourage, and I’ve banned GTA from my household. My 15-year-old considers the ban absurd: “You always know it’s a videogame,” he says. Tough.

Ansonsten sind unsere transatlantischen Freunde, die sich jetzt auch nackte Figuren in Sims 2 vornehmen, größtenteils weiterhin ziemlich durchgeknallt und Mr. Levy einer der wenigen mit halbwegs klarem Kopf.