Conn. State Sen. Slossberg wants confirmation of GTA IV rape scene

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jun 25th 2008 9:30PM

Go ahead and Google: "Connecticut State Senator Gayle Slossberg." Now, just imagine how different that page is going to look once news spreads that Sen. Slossberg (D) wants confirmation of the rape scene in Grand Theft Auto IV. The New Haven Advocate reports that Slossberg admits she's never played GTA IV and still needs to confirm the "rumored" rape scene. Apparently, that's not going to stop her from being afraid of the game corrupting children, thus prompting her to introduce legislation requiring better warning labels.

We're not going out on a limb and saying there isn't a rape scene buried under all that code -- remember what happened last time? But Slossberg does have a serious problem. She seems a bit confused as to what to put on these warning labels, telling the newspaper: "I mean what would it say? 'This game will make you a sociopath'?"

Best of luck, Sen. Slossberg! A Google search of your name will never be the same again.

[Via GamePolitics]

Source

Tags: connecticut, gayle-slossberg, grand-theft-auto, grand-theft-auto-iv, gta-iv, slossberg

Reader Comments (65)

I'm going out on a limb and saying there isn't a rape scene buried under all that code.

I'm going to be crazy and say I completely agree with you.

Even then, the game is rated "M". Interactivity argument aside, it's like complaining about a rape scene in an "R" movie because it'll damage the children. Not. Meant. For kids.

After Hot Coffee?
Guaranteed it's not there.

Perhaps it would do the video game industry some good to "borrow" the G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17 ratings from the movie industry. The general public is already familiar with these tags which, I think, is worth a lot.

Even if they have to pay the movie industry for the use, it can't possibly cost more than the endless "awareness" campaigns they're always running trying to teach grandma that "M" doesn't stand for "Most."

We should stop sending people to prison. There's lots of rape there and it might make people into sociopaths.

Alarmingly a recent study finds that 80% of prison inmates want to rape a Connecticut state senator but would settle for "4 eyes" 2 bunks down. The other 20% are on the DL.

Its good to know that our senators are finally using their time to address the real problems in this country.

State senator.

She must be up for reelection because the think of the children unconstitutional law talk is coming up.

Makes me sad I'm from CT.

Hmm...
Sarcasm aside, why are they in power if all they do is complain about rape in games? Why not address ACTUAL rape in society. I'm sure that has to be a bigger issue.

'afraid the game is corrupting children', oh, like 99% of politics, how about working on education in connecticut rather than wasting taxpayers money jumping on the 'hate gta' bandwagon

The United States Congress has nothing to do with schools in your state. You may want to refer to the Connecticut Department of Education, Connecticut State Legislature, and locally elected school boards to deal with your complaints. Good luck, champ.

The only raping in that game is when me and my friends are playing online, find a rocket launcher, and kill 300+ cops.

Murder simulator indeed, Mr. Thompson.

Maybe instead of teaching parents about ESRB, we should be teaching the politicians what that little "M" on the box means, and how it correlates to movie rating systems, and why laws surrounding M rated games should be similar to those surrounding R rated movies.

God damn, I am sick and tired of all these politicians and public officials complaining about videogames. There is so much sh1t that comes on every night on prime time tv that makes these same videogames look like sesame street.

I completely agree!

Its amazing she has her home phone number posted on her website 203-878-6412 I'm sure its a business line but wow easy to get a hold of her to let her know what you think of this and the game she is trying to be an expert on.

So has that # been posted on 4chan yet, people there will have a field day with this.

sorry to be a nub but what is 4chan?

A place where the internet goes to die.

You don't what to know what 4chan is. I didn't know either until a few weeks ago when I kept seeing it mentioned in a thread. Please suffice yourself with the wikipedia entry, and never go there yourself. You'll be stupefied that for some asinine reason people actually visit the site at all. You've been warned.

thanks for the warning I will check the wiki and go no further. I know there are things out there that can not be unseen and i don't need anymore of those :D

ITT: n00bs

If anything, we should ask her for confirmation that she genuinely gives a damn about the effects violent media has on children instead of what just looks like a bandwagon stunt to appeal to the uninformed voting masses.

Man, I tried to murder my girlfriend in GTA and it didn't even work. I shot her in the face and she just put her hand over her eye and ended the date.

Some murder simulator.

Sooooo, good date then? You score on the 2nd date?

*Sigh* And these are the people that are in charge? Jeez.

What a fucking idiot.

What about knocking a fresh cup o' joe out of someone's hand? Does that qualify as mocha rape? That might be worthy of political outrage, right? Right?

At least she's trying to be informed about the issue. I don't agree with what she's trying to push but I figure the more that the legislature actually tries to know about the industry the better - even if its only starting through this sort of "witch hunt".

I'd like to think that there are a few intelligent people in Congress that could actually benefit from a few people in the industry taking the stand and giving a rational defense of their companies.

This is what I wanted to say.

I don't agree with her even worrying about it, but at least she wants to get her facts straight first unlike that Mass Effect SexBox fiasco.

" I'm just making shit up for publicity, but believe you me this game has a rape scene"

So she's a bad person because she wants to check her facts? I don't get this post. How does she have a "serious problem," and what is it?

I didn't get the gist of what is going on at all.

Thank you, almighty God -- there is intelligent people left in the world!

Think of it this way:

Let's say the senator went to the national media and said, "I have heard a rumor that Eleniel is a rapist from my sources. I cannot confirm that Eleniel IS rapist but I am looking into it. If I find out that Eleniel truly is a rapist, I can assure you that I will take action."

Now everybody who heard about this but doesn't know who you are are always going to equate the name "Eleniel" with "rapist." Especially because when the senator finds out that you are, in fact, NOT a rapist, she's probably going to feel too stupid to go to the media about it and no one will ever find out that you are not a rapist.

If the senator was a reasonably intelligent/responsible person, she would have waited until AFTER getting confirmation about a rape scene to go public about it. (of course, since she would have found out that there isn't one, she never would have gone public about anything and what fun would that be??)

Eleniel's a rapist, you say? Hmmm, that's NO GOOD!

Seriously, though, it's like this... Once a fecal storm starts, it's hard to stop it.

You have someone gain a lot of publicity by making an outrageous claim without any facts (i.e. rape in GTA).
This gets people talking. "I heard there might be rape in GTA."
They might even mix up their story when they tell their friends. "There's rape in GTA."
By now, the damage is done, and people assume GTA is a raping game. "That GTA is horrible, and they should ban it!"
This senator does her research, comes to a conclusion that there's no rape in GTA (because there isn't). Only problem, the rumor of there being rape in it has spread so far, not many people are going to listen to the truth.

That's the problem here.

Actually, it was just someone mentioning Eleniel's therapist.

They just accidently put an extra space in there.

All right, I see what y'all are saying. But I stand by my "poorly written" statement; this post wasn't clear at all on what actually happened.

"Thank you, almighty God -- there is intelligent people left in the world!"

I laughed, for fairly obvious reasons

i've seen attempted rape or a rape in progress in a game before. it was true crimes streets of l.a. i killed the rapists every time. i had a high good cop rating so it didn't bring me down too much, sometimes i didn't even get out of the car just bullet time and scope him in the head.

Regardless of there not actually being a rape scene, what continues to annoy me is the assumption by many that every time someone displays something in art, they are somehow automatically advocating it.

With a name like "Gayle Slossberg", you guys missed a great Phoenix Wright pic opportunity.

If this story evolves and requires a follow up post, I'm expecting a Grossberg-related photo people.

Hmm... interesting idea, but why not add something to the plastic wrap the game comes in similar to that of porno mags sold at truck stops? If your kid tossed a plastic-wrapped magazine with the front painted black into your shopping cart, wouldn't that make you a bit suspicious about the contents?

Maybe we just need something similar to the printed safety seal on food/medications, but as shrink wrap with clear printing in red saying something like "This game is intended only for those 17 and up."

Other than that, the ESRB has been doing a hell of a job considering...

lol, if I was irresponsible enough to not take notice of what my kid tosses into my shopping cart and go to the checkout stand with it, I think that I WOULD get suspicious when I get charged an extra $70 that I wasn't aware of... ;p

I like it. This would be a good way to remind the clerk to card a kid or make sure the parent is aware of what they are buying. The M is the corner and the description on the back is great, but they aren't exactly imposing.

Just some bold lettering on the plastic wrap near the bottom would suffice.

Hillary Clinton all over again. New GTA, new Democratic Senator wanting to protect the kiddies from it. Your tax dollars at work, citizens.

In order to kill your girlfriend correctly, go to any shore and just drive in a few feet, it will drown her instead of the usual. At least that's what I read on...gamefaqs or gamewinners.

Yeah, but then you end up with a brain tumor.

i feel sorry for her feebile mind. Playing this game will turn her into a sociopath. If thats the case I wouldnt feel very safe around her. she might be channel surfing, accidently see james bond shoot a terrorist and then she goes postal on you.

oh this is a murder simulator. I just killed 12 pedestrians and 3 cops in GTA4 the video game. I have a sudden urge to go killing in real life. Good thing im trained on how to do it now. All I need to do is make sure I outrun the cops by a couple blocks after I kill somebody and they will forget I even murdered them.

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Conn. State Sen. Slossberg wants confirmation of GTA IV rape scene

Reader Comments (65)

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