Grand Theft Auto V is the best-selling videogame of all time. ..
The series has been controversial for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include: -Adult themes and violence. The games have featured cars driving down city streets, killing people, and assaulting others. -Extreme use of crime. In some games, the player can commit vehicular homicide or assault while driving a tank. -Censorship or banishment in certain countries. Some games have been banned in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey because they contain mature content or violence that is not appropriate for children.
Grand Theft Auto games can lead to real-life criminal activity, such as theft and assault. How much punishment would be appropriate for an individual who commits crimes while playing a Grand Theft Auto game for just an hour? ..
We surveyed 1,000 gamers to find out how often they commit crimes in Grand Theft Auto V. ..
The Results: USA
The crime-filled sandbox game is set in a fictional US state, based on Southern California and Los Angeles3, so we compared crimes committed during gameplay to the California Penal Code, in order to determine the average jail sentence and total fines.
We were surprised at how long it took to finish the project. The final tally is 4,160 years, 11 months and 15 days! ..
During the study, players committed 349 crimes on average within a single hour of gameplay – that’s 5.8 crimes per minute – with capital murder recorded as the most popular crime in the game. Running a red light was the second most prominent violation of the law, with an average of 40 offences during a single hour, totaling $4,000 in fines. Other vehicle-related offences included dangerous driving, carjacking, and gross vehicular manslaughter.
Vandalism accounted for more than $50,000 of the total fines in 2016. ..
As the old saying goes, ‘crime doesn’t pay’, and it’s pretty accurate in this case! The victim was a young woman who was brutally raped and then murdered. Her killer got away with murder because he didn’t have to pay for his crime!
After just one hour of typical gameplay in Grand Theft Auto V, players would receive an average of $95,526 in fines and criminal damages, as well as eight hours of community service. If they were to be charged in real life, they would also face a high chance of being sent to prison. ..
The Results: UK
Rockstar Games has been creating the Grand Theft Auto series since its inception in Scotland. The company moved to New York City in 2003, but players in the United Kingdom can still enjoy the games. To test how British players would fare if they were prosecuted for playing the games, Rockstar Games released a study that found that 43% of Britons would be willing to pay a fine to avoid being arrested.
Our GTA V study found that players would go to prison for 164 years, plus 112 life sentences, after just one hour of gameplay.
British players would be fined £101,550 and receive a driving licence ban if they were charged in real life.
In the United States, Penal Code § 245.5 allows for a person to be arrested and detained without charge if they are found with “intent to commit a felony.” This law was created in order to detain people who may have committed a felony but were not yet able to commit it. In the United Kingdom, the same law is known as Section 8 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This law allows for people to be arrested and detained without charge if they are found with intent to commit a terrorist act or any other crime that would make them eligible for detention under British Law.
If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime
According to a new report from The Inquisitr, the game’s developer, Rockstar North, has been working on a new mode that would allow players to commit crimes in-game. This would be done by using cheat codes or other methods to make the game more realistic and allow for longer prison sentences. This is definitely an interesting development and could add an extra layer of excitement to the already popular GTA series. It would be interesting to see how this mode turns out and whether or not it is actually used by anyone.
We hope this helps gamers see that crime doesn’t pay. So if you are planning a big bank heist in the near future, keep it to your own home and controller!
References:
The GTA V unit sales world wide are up by 5% in the first quarter of 2017. The game has sold over 1.5 billion units since it was released in 2009.
