I don’t think this case will set precedent for the industry, though it may be something worth watching. A suit filed by a Haitian civil rights group has been moved from Florida state court to federal court (CNN). The article does not detail case particulars, I’m not sure if the complaint is intended to stop sales, seek damages, or both.
“The lawsuit takes on heavyweights in the video game industry, including Rockstar Games, its parent company Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment, the Microsoft Corp., and retailers Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy.”
If nothing else, it looks like a lot of billable hours for a number of attorneys.
“The manufacturer of the game, in which an ex-convict is hired to recover stolen drug money in the streets of Miami, has been harshly criticized for its portrayal of Haitians.”
First of all, the game has been out for over a year, and then all of a sudden, these “anti-Haitian” lawsuits spring up. Seems pretty fishy to me… Where was the outcry when the game was first released? No one is portrayed in a positive light in the game! Why single out the Haitians? There are negative stereotypes of Jews, Cubans, “rednecks,” etc. And Grand Theft Auto III was the same thing – it showed Italian stereotype after Italian stereotype. And considering the main character in Vice City is a murderous Italian-American thug, it only continues with that tradition…
Two federal courts have ruled that video games are protected by the first amendment. Lawsuits brought by “victims” against video game companies/movie studios/etc. have been dismissed (like the one from Paducah).
I don’t see this being anything more than a failed attempt to cash in on the massive bank these games are making.
It’s my understanding that the context of the “kill the Haitians” remark is that he means kill the Haitian gang members he’s having a war with, which seems fairly understandable. He didn’t mean exterminate the Haitian race.
Works of fiction often have unsavory characters saying offensive things. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WORK OF FICTION IS ADVANCING THAT VIEW.
Even if character actually meant exterminate the Haitian race, well, I thought this was America, where we have freedom of speech. Even for fiction that contains remarks like “Exterminate every goddamn Haitian bastard that lives on the planet! Kill all those goddamn niggers!!!”
Each of the above points, individually, is enough for me to believe this lawsuit is bullshit and needs to be thrown out.
I agree with Revtim. Context is the important thing. Of course a Cuban gang leader at war with a Haitian gang is going to want all the Haitians killed, and will be pretty open about expressing it.
I’m actually quite surprised the game makers have given in and removed the line from future copies of the game. Although that makes my copy more valuable I guess. If it’s not in the linked article, I’ll see if I can dig up where I read that they did.
I was looking around for some specifics on this case. Could not find anything current, though I found this brief bit from a December protest in NYC.
Haitian Americans and elected officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, have denounced the game, which the Haitian government called “an incitement to genocide.”
“An incitement to genocide”? Hyperbolic much? The thing I always enjoy about these situations is watching how the politicians dance. They see an opportunity to gain favor by siding with the protest, while they know there is no basis in law for government action. I would not be surprised to see an effort to move games with the “Mature” rating from the store shelves to behind the counter. It could be the PMRC all over again, the gaming industry needs its own version of Frank Zappa as a spokesman.
Sounds like they’re just mad because they couldn’t get past those Cuban boat missions. Let’s face it, the “Kill The Haitians” missions were a tiny part of the game.
If anyone has grounds for a lawsuit, it’s the police. Poor guys, they’re just trying to protect and serve. I must have slaughtered about a million of them.
The makers of GTA: Vice City are racists? So, then I guess Mel Brooks is a racist for making Blazing Saddles. After all, they said ‘nigger’ in Blazing Saddles and what about Geoffrey Wright? After all, he wrote Romper Stomper and they said ‘gook’ in that movie.
