In the movie, "The 40 Year Old Virgin," drunk driving was indeed a joke scene. That movie was "R" and the "M" rating is appropriate. But keep in mind what happens in that movie and the GTA IV. You crash the car. Simulated bad action has bad simulated consequences.

Please focus your energies and monies on REAL issues to save REAL people.

@ Vinzent

Thank you for clarifying, sir, seeing as i don't have the game, i wasn't sure of that.

This is just the same as the whole 'teaching kids there aren't any consequences' crap when it's built right there into the game engine to BE a consequence.

In the game, shooting cops = getting shot by cops.
In real life, shooting cops = getting shot by cops.

In the game, driving drunk = you're basically screwed.
In real life, driving drunk = you're basically screwed.

Rinse, lather, repeat. Common sense, dumbasses. Common freaking sense.

@ Tubatic

I’m hoping that there are enough level headed responses to this press release

Ahahahahahahahaha... oh.... you were serious weren't you...

[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptMothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has issued a statement critical of the opportunites for virtual drunk driving in GTA IV: Each year nearly 13,500 people die in drunk driving crashes and another half a million are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes. This is why MADD is extremely disappointed by the decision of the manufacturers of the game Grand Theft Auto IV to include a game module where players have to drive drunk. [...]

And so it begins- the drunk aspect of GTA4 was bound to create a new breed of moral panic.

I haven't reached the point of the game yet, but I hear drunk driving is highly ineffective. Would that not make it a deterrent? Also, making the game AO would only restrict it an extra year to 18. The age to even drink is 21 (in the states), so what's the point?

Leave a comment here on their blog:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4847057900892399272&postID=1039...

It's official. the rush to criticize GTA IV can officiallyt be described as a cluster f***.

oh what the fuck

way to jump in the bangwagon.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/230292

I believe this flash video says it all

I once saw a guy get kicked in the balls. I didn't volenteer to be next. :D

DEAR MADD,
When you stop lying about your statistics, we will take your opinions more seriously. Until then, you need to learn a little about honesty, not targetting videogames because they're popular, and doing the work you claim to be doing, instead of inspiring children to take up drinking at a younger age (kids are spiteful, deal with it.).

Sincerely, Austin Lewis

PS. When the person in the back of a van is drunk, it doesn't mean alcohol caused the incident. Just a tip for your journey for truth, instead of self-inflated stats.

What I have to say has been said before, and probably been said better.

Video games come under fire because they're the most interactive type of media in existence. In movies and books, the outcome is static, whereas in video games you choose your own path. This is why the older generation is afraid of these games; they're not static, they make the player THINK. I'll finish this thought later, my laptop's battery is running low.

Seriously, if I was them, I'd be focusing on real drunk driving instead of dicking around with a videogame. I'm pretty sure pixels don't care if a pixel crashes into their pixel.

Funny moment I got into the car I got the cops after me, also I drove of the highway, loosing that Banshee sucked.

These people need to shut up because US citizens have the right to play whatever. If the consoles start allowing AO rated games on the system then I do not care as long as I can buy the game.

Is it just my imagination, or is MADD just trying to get back into the public view again? Cuz seriously... irrelevant?

"This is why MADD is extremely disappointed by the decision of the manufacturers of the game Grand Theft Auto IV to include a game module where players have to drive drunk."

"Have too?" I'm sorry, you HAVE too drive drunk in the game? Um... NO?!

Next time;
Whenever I drive a stolen 'expensive-as-fuck' vehicle with a hooker in my car, two cops and a helicopter on my tail, running over pedestrians, and doing drive-bys' with a semi-automatic all at once-

to never drink while I am driving, otherwise it might impair my chances of getting away...

thanks MADD!!! *Bangs head on desk*

- Incendently, I meant in GTA, not real life.

ive seen many movies that featured driving while under the infulence (pulp fiction comes to mind) and i don't recall madd demanding they be made nc-17 because of it. like comic books and rock n roll before it, video games are the new whipping boy for all of societies problems for the ignorant, stupid and unimformed

"include a game module where players have to drive drunk."

I'm not that far in the game yet but is there ever a point where you are actually FORCED to drive drunk. The option to hop into cabs is always present which is something I think MADD would be stoked about. This is about as close to real life as you can get - so I'm assuming they would want to slap an AO sticker on reality itself.

Get drunk and drive in game - cops come after you. Take taxi home - it costs you money but you get there safely.

Absolutely verbatim in both GTA and reality...

Yes, drunk driving is not a game. BUT GTAIV IS! Drunk driving isn't a movie either, or a book, it's an activity that can only be blamed on the person who is driving drunk.

I wouldn't jump down MADDs throats as much as people seem to be doing. MADD actually does some very good work in stopping people from driving drunk.

This is just another example of how the majority of people just attack games the second they hear that something might be offensive.

I've been thinking that this is actually GOOD for the industry. I mean, all this controversy has started most people to stop thinking of games as only for children. Even some mainstream news outlets are beginning to see the errors in blaming games for every (JT's value is dropping faster than the american dollar).

And of course, I had a discussion with my mother about this. She doesn't play games and is appalled that the media thinks she's stupid and will believe the drivel they pin on videogames. But it took her time to figure it out, the more the media spouts it, the more people are likely to scrutinize what they're saying.

The fact is, if GTA IV let you drink and then drive off without any consequences, MADD wouldn't have batted an eyelid. It's the fact that Rockstar are raising awareness to the negative effects of drink-driving in the game by making the game harder to play and more dangerous to your character's well-being that has drawn MADD's ire. Instead of praising it for being a feature that highlights the dangers of drink-driving, this is how those menopausal hags with sandy vaginas see it:

"GTA IV has a minigame where the child playing the game scores points for running over people while under the influence of alcohol."

Please. Spare me. MADD are a bunch of terrible people.

Vinzent: Sorry, but MADD has a horrible agenda. Yes, being anti-drink-driving is a worthy cause, but their methods are atrocious, plus they just flat out tell lies to promote their unfounded agendas such as keeping the drinking age at the ridiculously high 21, all under the guise of preventing drink-driving. They are disgusting and ought to be disbanded.

I totally saw this coming. It was only a matter of time before someone started bitching about the drunk driving stuff.

Honestly, you'd think that some people who play this game would think "Damn, I can't stop running into crap while I'm drunk in-game. I'd hate to imagine what would happen if I drank and drove in real life? I guess this gives me more incentive not to do so."

Guys, after doing some shots of Vodka (first drink in 9 months!) and then trying to drive somewhere I can honestly say drink driving doesn't pay.

I lost my nice red banshee :(

And then the police shot me...

Kids, if you drink and drive; the Police will shoot you in the face.

IMOP,

I think this all just a publicity for MADD to get attention, and not to incite any particular rage among gamers. (Despite my attitude on my previous entry)

Afterall, its not like they get a lot of media attention anyway.

Sure, they have a commercial or two, but not often enough to make the public aware of DUI consequences. So what better way to get attention than to piss people off, while understanding their plight.

This might not apply to most in MADD, but still the amount of assaults on GTAIV are to big to be coincedenses.

Then again, I'm a conspiracy theorist...

!We never landed on the moon, Elvis and Tupac are ALIVE, and Jack Thompson has sold his soul to Satan!! (OK, that last ones' true)

This is not surprising in the least. For all of you pointing out how stupid it is for MADD to be upset about the portrayal of drunk driving in the game, you're right, it is, and they understand that. The key to this story is that MADD has long since ceased to be merely a anti-drunk driving lobby, and has become a neo-prohibitionist lobby. In fact, the group's original founder, Candy Lightner, has since criticized the group, saying that they've transformed into an anti-alcohol lobby rather than keeping their focus on drunk drivers.

So of course MADD is upset at GTAIV. They're upset because of the light in which drinking alcohol is presented. The drunk driving matter is an angle that they can try to use in the press, but I have no doubt that MADD's real beef isn't with the possibility for drunk driving, but the non-negative light in which the consumption of alcohol is presented.

If thats the case, then every "R" rated movie featuring drunk driving should be rated "NC-17". It's just a bloody game people need to relax.

I'm hoping that there are enough level headed responses to this press release for them to realize that, as they have demonstrated, they don't have an accurate understanding of how drunk driving is handled in the game.

As people have said, there is the explicitly stated choice when the user first goes drinking for Nico to hail a cab. And further, the police in game are very diligent in spotting potentially drunk drivers.

I think such a feature in a game is great. When ever I hear drugs are bad, I think of the stage "Touch fuzzy get dizzy', in the game "Yoshi's island". I also think of "Deux ex" with the zinc drug and alcohol, Boiling point's alcohol, and "S.T.A.L.K.E.R" and the AMK mod. I died from downing 8 bottles of vodka, just to get rid of it from my inventory. Those games convinced me that drinking and doing drugs is not a good Idea and not very healthy.

@ Waffles

I've been meaning to find a prostitute, do some business, and then beat her up and get my cash back ever since the news reports started, but I've been to busy going to the cabaret thingy.

The cowboy must die.

Lemme see, I did drunk driving in the game, the game told me I could hail a cab any time Niko is too shitfaced to drive, but I decided to drive anyway. And while driving the cops spotted me and came after me.

Yeah that's just a terrible message.

"hod do I failed at blaming video games?"
*inserts spider man image*

In all honesty the game is pretty good at showing the dangers of drunk driving, after flipping over my camaro, I made sure to take a Taxi when stumbling out of the bar.

The game should be applauded for giving a simulation that shows how bad it is to drive drunk.

With that said overall the game lives up to its M rating, and its up to the parents to monitor what their kids are watching and playing. This facist BS really irratates me.

As a parent of 3, I am my parents father, and they will not play the game or watch me play it.

If you're old enough to drink legally, intelligent enough to have passed your driving test, and are a functional enough member of society to afford a car and its upkeep, then you'd think you would know that drink driving is a Bad Thing. yet people still do it. Why?

Oh yeah, a game released in early 2008 told them it was cool.

I remember reading about what pieces of shit m.a.d.d. are. I remember reading about how they lie about how they spend funds. I remember about how almost none of the donated money goes towards the cause, and is instead used to keep the organization with full pockets.

From my local paper:

MADD had long claimed that about 84 cents of every dollar raised went to support its programs instead of 19 cents. The difference is because the organization was claiming its fundraising activities were also educating the public about drunk driving and, therefore, were not fundraising costs

Disgusting fucks. They have no right to preach like this.

I heard in the news earlier this year that some police department released a game where you can drunk drive AND allowed children to play it. the driving aspect sounds similar to GTA-IV drunk driving but in a first person view.

How many of these groups that complain of one element or another in GTA$ have actually PLAYED THE GAME?

They see it has all sorts of elements: drugs, alochol, guns, driving, crime, etc, etc, etec....you know this game as I do. But really, they do not understand what they are talking about. They see these things and made wild comments on what it HAS to be about, not WHAT it is about.

For instance. Lets say, instead of GTA4, we are cheering that the book "War and Peace" just came out. They see "War" an assume everything from death to nazis concentration camps....without even reading the preface! Maybe these people from MADD should examine the content in the game, before using that lump two and a half feet above their @sses (yes I know, GP, no swear words. Technically, I didnt write one. Your mind made the connection on its own).

I'm sure MADD isnt the last, igorant idiots to come out about GTA4 to advance their own agenda. I'm sure we'll have a few more. An after that, we GAMERS, will STILL be playing GTA4 for fun, laughs, and a few comical moments.

Being drunk in this game is your responsibility. Just dont drink then you wont get drunk. They should not make this AO rated. They are just upset.

My assumption is no one at MADD has played GTA IV. I encountered the opportunity to drive drunk once in the game, and I thought they were actually making a statement about how difficult it was, because in the game it is virtual impossible to drive while drunk. The car bucks and weaves and you can barely control it at all (and if you start driving the cops will immediately go after you). In fact, you can barely walk without falling down, much less drive, and the game actually pops up a little window suggesting you take a cab.

It's a pretty strong anti-drunk driving statement, but of course throwing brick bats at GTA is a popular activity so it's not surprising everyone wants to get in the news by taking a dig of their own.

MADD, get a fucking clue about fictional video game entertainment, and get back to your real life battles before you lose more respect than you already have.

Pathetic.

Hey guys, look at that MADD logo. Notice the "period" after MADD above "education"? That is actually a star and somewhere on their site they claim they are in fact completely non-educational cause of the bullshit their spew. It's true.

I thought MADD was 'Mothers Against Dungeons & Dragons"? Two groups of insane people with the same acronym?

Oooooo ... I can haz turf war? THAT would be funny!!!

[...] As reported by Gamepolitics, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has expressed displeasure at how the game ‘glorifies’ drunk driving, and has called for the game to receive the AO (Adults Only) rating. More information can be found here. [...]

Okay, so I just decided to do a little drunk driving in GTA4. I can say if anything MADD should be using this as a tool to show teenaged drivers just how amazing bad of an idea drunk driving is. After slamming into a bunch of crap and eventually a cop car and getting arrested, yeah, its not a bright thing to do in the virtual or real world.

Not once did I say "This is a brilliant idea!"

@ Jojo Stix

Believe me: I've played the game for a good 12 hours now and had the option of drunk driving a time or two, both as a result of going out drinking with Niko's cousin.

Here's something to consider: The game tells you immediately that it's probably a good idea to hail a cab and get yourself home that-a-way. It is. It will be the first action I take every time Niko drinks in the game, should it always be available.

You wanna know why? My very first STEP- not drive, I mean literally, Niko's first on-foot STEP- sent him crashing RIGHT to the ground. Driving went EVEN WORSE, with police coming after me on three separate occasions, WITH the camera swirling like a can of paint in a mixer, AND my controller taking my commands to go left or right as mere suggestions. I have no clue how in the blue blazes I made it back to Roman's pick-up point intact.

I PERSONALLY drive a $700 beater car I bought used and have put that much back into repairs for, with no means to get another car should this one crash. I think this game has proven quite well that nothing is to be gained from drunk driving except a smashed-up car and repeated threats on all nearby human life.

...'course, the fact that I can't stand the taste of most booze will only help me along the road...

[...] Source: Gamepolitics Permalink [...]

If you read the press release off the MADD site right now -- the link Dennis provides in the story is still valid -- you'll see that the text has been changed from "have to drive drunk" to "can drive drunk." If the organization's argument was week before, this change in verbiage pretty much kneecaps it. Yes, you can drive drunk, but a) it's of your own choice, and b) you'll almost certainly pay the in-game punishment, much as you will if you drive drunk in the real world.

I'm not positive, but doesn't MADD (or various law enforcement agencies) use a drunk-driving simulator to show how your ability behind the wheel is impaired by alcohol? Seems like getting that message out, for the low price of $60, would be something MADD should support.

OK, you don't have to drive drunk it's an option that you can choose to do. In fact if you are drunk it suggests that you should walk or call a cab.

Also, it is one of the easiest ways to get wanted stars. If you get in a car drunk and even tap on the R button for a split second you get chased down by the cops.

They're not glorifying it, they put it in to add realism to the game.

So stop bitching and focus on real world drunk driving.

@Uh....

Looks like their 'discussion' blog doesn't actually include any discussion. Every single post has zero comments. Comments are 'allowed' but moderated.. so I guess they just delete everything.

So much phail.
Also, I assume Im not the only one aware of the irony in their abbreviated name?

Ok, to start...my aunt (my mothers twin no less) was killed a few years ago by a drunk driver and it hurt me and my family GREATLY. The bastard that did it got off light on a plea bargin in Va. I've come to terms with this tragedy, but I don't see how a videogame (and MANY movies that have shown it as well) are going to make someone go and do it themselves. I'm actually HAPPY with how they show it in the game. When Nikko's brother shows up drunk...he TELLS HIM HE SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING AND TAKES THE CAR. Later, once you yourself get drunk, they tell you right away that you should not be driving and should call a cab. Knowing that this is only a videogame and not the real thing (once again going back to knowing exactly how it can hurt a family in the real world and telling the two apart) I hopped into a car and tried to drive. Almost instantly I was wanted and chased by the cops. Warnings about the behaviour and IMMEDIATE consequences. They leave those things out when they talk about this issue I'm sure.

We've heard about murder simulators, columbine simulators, and wastes of time. Those are the new terminology invented by people to make games seem bad.

"game module"

What? Where'd this one come from?

Did MADD see the part where the cops are on you like shit on velcro if they witness drunken Nico enter a car?

[...] Lots of people are, predictably, up in arms about Grand Theft Auto IV, which features a certain about of violence and sex. It takes an organization like MADD, though, to miss the point as spectacularly as this: Each year nearly 13,500 people die in drunk driving crashes and another half a million are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes. This is why MADD is extremely disappointed by the decision of the manufacturers of the game Grand Theft Auto IV to include a game module where players have to drive drunk. [...]

OMG GTA HAS DRINK DRIVING IN IT!!!! NOW I CAN GO GET HAMMERED AND DRIVE THROUGH A MALL AND SAY THEY TOLD ME TO!!!!!!!! MADD is a joke along with every other protect the children jack off orgs. i like george carlins idea........ Carlin on Children: "And what's with all this talk about children? Save the children, help the children, what about the children...well, you know what I say? F*** the children! F*** 'em, they're getting entirely too much attention already!"

When I was in high school, we had a "presentation" where some people brought a car to the school and let us drive it around the parking lot. The car had been modified to simulate "drunk driving", i.e. it would swerve unexpectedly, the brakes were slow to respond to simulate slower response time, etc. The idea was to give us an idea of how much alcohol can handicap our driving abilities, so we would think twice about trying to drive if we were actually drunk. This was a SADD/MADD endorsed activity.

So...actually simulating drunk driving, in the REAL world, is supposed to help us make better decisions about drunk driving, but a virtual simulation of drunk driving is going to encourage us to do so?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I left a completely respectful comment on their blog opening up a dialogue and asking them to refute the many good points we all have on here and of course it hasn't been allowed to show up on their moderated board because it doesn't fit their message.

Yet another group pathetically trying to get in the news by bashing GTA. Sadly enough it works.

*Note I am not for or against MADD however there approach is a little unorthodox.*

Just to let you know I think MADD has changed their statement on their blog, it reads exactly as follows...

"Each year nearly 13,500 people die in drunk driving crashes and another half a million are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes. This is why MADD is extremely disappointed by the decision of the manufacturers of the game Grand Theft Auto IV to include a game module where players can drive drunk.

Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke. Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable. MADD is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to reclassify Grand Theft Auto IV as an Adults Only game, a step up from the current rating of Mature and for the manufacturer to consider a stop in distribution – if not out of responsibility to society then out of respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving."

Notice the "...a game module where players CAN drive drunk." I guess they have been informed that it is not a must but an optional decision on which the player decides what to do.

Me personally, I like to take taxi for the simple fact I don't like to get shot at by a squad of policemen as soon as I start up the engine and put it in drive, or the inability to run away fast enough when my car is about to blow from driving into everything. On a more personal note I have drove drunk before and ran my 97' Grand Am into a patch of woods and into a group of small trees. Good thing I was on a back road and nobody was hurt. I'll never do that again.

I'll help out MADD a little bit better than what they are doing will ever do. Here it is... "Don't drive drunk folks, bad sh*t will happen eventually if not the first time you do it." There you go MADD, I just saved more lives with that statement than your approach at the gaming industry, doesn't that suck. I didn't even have to take legal action.

"Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke. Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable."

And it's also a choice in the game. You're not forced to drive your self home, in fact, every time I've gotten blitzed in GTA4 the NPCs have suggested I take a cab. I ignored them the first time, thinking that it couldn't be *that* hard to drive drunk right? After weaving about madly, crashing into everyone and everything and being chased by the cops in the mean time, I've decided to call a cab rather than drive my self from now on.

In fact, I think GTA4 has made me more responsible in that regard. I've never driven drunk in real life before, but I'm definately not doing it now.

...

Maybe that's why MADD has such a problem with the drunk driving section? If too many people play it, drive drunk, and learn their lesson, MADD won't have anyone to preach to!

MAD doesn't need to worry, games aren't jokes any more than films that have drunk driving are.

posted a comment on their blog, waiting for approval, but it still doesnt show any other comments at all. guess they haven't gotten any comments that agree with them.

Even Niko thinks its a bad idea to do this when you first get drunk.

MADD, look. There is a variating difference between what is virtual and between what is reality. In reality, there has already been more than 1 video game that has portrayed Driving under the influence. And I won't even begin to include the number of movies that portray drunk driving. So inevitably, to concern yourselves with rockstar's decision to incorporate such an act is pointless. Violence is typically a part of everyone's life, and so is crime. It has continuously prevailed through many Centuries and though many efforts have successfully reported substantial decreases in criminal activity, and DUI's for that matter, it does not take away from the fact that people will stop doing it completely. If you really want to stop DUI's. You'd have to ban alcholic beverages from the public. Which ISN'T going to happen. And while I stand by your efforts to take people driving under the influence off the streets. I don't think it's typically relevant for you guys to target a video game over the matter. Because the point is is that it's just a video game. There is not enough evidence to support the fact that it "influences" these choices. I would stand by you guys 100 percent to help out with drunk driving. But as far as I'm concerned Rockstar came out with a pretty kick ass game. And you firms are trying to slap it down for your own advantageous gains. Unless there is hard evidence proving that these video games influence the public to commit such acts you should all just shut up and focus on what's happening already in "reality".

[...] Yes, both Mothers Against Drunk Driving and, more recently, the police force, have expressed their concerns over the fact that main character Niko Bellic can get himself half-cut and then attempt to drive a car. Funnily enough, I never even thought of the outrage it would cause when I first saw the sequence, although to be fair, I was too busy trying to make Niko walk straight. [...]

Honest;y, everyone and there mother is going after GTA 4. Give it a fucking rest. The GTA 4 horse is long dead, and so anyone still beating is a necrophile.
Have fun, MADD. You fucking perverts.

Everyone just needs to remember. People getting pissed off at a game is usually just an excellent sign of a great game. The more they bitch the more I buy