Gamers start petition to get GTA 5 back in Target Australia stores

Recent news has revealed that the Australian branch of Target announced that Rockstar’s immensely popular GTA 5 would be removed from its inventory in response to customer feedback regarding its depiction of violence against women.

The decision stemmed from a petition on the popular site, Change.org, which was started by Australian women subject to violence and sexual abuse in their lives.

In an interesting turn of events, it appears that a counter-petition started on the same site (Change) is doing the exact opposite, attempting to get GTA 5 back on shelves in Target stores down under.

The petition states:

“A game made for adults is being taken off the shelves by Target…because it apparently encourages players to cause violence against women. I fear that other retailers will follow this trend. Soon, this game won’t be sold anywhere in Australia. The R18+ rating is there for a reason! This game allows you to kill, hurt, bash and shoot anyone, not just females. GTA 5 should be on the shelves all over the country. It’s made for adults, not children.
We have the right to buy games despite their content.”

[mhunterjr]

Why did the original petition single out Target stores? And the game has been out for a long time... Why the petition now?

[TheJacksonRGN]

Target is a "family store", unlike Toys R Us, lol. People are so dumb. It is a shame Target buckled so quickly due to this. Really sad.

[DesertFoxJr]

There was some controversy due to the new-gen iteration's first-person perspective, I assume that was Australian women's breaking point.

It's surprising that Target succumbed so quickly to the petition's demands. I'm not from Australia, but I know their censorshop laws are a bit more stringent than other countries.

[Rebel_Scum]

You're incorrect about the censorship laws. Before they did not have a classification rating for "mature" or R18+ game content. Hence why stuff like MK9 was banned previously.

Also this issue has nothing to do with censorship. A business can choose what to sell and what not to sell.

[Hendrickson]

Too little too late..

[Iceball2000]

*walks over to Walmart, buys game* #problemsolved

[crashbash]

There aren't any Walmart stores in Australia. America does not include the country Australia. It's quite a big place, have a look on a map.

[VonBraunschweigg]

I did but I couldn't find it. Give me your adress, I'll ship you my copy when I'm done.

But first, left right up down, where is it?

[crashbash]

Down, and then under.

[VonBraunschweigg]

No that's Antarcti oh there it is! Down under and then right. In the corner.

[pivotplease]

Hoping my sarcasm detector is broken today. Or maybe more people flunked geography than I thought...

http://www.dailymotion.com/...

Dat flute.

[Iceball2000]

you get my point, or maybe you don't.

*point is, there's other places other than target.*

[VonBraunschweigg]

Hey Pivot, I always thought that song was about some fantasy shangri-la land, but it's really there! Might go there one day:)

[matt139]

Who cares, just purchase it somewhere else surely.

[DesertFoxJr]

I think it's more to do with the fact they're fearing other Australian retailers will follow suit. Not sure how viable a possibility that is, but it's there nonetheless.

[matt139]

Ah, guess that makes sense.

[u4one]

how about this - if you are under legal age to buy mature games don't by them unless you have parental consent. if you don't like the game or its content, don't buy it. don't take away other peoples right though. i mean - its just entertainment. movies are violent and nobody petitions movie theaters to stop playing them. people need to stop making their hang ups everybody else' problem.... and heres a news flash. if you go shoot people up or cause violence to others in real life, chances are you didn't need the game to get there. you already had that in you beforehand. never once have i played a game and thought "hey this gives me an idea" and then go hold up a bank or run people over or shoot a place up.

[Antifan]

The feminist are starting a war with gamers? Ahaha. They have nothing else to do but complain.

[pivotplease]

I don't see the point in negatively generalizing the feminists. Sure there are the vocal minority who are basically the female version of misogynists, but there are more fair feminists who have genuine concerns about equality. It's the same with gamers who can account for some of the worst people I've seen in my life. It's less of a war and more of a skirmish between subcategories of feminists and gamers.

[josephayal]

They have Target in Australia??

[DesertFoxJr]

Apparently so, haha. Target knows no bounds.

[Rebel_Scum]

Nope, its still in stores. I saw it there yesterday at Target in Bondi Junction for PS4. It was right by the damn entrance lol.

[Stardust260]

"Evil feminist pigs" pffft
As long as that's in there, this petition will be ridiculed by Target

[pivotplease]

And rightfully so. As long as people display hypocrisy through mutual hatred, both sides will appear at fault.

[Stardust260]

Yup
Instead, they should show how much of a feminist game this actually is -- women in this game are often shown as more powerful then the male main characters, but not in a misandrist way(The part where Patricia slaps Trevor and he shuts up, when Tanisha breaks up with Franklin, when Trevor gets mad at Wade for him calling Ashley a "bitch", so forth). Also this game shows an extreme level of consciousness for how screwed up and materialistic much of the world is today.

[ReturnToSanity]

Terrible to be a gamer in Australia. I have nothing against Australians, I just think it's a shame their government is overly strict. No official research has yet to prove video games as a direct negative influence on anyone.