Grand Theft Auto cake for 4-year-old
For his birthday, Lil Derrick' parents gave him a Grand Theft Auto themed birthday cake, with a picture of a gun-toting car thief and rolled-up play money stuff into the frosting. (NOTE: I do not know whether it is a hoax or real.) Link
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Nice to see that these parent of the year candidates have a 4-yr old so intimately familiar with a game that features brutal violence, prostitution, drug dealing and carjacking that he'd be pleased with a cake in the same theme.
But I bet it's Rockstar's fault, right?
Disgusting.
Poor kid.
This makes a perfect follow-up to the post about the movie "Idiocracy" I just read on a friend's blog.
Humanity == Sad. :(
thats not the kind of game you encourage your kids to play, even if you play it yourself, you forbid them to play it, and eventually they'll get old enough to figure out how to play it behind your back.
thats how it worked for me and wolfenstein 3d
Why kind of child just turning four plays GTA? Parenting?
Looks yummy. The only thing missing is dead hookers.
-J L Borghead
How do we know that cake is actually for a 4 year old and not just a posed cake to make a statement?
There's no accompanying picture of the kid devouring the cake, no pictures of children at a party, no children or even a further explanation of the article.
I call fake. Fakity cakity fake.
Well, the good news is now we have Internet photos and "proof" so we can blame video games 10 years down the line when the child runs off the rails and does something tragic, probably in school.
I can hear Ann Curry's voice now on the "Dateline" special.
Allowing toddlers to play games that are specifically rated for adults may not be the same thing as handing them over to wolves, but I think there's some overlap on that Venn diagram.
Same as #5. I call shenanigans too.
This is a fake, no one would be this crass.
As a previous employee of Gamestop, I can attest that parents DO buy the Grand Theft Auto series for their children. At least they ATTEMPT to - I would often refuse to make the sale.
I don't know if it's a matter of these parents not knowing the content of the games, not understanding how the rating system works, or if they're just willing to give their kid anything to shut him up, but it's more than a little disturbing.
I remember a particular instance in which a mother and a grandmother came in with a little boy who couldn't have been over five. As he bounded around the store "shooting" other customers, his mother lovingly selected "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for the little ragamuffin to enjoy when he got home. I informed her that the game carried an "Adults Only" rating (which it did, at that time) and explained why. She brushed it off, stating, "oh, he's fine. I watch him play it."
Ah. Lovely.
My mom made me an R2D2 cake when I was 5 or 6. The Star Wars movies feature mass genocide, incestuous kissing, racism, and illegal POW torture. But you don't press the B button for that stuff to happen so it qualifies as kid-appropriate, right?
"(NT: d nt knw whthr t s hx r rl.)" SRPRSNG
This cake is PRODUCT PLACEMENT, and you're doing the same by posting it on this site. shame on you boingboing.
@ Brian Damage
The only difference is that the movie industry has more lobbyists, more PAC money, and more people in their pocket.
Y r ll dts.
I'm not sure it's appropriate to expose a four-year-old to the culture in that game.
Hell, I didn't like it very much and I was 23 when I played it. I certainly wouldn't let my kids play it (if I had any, that is). In the UK it's rated 18, which seems a fair choice, but I would consider allowing it at a younger age if I was confident the child would understand its just a game.
That said, I'd be wanting them to play Half-Life 2 first. It's a game, sure, but it's not a very good one.
I didn't play Grand Theft Auto till I was six.
And no one cared. And I haven't blown up any schools yet.
Can't wait until the tyke turns five, so his parents can bake him a Battle Royale cake.
I played grand theft auto III for the first time at age... 7 i think. I'm thirteen, have played every GTA that came out, And i have yet to get in even a big fight at school...