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Grand Theft Auto is notoriously violent, graphic, and hyper-sexual – and now the NSW police force is involved.
Modifications to the game, that can be downloaded from a range of websites, change the uniforms and games of American police officers to the Australian variety as well as allow gamers to act as NSW police officers while they murder suspects, crash cars and the other lewd behaviours GTA’s known for.
And boy is NSW Police Minister Troy Grant fuming.
“There’s a fear that this desensitises people to the real risk the police face and I find it offensive,” said Mr Grant.
Some are framing this mod as a new killer cop version of the game, but GTA has always been based in an open universe – meaning gamers can act as psychotic or law-abiding as they want.
So although this new mod may offend Mr Grant, GTA has always offended cops. The only difference now is the uniform on the police.
NSW police plan to take action against the game’s designers, but finding, let alone prosecuting, the hordes of people who have made mods to the game would be near impossible. Rockstar, Grand Theft Auto’s publisher, has no control over how people modify their game.
Psychologist Chris Lennings told media that, “There is no reset button on the real-life situations police face.”
Which probably goes without saying, to be honest.
