Transcript: What Parents Need to Know About “Bully”, the New Video Game from Rockstar

This transcript is from a PodTech.net podcast at:
http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/1373/what-parents-need-to-know-about-bully-the-new-video-game-from-rockstar

Guest: Jim Steyer - Common Sense Media
Host: Lisa - PodTech - PodTech

Announcer
This is Podtech.net, with content from KPIX television and Common Sense Media, dedicated to improving the media and entertainment lives of children and families. For more information go to commonsensemedia.org.

Lisa - PodTech
It's a video game, that when the kids who got picked on, they can get revenge. It's called Bully, but is it appropriate for children. Our media expert, Jim Steyer is here with his recommendation. Good morning to you.

Jim Steyer - Common Sense Media
Hi, Lisa.

Lisa - PodTech
So, first of all, you have to face me in teachers, nasty clubs clicks, basically, the point of this game is, you can either bully or be bullied.

Jim Steyer - Common Sense Media
That's right, and this is made by the guys, who make the Grand Theft Auto series. They're really the bad boys of the video game industry, and it's far less violent there's really no guns and really the kind of disgusting violence, you can find in the Grand Theft Auto series, but it's said in a school that the main character in the game, is at a school, and you have sort of the jocks and the cheerleaders and then you have Jimmy, who's the main character, and the question is, -- does he fight, does he get bullied. You'll see there's a lot of fist-fighting as we're seeing here on the screen. So, you don't have the kind of horrible graphic gun violence we have a lot of fighting like this and this is what's made it such a challenging game, because there is a lot of messages and images. You can see -- look at the fight here, and obviously, kids are going to play this game. It's rated T, so that means that it's recommended for teens, but that means that you'll have -- you can see the fighting here. You have a lot of kinds of scenes like this and kids can avoid this or they can do it, but from a parental standpoint, obviously your concern is, kids are going to want to go there and get into the fighting aspect of the game. So it's really a challenge from both the retailer's standpoint and from parent's standpoint.

Lisa - PodTech
Well some experts are saying, that this is good outlet. Kids can get it out on the screen, instead of taking it on to the real world. On the other hand, it shows to survive a bully, you actually need to become a bully.

Jim Steyer - Common Sense Media
It's a tricky one, again, this isn't such a clear cut case like we had with Grand Theft Auto or Manhunter, (ph) some of the really grossly, violent or sexy violent games and by the way, these guys are very popular in the gaming community. The guys, gamers who play video games, love this company because they're very good in terms of their actual design of games. But the issue is, essentially, the parents are going to have to supervise a game like this, again, T is just a rating. Common Sense Media by the way, if you go to Common Sense Media.com, you can go, see the full rating of Bully, starting tomorrow. You can see what we have to say about it, but it's a game that you can do okay in, but it's also a game that can promote physical violence and bullying behavior, so it may be you can say it's educational, but it's going to cause lot of consternation for parents. Educators around the country have come out and criticized the game quite a bit. There's been in Indiana and in Florida, people have come on and said, please don't sell this game; they actually went to Target, the big retailer, and said, please don't have this on your shelves. Target looked at it and said, well, we've reviewed the content and we have wide audience that we sell to, so we are going to make it available. But, it's really going to be a controversial game, a lot of our viewers out there are going to have kids, who say, I want this plunked down 40 bucks or whatever able to buy Bully, and I think as a parent, you're really going to have to take a look at this game and decide, if you want your kids doing that, and it's one of those challenges, that we see as a parent. Particularly in the video game arena where you don't have the -- again the gross violence, but you have really tough issues to deal with and kids are going to be asking for it, so you going to have to make a decision about, whether or not, Bully is appropriate for your kids. Probably, it will be boys, most of all, who will be coming to their parents saying, can I get a copy of this game?

Lisa - PodTech
Alright Jim Steyer, aren't we expert, thank you.

Jim Steyer - Common Sense Media
Great to see you Lisa.