Drunk-driving group cross with GTA IV

By Robert Purchese Published 1 May, 2008

It is "not a game and it is not a joke".

US group Mothers Against Drunk Driving has voiced its disappointment with Grand Theft Auto IV for including a section where you can drive around while drunk.

MADD issued a statement on its website calling for the game to be re-evaluated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and for manufacturers to halt production "out of respect" for the millions that have been affected by drunk drivers.

"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," read the statement.

"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," concluded the statement.

Grand Theft Auto IV lets you go for a drink with some of your acquaintances and then drive home after if you can't be bothered to flag down a cab.

However, not only is driving around while inebriated extremely difficult, but it also sends the police after you if they happen to spot you on your journey. You could almost say there's a built-in deterrent.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Zomoniac #1 4 years ago

    People are also killed every year by being driven over or shot or repeatedly kicked in the head. It was obvious this was going to come up. It's completely irrelevant as the whole drunk thing is an amusing novelty a couple of times, but after that it just becomes a hinderance and I suspect most people will go out of their way to avoid it.

  • Metalfish #2 4 years ago

    I love the whole "mothers against" thing. Like these confused matriachs are the only people upholding moral standards in some anarchic hellhole.

  • Greebo #3 4 years ago

    The way the camera moves around, I reckon it could be a deterent for those who might be tempted to drink drive in real life too!

    Okay, probably not - but I'm definitely going to have Niko hail a cab each time, as on a big telly it really does make you feel sick!
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 09:04

  • Dizzy #4 4 years ago

    Free publicity FTW!

    And yea true... the graphic effects are so vomit inducing you have to take a cab ;)
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 09:05

  • Buztafen #5 4 years ago

    MADD eh! What a perfect name for a group of premenstral, over emotional, over reacting, glorified cleaners and cooks...

    3 words.... 'Chill out babes'

    /hides

  • Psiloc #6 4 years ago

    This could belong in one of GTAs own infomercial parodies. FFS the acronym is MADD.

  • Moonprince #7 4 years ago

    Not really, no.

  • olilan #8 4 years ago

    I thought MADD was Mothers Against Dungeons & Dragons...

  • aldo_14 #9 4 years ago

    Why can't anyone just admit that drink driving is terrible and ruins lives?. Gamers will always make excuses to protect their hobby. If your family was killed by a drink driver tomorrow you would soon shut the fuck up.

    Er, I don't think anyone has said it doesn't.

    The point is that this group is misrepresenting - consciously or unconsciously - what's actually present in the game, presumably for the publicity boost associated with a controversial game.

  • BeachGaara #10 4 years ago

    Drunk driving is also 100% preventable in this.

    Good day.

  • neilka #11 4 years ago

    ACTIVATE GAME MODULE

  • Buztafen #12 4 years ago


    Its a game for FFS, it does not make me want to drink drive!! Shoot people with an UZI maybe, but not drink drive...

  • Quint2020 #13 4 years ago

    Sod drunk driving, drunk darts is hard enough!

  • gerald #14 4 years ago

    I just walked home, falling over people and running into lamp posts... fun :-).

  • McFly55 #15 4 years ago

    Well they obviously havent played it, and just assume it encourages the player to drive drunk for extra points or something...

    whats the story with the mothers bit anyways? If youre not a mother and youre against drink driving do they tell you to fuck off and start your own group or something?

  • siksik6 #16 4 years ago

    why can't you just admit you're an idiot? If you can't tell the difference between real life and an amusing scenario in a game, you shouldn't be allowed out at all.

    Clearly running around shooting people is worse than driving whilst pissed... but it's a FUCKING GAME! Moron.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 09:29

  • Goodfella #17 4 years ago

    The irony is, you're far less likely to hurt anyone is this game when attempting to drink drive.

  • paulf #18 4 years ago

    just so they all feel better, I got drunk with roman last night, stole a car and was duly arrested - justice served, I have learnt my lesson and will never do it again

  • japstersam #19 4 years ago

    LOL drunk driving in GTA is the funniest moment i've had in a game for ages. hopped in a car drunk with roman, the police came after me, i tried to drive away, crashed, got out of my car and tried to run away, when niko was so drunk he fell over and i proceeded to get arrested.
    GTA FTW

  • rob230 #20 4 years ago

    It's bloody funny though.

  • Rash' #21 4 years ago

    I would take a cab, the damn game won't let me. Seems I have do the mission that triggers the ability first, which just seems like an odd decision to me.
    Edited by 2 at 01/05/08 @ 09:45

  • corposant #22 4 years ago

    This is hardly suprising. Anything controversial that has popular mainstream success will always attract special interest groups that will use it as an opportunity to seek exposure for their own cause. It's a cheap PR tactic, but it works - as is evident by the story here on EG and elsewhere. The best response is utter indifference.

  • viper_h #23 4 years ago

    Shut up, get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich.

    Sad, sad people.

  • Moz #24 4 years ago

    And I say once again, everyone Loves Homer Simpsons yet he drive drunk in a comic manner ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Plus it's a game that's giving you choices. To stop you driving a car because you were drunk would just be silly. Plus it shows you the effects of drinking which is surly going to act as a deterent more then anything else.


    /edit to avoid double post
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 09:59

  • GChris #25 4 years ago

    @Rash'

    You might have missed the instructions for doing this. Press L1 (on PS3, at least) to hail a cab, and then you need to HOLD down (not press) triangle to get into the taxi as a passenger. (This confused me the first time I tried it where I ended up stealing the taxi!)

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #26 4 years ago

    Well, at least Rockstar didn't decide to scrap drink driving half way through, but left the assets for it in :)

    To be fair to the pressure group, though, they are on-topic. Including drink driving in a videogame does trivialise it. And it's something a lot more impressionable young drivers (over 18, of course, to allow them to play the game in the first place) are more likely to do than lean out of their window and spray some random pedestrians with Uzi fire.

    They have the right to air their displeasure.

  • Chakitty #27 4 years ago

    @oGTAo

    Its a videogame FFS

    I play videogames I don't drink drive I don't kill people, there was drink drivers before GTA4

  • WinterSnowblind #28 4 years ago

    I have to voice my disappointment with these types of groups for attacking GTA for this type of thing, when they clearly know little about the game, and are just doing it for publicity. As has been said, the drinking effects in the game are bad, really bad. I mean, it's done so well you will actually throw up just by looking at the screen while it's on. Attempting to drive while it's there is almost impossible and it gets the cops on you very quickly.

    And it is only a game. I'm not going to say "Wow cool, Niko can drive drunk, so can I!" anymore than I'm going to shoot someone with a pistol because he dented my new car. And again, if anything the game shows how drunk driving is not a good idea, it shows you how dangerous and stupid it is and almost forces you to call a cab instead.

  • Emth #29 4 years ago

    So... where's the angry war widows condemning the killing of soldiers in COD4? Where's the..... etc.

    This is laughable.

  • Macross #30 4 years ago

    thats cos all the tracksuiting wearing chavs will be inside playing gta iv not outside scrumping for car stereos :)

  • sanctimoniousqf #31 4 years ago

    Doesn't Niko also say something like "I really don't think I should be driving" or some such as well when you get in the car? And iirc, it also takes a while longer to start the car - probably he kept missing the ignition with the end of the key ;-)

  • systems #32 4 years ago

    @olilan - you're thinking of BADD (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons). It was never called MADD.
    http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%2...

    I'm happy for them to make the game adult only. Case closed. Doesn't affect me.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 10:30

  • MBar #33 4 years ago

    Holy crap, it's not been done yet:

    WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!! :(

    As for the actual argument: Sigh ... Despite having been drunk and being tasked with taking someone home, I didn't even think about getting into a car, because the amount of falling over etc. that was happening on foot convinced me it would be a significantly bad idea.

    So you could argue that it shows you the rather large negative effects of drink driving without real life consequences.

    In your face, MADD.

  • Phily50 #34 4 years ago

    does the fact that the game clearly shows that drink driving is stupid (not to mention hard!) not count for anything?

  • superdelphinus #35 4 years ago

    personally i think they have a point with this. Or at least they could have made it beneficial not to drive. e.g if you try and drive pissed with michelle she will dump you and not speak to you for ages or something

  • TriggerHippie #36 4 years ago

    Thanks for the help Mothers! I always imagined the police and everyone else giving me big grins and two thumbs up if I ever tried driving pissed, but apparently its not a clever thing to do.

    Good job they don't have a problem with me driving at high speed and casually mowing down pedestrians. I'd never get to work!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #37 4 years ago

    clearly know little about the game, and are just doing it for publicity

    Given that our own government spends hundreds of millions of pounds on advertising to discourage people from drink driving, I think hijacking the media juggernaut of GTA IV for this purpose for free is a good thing.

    Although I don't agree that the game should be (effectively, in the US) banned, like they're asking for. If Rockstar argue back that GTA IV portrays drink driving as a bad thing, then so much the better.

  • WillyWanka #38 4 years ago

    No this is spartaaaaaaaaaaaa

  • Ranger101 #39 4 years ago

    "And I say once again, everyone Loves Homer Simpsons yet he drive drunk in a comic manner ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! " - Moz


    Absolutely 100% hit the nail on the head. Not only does Homer simpson drive around drunk in a prime time cartoon show, marketed to adults and children alike, but he ususally never faces any reprecussions that are proportionate to those actions. I think Marge Simpson got done for a DUI, but that was once.

    Lame PR attempt. I hate people so bad I want to kill them. GTA made me this way.

  • Saii #40 4 years ago

    Who wants to place bets on there being an outrage in relation to immigration, probably from the Daily Mail?
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 11:12

  • Oskorei #41 4 years ago

    You will all burn in hell for not listening to your mothers.

  • TriggerHippie #42 4 years ago

    "Who wants to place bets on there being an outrage in relation to immigration, probably from the Daily Mail?"

    Where the hell have you been?
    Edited by 2 at 01/05/08 @ 11:26

  • knocker #43 4 years ago

    My Niko has now seen the error of his ways, been to rehab and now spends his time working as a lay preacher warning on the perils of a dissolute lifestyle.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #44 4 years ago

    If anybody is swayed by playing a game or watching a film they should be put into a nut house.

    What, anyone who bought a sprung-slider phone after watching the Matrix?
    Anyone who started kickboxing classes after watching a Jean-Claude van Damme movie?
    Any kid who started go-kart racing after playing F1 2007 on their Playstation?

  • ozzit #45 4 years ago

    I haven't dared drive after drinking in the game yet, in the same way that I haven't done so in real life - because there are consequences in both.

    I have done it however in WoW - I don't see anyone complaining about that (admittedly its not quite the same, but being inebriated in charge of a flying dragon seems more dangerous to be honest :p)

  • Monkey_Puncher #46 4 years ago

    Strange, I LOL'ed the first time I went drink driving in the game. Sure it's not a game in real life, but then neither's running people over and smashing hookers over the head with a baseball bat, but it's damn funny in the game!

  • Byzanite #47 4 years ago

    All the cabs I take get stuck on 1) Scenery 2) People its knocked over 3) other cars and lorries. I get frustrated and press X to ask the driver to hurry, he then proceeds to ram other cars and more scenery and people, including police cars who dont seem to mind, and then gets stuck again.

    So much for AI path finding. :p

  • bdc #48 4 years ago

    News alert: It's a FUCKING VIDEO GAME.

  • dsmx #49 4 years ago

    I don't understand why there up in arms about drunk driving in the game, it shows the effects it has on you so what's the problem? If a game shows the consequences of your actions surely that's a good thing?

  • AtomicBanana #50 4 years ago

    Riding home drunk on a motorbike is priceless :D That and when I manged to end up having my company fall over, causing me to fall over. They'd then stand up, and fall over me again, then I'd stand up and fall over them again. I must have laughed for a solid minute :D

  • AhSoul #51 4 years ago

    Is driving drunk really that hard in GTA4? I drove home pissed and made it without too much trauma - after a while you seem to get used to counteracting the random movement.

    Think I'd get a cab next time though - was a bit too much effort ;)

    And for what it's worth anyone who plays the game and then decides that drink driving is cool or whatever must have bigger issues anyway, so can't see how it's the game's fault....
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 13:10

  • mikew1985 #52 4 years ago

    I would say one of the funniest moments I had was with this too. Driving roman home drunk in a big 4x4 swaying like crazy, eventually police are on my tail im speeding across the bridge to bohan, narrowly avoiding the toll booth. Hitting every second car, just make it to the off ramp with the police on my tail. BAM 4x4 breaks down Niko screaming "come on come on"... nothing.
    Engine fucked.

    I attempt to hightail it away from the jeep, which luckily blocks the polices path somewhat leaving me just enough time to steal a car and ghet the 20 metres to safety of the safe house.

    Just the fact that the engine can breakdown from abuse was so funny, the only reason i escaped was because the police were blocked. Good times!

    Having said all that, I would never ever drink drive in real life and as someone who lost a very close family member because some dickhead decided to drive with a bottle of vodka in hand I feel I can understand both perspectives but have to disagree with this group. Sensationalist garbage.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 13:28

  • Ryze #53 4 years ago

    Does the game force anyone to drink drive?

    Isn't shooting people with shotguns also dangerous?

    ??? Idiots.

  • seasidebaz #54 4 years ago

    yes, the game does force it. early on.

    i was nearly sick in real life after playing last night. i had had a few beers (in real life) then got drunk in the game. i kept laughing when niko fell over people, bar stools, the brick wall outside, a beer barrel, then eventually got to the car.

    i never want to play drunk driving on it again, it was horrible :p

  • TriggerHippie #55 4 years ago

    Strange, the game hasn't forced me to do it. Thats what taxi's are for.

  • Ryze #56 4 years ago

    The game doesn't force you to drink drive - IDIOTS! you can get a cab.

    EVERYONE - 'The 40 year old Virgin' encourages you to drink drive! It even shows you how to bypass a breathalyser ignition system!

    BAN THIS SICK FILTH!

  • Ryze #57 4 years ago

    I happened to play the mission in GTA: Vice City stories last night where you get rammed by the truck while you're in the cocaine filled van, and end up high on coke trying to drive after and kill off the thieves.

    Where was the uproar then? Oh!!!! So Charley's OK to be off your head driving on?

    MADD you are DANGEROUSLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND NEGLIGENT!!!

    btw - I'm stuck on that level, since you're so outgunned, and there's no mission restarts to encourage repeat play. Any tips?

  • Feanor #58 4 years ago

    "Absolutely 100% hit the nail on the head. Not only does Homer simpson drive around drunk in a prime time cartoon show, marketed to adults and children alike, but he ususally never faces any reprecussions that are proportionate to those actions. I think Marge Simpson got done for a DUI, but that was once."

    Homer had to watch a scared straight style educational video showing real traffic accidents in one episode.

    Here's an appealing fellow... etc.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 18:04

  • BBIAJ #59 4 years ago

    Trying to hail a cab whilst drunk is funny.

    "Yellow car! Hey!"

  • seasidebaz #60 4 years ago

    if you follow the mission structure when you get a girlfriend and take her to the pub you end up with the car parked outside the bar on the pavement. the easiest way to finish the mission (read: most efficient) is to get back in said car, which is placed directly outside the bar (conveniently) and then drive your girlfriend back home. if you follow the gps directions, there are no police on the route it gives you. there are no taxis outside the bar, and niko walks slowly at the best of times, so the easiest / quickest thing to do is press triangle when you get anywhere near. drunkenness disappears as if by magic while he quickly gets in.

  • chrisjm #61 4 years ago

    homer does get done once, for driving drunk after visiting the duff brewery (they had a sting outside it!), but the police let the clearly drunk barny take the wheel instead!

    if people are so stupid that they cant tell the difference between life and a game/tv they shouldnt be driving anyway, as by the same logic they are going to be street racing, knocking people over, firing green shells at other drivers all because they saw it on tv.

  • potter73 #62 4 years ago

    Personally, being of sound mind, I can tell the difference between A GAME and REALITY. These left wing, tree hugging, do gooders need to wake up and appreciate that the majoirty of game players are not axe wielding , alchoholic psychos.

    Now , I go that off my chest.....take Michelle to the Irish bar....after a brief cut scene you have to walk out of the bar totally hammered....very funny watching Nico fall onto people, collapse on the floor...................then driver her back home :-)

  • sergeantdisco #63 4 years ago

    American mothers are evidently more stupid than I gave them credit for.

    I'm not keen on this whole 'Mothers Against' thing either, it infers that they are the only one with the moral rectitude to speak out on these kinds of issues.

    Well, I suppose they do have to do something with their time, other than wahing up and cooking dinner of course.