by Jordan Herrera | Staff Writer

Grand Theft Auto is the immensely popular, and equally as controversial video game franchise with a story surrounding crime, drugs, and an abundance of violence. So, naturally, parents with teens anxious to get some screentime with the game are concerned.

“I love Grand Theft Auto,” sophomore Fernando Davila said. “It lets me do all this stuff and it’s awesome. I can do whatever I want,and it’s not hurting anyone. I don’t think it’s hurting anyone, because it’s just a game, I’m not going out and stealing cars or anything like that. I’m just sitting down and having a good time online.”

Despite the overwhelming violence and grizzly subject matter throughout the entire game, it’s more widely accepted than some might think.

“Grand Theft Auto is so sick, its just the freedom of it, the action and the fact that you can do whatever you want,” junior Eric Williamsons  said.

The freedom of the game is what seemingly is attracting these teenagers. Such freedoms to do whatever you can possibly think of without punishment.

“I can relieve stress and it’s not like I’m robbing banks or doing this stuff in real life. I know that just because I see it in a game doesn’t make it okay, I’m not crazy. Real life is drastically different from the life I live via the game, no matter how immersive,” Williamson said.

However, some teens have worry stricken parents that think the violence and crime of GTA 5 is poison to the mind.

“I live in a strict house,” sophomore Stephen Weston said, “I have so many rules and things my parents require, but they don’t care about things like video games, because I guess they figure it’s just something not real and fictional and that it can’t hurt anything, and I feel the same way. It’s just a game. My parents know that I’m stable and not going to go out and do all this stuff, so it’s just for fun. It’s like a movie.”

Despite the overwhelming success of games such as Grand Theft Auto, many are still strongly against it.

“Games like that are terrible,” freshman Nasi Bode said, “Why would you want to do stuff like that ever? It’s so bad, my parents would never ever let me do that, and even if they did I’d never play it. I don’t think running around killing people is a fun idea, you could do anything else with your time, it seems like such a terrible waste. ”

Parents, however seem to be at the heart of the issue over violent games.

“My parents don’t even know I have it,” Junior Joseph Bryant said, “They’d probably be super against it if they really looked into it and what it was, but I don’t see anything wrong with it, it’s just a game.”

“Whenever my dad sees me playing GTA, he always demands I turn it off and freaks out, for some reason he doesn’t like it when i shoot at police officers and run over pedestrians. I don’t understand it.” Junior Mason Creasman said.

After watching gameplay from Grand Theft Auto, parents seem to form great opinions about what it is there kids are playing.

“I watched it for the first time, and I was slightly terrified.” Band Director and father of a future Johnson student, Howard Stern said. “ It’s crazy what you can do in that game, and what these kids do. It’s hard to dispute the correlation between on screen murder and a more violent generation, it’s just wild. ”