What is Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and how can I talk with my child about the game?

We discuss the following topics about GTA in this blog:

What do the young people say about the game?

What is the game, how does it work?

What do Classification Advisors say about it?

Does it have a classification in NZ?

While you’re here just be aware: The risks

What the research tells us about the risks

Media literacy and prevention for whānau

Conversations with whānau

Key takeaways for parents

Final thoughts

Further reading and interesting links

What do the young people say about the game?

Miss 19 Year Old--

“I think people play Grand Theft Auto because it’s almost so far-fetched from people’s normal day to day reality, being able to drive on roads excusing road rules and rob people without all the consequences that you would have in real life etc. All these features make it enjoyable, almost like a virtual world so much like real life, but far from it. I think people play it as it is very appealing (being quite edgy) with the storyline’s/missions/characters making it enjoyable, and the game being based off a real landmark allowing a player to roam around the map. I know people who just play the game to drive around the map in a car, taking in the locations and then being able to use the knowledge of the Grand Theft Auto map when they visit the state, making it enjoyable to have this feature. I think people want to play the game to have this experience that is so far from their environment, laws and the consequences that the characters in the game won’t face.

The language in the game can be quite vulgar.  Can be quite violent and gory at times. The use of free will the game allows the player to have could have a major effect on your children e.g being able to punch someone walking past could result in a child without knowledge of what is right or wrong to follow the actions which are displayed to them through the game. Don’t let your children into the strip club (I know that’s what captured my friends want to play the game as children…).”

Miss 20 Year Old--

“When I was younger and played GTA, it was never by myself, I was always playing with friends. It was a fun game and honestly pretty funny. Watching your friends shoot up the streets and get into police chases was so exhilarating as a kid, especially because I knew I couldn’t do that in real life. That’s honestly all my friends and I did. We knew you could do missions and other stuff in GTA, but we didn’t care, we weren’t really interested in any of that.

I think parents and caregivers should know about the strip club. I think the first time I ever saw a pair of boobs was in the strip club in GTA. Obviously, as a kid, going to a strip club was something you'd never experienced before... My friends and I thought it was funny at the time, but in reality, I’m not sure if a pre-teen should be seeing those things or even have access to them. I think that’s something my parents were completely oblivious to in the game. There’s a function where you can go into a private room, but you’re not allowed to touch the girls — though that only applies when the bouncer is watching. If you got caught, you’d get kicked out of the strip club or heavily told off. I feel like if younger kids are playing this and trying to touch the stripper when the bouncer isn’t looking, it could send the message that this kind of behaviour is okay in real life. And if you get away with it in the game, it might make it seem like it’s socially acceptable — even though it’s not."

(Editor’s note: strip clubs appear in several versions of Grand Theft Auto, including GTA 5, GTA: San Andreas, GTA: Vice City, GTA 4, and GTA Online)

What is the game, how does it work?

We explain in this section whether it’s role-playing, first person shooter etc., and the technical details of how you play the game.

It's an action-adventure game with a third person point-of-view where you play a character to complete missions, or explore the open world of the city. A lot of the game play involves driving different vehicles, and shooting. And there’s role-playing in some of the missions. The cities in the series are based on real-life cities with the original game's map featuring three cities—Liberty City (based on New York City), San Andreas (based on San Francisco), and Vice City (based on Miami).

In each of the games the player’s character operate in the criminal world, and must undertake missions to work their way up the ranks. Violent crimes, including murders, are commonly part of the missions that you must complete. As you complete illegal activities you start to gain a ‘wanted level’ (represented by stars, 5-6 being the maximum star rating) and the Police start to take an interest in you as your wanted level increases. Evading police through car chases is a frequent part of the game play.

From Grand Theft Auto III onwards there are references to American culture through the radio stations which you hear when driving, with pop music, commercials, DJs and talk back radio on air.

What do we (Classification Advisors) say about it?

The GTA franchise is a cultural phenomenon, one that you can’t miss if you play any kind of video game. The game style is an ‘open world crime simulator’ that gives you the freedom to explore and test out things you would never do in the real world. That freedom and player agency encourages role playing situations such as stealing cars, evading the cops, injuring and killing people. It’s cops and robbers on a truly grand scale.

That’s why an age restriction is important so that players have enough life experience and understanding to know what they’re doing in the game is not to be imitated anywhere outside of the game. Our brain development series explains this further about the cognitive age differences and harm that can be done from consuming content young brains are not ready for.

One of our Advisors shared how as a teenager their own interest in media literacy came in part from playing GTA. Being exposed to this post-modern media peppered with pop culture references and jokes helped inform their own consumption of Western culture and critique of media outside the game.

We know that hype is huge for GTA VI – at time of writing this blog the game is slated for release in May 2026 and the predictions are it will be the biggest game for years to come. We can also anticipate that it will be the most played game of that year and potentially many years after that. It may also be the most watched game ever. The impact of that footage and how it will be used gives us pause here. While the game may have a restricted age rating (assumption, based on the previous GTA games in the series), it will be a sandbox for players to create further content that is distributed in many ways outside of the game console / gaming platform methods. Short form videos (and recordings of Twitch streams showing the game play for example) will become publications that are circulated across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and more. Publications can become classifiable content that in turn also require age restrictions. But many young people may come across that content in their feed without warning, and without the in-game context to explain it.

The push for life-like realism in movies and games has meant hyper realistic first person shooter games are now common. And the first person element of GTA V can be deeply engaging. It’s also being copied:  Extremists have taken that popular style of game play and ‘gamified’ their extreme violence videos which are circulated online. Unfortunately, the terrorist’s video of the Christchurch Mosque Attack is one such example where the game style has been exploited. (An advisor noted that they could no longer play first-person shooters because it so closely resembled the content that they’ve classified in their job). The risk of harm from this includes people accidentally coming across and consuming terrorist footage thinking they’re watching a game, or becoming desensitised to extreme violence from the crossover of terrorist content and gameplay.

The impact of this content taken outside of the game, and how elements will be used by extremists to drive conspiracy theories is something we anticipate seeing more of in our classification work as subsequent versions are released.

Does it have a classification in NZ?

Most of the games in the GTA franchise have NZ classifications, except where they were released online only and therefore were not required to be submitted for classification.

Generally, popular video games are released in a wide variety of formats and any physical publications must be submitted to the Office if they potentially contain restricted content.

2D universe

1) Grand Theft Auto 1 (1997)

• Release Date: November 28, 1997
• R13 violence and offensive language (originally R18 violence but the classification was reconsidered in 2018)

2) GTA: London, 1969 (1999)

• Release Date: April 29, 1999
• R16 violence and sexual references

3) GTA: London, 1961 (1999)

• Release Date: June 1, 1999
• R16 violence and sexual references

4) Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)

• Release Date: October 22, 1999
• R16 violence (originally R18 violence but was reconsidered in 2023)

5) Grand Theft Auto: Advance (2004)

• Release Date: October 26, 2004
• No NZ classification but has an Australian rating of ‘M medium level animated violence, adult themes’.

3D universe

6) Grand Theft Auto 3 (2001)

• Release Date: October 22, 2001
• R18 violence (was reconsidered in 2023 and classification remained unchanged)

7) GTA: Vice City (2002)

• Release Date: October 27, 2002
• R18 violence

8) GTA: San Andreas (2004)

• Release Date: October 26, 2004
• R18 violence and offensive language
• San Andreas Hot Coffee modification was called-in by the Chief Censor and classified R18 violence, offensive language and sex scenes

9) Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy (2005)

• Release Date: October 19, 2005
• R18 violence and offensive language

10) Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories (2005)

• Release Date: October 24, 2005
• R18 violence, sexual themes and offensive language

11) Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories (2006)

• Release Date: October 31, 2006
• R18 violence, sexual themes and offensive language

HD universe

12) Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)

• Release Date: April 29, 2008
• R18 violence and offensive language
• “Unedited version” rated R18 violence, offensive language and sex scenes

13) GTA IV: The Lost and Damned (2009)

• Release Date: February 17, 2009
• R18 violence, offensive language and drug use

14) GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony (2009)

• Release Date: October 29, 2009
• R18 violence, offensive language and sex scenes

15) Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (2009)

• Release Date: March 17, 2009
• R16 offensive language, violence and other content that may offend

16) Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013)

• Release Date: September 17, 2013
• R18 violence, sexual material, drug use and offensive language

17) Grand Theft Auto Online (2013)

• Release Date: October 1, 2013
• No NZ classification as it is an online game not covered by the Films, Videos and Publications Act (1993)

18) Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition (2021)

• Release Date: November 11, 2021
• R18 violence and offensive language

19) Grand Theft Auto VI

• Release Date: May 26, 2026
• Yet to be classified

While you’re here just be aware: The risks

Is there known difficult content, themes, or possible radicalisation track records with this game?

GTA is reportedly the most controversial video game in history (according to the Guiness World Records 2018).

Several versions of the game have had their classifications reconsidered by the Office over the years and they continue to have age restrictions. Most of the GTA games are classified R18 which means it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to possess or play the game.

Keeping in mind that this game is designed for adult gamers, we’ve put together a straightforward, research-backed guide to understanding the risks and practical steps you can take as a parent to support the gamer in your whare. It is a good reminder that many of these risks are risks found with the internet in general, but we’ve included actionable advice and information on what you can do as a caregiver to ensure safe gaming for your whānau.

Underage gaming and inappropriate content

Maintaining frequent, positive conversations with your young person about their gaming interests and their online world, without judgement, is important.

Showing curiosity and calmness towards their interests will ensure they are more able to tell you when they are facing problems or come across something upsetting on a platform.
By having knowledge of the type of missions, storylines and objectives that players undertake in GTA will help you have gentle conversations about game play versus real world behaviours. Even playing the game yourself so you can understand the tasks and pressures of the game will help you make decisions about whether it is appropriate for your young person. Classifications and content warnings are there to help you make those decisions.

What research tells us about the risks

GTA is one of the most controversial game series ever made. It’s a crime simulator designed for adults, and most titles in the series are rated R18 in New Zealand. That means it’s illegal for anyone under 18 to play, buy or own the game. The classification is there because of the strong violence, sexual content, adult themes and offensive language built into the gameplay.

Here’s what the research and recent case work tells us about the risks, and what you can do to reduce them.

Sexism and misogyny in the game world

GTA’s worlds are full of strip clubs, prostitution, and female characters with little agency. Violence towards them is often treated as a joke or without consequence. Research show that women are sexualised far more often than men in video game art and marketing. Games like GTA reinforce these patterns through mission design and dialogue, and often reduce female characters to background scenery for the player’s entertainment.

There has been criticism of some of the actions you can take in the game, including players being able to restore their health by paying for the services of prostitutes – and if they wished, killing them to get some of their money back. Rather than a focus on heroic actions or tasks, within GTA you’re taking on a criminal role and can commit crimes and violence, including the killing of cops, while suffering only temporary consequences.

The concern for younger players is that repeated exposure to these stereotypes can start to shape what they see as “normal” in gender roles. This large-scale survey, which tracked more than 800 gamers over time, didn’t find that all gamers became more sexist, but specific groups of players in certain contexts (especially male players who identified with the male character in the game) can develop more accepting attitudes toward gender inequality, greater tolerance of sexual harassment or dismissiveness toward women’s experiences of harm.

Aggressive thinking and empathy

Decades of studies on violent video games have found a small but consistent link between playing these games and short-term increases in aggressive thoughts, alongside small drops in empathy. That’s not about turning someone into a violent offender, but it can shift how they think about and respond to conflict.

One experiment with teenage boys found that those who played a version of GTA with both violence and sexist content were less compassionate when shown a photo of a battered girl afterwards, especially if they had strongly identified with their in-game character. More recent work published in 2025 on GTA V has warned that repeated exposure to prostitution scenes and violence against women can normalise these ideas, particularly for boys who are still forming their views on relationships, consent and respect.

Desensitisation to Violence

Some research shows that regular exposure to violent game play can dull emotional responses to violence over time, making violent acts, in games or real life, feel less shocking. GTA’s realistic graphics, first-person mode and sandbox freedom can make those moments feel more immersive. The game is designed to give gamers an open world where they can roam freely, ignore the main storyline and decide what to do, when and how. A bit like a sandbox in a playground where you can shape and play without fixed rules.

That immersive, game-like aesthetic has been deliberately copied in real-world violent extremist propaganda. A stark example is the Christchurch terrorist, as documented by the Royal Commission of Inquiry Report (2022), who livestreamed his attack in a way that visually resembled a first-person shooter game. While there’s no evidence GTA or any other game radicalised him, he borrowed gaming aesthetics, from the camera style to the pacing, to make his footage look like a game. The risk is that young people who regularly consume this style of content in games may not immediately distinguish between fictional and real-world violence when they encounter such footage online, especially if it’s shared without warnings.

Radicalisation and bad actors use of gaming spaces

Reports such as the ones published by EU Radicalisation Awareness Network and GNET have documented how violent extremists have been using gaming platforms and related spaces like Discord, Twitch, and Steam chats to socialise, drip-feed ideology, and normalise violence through memes and edgy humour. GTA’s online mode, like other popular games, can be one of these spaces because it offers open chat, shared missions, and private server options.

What’s important here is the social layer of gaming. The risk doesn’t come from the game disc itself. It’s from who your young person is playing and talking with, what private servers or groups they’re invited into, and what’s being shared there.

The Youth Advisory Panel told us that framing hate and racism as Just Kidding or It’s just a Joke makes it easier to repeat without thinking about its meaning.

Reducing this risk is about setting clear rules for online contact, monitoring who they play with, and making sure they feel comfortable telling you if they see or hear something that feels wrong. It’s also about encouraging critical thinking about humour like who is this joke aimed at, and why?

Media Literacy and Prevention for Whānau

Where GTA shows up outside the console

Even if your young person isn’t playing GTA themselves, they might still be seeing GTA content in other places, and those clips often don’t carry the R18 warnings or age checks that come with the actual game.

Short videos on TikTok, livestreams on Twitch, and playthroughs or highlight reels on YouTube can all show sexualised scenes, graphic violence, or offensive language from the game. Research from Ofcom in 2024 on pathways to online violent content among children has found that children often encounter age-inappropriate material while watching gaming content online, even when they weren’t looking for it.

What this means for whānau:

• Ask where they’re seeing GTA content, sometimes the real risk isn’t the game itself, but the unfiltered clips.
• Remind them that even short funny or epic clips can show R18 content without the safety nets in place.
• Where possible, use platform settings to limit autoplay, apply content filters, or set age restrictions.

Mods and add-ons can change the game

Mods (short for modifications) are files that change or add content to a game. They can be harmless, like new car designs or weather effects, or they can radically alter the tone, objectives, or themes of the game. Some GTA mods have included sexually explicit content, graphic violence, or hateful rhetoric. (RAN 2021, GNET 2024).

Studies have shown that violent extremist groups have even used modded game maps to recreate real-world attack sites or insert extremist symbols, turning what was once a crime-fantasy game into ideological propaganda. We have classified several gamified mods of games like GTA, Minecraft and Call of Duty as objectionable and as a result these mods are illegal in New Zealand.

What this means for whānau:

• Know where mods are coming from and what they add or change.
• Stick to trusted sources or console-approved add-ons.
• Talk about why some people make mods that push extreme or harmful ideas and why it’s not just a joke when the content targets real groups or events

For young teens thinking about playing GTA

If you’ve seen clips online or your mates are playing:

• Remember, what happens in GTA isn’t how the real world works.
• You don’t have to accept harmful stuff just because it’s in a game. It’s fine to say no or step away without making a big deal.
• Talk to someone you trust if you see or hear something that makes you uncomfortable.
• Ask yourself: is this moment funny because it’s outrageous, or because it’s hurting someone?
• There are other open-world games that give you freedom and creativity without the harmful bits. They can be just as fun.
• If someone in-game is abusive, hateful, or tries to get you into private chats, block them and tell a trusted adult.

Conversations with whānau

These conversations aren’t about ruining the fun. They’re about helping your rangatahi enjoy games without harm, and spot when a game is pushing stereotypes, risky content, or extreme ideas.

• Separate story from reality. GTA is satire and crime fantasy, not a guide for real life.
• Look at framing: First-person sequences, realistic graphics and short clips on social media strip away warnings and context.
• Name the stereotypes: Discuss how women, and communities are portrayed, and what’s missing from those portrayals.
• Include the wider ecosystem in your conversations. Mods and add-ons can change tone, content and even purpose. Know where they come from and what they do.
• Decide together as a family. Sit in on a session, read the content warnings, set privacy and spending limits as a team.

Key Takeaways for Parents

• The game itself isn’t the only risk. The wider ecosystem (mods, private servers, short-form videos) is where extremist exploitation often happens.
• Ask about what they’re playing, who they’re playing with, and what add-ons or mods they’re using.
• Notice when in-game friends move chats to Discord, Telegram, or private servers.
• Normalise talking about shocking or unusual content without threatening to ban the game immediately.
• Stay curious and don’t judge. If they feel safe telling you about strange encounters or edgy humour, you’re in a much better position to guide them.

Final thoughts

The Grand Theft Auto franchise is a cultural phenomenon in video games. Most of the games in the series are restricted to 18 years and older making them illegal for children to play. Yet we know young people want to play it and often find ways to play it. We know the peer pressure will be strong, especially each time a new version is released.

Talk with your young person about the game and what’s involved, the type of storylines and missions you’re required to complete. Talk together about what’s age appropriate for them and why the game is designed for older audiences. We developed conversation starters about harmful content based on feedback we heard directly from young people. Many of these conversation starters can also be useful for conversations about whether Grand Theft Auto is appropriate for your rangatahi or not.

Further reading and interesting links

Gaming resource hub (resource index)

Keeping it safe in the gaming space (blog)

Understanding loot boxes: a guide for parents and whānau (blog)

Game on: Our guide to understanding international gaming classifications (blog)

Watching violent video games instead of playing them: Does streamers’ aggressive commentary increase adolescents’ aggression? | Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society – Masaryk University

Violent online content ‘unavoidable’ for UK children, Ofcom finds | Internet safety | The Guardian

Grand Theft Auto 6 is more expensive than Dubai's Burj Khalifa as eye-watering sum revealed (LadBible)

Twitch already preparing for the launch of the biggest game of our lives (The Gamer)

Grand Theft Auto An influential gaming phenomenon and it's impact on pop culture (Research Gate)