A friend sent me an iPhone video of his experience picking up the latest installment of Grand Theft Auto””known simply as GTA V.

The video shows a mass of people””men, women, and children, middle aged to pre-teens””standing in crude formation outside a local GameStop store.

Our societal fixation on the game is fascinating. Why? Though I guess the answer to the question is simple: people like to pretend””they like to pretend at having no conscience and doing whatever feels natural in the name of getting ahead.

I’m sure of how I feel about that, but I won’t come right out and say it.

I had roommates for several months that played GTA V’s predecessors, GTA San Andreas, at least four times a week.

The game was fascinating and jarring: an amalgam of beautifully realistic cityscapes, heart-wrenching back alleys and ghettos, as well as powerfully evocative violence. I watched my friends play it as though I were watching a film.

As a longtime fan of The Godfather (my favorite book and movie), I have some experience with fictionalized accounts of the thug life. I have often wondered what the proverbial nooks and crannies of that life entails.

What do these gangsters see when they look out above a high rise? What do they order at restaurants? What do their eyes meet in the back alley bar of some dank borough?

Grand Theft Auto answers these questions. It answers them by letting the player be the thug. We see things from his point of view. We pick up women, we drive stolen cars, and we make deals with the Russian mafia or Chinese triads.

It’s an exciting world that makes me yearn for acute hand-eye coordination””the lack of which was truly the reason I never became a gamer (well, that and the fact that it’s difficult for me to sit down for more than 20 minutes without falling asleep or feeling antsy.)

Of course with the release of GTA V,­ there will be parents and teachers who call for the recall and cancelation of the game.

This happened in 2005, with the release of GTA San Andreas, or San Andreas, as it is often known.

When the game was re-rated as Adults Only (AO), retailers Wal-Mart and Target took the games off their shelves.

The reason for the new rating and the retailers’ recall? A locked sex game was found, but unidentified at sale.

Of course, the game was rated M for Mature, meaning the buyer had to be at least 17 years of age.

So why was the new rating necessary?

Seventeen-year-olds are likely familiar with sex. They’ve probably seen the act or taken part.

Why then does the rating have to make explicit that only those 18 and older can buy it?

Was it just prudish behavior on the part of parents that spurred the re-rating and eventual discontinuation by retailers?

In an article for Gamesbeat, author Matthew Orona says he allowed his 4-year-old son to play San Andreas. What he tells us is intriguing.

Orona says his son did not take part in the crazed hooker beating, drug dealing, and egomaniacal homicide that seems to be the flagship functions of GTA.

Apparently, when Orona told his son he could steal a car (in the game) the boy said he wouldn’t because it obviously had a person in it (the usual practice is to jack the car and beat the occupant). He finally found a vacant car and began driving around the city.

When he hit someone by accident he took him or her to the hospital. He commandeered a police car and ran after “bad guys,” even attempting to drive a fire truck (we infer it was for humanitarian reasons and perfectly legal).

From this story it seems a child playing GTA is likely only to drive and play at being a cop who gets to catch robbers.

There is truth to that inference, but it is also true that there are small children playing the game who revel in the murder and mayhem. I’ve seen this with my own eyes as I know people who allow their elementary school aged children to play the game.

From the video my friend sent me I gathered there are either many middle-aged mothers who play the game and brought their 11 to 15-year-old son along, or they were buying the game for said son. I’m pretty sure the latter is true.

This demonstrates what I believe to be true. Ratings really do nothing to deter the age group they target.

Parents still allow their children to watch R-rated films, and play M or AO rated games.

The issue is not with the violence or sex. The issue is how parents parent.

Do they explain the violence? Do they favor games in which good and evil are clearly spelled out? Do they censor for what is sexually appropriate: a kiss or an embrace versus full frontal nudity and coitus?

My parents allowed me to watch fairly violent films when I was seven years old. These often included gunshot to the head, beatings and rough language.

Yet, my mom and dad explained that it is part of a story line that decries a lifestyle of which we neither participate nor support. They helped me understand that knowing about such things can provide a basis for further knowledge.

Another helpful factor: I read books and developed imagination of my own before I ever saw significantly grotesque scenes on screen.

This helped me decipher what is real and what is not; what is historical from what is simply a person’s sick imagination.

The graphics and overarching story of GTA are fascinating, yet the violence and abuse condoned throughout the plot are disturbing to say the least, especially when considering there is often no clear definition between the good guys and the bad.

Ultimately, I believe GTA is an orgiastic indulgence in violence and abusive behavior.

However, censoring and even rating­ seems to do nothing other than express an opinion. The targeted party is not deterred.

Parents and guardians need to take a hard look at what they and their children mentally consume. Is it a reflection of life? Is it something they want their life and society to reflect?