Grand Theft Auto does not make me commit crime

So the new Grand Theft Auto game's out, and once again, all across the world the media are causing us to panic and convince ourselves that if we allow our precious kiddies to play it, they'll turn into a guns, bitches and bling obsessed maniac. I, however, am not convinced it works like that.

There are a range of different media audience theories, but whenever a violent film / game is released it seems sections of the media are convinced by the Hypodermic Needle Model - which is essentially a perspective claiming that media messages are 'injected' into the audience with little or no resistance - this is how Nazi propagandists thought about the media. So essentially, if I play GTA I'm automatically going to become violent because those media messages are portaying an image were violence is glamorous and glorified.

I personally am much more of a fan of the Uses and Gratifications theory, which assumes the audience is far more media savvy and intelligent than other models would have you believe. This theory says that audiences use the media primarily for the following 4 purposes:

1. to gain a sense of escapism
2. to gain a sense of community
3. to gain and develop a personal identity
4. for surveillance (news etc).

This makes far more sense and assumes the audience is 'active'. So if I were to play GTA - I'd be playing to: 'escape' from boring, everyday, mudane activities; to relate to other players - perhaps in an online chatroom, or with my mates in the pub (I wouldn't want to feel left out would I?!); to develop my own identity - maybe even cut my hair like one of the central characters; and so on.

Media audiences are an intelligent, active phenomenon and are not going to commit crime in a GTA post-coital state.