Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1322https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4443My final entry. I'm played a lot of the game now. It's hard to come up with material to write, since the game doesn't go in any new directions. I fought my way through hell. Then the devil congratulated me for my deeds. That seemed a little odd. I don't think that the shooters were looking for the Devil, or anyone's approval. I think the point was just the opposite. I don't know what else to say. The game wasn't fun to play. The graphics and engine were crap. I guess you could argue that the game either made a social point or was just a cruel exploitation of tragic events. Personally, I don't feel strongly in either direction. Yes, I think it exploited the boys and the events, but I can also see how it makes subtle points about blaming the media and the social environment for what the shooters did. However, due to the weaknesses in both sides of this argument, as well as the tremendous weaknesses in the game itself, I would have to say that this game may as well go ahead and fade into the history books as a footnote. It has no real gaming value, and is a waste of time.Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:23:57 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4443&iddiary=8342https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4443So today I find myself in hell. I was disappointed to find that the columbine events were over already. I thought since it was in the title that it would drag on some more. Now I am fighting demons and it's starting to feel more like a real rpg. There are a lot of interesting characters in hell, like Bart Simpson and Pikachu. This part of the game takes on a different issue. It's not that we are playing as real people during an actual event, but we are playing as their dead bodies in the afterlife. I wonder how the families of these boys would feel playing as their dead bodies in hell, and continuing to do bad deeds. It just seems completely disrespectful. I'm not saying that they deserve respect after what they did, but I think there is something to be said for respecting the dead and not mocking the end of their lives. The hell part of the game doesn't seem to have a point outside of the occasional references to the real world and the press conference. So without a strong message, it just becomes a childish game of speculating what kind of experience the shooters would have in hell.Tue, 26 Oct 2010 23:09:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4443&iddiary=8301https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4443I played through the beginning where you gather your equipment and begin killing your classmates. I understand that this game is very offensive to some people, especially those involved or affected by the actual shooting, but since that isn't my situation, I didn't find it objectionable really. The graphics were so poor that it was hard to find any of the violence unacceptable, especially since the attack animations left a lot to the imagination. the text is really difficult to read, but the parts that were legible gave an interesting backstory as to who the two young men were and why they felt they needed to kill. I have to say, there was nothing in the game itself that was that bad, considering the kind of violence and content in modern licensed games. However, the subject matter of the game could be very inappropriate to some,and at the very least is cavalier with how it handles the material. I'm sure that If i were the parents of one of those boys, or had any kind of relationship with the victims, I would be outraged that this game was made. I'm surprised that it did get made. You don't see a 9/11 game where you have to aim your plane at a building. I think you would make a lot of enemies that way. It's one thing to make a game about a school shooting, but it's a whole different story if the main characters are the killers, and the goal is to kill as many innocent people as possible. So far, there doesn't seem to be a point or greater meaning behind the game. I will play on.Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:52:32 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4443&iddiary=8268https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362This is my final gamelog. I have played for over six hours now, and am decently far into the story. I've thought some more about what I wrote in my first gamelog, about the warrant system and the punishment representative to the level of crime committed. At the time, it seemed appropriate, but there is something missing. If you kill someone in the game, you might have a two star warrant system and have to outrun the cops for a little while. If you get away from them, that's the end of it. There's no investigation by detectives, no crime scene or DNA testing, you can just run away. If we consider this game as having an impact on its younger viewers, it really does a poor job of showing consequences for bad behavior. I've also thought about the relationships between characters in the game. If thought about from a Kantian perspective, a lot of CJ's actions would be morally wrong. Kant said we ought to treat people as ends in themselves, not means to an end. CJ, on the other hand, treats everyone he meets as means to an end. He uses the characters as stepping stones to get what he wants. In fact, I believe that's the point of the game, to use people in order to rise up the food chain of the fictional west-coast city. After playing this game for a while, there's no doubt in my mind that it encourages immoral behavior, at least according to Kant. Sure it's a video game and meant for fun, but most of its players are of the age where they still are learning about themselves and finding their identity, and it would be a shame if they found their identity in the actions of CJ, or any other character from Grand Theft Auto.Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:03:39 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362&iddiary=8144https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362I've played my way through a good chunk of the game, far exceeding the 30 minute mandate, and I now would consider myself well-versed in the missions. I feel bad for CJ. The man is faced with lots of difficult decisions. Like whether or not to take part in a robbery, or whether to kill a pedestrian with a baseball bat or a shotgun. One aspect of the missions I found interesting was the concept of choice. It was like the discussion in class today about games like Fable. CJ has certain missions he must complete, but he can also chose to help or hurt certain characters. These little choices open or close doors to you later in the game. If you help someone, they may sometimes help you in a later mission, and if you hurt them, they may get in your way. This seems fair at first, but after playing enough missions, it seemed clear to me that the game was biased in favor of your negative choices. The more you stole and murdered, etc., the more rewards you got such as money, cars and status. In fact, the only real consequences that could be inferred is if you get shot to much in a gunfight, your character dies. But what does that really mean? You don't lose anything. And lots of times you can just re-do the mission. My point is that morality in this game seems inconsequential, because even if you make bad decisions, there is no real concrete punishment for your actions.Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:57:21 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362&iddiary=8138https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362For my first gamelog, I decided to just have my run of the game world and not do any missions. I have played Grand Theft Auto games before, and I wanted to see how this world compared to the others. My background was in GTA IV, so the graphics and gameplay seemed a little sluggish and outdated. However, the same basic components were still there. I had my run of the town-stealing cars and running down pedestrians. I first wanted to experience the game without the missions, stripped down to the esentials of gameplay. Like the other grand theft auto games, there was a lot of freedom. I could go almost anywhere and do anything. I found that in this free play mode, morality issues are few and simple, and operate according to the morality rules of our country. If you do something illegal, the cops will be on your ass. It reminded me of a kantian idea from the book. Kant belived that people should be punihsed according to the severity of their crime. So a theif would have much less of a punishment than a murderer, and so on. This is applied in GTA as well with the five-star system. Often times when you break a law, you will get the attention of the police, and the more illegal actions you commit, the more attention, or stars, you receive, which increases the effort the police make to arrest you. That became part of the thrill of the game, to see how high I could get the star rating and really provoke the wrath of the cops. I will begin missions soon, and try to disover more nefarious deeds i can be part of.Wed, 29 Sep 2010 11:54:23 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362&iddiary=8136https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362Wed, 29 Sep 2010 11:44:19 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4362&iddiary=8135