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Apr 18th, 2012 at 21:06:13 - Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PC) |
In my first log I explored the beginning cut scenes and the image of the character. In this log I'll explore the world of "San Andreas". I was playing the game on the PC and there seems to be some control issues, or bugs rather with player movement preventing me from doing things like aiming and shooting. So I decided rather than jump in the game and it's missions which will inevitably require me to perform these actions, I thought I'd rather take a car and explore "San Andreas". The first thing I noticed about the area around me was that it belonged to a rival gang. I briefly wrote about this in my last log, that I felt unwelcome in the area because the gang members who walked the street would demand my affiliation and make threats towards me. I noticed while driving in the area, that the best way I thought to describe it was simply as a "ghetto". The areas just looked like they were in despair and there was very visible gang activity in the area. I noticed while driving that there were three gangs. The Ballers, who wore purple, Grove street, who wore green and were more friendly towards me than the Ballers and lastly an unknown gang made up of Hispanics. They were very visible to me, as they fit the media portrayal of a Hispanic gang-banger spot on in my opinion. All of the Hispanics in the game I've seen so far had full arm tattoos and wore wifebeaters, when they were in a car it was usually a low-rider convertible or low-rider pickup truck with spoke rims. When I stole one of their lowrider convertibles, I found out to my amusement just when I thought every stereotype was played out I found out that car was also equipped with hydraulics. Playing the game at a greater length , I remembered why the media and a few select but very vocal individuals demonize the game to such an extent. The killing that can be done in the game, can be done without reason and the types of people that can the player can kill is almost limitless, women and senior citizens aren't safe. Although other games can be just as violent or even more-so, they're usually in a warzone so to speak. The people being killed are armed enemy combatants who'd gladly kill you before you can kill them. In the "Grand Theft Auto" games the people you can kill are usually just civilians, who will often shriek in horror as you fire upon them. I think this difference between "GTA" and most other games that put a player in a warzone so to speak, is what has some critics dubbing the game as a "murder simulator".
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Apr 18th, 2012 at 21:05:49 - Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PC) |
For my final entry for "San Andreas" I decided to explore the morality of the game. I think writing this, might sound silly to a lot of people as the game is often criticized for being devoid of all morals. I wouldn't necessarily disagree with this statement, on my third play-through I tried to look at the game through a more ethical standpoint but that search hasn't led me to any solid ground. I haven't come across any real moral dilemmas in the game, as the game's missions often leave you little choice but to gun down everyone who gets in your way. Other things the game might reward you for doing would also include stealing and spraying graffiti on walls, again something that people might criticize from a moral standpoint. Though I found this to be certainly not the case, for instance when the player is in a firetruck, ambulance, or squad car, CJ can help the inhabitants of San Andreas by performing good deeds like putting out fires or driving people to the hospital and in fact they even get rewarded for it! (Nevermind that you have to steal the ambulance, firetruck, or squad car in the first place). A lot of critics of the game have argued that Rockstar encourages poor moral behavior in the "GTA" games, but those same people maybe neglecting to mention that the developers created the game to "reward" positive actions as well. Although there's a lot of violent behavior in the game that would have moralists shaking their heads, if you consider the game from a relativist perspective then CJs actions might not seem as unethical as they would appear. The killing, stealing, and general unlawful behavior CJ undertakes is done for his gang. If you consider things from a relativist perspective, CJ's gang is his family and his actions were justifiable because they were made out of concern for the well-being of his fellow gang-members. In the seedier neighborhoods of San Andreas it would seem like people getting gunned down is just an everyday event, so from a relativist viewpoint it might be debatable that a few people getting killed is just a consequence for the things CJ needs to do for gang to survive. In my previous entry, I wrote how I found the neighborhood CJ lives in to be in despair, when I explored the game further I thought "wow" the neighborhood near the "Vinewood" sign, which I took to be inspired by Beverly Hills as feeling like a totally different world, even though the drive between CJs neighborhood and Vinewood was only about five minutes. When I stepped out my car to explore the area, there were of course no gang-members shooting me on sight, neither did any of the people passing by make any threats against me. Taking this into account, it would make it seem like from a relativist point of view CJs actions are justifiable because in a sense he lives in a different world. In his world, violence is just an everyday occurrence and the things he does to "protect" his family might need to be judged in a different manner when viewing things from a relativist perspective.
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The3SeaShells has been with GameLog for 12 years, 4 months, and 28 days |
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