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Apr 23rd, 2013 at 19:28:16 - Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PC) |
Today I started doing missions and following the story line. I took a notice to how the characters in the game act. Many of the characters used profane language and did not seem to have any morals or ethics. The people in San Andreas seemed to have their own culture that they lived by. I would drive through red lights and not even the police officers would do anything about it. I was quickly able to relate this to utilitarianism and cultural relativism. The moral code in San Andreas does not mimic that of real life at all. People did and said whatever they wanted and they seemed happy about it like it was acceptable!
It appeared that characters in the game would only act out if something happened to them personally. Other than that, they went on with their day. When my character would beat up other people, they would fight back but the bystanders would just run away. It was only when I fought a gang did someone else try to help an ally. There were hardly any consequences from my actions either, which made it feel like it was acceptable for me to kill someone or drive recklessly. The only time I felt morally incorrect was if a police officer saw me; and then it was only if I was hurting someone, they did not seem to care that I was speeding or crashing unless it affected them personally. Even when doing missions that I was told to do, I would get in trouble from other people or police officers. The game was telling me to do something, but also making me feel bad for doing those actions which were asked of me.
I can only imagine what a city like the one from the game would be like in real life. I understand that some places to a certain extent do have a structure similar to cultural relativism but if one existed exactly like this, it would be chaotic. People getting away with racial insults, cursing everywhere, crashing cars and gangs recklessly pulling guns out is a city I do not want to live in. It was interesting to see how some of the characters, such as CJ’s gang members, thought what they were doing was ethically right and this even increased their overall happiness.
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Apr 22nd, 2013 at 18:43:07 - Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PC) |
Today, while playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I had mixed feelings. First off, I had a strong sense of nostalgia. I haven’t played this game since I was a young kid back on the Playstation 2. I did not start any missions yet, just because I wanted to get used to how the controls have changed while playing on a PC. After some time, the controls were no longer foreign to me and I was right on my way to exploring the environment and doing what I wanted.
As I was playing today, I noticed my play style is somewhat utilitarian. I did not care what I was doing; be it killing a person or driving recklessly and crashing. I was maximizing my happiness at the cost of no one in the real world except for some neutral player characters in a video game. I saw no harm in what I was doing. I did not have any moral regrets either. I did however have a thought related to the recent Boston Bombing.
I saw a picture that showed one of the suspects being detained by police officers with the Grand Theft Auto Interface attached to it. I did not find this humorous and it sparked a question for me. How differently would people play a Grand Theft Auto game if it took facial pictures of people’s friends from Facebook and edited them into the game? No longer is the player shooting at some random, generated face from a developer. This is a face you know, it seems much more personable. If this were a web-based browser game that had the ability to do this, I know I would not play the game the same way. I would not be able to look at a simulated character with one of my friend’s face on it and shoot them. I would no longer just roam around the game killing and have a utilitarian play style. My play style would change to Kantianism. I would only play the game to do the missions and hope that I don’t kill any friends but save them. I would do this because I ought to do it, or feel it is what the universe would feel is morally right and ethical.
Now that I have this thought in mind, I wonder how it will affect my future logs.
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jah6429 has been with GameLog for 11 years, 6 months, and 29 days |
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