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sjg21288's Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
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| [October 6, 2008 05:14:12 AM]
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My third and final time playing San Andres was when I started to get in to the game a little bit more. The more I started the play the more interested I was, and the more I wanted to make myself more of a gangster and gain the respect of my fellows. So I continued the missions and failed them some more but got past every one that I started. I think was really makes this game interesting to me is the story and plot line. It may not be the greatest or most realistic plot, but it does actually have a plot and story behind the game.
As I was completing more missions the plot started to thicken and I had more and more options of what I had to do. One thing that I found really interesting is that not only are there missions that you have to do, but you have to build up the statistics of your player. Such as going to the gym and working out, gaining respect, making sure you’re not overweight by eating, and so forth. It was much more then previous versions of Grand Theft Auto that I have played. Looking back at the characters I can see how they all play a big part of the plot. What really made me pay attention to the game was how the players I was around acted. I’m not talking about in game play; I am talking about in the cut scenes. These players all had a different accent then my friends and I would use or even just how they dressed. Another thing that I noticed is how one of the characters was smoking a cigar in every scene he is in. Every little detail in this game is based off a stereotype to me as I have said in my other two entries.
To me, a big part of this game is the narration, that without the cut scenes the game would be relatively boring. The cut scenes really tie the game in together and you are able to learn about the characters more and the details of the plot. In most cases since I skip cut scenes in games I really am just playing for the entertainment and final objective. If I sit and watch the scenes it drags me in to the game more and more and I actually get much more interested.
In every Grand Theft Auto I have played, violence in the goal, it is what makes the game go round. I have not yet played a mission where someone didn’t end up dying in the end of it. One after another I am killing someone else and with one of the last missions I completed I had to pick up chicken, (stereotypical for a African American to eat) and then drive my friends in a car chase shooting. I of course end up driving and allowing my gang to kill the car full of enemy gang members. I think that I can conclude from all the information I have gathered on this game that nothing in it is ethical at all and it does not follow any set of morals. In a gang you do as you want and to stay on top you got to be constantly killing others. Even looking at Kant, he says that do as you would want others to do to you. So this would say that since I am killing and stealing from others that I would want them to do the same to me? No not at all, but to stay on top that’s what you have to do. So in Kant’s eyes, he would say that this is not ethical because it would or will lead to my death.
This game is fun to play here and there but to me it will get old after a while. The game was fun while I played it and I know Ill come back to it again, but for now I am done with it. It can easily be proven that the game play is not ethical or moral at all, but very entertaining. As well I want to say that this game really does take any stereotype that is present and almost abuses and embeds it in our heads that this is how a person of whatever race is being portrayed acts. That this fantasy world I am playing in can reflect certain parts of society. But a game is a game and should not be looked as a way of life, that what happens in the game is not moral or ethical in the world we live in.
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| [October 6, 2008 03:35:33 AM]
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The second time that I turned on the game I had a little bit more time to play which was nice, but at the same time I was quite annoyed that I must have messed something up and not saved! I had to start all the missions over that I completed which was really annoying because it was a waist of time for me to play them all over and not really have much more material to talk about. So after some time of playing the missions over and getting to a new point in the game I have more to add about the game.
In most games that I play I really never watch the cut scenes, they kind of bore me and I just want to get on with the game. Since I am trying to really get in to the game and analyze it I have not done this yet and I have been watching the cut scenes. It actually makes the game much more interesting and its neat to see how the plot works on. But enough about that the game itself has even more noticeable things to talk about the more time I spend playing it.
The second time I was playing I was really looking at the choices and actions that my character has to make and does. What I really noticed while playing is that I don’t have a choice in what I am allowed to do. I do understand that the point of this game is to follow the missions and do as they say so that you complete them. To add an alternate possibility would create a whole other game. So since that is not done, I looked at the choices I do have to make. I can either go around and roam the game doing whatever I want, or I can follow the plot and story. I wanted to actually succeed in the game so I followed what I was supposed to do.
After beating the missions I already played, I was presented with a couple more, which I did fail and have to repeat more then once. One mission I had to spray paint six of my gangs tags over other gangs tags and another I had to drive around Ryder and kill a bunch of people. Now both of these things are illegal and the more actions and missions that I have taken on I can see that its going to continue that way, I don’t have a choice on the ethical decisions I am going to make. Even though I know myself that these decisions are not ethical, if I were to apply the subject relativism theory to them I could easily get away with any of these because I am deciding the right or wrong for myself and in this game I am choosing the right path to do the actions I am taking, and in this case, being a gang banger.
I think that another theory that can be applied to this situation really well is cultural relativism. The reason I say this is that this game takes a big part of stereotypes and really shows them. This game really shows a lot of stereotypes about different cultures, more specifically African Americans. That they are all in gangs and that white people do not take a part in it. Being very broad about this, I can say that the moral codes for different groups of people are different and that the game portrays the culture of an African American as being in a gang and the things you have to do to be in one. Being in a gang has to deal with family and how you treat your fellow gang members they are someone you would do anything for and risk your life for them.
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| [October 5, 2008 05:34:39 PM]
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I have played other grand theft auto games before, but this has been the first time I had played San Andres or even any grand theft auto in a couple of years. I do enjoy playing video games, but as time has gone on, I have had less and less time to actually play these games. As any other grand theft auto though, I noticed that it was following the exact same format and ideas. I think the most noticeable thing at first is how everything in the game plays as stereotypes. That all of these stereotypes play together and work off one another.
So as I started the game, I really had no idea what I was in for or what the plot of this game was about. I instantly knew what to do though, and from playing previous grand theft autos it was not hard to figure out. Normally I don’t struggle that much playing any game, but the first couple missions were not that easy, well I kept blowing them and the game was getting really frustrating not even being able to beat the first mission. But after getting used to playing any video game again and learning what I had to do for the mission made it go faster. I finally got the hang of it, made it to the location I had to be, and drove to get myself a haircut. At first I tried not getting a hair cut because I wanted to get more money and get one of the more fancy haircuts, I tried entering and leaving but it didn’t work, so I chose a haircut and left and had the game told me I had to go eat, but not to eat too much because I could get fat. I thought that was really funny to hear from a game, but I continued in the pizza joint and got myself a whole pizza. Instantly after I paid the game cuts to a cut scene and I’m helping my friend in the game hold up the place. We are chased out with a shotgun and I am now driving the getaway car. I feel like within no time this game started me off as a thug, and this game was teaching me what I needed to do to be one.
With this game basing itself off stereotypes it’s quite easy to pick it apart when you are looking for the problems with it. Especially with social contract theory, because of how government takes such a small impact on this game life. I know it’s just a game, but in this game the police rarely bother you and it seemed you can complete any crime and get away with any type of action that you commit. Even when you do get busted by the cops you only pay a small fee and lose items. This is really not a big deal at all and going around being able to kill someone, steal a car, pick up a prostitute is all playing taking this in to thought. Social contract theory says that government is needed to keep things in order. In this case, it’s the gangs, it’s the color of your skin in the game that makes you wanted or not, and you can do nearly anything you want. The police barely get on your case for what in real life can get you years in jail. Yes I know, this is a game, but what does this show people that play this game. Is it teaching some that being Hispanic or African American makes you a danger to society, that you can get away with actions and not face any consequences?
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sjg21288's Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 1 October, 2008
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