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dhinsdale's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS3)
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| [September 28, 2011 09:11:06 AM]
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In this session of play I continued my exploration of the grand theft auto: san andreas game world. I began with what has become my usual routine – I stole a car and began to drive around and investigate more of the city. It is interesting how quickly this has become completely acceptable in my mind as I play the game. I spend some time swapping cars until I find one that I like and then continue on my way.
Women in this game seem to have a very specific role. There are several different stereotypes walking around the streets. The typical businesswoman, prostitute, old lady, and groupie are all represented. After killing a diverse group of people in the game, I discovered that old ladies carry around a fair amount of cash on them, and that prostitutes carry weapons on them. This was an interesting surprise, as it led me on an old lady hunt for about a half hour. I began searching out and killing them to collect the cash. One thing to note here is that I did not even know what I could buy with this cash, I only wanted it because the game seemed to make it seem important by tracking the amount I had. In addition, I learned that picking a fight with a prostitute would not be as easy as I thought. It was a huge surprise when the woman pulled a pistol out and began shooting at me. I was unarmed and got a little nervous. Luckily, I was able to overcome her and win. The result? Whenever I sit down to play the game my first action is to kill some old ladies for cash and then kill a prostitute for a weapon.
It is important to note that I was unable to save my game during these sessions which results in a more ‘arcade’ experience. I am certain I would have encountered different issues had I been able to follow the storyline progressively.
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| [September 27, 2011 12:54:24 PM]
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As I once again sat down to spend some time exploring this game, I began to reflect on what I had already experienced on my first play. I had stolen vehicles, found and murdered innocent people, and committed various traffic violations. This time, I decided it was time to attempt my first in-game mission. The system was fairly straightforward. Go here, Pick this up, Bring it to here, Don’t ask questions. Everything you would expect to find in the stereotypical dramatized life of a “thug”. Completing these tasks still feels a little wrong but I feel as though it is getting easier to slip into the frame of mind the game suggests is appropriate. At this point I begin to wonder just how far I can push the boundaries in this world. I see a police car stopped at a red light waiting. As I steal the police car, I begin to enjoy the reverse justice taking place. After driving around in the police car, I am informed of something called “vigilante” mode. I quickly select it to see where this path will take me. I hear the police scanner telling me where to go to find a criminal. I follow the instructions and find the individual and run him over without hesitation. I am rewarded with some sort of point system that keeps track of how many criminals I am able to kill. This is an odd form of vigilante justice. Usually, this type of justice is motivated by an ineffective police force and the individual is driven by like-minded community members. In this scenario, it is merely an activity that I am engaging in for pleasure. A twisted moral sense that seems to indicate that I am somehow making up for my crimes up till now. Even worse, the criminals that I am killing are only committing minor offenses. Ones not quite worthy of the death penalty. It is easy to disregard this fact and just continue on this path thinking that I am doing good in this world.
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| [September 26, 2011 09:30:30 PM]
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The game’s introduction made it very clear where my character stood in the game’s society. After this information was delivered to me, I was given control of the character and began to experiment with the controls until I felt comfortable. The game seems to be designed as a free form RPG, meaning there is no required storyline to follow. This sandbox mentality makes the game feel more like a “real life” simulator than a role playing game. The downside to this freedom is that very quickly I wanted to test the different ways in which I could interact with my environment. This led to my character accidently getting into a fight with a random stranger. The situation seemed to spiral out of control fairly quickly and I soon found myself committing my first murder. After the fact, I waited for the innocent bystanders to call the police to arrest my character. To my surprise, no one seemed to care. Everyone seemed to go back to their routines. I then learned that this behavior is acceptable in this world. Even worse, I suddenly had the urge to continue to test the boundaries of this world’s rules by finding other crimes to commit. I was soon riding through the streets in a stolen vehicle running red lights and mowing down any unfortunate pedestrians that happened to be in my way. Interestingly enough, It almost felt like the game kept placing people in my way so that I could continue my spree. I found it interesting to note that not only did the game glorify violence, but it made the act easy and rewarded me for following through on it. If one were to play this game and attempt to follow the laws that govern our society outside the game, they would soon find nothing to do.
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dhinsdale's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS3)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Friday 23 September, 2011
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