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The3SeaShells's Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PC)
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| [April 18, 2012 09:07:00 PM]
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The first thing I noticed about "Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas" was that the character was black. I've been usually accustomed to playing as a white character who had heroic qualities, because this is how most games present the protagonist/main character. The character in "San Andreas" on the other hand felt a bit more "interesting" in some regards simply because he was just an ordinary black male, he didn't seem to have any heroic or extraordinary qualities. The only other thing in his character that stood out to me was that he had bit of an urban distinction to him. The character wore a wifebeater and low-sagging jeans which exposed his boxers, attire I suppose that was meant to mimic LA streetwear in the 90s. The character's voice would also seem to match this theme as "CJ" speaks noticeably in a black vernacular tone, when I put the two together It just seems like Rockstar's way of illustrating that "CJ" is from the "hood". Besides the character being an urban black male, I was also surprised as to how quickly race was brought up in the game. I believe less than five minutes into the game you hear the words "greaseball bastard" and "stupid Mexican". In the game's first cutscene, we see that CJ arrives from "Liberty City" upon news that his mother died. During the cab ride home, a squad car pulls the cab over and the officers yank CJ from the back-seat and put him in the back of their squad car. The officers at this point have been depicted as blatantly corrupt, no surprise though for someone whose played previous "Grand Theft Auto" games. If I remember, one of the officers was white, another latino, and the ringleader, black. I felt like noting this because I remember in "Grand Theft Auto 3" the corrupt policemen were often stereotyped as of being from Irish descent. The officers who took CJ into their car, also stole his money, threatened him that if he were to complain they could always claim it as "drug money" and that they'd have no problem planting a murder weapon on him if he stepped out of line. I think from this scene Rockstar was trying to illustrate that CJ comes from a disadvantaged position, and that being a urban black male attracts unscrumpulus police attention. I feel like this could have possibly been a race "issue" that Rockstar was trying to bring up when they created this scene. After this encounter CJ gets dropped off in what was called as "baller" territory. I found out that neighborhood belonged to a rival gang that CJ once belonged in. As I walked around the neighborhood the game immersed my feeling of being in the wrong place as I had "ballers" come up to me and demand what street I was representing. I'm not sure if there was an option to respond to them and they didn't do anything to me afterwards, but I thought gameplay-wise this was a nice little feature to immerse the player.
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| [April 18, 2012 09:06:13 PM]
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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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| [April 18, 2012 09:05:49 PM]
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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's Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PC)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 18 April, 2012
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