Thursday 2 October, 2008

I've officially played San Andreas for the first half hour installment of my assignment, and I'm already dreading the remaining two sessions. I'm supposed to be addressing the game from an ethical perspective, but I can't get past the horrible controls. The game is nearly unplayable. I'm not the best at video games, but it never takes me 30 minutes to complete the very first objective of the game.

The only piece of the story that I've been exposed to is the death of CJ's mother, and a few corrupt cops. I haven't seen enough of the game to comment on it. Apparently, several people have asked to play a different game for this assignment, and I now understand why, assuming that I'm not the only one to experience these problems.

That being said, the only ethical issue related to this game that I can discuss is the "hot coffee" mod that's quite obviously old news now. There are some blatant ethical problems behind this mod, and the way Rockstar chose to handle the situation.

I'm not going to argue the ethics of the mod itself, though I personally don't approve of the content. My issue is with the company that produced it. I read an article concerning the mod, and was surprised to see that Rockstar initially denied any connection to the mod. When the mod first surfaced, they claimed that it was entirely user created, and they had no part in producing the controversial content. A few weeks passed, and some luck hacker unlocked the same content on a PS2 version of the game.

Right away, there is a serious issue with lying to the public. Lying is a self defeating practice, because as soon as lying becomes the social norm, there is no way to know whether or not someone is telling the truth, and as a result, trust would eventually be eliminated, because everyone is automatically considered to be a liar.

If I'm going to complete this assignment properly, I may have to work a little harder to get my Code Breaker working, since infinite health, and no wanted level seems to be the only way I'll ever get to see the story.

With the help of a few well placed cheat codes, and an Action Replay, I was finally able to progress into the story, and there are a few ironic conversations that take place between Carl and the other characters. The mission that stands out in my mind is still early in the plot, but there is definitely potential for deeper ethical discussions regarding he objectives.

The basic point of the mission is to find a drug dealer that has started doing business near Carl's neighborhood, and rough him up as a way of "cleaning" the streets. The irony is lies in the fact that the player eventually raids a crack den, and kills everyone inside.

This becomes a question of whether or not the ends justify the means. Ultimately, removing drug dealers from the neighborhood is definitely an admirable course of action, and most people would agree that it is the right thing to do. The ethical dilemma lies in the excessive violence used to "clean things up" The streets may now be free from drugs, but they're stained with blood.

Some would argue that because the result of Carl's actions was positive, that his actions were morally respectable. However, under utilitarian ethics, the sadness caused by killing people would not necessarily outweigh the positive gain from removing drug dealers.

In addition to this, the Crack Den is inhabited by members of a rival gang. Now, even Carl's intentions are called into question. Carl takes action claiming to "clean the streets," which he may ultimately do, but the true reason behind his actions is actually eliminating a rival gang.

Up to this point, it appears that the ethical questions players are faced with are not a question of right versus wrong, but rather a question of bad versus worse.

This is technically an addition to my first post, so I chose to post a comment rather than a new entry.

With the help of a few well placed cheat codes, and an Action Replay, I was finally able to progress into the story, and there are afew ironic conversations that take place between Carl and the other characters. The mission that stands out in my mind is still early in the plot, but there is definitely potential for deeper ethical discussions regarding he objectives.

The basic point of the mission is to find adrug dealer that has started doing business near Carl's neighborhood, and rough him up asaway of "cleaning" the streets. The irony is lies in the fact that the player eventually raids a crack den, and kills everyone inside.

This becomes a question of whether or not the ends justify the means. Ultimately, removing drug dealers from the neighborhood is definitely an admirable course of action, and most people would agree that it is the right thing to do. The ethical dilema lies in the excessive violence used to "clean things up" The streets may now be free from drugs, but they're stained with blood.

Some would argue that because the result of Carl's actions were positive, that his actions were morally respectable. However, under utilitarian ethics, the sadness caused by killing people would not necessarily outweigh the positive gain from removing drug dealers.

In addition to this, the Crack Den is inhabited by members of a rival gang. Now, even Carl's intentions are called into question. Carl takes action claiming to "clean the streets," which he may ultimately do, but the true reason behind his actions is actually eliminating a rival gang.

Up to this point, it appears that the ethical questions players are faced with are not a question of right versus wrong, but rather aquestion of bad versus worse.