Monday 6 October, 2008

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.

Very thorough, good job on analyzing the game. It seems you enjoyed the game for the most part, were there any sections of the game where you felt the stereotypes and violence over shadowed the fun game play? Did your own code of ethics conflict with those of GTA to the point where you could not enjoy it?