Monday 6 October, 2008

Enrty # Uno

When i played Grand Theft Auto 3 on my x-box i will admit that this was the first time that i have played GTA in a looooong time. The last time i played GTA 3 was when it was 2006? So its been some time.

I’ll admit that i have stopped playing alot of xbox due to time, work and the next best game but after playing GTA 3 again i remember how much fun i used to have and how much fun this game really is. The set up of the game revolves around a gang member character of course, his story takes place in the city of Los Santos . It is here that we find out that character’s mother has died due to murder. The main character, named CJ meets up with his old gang and goes back to his old ways of delinquency and crime, big surprise and he had to be black. Throughout the game we piece together the story behind CJ’s mother’s murder.

But I really wasn’t interested in the story like I was before in 2006. . . I just wanted to do missions and roam free in the terrain of the many sites and fictional cities that are based loosely but based on the real cites of L.A., San Frans. and Las Vegas . If anything this game gives me an escape to do whatever I want and do. . . things that I can never really do in real life (I can but the consequences are a pain). Steal cars, run over people, home invasion (uhhh fun!), gang war with other gangs. . . I mean come on its awesome it makes me wonder what kind of person I am. If I like doing all those things in the game does that make me a bad person in real life? No.

I ended up playing beyond the 30 mins with my sister. . . Co-Op is jus fun.


Entry # Dos

On my still first go around playing the GTA game but this will be by 2nd entry of my adventure in the GTA 3 world I decided to focus on the stereotypes and the ethnic nature of the game. So in the GTA game the “hero” or main character is a gang member by the name of CJ, CJ is an African American in the game and with that brings to question why it had to be a minority. The game lets you choose missions and such and you can go on your mayhem throughout the game but when you stop and think for a second the main game is letting you control a character that is from a “Compton” esque city neighborhood that is surround by gangs, drugs and that nature in the game. The parts of the neighborhood in the game like low-income district of Idlewood in the city of Los Santos is a perfect place to see how the game developers wanted to throw that image of poverty. No its debatable to say if the game developers were targeting and mocking African Americans since all we see is in the game is theft, home invasion, and pimping. But it is interesting to see how other people view the city of Los Angeles I believe that the game is somewhat of a satire of the city of LA and I see it as a way the game developers are perhaps addressing the issues of poverty and such to people. Another thing is the usage of women in the game. When you play Co-Op if you decide to play as a male and a female the person who is playing the female character is given the option to kiss the male character of the game. That was something that shows that females in the game are more of a dominated people and that also that perhaps that women in the game are almost like pets since they will do what they are asked. Another thing is the way women are dressed in the game. Well they are hardly dresses and have that sexy voice to them in the game. I can see how women can say that the game is objectifying them and such.

Entry # Tres

On my 2nd time playing GTA 3. . . I started to see that there is no point in doing good in the game since the whole game is designed for you the gamer to excel and be best in destroying, assaulting, and killing. There is no accountability in the game. . . well maybe if accountability is used differently in a negative way then yes there is accountability, since you are accountable of the actions you part take like killing and stealing, doing these things boosts you. Vigilantism is done a lot in here. You can be the hand of God and kill whomever you want; you can become a cop killer in this realm. If anything this game is still great in my eyes and I can see the argument that other people say that the game enforces stereotypes and such but for what it is. . . it’s a GAME. . .

So you think the designers have no obligation to have elements in their games that balance what might be viewed as offensive? You say its just a game, but games and films are meant to have an affect on people, if this wasn't true then people would not make games and movies if they did not have an effect on people's emotions, at least on a surface level.