Wednesday 3 November, 2010

My third play through of Grand Theft Auto San Andres was even more confusing than my last play through. This time I played the mission where you have to go clean up the hood of the drug dealers. I did not really think that this would be a mission. I thought that a big part of gang life was buying and selling drugs, but for CJ and his Grove St. brothers crack is wack. It was really interesting that I thought this way because it ties into the thoughts of clichés we talked about in class. I just assumed that because these people we in a gang that they endorsed the use of drugs. In reality this was the exact opposite of their true intentions. CJ and Ryder actually were willing to kill people to keep drugs out of their hood. It really changed my view of how gangs functioned. I guess my pre conceived notions of gangs were wrong. I just lumped all of these things, murders, gangs, drugs, drive-bys, that are considered bad into one group. The other thing that caught my attention about this mission was when I went to the crack house and killed all of the drug dealers. I noticed all of the people that we so drugged out on the ground that they could not move. I think it was interesting that the game producers decided to put these depictions of drug users in the game. In a way it could be seen as the producers saying that drugs are bad. It could also say that the producers just put it in for the main point of the story (as I have not played through the entire game I do not know what significance this mission has on the rest of the game.) I would really like to ask the developers their thoughts on this scene and their thoughts on drugs.

Pat, gangs were first created in ghettos not to make money but to protect that part of the community from discrimination and other gangs. Before gangs were all about money making, they would kick members out of the gang who were addicted to hardcore drugs because they couldn't serve as protectors. Being in a gang used to be a noble thing to do within a community, but nowadays it's frowned upon because they've gone from protecting to harming.