How playing Grand Theft Auto IV is like watching a movie

Tuesday, April 29 2008

It's the fourth time around for the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and the release is sure to spark the umpteenth debate about the tie-in between violent video games and real-life aggression. In GTA IV, players assume the role of Nico, a European immigrant with a talent for stealing cars.

Version four is set to break records as the best-selling game in history, but does some of this success come at the expense of movies? Writer and blogger Brian Crecente got his hands on an advance copy of GTA4. He then played 11 hours a day for the next five days. Crecente talks to The Takeaway about the blurring of fantasy and reality.

Ive been playing grand theft auto since the first installment. They are by far the most amazing games I've ever played and the newest one is nothing short of incredible. People say its way to violent and rewards you for killing people but i dont see it that way if you kill someone the cops come and try to arrest you just as they would in real life. I think that people try to put the blame on these games because since its an active experience and not a passive one such as a movie. However they do rate these games for a reason and if you dont like whats in the games dont play them

Posted by Gabe Wax, 6:53 a.m. Tuesday, April 29 2008 Permalink

Well, I didn't know the police try to catch you if you kill someone in the game. That makes all the difference. And I'm sure as you're playing the game, you deal with all the conflicted emotions that you might have in real life, the same way any great art would draw out these feelings. Should I turn myself in? How will what I have done effect my family, etc? Not only is it high art, it seems like great practice for being a well rounded citizen. How else would us bleeding heart liberals be able to relate to the violence and moral ambiguity that affects the lives of the criminal classes? And the argument about not playing the game if we find it objectionable is also quite insightful. Surely ignoring that which we find negative will lessen the coarsening effect that such violent pacification has on society. I'm sure the consequences that the character in the game below was subjected to made the player of the game think twice before the next time he decided to break out the knives and baseball bats and go on a mass murder rampage.