#MUSINGS - Grand Theft Auto - Gamer morals

Tony, who reminds me too much of a wussy George Michael.

I bought this Rockstar collection of games pretty recently. It had Red Dead Redemption, Midnight Club, L. A. Noire and Grand Theft Auto. Heard quite a fair bit about GTA and I know it received quite a number of raving views for its gameplay. On the other hand, it also received a couple of negative stuff because of the vices and sins that was one of the game's main recurring theme. I didn't think it would be that bad. After all most, if not all, video games had to have the whole sex, violence thing for it to sell. Or was it that the formula to successful games was to have one or the other, or for guaranteed success, both.

There were two parts to the one that I got - The Lost and The Damned and Gay Tony. Tried out the former which revolved around a bike gang. That appalled me. Although there was a character who was a chaotic good turned lawful good, his other gang members, particularly the leader was quite the chaotic evil. I didn't like the use of excessive vulgarity as well as how some of the female characters (though non-playable) were being portrayed. It quite disgusted me. I didn't even bother completing any of the missions and just skipped over to the Gay Tony one.

This one was a lot more palatable, much more fun. There was still stuff like drugs and sex involved and some nonsensical gang wars and the like. I liked the characters better. Both the lead (whom you pay) and the boss were like able enough and they weren't so extremely morally corrupt. So far I've managed to fly a helicopter and land it and not get too lost driving about Liberty City, which compared to Sleeping Dogs (based in Hong Kong) was like so so so much bigger.

The GPS was much less confusing.

Didn't ever think that the morals of a game could affect me and my decision to play. Is it because I am older and have some understanding of the world and human nature? I don't think the kids who play such games are able to make that kind of decision, to not play because of the errors in human judgment and the abundance of sin and vice that runs as a rampant theme throughout. Maybe that's what we should worry about. Main reason why such games are not suited for children below a certain age is because they're still young and have yet to formulate their own concept of what is morally right and wrong. To be able to identify it for themselves and to make their own informed decisions and distinctions that whilst it seems ok in the game, such things are not and should not be applicable to real life.

Then it comes to the issue of how then can we prepare them before playing such games? Is there a need for them to be prepared? Or should we just stop them completely from even coming into contact with such games?

In this era of technology, unless you have absolute and complete control of your children, it would be a challenge to prevent them from coming across such things. Only if they are educated thoroughly on the concepts of right and wrong (which is a fundamental aspect of character development), can we be somewhat certain that we won't have to worry about them turning out corrupted.

I mean I know of some parents who don't even allow their kids to watch cartoons because of the implied and subtle notions of violence, racism, etc. But maybe one approach we can take is to talk about the game, before it is played. To highlight and make them aware of certain Therese. Granted they might be intrigued and even find the whole scenario amusing but if we stress enough, are serious enough, especially if we let them know that we are granting them permission to play BUT ONLY IF they agree to the responsibilities that come with playing the game.

Oh what am I saying and what do I know.

Though it was something that I thought about as I went about finishing missions. Enjoyable only for the gameplay but I wouldn't want to be a mafia king or a gang leader or some nightclub owner in the real world.

And if you we're thinking what Gay Tony implied; yes there's some homosexuality involved. Nothing explicit, mostly implied. I'm more worried about the objectification of women.