05-29-2015, 06:16 AM
So, just as a preface, I'm a child of the 80s and have grown up with video games from First Generation onwards. Over the years, I've found them increasingly interesting on a number of metaphysical\philosophical levels, in part because they are such a novel form of entertainment. So in a semi-serious deconstructiony way, I'd like to suggest a very different way of looking at one of the most infamous murder simulators on the market.
If there's an underlying assumption/thesis to this argument, it's that a)video games are as close to "karmically neutral" or harm-free as you can get in 3D activities, and b)they can provide real catalyst (if somewhat watered down) for those who go to them seeking catalyst.
What We Can Learn From GTA V
OK, yes, one thing we can learn from GTA V is many, many ways of killing people in gruesome ways. That part has been discussed in depth many times, so I won't delve into it. Because one thing that's generally overlooked in such arguments is that GTA V also contains a huge number of non-violent and\or socially-acceptable activities. Players can go to the movies, watch TV, play tennis, go clothes shopping, skydive, run jetski races down rapids, go on dates, ride a ferris wheel, learn to fly, take a bus tour of the city, or retrieve sunken nuclear waste with a mini-sub. And many more. There's even a full 18-hole golf course with a decent golf sim built in.
(And that's just scripted entertainment. Potential diversions simply enjoying the game world for its own sake are virtually endless. For example, GTA V is the best "walking on the beach" simulator ever made.
)
Outside of the plot missions, GTA V is only as violent as the player wants it to be. Violence may occasionally occur spontaneously, through the interactions of the NPCs, but it's virtually always avoidable. For that matter, the city's traffic simulation is quite realistic, with logical traffic light patterns, working train track barriers, and soforth. It's entirely possible to get around while obeying traffic laws. Oh, and there's multiple working forms of public transportation too.
So I'd submit first and foremost that GTA V can actually be a very positively polarizing experience, specifically because it's set in an amoral world with virtually no consequences for negative behavior. The player can CHOOSE to behave in a positive way without any substantial coercion at all, while enjoying the lush game world solely for its own sake. V even occasionally gives players opportunities to do a good deed, like picking up a hitchhiker and delivering them safely to their destination.
And then there's the character-switching system.
There are three characters who, by and large, the player can switch to at any time. They could be roughly called the Good, Bad, and Ugly.
Franklin is a gangbanger with a good heart, who mostly just wants to escape "the life." Trevor is the worst imaginable combination of every psychopath in pop culture, in the body of a 40-something dusthead with serious mommy issues. And Michael is more ambiguous, because the player can take direct control of his evolution in the game. By the end, Michael can be a confirmed unrepentant sociopath, or a deeply-flawed man who still loves his family. He can die the death he deserves, or redeem himself and reunite with his family and live contentedly ever after.
The interesting thing here is this: Virtually everyone I've talked to who's put substantial time into the game and cares at all about the characters, end up roleplaying to a certain extent. We're reluctant to be terribly evil as Franklin, while even being in Trevor's body seems to inspire us to do really nasty things. We'll even choose which character to play specifically based on our mood at the moment.
And through this mechanic, I would say GTA V (unintentionally) creates a fair simulation of what lifes must be like for 5D and 6D entities becoming Wanderers. Players can live several lives at once. They can actively choose, in all cases, whether to engage in positive or negative activities. Some of these are clearly delineated, some are simply byproducts of the detailed and responsive game world design. Players can truly swap polarities multiple times in the same game session, if they want. They can even replay (remember) old missions but try different choices, positive or negative, to see different outcomes.
It can be an experience of seeking-out catalyst, no matter how a player chooses to play it.
There's even a lost soul for the truly positive to try to redeem, specifically by restricting their own actions while playing as him, and thus using him as a proxy for their own quest for enlightenment. There's a psychological profile at the end of the game that says, more or less, how naughty Michael still is. It'll even notice if Michael decides to take up Yoga. (Really. It's a minigame.)
And so by setting GTA V in a world filled with overt negative catalyst, it can also help inspire the positively-oriented to see the choices that exist around them for positive or noninterfering behavior, as well as coming to understand the pleasures of simply enjoying/loving the-world-as-it-is around them. Were GTA V not capable of depicting great depravity, this lesson of positive growth could not exist by contrast.
If there's an underlying assumption/thesis to this argument, it's that a)video games are as close to "karmically neutral" or harm-free as you can get in 3D activities, and b)they can provide real catalyst (if somewhat watered down) for those who go to them seeking catalyst.
What We Can Learn From GTA V
OK, yes, one thing we can learn from GTA V is many, many ways of killing people in gruesome ways. That part has been discussed in depth many times, so I won't delve into it. Because one thing that's generally overlooked in such arguments is that GTA V also contains a huge number of non-violent and\or socially-acceptable activities. Players can go to the movies, watch TV, play tennis, go clothes shopping, skydive, run jetski races down rapids, go on dates, ride a ferris wheel, learn to fly, take a bus tour of the city, or retrieve sunken nuclear waste with a mini-sub. And many more. There's even a full 18-hole golf course with a decent golf sim built in.
(And that's just scripted entertainment. Potential diversions simply enjoying the game world for its own sake are virtually endless. For example, GTA V is the best "walking on the beach" simulator ever made.
) Outside of the plot missions, GTA V is only as violent as the player wants it to be. Violence may occasionally occur spontaneously, through the interactions of the NPCs, but it's virtually always avoidable. For that matter, the city's traffic simulation is quite realistic, with logical traffic light patterns, working train track barriers, and soforth. It's entirely possible to get around while obeying traffic laws. Oh, and there's multiple working forms of public transportation too.
So I'd submit first and foremost that GTA V can actually be a very positively polarizing experience, specifically because it's set in an amoral world with virtually no consequences for negative behavior. The player can CHOOSE to behave in a positive way without any substantial coercion at all, while enjoying the lush game world solely for its own sake. V even occasionally gives players opportunities to do a good deed, like picking up a hitchhiker and delivering them safely to their destination.
And then there's the character-switching system.
There are three characters who, by and large, the player can switch to at any time. They could be roughly called the Good, Bad, and Ugly.
Franklin is a gangbanger with a good heart, who mostly just wants to escape "the life." Trevor is the worst imaginable combination of every psychopath in pop culture, in the body of a 40-something dusthead with serious mommy issues. And Michael is more ambiguous, because the player can take direct control of his evolution in the game. By the end, Michael can be a confirmed unrepentant sociopath, or a deeply-flawed man who still loves his family. He can die the death he deserves, or redeem himself and reunite with his family and live contentedly ever after.
The interesting thing here is this: Virtually everyone I've talked to who's put substantial time into the game and cares at all about the characters, end up roleplaying to a certain extent. We're reluctant to be terribly evil as Franklin, while even being in Trevor's body seems to inspire us to do really nasty things. We'll even choose which character to play specifically based on our mood at the moment.
And through this mechanic, I would say GTA V (unintentionally) creates a fair simulation of what lifes must be like for 5D and 6D entities becoming Wanderers. Players can live several lives at once. They can actively choose, in all cases, whether to engage in positive or negative activities. Some of these are clearly delineated, some are simply byproducts of the detailed and responsive game world design. Players can truly swap polarities multiple times in the same game session, if they want. They can even replay (remember) old missions but try different choices, positive or negative, to see different outcomes.
It can be an experience of seeking-out catalyst, no matter how a player chooses to play it.
There's even a lost soul for the truly positive to try to redeem, specifically by restricting their own actions while playing as him, and thus using him as a proxy for their own quest for enlightenment. There's a psychological profile at the end of the game that says, more or less, how naughty Michael still is. It'll even notice if Michael decides to take up Yoga. (Really. It's a minigame.)
And so by setting GTA V in a world filled with overt negative catalyst, it can also help inspire the positively-oriented to see the choices that exist around them for positive or noninterfering behavior, as well as coming to understand the pleasures of simply enjoying/loving the-world-as-it-is around them. Were GTA V not capable of depicting great depravity, this lesson of positive growth could not exist by contrast.