I was shot in GTA5 the other day.
I escaped from the scene of the crime but needed help.
So I hired a prostitute.
As is how it happens in real life, using her services charged my health back up.
I gave her money, then I shot her, took my money and drove off.
I felt a terrible pang of guilt and I braked to a halt.
I looked back at her body, lying there in my rear view-mirror.
This poor person, trying to make a living and I'm there, putting an end to her life
just to save me a couple of digital dollars.
Then the guilt went and I drove off.
But I was like NO brain, STOP!
Tell me what just went through your mind! and my brain was all like 'ehh its just a
game and stuff.
You can't tell me what to do I have rights!!!'
and I was like 'NO!
That's not a good enough reason.
Tell me what you REALLY thought.
Tell me what makes this sort of stuff okay to do, for all the people out there who don't
understand videogames but who want to learn.
How has my mind JUSTIFIED something so wrong? and my brain was like 'she's an NPC that spawned
with a purpose and by now she's despawned.
No harm done.
Killing her has given you money which will be a lasting benefit.
All in all, the world is in a better situation than it was before since it's the same as
before only you have more health.
Nothing else has changed'. ...and with that, I was like 'eh, that makes
sense', and drove off.
No harm done.
But at the same time, I feel guilty and ashamed when I see how the rest of the world sees
this action.
My mind has broken it down into gameplay elements.
Into basic, simple logical steps that help me to progress with the game.
But is it any wonder why people who are unfamiliar with the medium look at it in horror?
The simple solution is to educate them, but that's too much to hope for.
They're happy to judge from their high horse of ignorance.
But it did make me think about it.
Violence in videogames, as far as I'm concerned, is a done and dusted subject.
It doesn't turn people into raging monsters.
It doesn't hurt other people.
And if you point at a school shooting, I'll say that correlation doesn't equal causation,
and leave it at that.
Why should I, as somebody who knows a lot about computer games, try to build an argument
to convince people who refuse to learn?
Let's face it, we play games because they're fun.
We learn the rules, which are always very basic, and end up going on autopilot as we
string things together to maximise our chances of victory.
I've already explained the dead hooker situation.
There are no negative consequences.
Nobody will mourn for that NPC.
It's just an action within a closed environment...
but what about needless violence?
And by that, I mean actions that HINDER your progress through the game?
Well, this is the thing.
GTA isn't really about doing the missions.
More often than not it's greater fun just to mess about between them.
Something about GTA5 makes everybody dance with danger.
This is what GTA is about.
It's a sandbox where you knock over the dominos and take great delight in watching how it
plays out.
We almost deliberately swerve to hit those innocent teenagers on the pavement, or those
old people enjoying the sunshine JUST TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS and look forward to where the
police chase will lead us.
If there's somebody alone in an alleyway, would it be possible to take them out without
the police knowing?
If I dive over a fence, will I be able to stay hidden until the police call of their
search?
And I can't justify these actions in any way that people who haven't played it will understand.
Everybody who plays GTA does things they wouldn't dream of doing in real life.
And you wouldn't not do these things just because of the risk of jail or being disowned
by everybody you know.
You just wouldn't want to do them in real life.
I don't think that videogames are a way of channelling aggression.
They're simply a fun thing to play and GTA manages to get the sandbox balance right.
Can videogames make me feel negative emotions?
Yes.
They're a powerful form of media.
I've personally never got angry at a single player game though- at least, not in any way
that it's intended.
I've raged at frustrating puzzles in point and click games, got stuck on a boss in Final
Fantasy and have screamed in frustration at the terribly buggy nature of Barbie Horse
Adventure Trail.
That's about the extent of my negative emotions in single-player games.
Things change a bit when you throw other people into the mix.
I have experienced anger when playing multiplayer games but it's not the guns or shooting that
causes it.
That's just the method of communication in Counter Strike, rather than the source of
the problem.
In Counter Strike, dick team-mates make me angry because they're dick humans and are
using the game to dick with people.
You could put these same dick people in a boardgame tournament, or on the road with
a car, in a golf tournament or perhaps a gardening show and the same dick nature would prevail
and people would still get angry.
Videogames are an easy target because of the violence they depict.
I can't ever imagine going on a killing spree after having played them but I won't rule
out the possibility of somebody doing so.
That being said, I suspect that the videogame would merely be the straw that broke the camel's
back and not the root of the problems.
But hey, why not just ban them anyway because we don't play them ourselves.
So if you're going to ban certain videogames, at least understand why you're banning them
and how you think it will help.
But be sure to apply the same logic and reasoning when somebody goes postal after other activities
as well, like driving or after a gardening dispute.
I'm going to go and run over a load of innocents again, but I'll try to keep it within Grand
Theft Auto.
Bye!