GTA 5

I'm skipping it because I personally don't want to support the GTA franchise with my money. I also don't feel it's appropriate for me to play GTA V because of my position in the Christian gaming community, which is one reason I skipped Diablo 3 (the others being the real money auction house, always-on DRM, and lack of gamepad support).

I am not suggesting that I believe others should refuse to buy or play the game based on my personal convictions.

I encourage others to make their own decisions after thinking carefully, seeking guidance in the Word, and praying about it. I don't know enough about the game's content to make a blanket "It is wrong to play this game" or "It is okay to play this game" statement. Even if I did, I would rather people read Scripture themselves, use their God-given intellect, listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and make decisions on what games they play, what movies they watch, what music they listen to, and what media they consume accordingly.
 
I think the most frustrating thing about Rockstar is that they manage to produce both the best and worst in all of gaming.

GTA has let you hire prostitutes to recover health. GTA has also given you one of the closest things to a sense of actually developing and sustaining real relationships as I've found in gaming. Red Dead Redemption has one of my favorite women in all of gaming.

Rockstar has a tendency to let you do whatever you want, and that means opportunity for a whole lot of really immoral (even if virtual) actions. At the same time, I find that freedom to make it all the more enjoyable to follow my own code of ethics within the parameters of the games.

In GTAIV, I could kill cops and civilians left and right and get away with it, but I don't. That's not the kind of person I want to play in the game, and I don't have to. Instead, I want to be the once-thug trying to find a fresh start, and still holding on to some shred of humanity even while the criminal world tries to drag me back into the life of crime I wanted to escape. That I have the absolute freedom to be either kind of person makes being the person I want to be that much better.

There aren't a lot of games that let me do that and feel that my choices matter (ironically because they don't always matter. It's not like Bioware's decision making with galaxy-altering consequences where I choose with consequence in mind; I have to choose solely for the sake of the decision).

It's likely I'll get GTAV sometime down the road when it's cheap. I have, and still have not played, Vice City and San Andreas. I've barely touched III. And I've only scratched the surface of IV.
 
Tek7 said:
I don't know enough about the game's content to make a blanket "It is wrong to play this game" or "It is okay to play this game" statement. Even if I did, I would rather people read Scripture themselves, use their God-given intellect, listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and make decisions on what games they play, what movies they watch, what music they listen to, and what media they consume accordingly.
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Oddly enough I've been watching a let's play of GTA V for just that reason. I'd never support such a game but with it's 5th iteration I decided I wanted to be able to articulate my objections a little more than just reading the ESRB content tag (not implying it's not enough I just wanted to know more). The lust parts are filtered out on youtube too so I can avoid that. I want people to WWJD personally above all too but I'm still going to give my opinion on things I am certain WWJD in the hope every little bit helps.

So what is all the hubbub about? Below is my now informed opinion.

Starting off every other sentence in this game has an expletive, usually the F-word. If you are prone to picking up a word repeated over and over this game will do it for you but then I really didn't expect different from a game made to make you feel like a criminal. This leads into the crux of the world, there is not a single character I feel for or say "I hope he gets out of this ok". Micheal is the pathetic mid-life crisis crook his family makes him out to be but his family is pathetic morons as well. Franklin is a fresh faced kid, apparently because we are told over and over he is, but his motivations to "make some paper" aren't any nobler than anyone else. While Trevor is made to be the "lovable" rampaging lunatic everyone fears but is far to explicit to elicit any real sympathy. To paraphrase Micheal "I've done some things I'm not proud of, I'm no angel, but compared to Trevor". Not caring about anyone in the story negates any enjoyment I could have. Rockstar tries to get around their main characters being jerks by making everyone else in the game jerks. The problem is the "good" villains are still casual mass murders. While you can control the things you do outside the story, like mowing down NPCs and stealing cars, the main quests call for these things and worse. If you try to avoid what sin you can in the sandbox that's great but when the story missions are full of sin and you still choose to play them I don't see the point. I suppose you could pretend Micheal's pathetic existence, and possible bad end for everyone, is a warning against "the life" (his phrase) or that Franklin and Trevor's puppy dog, and completely unwarranted, loyalty somehow redeems them. Micheal may or may not have a repentant moment in his future but, as I've mentioned before on other things, warnings against something fall short when a game is conceived to make that something fun. Live fast die hard, the yolo's are fine with that. The only "good" act I've seen possible is recovering vehicles stolen by criminal NPCS. Of course you'll steal parking lots worth of cars yourself unless you want to walk and look for a taxi all the time. It's called GTA you are going to have a time avoiding the core concept. The game does have a variety of non-combat activities like stunt jumps, tennis, golf and stock markets (which you manipulate by killing people) but you'd still be avoiding most of the game if you avoided all the sin you could. Contrary to sandbox design I wouldn't feel any freedom in this game because you can't be the one thing I'd want to be, the good guy. You are a jerk your only choice is how much of one. The game is also full of obvious "this is here to shock" moments, sometimes with the point of showing Trevor's insane rage but just as often for juvenile shock value.

Also of note was a tiny, out of place, moment with Trevor on torture. You can almost see the words "PC moment" flash on the screen as that lovable lunatic gives his not so veiled opinion on torture A.K.A. Guantanamo. It's moments like these that I wonder how people can think media never influences the morality of popular culture. It was like that awkward, and completely inaccurate, moment in Heroes where Sylar encounters "deem evil' volunteer border patrol people. I think my eyes rolled out of my head both times.

As far as gameplay it has been polished to a mirror sheen and the map is supposed to be exceptionally large with a lots of content. Though for all the high production values I've really seen little in the way of actual innovation and you still can't go in most of the buildings. It's all gameplay concepts I've seen before, well executed, but nothing new. It's the equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster where I understand people want to play it for it's production values but that doesn't make it worth remembering nor negate it's immorality. Currently the plot has lost momentum at the mid point I'm at, not to mention common sense, but then what modern movie doesn't. The plot line feels movie like and it's high production values are intoxicating but that doesn't make a game good or enjoyable alone.

In closing I will flatly ask should you fantasize about sinning? Because that is what this game is to most people. Grounded in faith you will probably avoid the allure of "the life" but I can easily see the secular pubescent giddily exclaiming "mother F-in" quotes from this game to his classmates or idolizing activities in the game. Minor or not this game will influence our culture and I'm not going to support it even if I can personally resist it's influence.
 
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Kendrik said:
Instead, I want to be the once-thug trying to find a fresh start, and still holding on to some shred of humanity even while the criminal world tries to drag me back into the life of crime I wanted to escape.
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Sooo you want to be Kazuma Kiryu?

I can dig that. :D
 
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