If anyone is wondering why I haven't been blogging lately, it's because my client convinced me to buy Grand Theft Auto IV. It is the best advice a client has ever given me. Not only is the game fun, but, even though I'm only about 60% through the game, I think I am more than qualified to run drugs for kingpins, carry out hits for dirty cops and mob bosses, and assassinate random people for shadowy guys who only communicate via pay-phone should I find myself unexpectedly in need of work. I also am fairly confident I could, if the need arises, successfully evade law enforcement in a high-speed pursuit, be it by car, boat, or helicopter.But those aren't the only reasons I love GTA. Entering the world of GTA is like traveling to no-consequence land. Sure your actions in GTA have consequences, but often not the kind you would expect to find in the real world. For example, in GTA you can take out half a city block with a rocket launcher, steal a nearby car and in 15 seconds the police won't even be looking for you. Not that I would want to murder anyone in real life, but c'mon, who hasn't at least thought about how they would commit a murder and avoid prosecution? In GTA, you actually get to plot murders and assassinations, and getting away with it is key to your success. OK, it occurs to me a lot of people probably haven't thought about how they would commit a murder. If you are one of those people, perhaps Grand Theft Auto is not something you would enjoy.
Indeed, Grand Theft Auto is something that a lot of people like to hate, and not just the people who don't daydream about committing murders. A lot of people think it's an abomination and evil in its purest form. They think it is a bad influence on kids and will somehow corrupt people's morality and values. Of course, you don't find these same people objecting to games like "Call of Duty" because when it's the military blowing people up somehow that's OK. And since kids obviously go out in real life and immediately do whatever they've been doing in video games, I guess, based on the fact that way more kids play GTA, it's much more likely they'll join the mafia than the military. I guess I can see why people are upset. After all, we need those kids to be dying in Iraq for a "purpose," not in Jersey for mob money.
But I don't think that "bad influence" is really why games like Grand Theft Auto bother a lot of people. I think it is because they reveal truths about America they don't want to face. No one likes having a mirror held up in front of them, at least no one with a problem they don't want to admit they have. And Grand Theft Auto holds up a mirror to segments of the United States that a lot of people would rather just pretend don't exist. There is rampant drug violence going on in cities all over this country, but most people don't have to think about it in the safety of their suburbs and gated communities. I know I don't have to think about it in my apartment, except when I'm playing GTA of course. Obviously there aren't entire cities mired in the type of chaos and lawlessness like that in GTA, but there are definitely significant areas within many major American cities that come close.
In fact, in March of 2007 U.S. Representative Tim Walberg was roundly ridiculed for comparing Iraq to Detroit in terms of violence in an attempt to argue that the situation in Iraq was improving. Hooray, it's not worse than Detriot (440 estimated murders in 2005, or 9.8 per 100,000 inhabitants)! Actually it was still a little worse. But regardless, I think most people would rather not think about the fact that we have mini-Baghdad's all over the country where people don't depend on police for security, but drug lords and gang members. Any criminal defense attorney will tell you that increased law enforcement efforts do not decrease gang and drug-related violence. Only strong and brutal control by cartels and drug lords can reduce the bloodshed. In fact, it is usually when police focus efforts to remove certain leaders in the drug and gang world that they create a power vacuum and violence spikes again as rival groups battle for control of the black market. Much like Iraq when Saddam was removed from power, but on a smaller level. An examination of murder rates in the U.S. from the past century illustrates the point.
So what is the point? In GTA, the L.C.P.D. is fairly powerless and really do very little in the way of maintaining law and order, just like police departments in some of the most crime-ridden areas of this country struggle to control gang and drug violence. In GTA the entire city is a battleground between rival mobsters and drug-runners, and police only sometimes prove to be a minor annoyance, unless you've terrorized the populace enough that you end up with a 6-star wanted level, then you're probably ending up in the hospital with some bullet-induced head trauma.
Truly, people hate what they don't understand. And if you don't understand why camping out on a roof with a sniper rifle shooting police helicopters out of the sky is a damn good time, then I can't help you. But if you think GTA is fantasy world built for bloodthirsty psychopaths with no basis in reality, check out some of the old L.A. riot footage from '92 and see if you think GTA is really that far off.
So, all in all, I'm really glad that instead of focusing on ways to improve the situation here in the U.S., we're spending lives and money to give people in other countries the opportunity not only to play GTA, but to live GTA. And who said you could never learn anything playing video games?
