The activist and writer Susan Estrich penned a column about Grand Theft Auto 4. Let’s take a look at what she thinks:
“I write for a living and still have difficulty finding the words to describe it. Awful doesn’t begin…
“Imagine gratuitous violence. Then imagine people with more imagination than you or I making it more graphic and awful than we could ever dream…
“It’s the genius that is being distorted into creating more and worse violence. There’s no question that great minds are behind these games, in terms of creative and technological skill. But think of what else they could be doing. And aren’t…
“It’s a shame and a waste, and it portends a generation going down the tubes. “Rockstar” my you-know-what. Shame on you. You owe the kids who worship you — and line your coffers — better than this garbage.”
It’s hard to imagine someone of Estrich’s sophistication writing something like this about Martin Scorsese or David Chase. Right away she falls into the trap of pigeonholing all games as designed only for kids.
I’ve played about 7 hours of Grand Theft Auto 4’s story so far and I can tell you the violence isn’t nearly as graphic as recent horror movies like Saw, or even The Passion of the Christ. Probably by an order of magnitude.
What disturbs Estrich and many other critics is the aspect of agency in video games. You are an active participant, tasked with carrying out these horrific actions. Watching a movie at least gives you some detachment or distance from the on-screen action, but in GTA you pull the trigger yourself.
But look at any thoughtful review of GTA4. The choices, often between two equally bad evils, are creating lots of discomfited gamers. Watching movies like Good Fellas or Colors, we’ve all probably thought about what we would if placed in those situations. Well, GTA4 gives you that opportunity. I’m just really surprised that Estrich, who has watched enough of the game to see key turning points that provide context for these choices, hasn’t picked up on this.
There are two half-points, however, on which I sort of agree with her.
“But think of what else they could be doing. And aren’t…”
Let me pre-emptively say that I realize a huge part of the attraction for GTA is that it lets you try out the criminal lifestyle with no real-world consequence. Rockstar thrives on pushing the bounds of taste. It’s a key part of what has made the series so popular. So what follows is just some brainstorming, and is not in any way meant to say, “GTA would have been better if…”
But anyway, a few days ago I was wondering if there would have been any way to make GTA more socially acceptable. Or something that would retain the edginess without casting you, the player, as an actual criminal. What if the game cast you as a police officer caught between trying to clean up both the city and your own department? That could allow for equally gritty and disturbing scenarios: go take down such and such drug dealer, only to find that one of your superior officers is in on the deal. Go undercover and be forced to choose between proving your loyalty to the mafia by killing a fellow cop, or following your conscience. It could still retain the total freedom to beat up passers-by and pick up hookers, only this time you’d be a Harvey Keitel-style Bad Lieutenant.
The other half-point for Estrich is that she at least refrains from calling for legislation to ban games like GTA. She has the common-sense attitude that personal responsibility matters. Despite her reservations, she lets her son play because she knows he’s a good kid with a low risk of picking up any bad behavior that could be potentially imparted by the game.
While I happen to disagree with Estrich’s main points, I can accept her column as reasonable criticism of the game’s themes, or of Rockstar’s objectives in general. Just because Rockstar has the right to make any game they want doesn’t mean they can’t be called out for doing so. I can understand the argument that even though something is allowed to happen doesn’t mean it should happen. We employ that reasoning every day in hundreds of little choices. I could smoke, but I don’t. A friend of mine could eat meat but she doesn’t. Those kind of choices are the way a free society is supposed to work.
Oh, I do have one last bone to pick with Estrich. Rockstar doesn’t just make GTA games. They have also made the biting school satire Bully, Western adventure Red Dead Revolver and the Midnight Run street racing games. Oh, and Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, known far and wide as the most realistic ping-pong simulator ever created. So there.
