GRAND THEFT AUTO GETS A NEW PAINT JOB, BUT THE
MORAL AMBIGUIT Y REMAINS
was gaming’s public enemy
Grand Theft Auto IV will have a lot of people
worried. Dedicated fans of Rockstar Games’
supremely violent, supremely successful slice
of American criminal culture can worry that
the latest installment won’t add much more
than a new Roman numeral to the series.
much-improved functionality for running around on
foot (a weakness before). Hitting a dive bar with a pal
leads to a drunken-driving simulation in which the
camera veers wildly from side to side and the controls
take on a life of their own—easily the moment most
likely to result in a Congressional hearing.
Meanwhile, concerned parents and preening politicians
Even with these new features, GTA’s greatest asset
In a time before joysticks, pinball
number one. New York City Mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia banned the
machines during a crackdown on
Mob-controlled gambling in 1941,
even inviting the press to watch
him smash up—nonviolently,
presumably—pinball machines
and dump them in the East River.
(doubtlessly frothing at the mouth at the chance to be
remains its sense of freedom. Any vehicle along the
The first video game to prompt
a public outcry was Death Race
the first and the loudest to declare GTA IV the biggest
miles of city streets can be jacked, and the game’s plot
(Exidy, 1976). The stick-figure
threat to America’s youth since the game’s last incarna-
can be ignored in favor of a freewheeling crime spree.
folks run over by the player’s
tion) can worry about drawing even more attention to
Yet Grand Theft Auto is far from the realistic thug-
car were called “gremlins,” but
the casual vehicular homicide and cop killing.
training simulation its critics claim it is, and there’s still
parents didn’t buy it, especially
Of those two groups, gamers have less to fear. While
a kind of moral code that underpins the game’s
the basic premise of a down-on-his-luck guy sucked into
universe—hurting a civilian or stealing a car in view of
a morally gray world of criminality remains the same—
the police often ends with the player dead or in jail,
since the game’s original title was Pedestrian, earning Death Race a rebuke on 60 Minutes.
Even jaded modern audiences
and players must still curry favor with various crime
even if he’s magically resurrected moments later.
might object to Custer’s Revenge
bosses by stealing cars and knocking off rivals—those
While the go-anywhere, do-anything vibe can be seen as
(left, bottom) for the Atari 2600
who climb behind the wheel will find a few embellish-
perverse personal wish fulfillment, often represented by
(Mystique, 1982), which sent
ments to the game that stop short of a drastic overhaul.
antigaming advocates as beating up little old ladies and
the doomed General George
The idealized faux New York’s vast skyscraper
shooting at cops (both strictly elective activities as far
Armstrong Custer, clad only in a
corridors feel much larger and more imposing than
as the game play goes), the range of options available
cavalry hat, boots, and a bandanna,
on a quest to dodge arrows and
past L.A.- and Miami-based iterations, thanks to
also highlights the idea of choices and consequences—
the greater scale and detail allowed by the current
choices “good” game characters like Mario or Lara
generation of consoles. The city feels alive, with
Croft never get to make. DAN ACKERMAN
repeatedly mate with a Native American girl tied to a post. Grand Theft Stagecoach, anyone? D.A.
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