Fractal Dreams

Rockstar.

Almost everyone who has ever held a game console controller these days knows the name. After all, they were the daddies of the one of the most controversial game series yet, Grand Theft Auto and it sequels and spinoffs.

So far, I’ve sampled 2 of their offerings, GTA:Vice City and Bully. I don’t really buy the hype of them being controversial for promoting violence and organized crime. I played the game because of the gameplay.

Let’s take for example, Bully. Sure enough, the game’s premise of a rebel kid in an uptight but corrupt school ain’t your typical game plot, even though the violent stuff has been watered down to warrant a T rating in ESRB (as opposed to an M rating in GTA), the game still allows players to engage in “mischievous” behavior, which many special interest groups hate.

But I’m 21. I’m not dumb. I know it’s just a game, and it’s a game that’s fun to play. Bully follows a sandbox-type of game play which allows players to roam around as they please. Rockstar vancouver stuffed the town of Bullworth with lots of mini games and customization options for your character, and you practically never run out of stuff to do. And doing them never feels like a chore, since if you don’t like one of the sidequests, you can skip it. Now that’s some pretty novel gameplay. And the story itself is fun. It’s full of tired cliches, but it’s still entertaining and gives you a sense of accomplishment as you progress.

I don’t really believe that banning these kinds of games will make our world much better. What’s important that the gamers know that this is just a game, and what happens in vegas, stays in vegas. A little maturity in our part is all that’s required, leave the immaturity inside the game.