Boring? Not really. But if you're a fan of the show, you may have heard me rag on the GTA series on a few occasions, and this column (written by my friend Darren Gladstone, PC World) satirically sums up why.
Darren's column is based on the premise that the GTA world is completely open to the type of play style you bring to the table, and he brings the most boring one he can think of. Now most people in the video game world play the GTA series to blow up cars and smack up hookers and those other supposed other things that you can't do in real life (I guess?), and you will be quick to say that "he's doing it wrong!", but bear with me for a second.
The bonus to all those illicit virtual adventures, is a world that tries to mimic ours, and thereby trying encapsulate the player into the game. That's pretty cool, but it leads to one of my beefs with the series, because the virtual world that they have is very much like our own, with GTA IV being even more so.
As you know, you can spend hours upon hours watching tv, checking email, or just driving around. You can even try and date some ladies by taking them out to a bar.
This is very much like my
actual life.
So, with that being said, the only draw to the game for me would be the criminal aspects that you can emulate. You know, the "blow up cars and smack up hookers" part? Well, sadly, it is not a draw for me. I've never been compelled by the series siren song of becoming the The Man, if you know what I mean.
Hold off, though, I'm not condemning the game, I'm just saying that it isn't my cup of tea (so keep a lid on it fanny boys!). The game is fantastic at what it does, but what it does it not something I want, that's all.
And my friend's column, along with being funny, points out that if you played the game by using your IRL behavior, that it would be boring. He then goes to turn that argument on its ear and say that it can't be a murder sim, at least it can't if you
don't want it to be. Regardless, he makes a good point: If you're not playing the criminal role, the game is merely a life simulator, and a boring life at that.
Anyway,
go ahead and check out his column here to see his take on it, and see what you think. Feel free to contribute your points of view, maybe you guys can help me "get it" with this series. I feel as I may be missing out on something here.
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If you're really bored with GTA may is national masturbation month. That and theres a big group masturbatathon and stuff in San Fran at I think the Sex Center or somethin.
I've tried the "ordinary guy" thing in IV... eventually though, you bump into someone that tries to beat you to death, and if you fight back, the cops will come to kill you. The game is designed as a world simulator, but the world it simulates is one with a dark, angry disposition and a really good sense of humor.
Preach on brotha (and brotha who wrote the article)! I have many of the same problems with the series, I can have fun for a few minutes of dicking around, but I've never really felt compelled by the story or wandering around aimlessly blowing things up for hours at a time.
I doubt it's a matter of "not getting it" as you seem to have slightly offbeat sensibilities (at least from what I can gather from RFGO!) and if you don't have fun with it, then you don't have fun with it.
Diff'rent strokes.
every month is masturbation month for people bored with GTA
I don't think we can help you "get it." If driving around recklessly and shooting people at random isn't your thing, then it just isn't your thing.
However, if you play it just like real life, then it's pretty much the Sims, right?
This is how I play Super Mario. Everything started heating up after my conference call with Bowser about the Sarasaland Missle Crisis went sour.
I was actually really bored with this the first time I played it. I haven't checked my email in ages, and every time someone wants me to play darts of go for a drink when I could be doing important things like whacking mobsters and be a European badass, it just annoys me.
Of course now I'm nearly done with the game and there's a lot more action, I'm much more in love with it. So it all worked out I guess.
Yeah I never ...got... the GTA3 trilogy. Even with my love for 1980s Miami I still couldn't get into Vice City. The shooting of the same half dozen character models is only fun for maybe six minutes at best. And the missions were poor. Then we got to San Andreas and it just felt too bloated...like there was too much to do and I wasn't interested in any of it not knowing where to begin.
I feel like I'm the only person that didn't pick up GTA4...but maybe there's hope out there that I'm not.
I'm not going to read the other article, but I'd just like to say thank you for being fair and respectful of games that you're not into. I'm not a BioShock fan, but I definitely respect the game for what it is, and for what it's done for the industry.
thanks for not being a fanboy.
I love the GTA series. I can see your point though. I love the story in GTA IV but I love the action in all the other one's.
I love this post <3.
Even though I dont agree, I can understand why you feel that way.
"The game is fantastic at what it does, but what it does it not something I want, that's all."
Man, do I ever agree.
DynamicSheep said it best.
you can try to play Mr. Nice Guy, but since it's a dark world simulator, you'll get pulled into the crime life eventually.
Thanks for the insights!
Also, Dex, I love Crackdown. Which is why I'm confused at my lack of enthusiasm for GTA?
The guy makes some valid points, but in the end you can't progress unless you do the missions which force you to take a violent stance. Then again, if you play to the end of any GTA game, you notice that it never ends as well as the protagonist has thought when he started out. They usually would've preferred to have lived a life outside of jail and without violence.
Maybe if the JT crowd ever played the games up to that point, eh?
Oh, and I was just using BioShock as an example of a game I feel the same way about.
Personally I love GTA IV but I can see how some people wouldn't care for it. That's all well and good, so long as they respect the game and it's obvious qualities.
There's a factor of general awe for me, on top of thinking its cool to play the bad guy, sometimes. But I'll say that stripping back the morality of the actions, its pretty interesting action!
I'm going to get around to writing a blog about it soon!
There's often a decent amount of slack given to how you complete some missions, and figuring out new or better ways to do things can be very exciting, because it gives you the room to do so. In certain missions in GTA (III for example) you can snipe your mark before he gets into his car, or, you can set up a line of explosives directly in his travel path.
On top of that, there's an X factor to completing some of the wider breadth missions that's a whole lot of fun. One weaker example is a mission in SA where you had to steal a car and get it back to your hideout (so many of those, i know) but in this particular one, your driving one car, and following a partner whos in another. At one point, you're driving down an alley, and your partner yells "Back up! back up! back up!" So all of a sudden, you're still on this same mission, but just like that,the circumstances change up.
Maybe you had to be there, but the little things that happen to change up the basic formula are very well handled, and make for some exciting and sometimes unexpected gameplay. Its a constant level of unexpected scripted or AI based behavior during missions that makes it a different experience for me compared to , for example, Crackdown.
geez, I really can write this up better than that. I'll try to explain it better this weekend :p
Different strokes for different folks man. Its a great game if you can get into it, but if its not your cup of tea then it isn't. Any self respecting person wouldn't give you shit for that.
An example for me would be Team Fortress, I tried it a number of times but could never get into it. I can respect it on its own merits but it just didn't do it for me.
I like GTA because it lets me experience things, like a life of crime, that I would never dream of doing in real life.
I had a "wow" moment last night playing though, my first mission for Playboy X had me driving through "times square," at night mind you, and it looked absolutly incredible.
also, while it may not end up being your cup of tea, I think, as you've seen happen on RFGO a few times, getting an understanding of someone else's love or interest in a genre can help you at least find an appreciation for it.
Kudos for trying to find your own hook for enjoying the series!
GTA's appeal is that you can do all the killing and crime that you can't do in real life... or rather, you can do those things and not go to jail or die. Of course, for some people, that's not an attraction, and that's only natural.
I'm not sure why, Dyson, if you love Crackdown, GTA IV isn't exciting you. Maybe it's because of something no one's brought up: the uncanny valley. Crackdown is ridiculously action-packed and over the top. GTA IV tries to simulate life along with the action and crime, to the point that it feels like real life. And that sense of realism can be startling, even frightening to people.
Come play online... that may help you appreciate the open world a little more since it'll be populated with real people.
I just rented GTA4, because I have never really gotten into the GTA series, but I really liked Bully.
The thing is, I don't like games where I feel completely overwhelmed. It feels like there is too much going on, and I can't keep up. this just frustrates the hell out of me.
So far, I am pretty much apathetic to GTA4. I appreciate it, but the things you can do don't appeal to me.
Oh, and it fucking drives me up the wall that you can stop the serial killers, even though you can kill hundreds of people in the game. Yeah, so are you or are you not a killer yourself? So, just by running away, those deaths are "okay". And I hate how your crazy ass driving doesn't get you in trouble. none of that stuff is real, and it's irritating.
Maybe I'm not right for GTA. I'm gonna keep playing, try to put at least ten hours into the storyline, see what happens. I won't make a real judgment for me personally, but right now I just want to play some Rock Band over this.
I can understand you ideals on the game and I can agree. Cause since GTA IV was announced I wasn't really interested as I knew what to expect. Fast Forward to this past tuesday and i'm buying it. When i'm quite sure I told myself a week beforehand I wasn't buying it right now.
You know it's gonna be somewhat the same and if you really look deep down in it, you're just a grunt trying to make it big in america (no matter race....white, black, euro, italian...) and you're found killing those same lookin guys. But I think all the silly talking and the over the top nonsense on the radio you hear makes the game more enjoyable (since most games don't go over the top. Usually scared of the higher ups I assume.) But it's like real life...but not.
I respect your thoughts on it obviously and nice to see people actually talk about not liking the game without the fanny boy rants.
This is exactly how I feel about the series myself. I really did try to get into it, but I just couldn't, so I guess that's just another $60 in my pocket until I find something else to pick up.
It really does do a great job emulating everything it does, though.
You know, Dyson, I actually agree with you on some of your points. I’ve been a huge GTA fan ever since GTA III came out in 2001. But the life-simulation stuff in this game doesn’t hold my interest at all. I tried watching some of the in-game TV for a while, and I got very bored, very quickly.
And dating Michelle is just the same old crap over and over again: call her, pick her up, take her to a place, come back, hit X to have sex — then rinse and repeat. Also, I haven’t been to an internet cafe to check my email since it was first introduced in a mission, because frankly, I can’t be bothered to do so. I’m only interested in the engrossing story, and also just general mayhem (I love blowing shit up, etc.) Nice write-up, man.
For me it's mainly the idea of exploring the world, cruising around in your car while listening to the radio and appreciating the social satire, then trying to pull off crazy stunts in my vehicle or seeing how long I can evade the cops. The story is just icing. One of the things I love about the game series is there's a wide variety of things to do if you get tired of the missions and need a break.
I remember Running With Scissors bragging about how Postal 2 could be played through without killing a single person. I tried it. After about 5 minutes I was virtually killing everything in sight.
I share the exact same sentiment as you Dyson. Although I've never played a GTA game, I want to try one at least before I completely poo-poo it.
But the idea of trying to imitate life doesn't do it for me, violence aside. Why would I play a game that mimics real life (no matter how engrossing the world is) when I can play a game that takes me to a world that I COULD NOT experience in real life. I know a lot of people argue that they would blow up cars and kill hookers, but some people are crazy enough to do it.
On the other hand I know I cannot mangle zombies, ride on dragons and most likely cannot save princesses ;)
I'm with Naia. I reject realism in gaming. I want something imaginative and interesting, not realistic.