My name is Lavrin Yaroslav. I am a terrorist from the Ukraine hell bent on bringing Los Santos to its knees. The first target: the police station. The game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
“Imagination is the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses, and the action or process of forming such images or concepts.” We all have memories of turning simple cardboard boxes into a fighter jets, or transforming hockey sticks into a razor sharp axes. We don’t realize that it is just a cardboard box, or just a hockey stick. In our own worlds, everything plays by our rules. What if that concept made its way over into our virtual worlds?
I drive the black van through the parking garage under the Los Santos Police Department headquarters. The cops might look sharp, but they are too stupid too realize my vehicle is covered in sticky bombs. I park, get out, and calmly walk away. I find a safe spot to observe my master plan, and press the button. The building collapses, my wanted level rises, and pedestrians run for there lives. Desperate to find shelter and supplies, the innocent people of Los Santos begin to kill each other. One man gets out of his truck with an automatic weapon and opens fire on a group of helpless bystanders. This isn’t just San Andreas anymore. My imagination, using the game as a canvas, has gone to work.
I am no longer CJ, a rising thug in the criminal underworld. I am a foreign extremist. I do not speak English. I do not trouble myself with the petty chores my peers have for me. I am on a mission.
It’s kind of like playing pretend while you’re already playing pretend, role-playing within a role-playing game. But I like it.
I’ve created a whole new character with a new personality, new motives, a history. I have a whole new outlook on this pathetic urban sprawl.
I am playing something I want to play.
Regular game:
Apply imagination:
I love following the narratives of games. Characters, plot twists, and interesting settings are all things I enjoy. Games cannot possibly be a better medium for storytelling. Sandbox games opened up a whole new door for story telling. I fell in love with non-linearity and started shelling out cash for more and more open-world games. Elder Scrolls, GTA, even Deus Ex was open in its own kind of way.
Imagination isn’t real; it’s all in your head. But when you couple games with imagination, you get a whole new deal. It’s not in your head anymore, it’s on screen. It’s hard to imagine yourself standing in front of a falling building because, hopefully, you’ve never experienced that. In a game, you can see everything. You can project your little fantasies onto your computer screen or your TV. You are using a ready made template for your mind to toy with.
I find this kind of thing great after you’ve exhausted all of a game’s resources. When there is literally NOTHING to do, MAKE something to do.
You’re playing Mafia. See that man in the trench coat outside your car window? He’s the guy that killed your brother! Gun him down! Hit the gas! Drive away! His goons are chasing you! Beat ‘em down with that baseball bat you carry around! Make they can’t make it to the hospital in time!
I don’t know about you guys, but I find this sort of thing entertaining. It’s a way to express yourself or just vent anger and frustration. The announcer yells, “Finish him!” just before you tear your bosses spine out.
This is just something I’ve been doing since I was a wee gamer, and I always enjoy myself. Now if you'd excuse me, I've got a town to topple, a few heists to pull off, and a planet to crash on.
