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If you love it, change it: Grand Theft Auto photo

There is no question that Rockstar's current Grand Theft Auto formula is bringing in money, but how memorable of an experience does each game really provide? Grand Theft Auto IV has received (almost) universally rave reviews, but ten years from now, how will it be remembered? Some will undoubtedly look back on GTA IV as one of the greatest games they've ever played, while others will only know it as "The one with the shiny Russian guy", much like fourth entryin another beloved franchise. It's not that GTA IV isn't great; just that at it's core, it's just more GTA.

What could Rockstar do from here to create a truly different, memorable, and meaningful GTA experience?

Hit the jump to find out.

 

In order to fully utilize the opportunities that come with making a game with the GTA name, one must know what that name really means. GTA may stand for the words "grand theft auto," but anyone who's played the games knows that stealing cars is just an expression of the game's true meaning: It's fun to be a sociopath. There is a part of every person that just wants  to cut loose and break rules; rules of law, rules of political correctness, and rules of basic human decency. GTA gives us the opportunity to break those rules in a safe, consequence free environment. Stealing cars, murdering strangers, dealing drugs, hiring hookers, all of it is food for the animal inside of us: a filthy beast whose code of conduct is dictated solely by the pleasure principal.

The sociopath archetype is no stranger to pop culture, and the GTA games have thus far done a fantastic job of borrowing from prior sociopath stories found in other media. GTA Vice City paid tribute to Goodfellas and Scarface, GTA San Andreas took its cues from the neo-blacksploitation "gangsta" culture of the mid-1990's, while GTA IV's scenario plays out like a bizarre amalgamation of the comic sociopath Borat and classic PTSD fueled serial killer John Rambo.

My problem with the past GTA games and their influences is that they are all so obvious. The generic "bad ass", be it a Caucasian gangster, a Black "Gangsta", or the shell shocked foreign veteran are all limited in their capacity for range of emotion. Scarface, Fifty Cent, and Rambo (and their GTA counterparts) are apt to express no more than the following three emotions: anger, worry, and boredom.

I propose something more.

Imagine a GTA game staring a woman; a woman addicted to unnamed substances, who steals cars, deals drugs, screws anyone for money, all with the disaffected, disinterested stare of a monster. Already we have the opportunity for more genuinely original narrative scenarios than any GTA game in years, all sure to bring an entirely new level of controversy to the GTA name. For starters, people across the country, even some GTA fans, are sure to say right off the bat that being a hooker in a video game goes too far. To these people I pose one question: why is being a hooker worse than hiring a hooker? Every GTA game since GTA III has featured the option to have sex with hookers, why is it some how worse to actually become one?



While our hooker hero -lets call her Gladys- would remain true to brutal, barbaric psychological motivations traditionally found in the world of GTA (become king of the hill, kill all rivals, trust no one), she would also possess an instinct that previous GTA protagonists were incapable of: the maternal instinct. Gladys would have two children, a thirteen-year-old boy (who loves M rated games) and a seven-year-old daughter (who owns every iteration of the Imagine: Babyz series).

Gladys works to meet her own primitive urges to steal from, kill, and/or ball who ever she wants, while working equally hard to hide her "job" from her children (not to mention the Department of Social Services). These kids are the only two people on Earth that Gladys cares about other than herself, and despite the fact that she is a horrible person, she still wants her kids to turn out alright. Imagine the irony as Gladys lectures her son on playing a GTA-like game, while she herself is as lowly and revolting as any previous GTA anti-hero. She's slaps his ass and locks him in his room without supper for playing GTA, then hits the streets to live GTA.

Hypocrisy of this kind is funny because it's true to life, and it's about time GTA  starts mocking some of their worst detractors; abusive parents. How many kids have been punished via a beating for playing violent video games? I've seen it happen ever since the days of Splatterhouse, and I'm sure it's happening with many a GTA IV loving kid today.

This proposed GTA game, GTA:Whore, wouldn't have to stop there with its mockery of parents against violent videogames. There are many other "enemies" of GTA that could get a similar treatment.  As Gladys grows in both her ability to hide her true nature from her kids and her skills at networking up the ladder of the criminal underworld, she eventually builds a Heidi Fliess like empire of blackmail, high paying Johns, and drug smuggling, all under the guise of the presumed legitimate cosmetic and jewelery company "Pearl Necklace". In the spirit of GTA: VC, Gladys becomes a high powered CEO, still taking the time (and pleasure) in committing crimes on her own, while simultaneously running her own personal crime army.

From here, our society's obsession with the super rich could be fully exploited: CEOs, children of CEOs, and the people who love them could all be roasted in an even more pointed and detailed manner than in previous GTA games. As Gladys blackmails Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, and Charlie Sheen look-a-likes with the terrible things they've done with her, we'd get a virtual glimpse of the underbelly of high society as it most likely exists (but is edited out of reality TV).

From there, it's off to politics. It would only make sense for Gladys, the world's richest woman, to make a run for the presidency. The opportunities for parody in this, GTA:Whore's "third act", are perhaps the most bountiful. After all, how different are the lives of our nation's politicians than those of characters in GTA? How many of out nations governors have been caught doing coke with hookers only to be re-elected? And lets not forget that it wasn't that long ago that out own Vice President shot an old man in the face. Not only did the politician avoid jail time, but eventually he got an apology from the very man he shot. We're only one step away from a politician that is actually dealing drugs and killing people who is later congratulated.

The potential for sub-plots in the "Whore, CEO, Politician" story arc are truly endless. Love interests for Gladys could include a Bill Clinton-like figure, A Gover-nator, a P Diddy-esque entertainment mogul, the Pope, Oprah, any of our world's myriad of high profile men in power. Gladys's kids could get their own atrocious reality show, be victims of blackmail and violence themselves, and, as the apple seldom falls far from the tree, could both potentially succumb to lives of crime. Will Gladys care enough about her kids to pull away from her amoral life? Will they live long enough for her to even make that choice? When the game wraps up and all is said and done, Gladys will have seen the level of psychopathic tendencies necessary to be an effective Politician/C.E.O., will she prefer life on the streets? All questions only possible in a GTA game where the protagonist has motivations beyond seeking money, power, and revenge. 

A GTA game starring a woman could work. Despite its history of questionable  depictions of women, the GTA series has been surprisingly successful with female audiences. That's not to say men should be alienated. That shouldn't be an issue though, as since Lara Croft made her debut over ten years ago, it's been clear that games starring women have the ability to appeal to both sexes.

There is no reason not to take this kind of chance with the GTA franchise, as there is no franchise more bulletproof. With the small risk of simply casting a single mother as it's protagonist, Rockstar could effectively multiply the shock value and social commentary of the GTA experience ten-fold. In this case, adding a female lead wouldn't just be a gimmick. It would be a window to a narrative experience more rich and multi-dimensional than any GTA before it.


Continue: More Grand Theft Auto stories





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53 comments | showing # 1 to 50

BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:39
BluDesign
I propose making a GTA game starring an italian man who works in sewage and waste repairs, who accidentally finds himself embroiled in a fracas involving royalty and fungus.
MechaMonkey's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:41
MechaMonkey
In before Hillary Clinton.
nebones's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:46
nebones
Intresting
epoch's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:53
epoch
good idea but remember no animals or kids any GTA
epoch's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:53
epoch
in*
braulio09's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:56
braulio09
Will Gladys care enough about her kids to pull away from her amoral life?

Amoral means neither moral nor immoral. I think you just meant immoral.

Good write-up but the gameplay part of this would be pretty lame. Having all of that power and her own company, Gladys wouldn't need to do any more killing herself, which makes it boring for the player. A movie would be better suited for this, I think.
Aritas's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:58
Aritas
I'd like to bring Oblivion's methodology into GTA's mission structure. There were so many missions where your target gets away and you're forced into a car chase around the city. I always wanted to prepare for the mission by sabotaging the target's car before I entered the building. But the game doesn't spawn the target's car until AFTER you enter the building, thus making such methods impossible.
Ali D's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 23:01
Ali D
I think it could work, but that's because I think Rockstar should go for the jugular when it comes to hypocritical politicians, big business and our self-imposed moral guardians. They worry me more than kids wearing hoodies.
Palidi's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 23:09
Palidi
I like the idea up to the second act. Some of the ideas in the second act and most in the third act seem less like that of a GTA game and more of something like a strategy/monopoly game.

Being an aid to a politician/CEO(in more ways than one) would work to maintain the idea that the player still has to do the work, but would allow the window to satire these figures.

The thing is, by BEING the CEO or the Candidate, she would have others that would do the dirty work. So arriving at those positions would, in my opinion, be better off left for the last part of the game.

Also, I want to see a "massage" assassination mission in this game if they ever make it.
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 23:47
DaedHead8
I would play GTA: Whore.
ace of knaves's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 23:49
ace of knaves
The best part is that no one could whine about its affect on people, because so few women would actually play it, and the whole time you're just trying to be a good parent.

It would still be ridiculously controversial, but hey, we'd have a few great defenses.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 23:59
Jonathan Holmes
@ Palidi and Braulio9- I originally had a whole paragraph about how once Gladys becomes a CEO and a Presidential candidate, a lot of the comedy would come from her aids and underlings having a hell of a time covering up all her crimes. But in proofreading it, I thought it was all a bit off topic. Now I wish I had left that bit in.

To be clear, at no point in my proposed game would the gameplay switch to a strategy/sim style. It would be murder, whoring, and car theft from beginning to end, and just like in the past GTA titles, no witnesses would ever report these crimes to the police.

It would be acknowledged in cinemas that Gladys is putting herself a great risk by continuing to do her dirty work herself. Her publicity team would constantly complain that she is making their job too difficult, but Gladys wouldn't care. In fact, she'd enjoy it. And if anyone one on her team tries to quit her company and/or campaign, or even complains to much, they wouldn't make it through the night. Think Oren Ishi(link NSFW).

If, for purposes of comedy, one of her crimes did make it into the news, think of all the parody opportunities there in to mock the ways celebrities and politicians apologize after getting caught cheating, doing drugs, or even shooting people?

Example--

News Anchor- "So, you shot over 30 people yesterday with an automatic machine gun."

Gladys- "Allegedly."

News Anchor- "Yes, allegedly. Any comment on this and how it will affect your campaign?"

Gladys- "Well, there is only so much I'm at liberty to disclose, but I will say that I'm not perfect. However, I am proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free... to defend myself... with an automatic weapon. You see, we Americans are now living in a world filled with terrorists attacks occurring on soil almost every day, where random school shootings are commonplace, and violent videogames are being sold to unsuspecting minors like they were cotton candy. In this modern climate, today's American has every right...no... every obligation to protect themselves and their children from these threats that constantly surround us."

News Anchor- "So you are admitting guilt to the charges put against you?"

Gladys- "Guilty, innocent, these are just words, just sounds, just letters on a page. There meanings are totally subjective, completely open to interpretation. But one thing I know for sure is that I am an American... an American of today. In the end, I think that's all that really matters."

(Uproarious applause from the studio audience)
Monte's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 00:11
Monte
i've thought about how GTA might be with a female lead... though i didn't get even close to what you thought up...

i kinda lost a bit of interest in the later parts though... Politics, even dirty politics, doesn't sound all that too much fun to play =/
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 00:16
TrailerParkJesus
Maybe for the sequel, Elizabeta could be the protagonist. That'd be kinda intersting.
Palidi's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 00:56
Palidi
@Jonathan Holmes

I can see where your coming from. It would be like how Tony Montana still has to deliver his own supply and pick up his own cash(in the game) even with his own large empire of peoples. I'm still a little skeptical about how much can be done with that part though without it being too repetitive or slowing down the pace of the game.

So maybe a structure like this would work.

Act 1, 40-45% of the game's story. Making the connections.
Act 2, 30-40% of the story. Climbing the ladder(being the CEO's puppy)
Act 3, the rest of the story(aiming for something like (15-20%). On top candidate stuff.

Thats my opinion though.

I do like what the possibilities are though for the story and possible missions. Imagine getting interrupted during the current mission to get the added hassle of covering up your lackys screw-ups.
Palidi's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 01:09
Palidi
In reference to my last post:

When I said repetative and slow, I mean gameplay wise, not story and satire wise. There's definitely enough satire to last for a few days considering the subject.
Tubatic's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 01:19
Tubatic
I'm down for that. They series needs a good character/progression/impetus shake up like that.

Though we get it in Multiplayer, I'd kind of want a GTA where you pick from a list of avatars, with unique job roles/issues/addictions/etc, that you can play through with. Though the voice acting bills would be through the roof . . .

but they can afford it.
The Amazing Shenazin's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 01:56
The Amazing Shenazin
ya know what? that was a pretty awesome idea...

but at the end of the game would be she be literally THE PRESIDENT HERSELF? that would be pretty funny to play a president who goes around killing people and stealing cars :P
liqideos's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 02:13
liqideos
Some kind of clarification over whether or not the ending I finished with was the good or bad one. I would like to know what actions to take differently to complete both possible outcomes.

I'm assuming that killing Duane netted me an entirely different sequence of events. Oh the irony.
jeffk6's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 02:36
jeffk6
not funny
SpencersGifts's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 03:09
SpencersGifts
why not have it set from a cops point a view? the whole going to deep type of thing.

I always thought that would be cool
NightDehumidifier's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 04:41
NightDehumidifier
Take Crackdown, hold ctrl+c and highlight Grand Theft Auto and then do ctrl+v. The end. Roll credits. End blog. Shut down internet.
mistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 05:25
mistic
this sounds like a great idea! I'd love to try a story so involving!
Ocified-Xboxer's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 07:33
Ocified-Xboxer
I may be in the minority on this but I have to say NO THANK YOU. If you want a game that plays to all of its evils and real enemies that is all well and good...But count me out of GTA Whore...It has nothing to do with being a hooker, or even a woman in a game. But I don't need the insane tongue in cheek, roast-a-licious of 'celebs, and people who hate games'. I want a video game, not a semi-life simulation that I go from Eileen Warnos to Hillary Clinton (although I do enjoy that evolution there...).

I don't want to have kids in a game...I think games allow us to step away from our resl life responsibilities. I don't want to go from hooker to president...aside from just being an absolutely ridiculous notion, where is the fun? Do I get to whack the other candidates, and then go veto universal healthcare, bang for a few bucks, then rob a bank....As the president?

No offense meant, but I cannot see how this hits the front page (regular contributor or not). I'm sure your whimsical flight of fancy was a fun trip...But for me this sounds like less fun than Superman 64. You didn't change GTA, you created a different game...I don't think that was supposed to be the goal, and maybe not your own goal when you wrote this...But you can't make a game something it inherently is...This is GTA...While I would welcome new formulas and ideas, this one just ain't wrapped too tight...Too many holes...
Ocified-Xboxer's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 07:35
Ocified-Xboxer
uh, I missed a few words...

But you can't make a game something it inherently is no longer be that thing.
Anus Mcphanus's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 08:37
Anus Mcphanus
Wow that's a really great idea and I would definitely play GTA:Whore!

I think it'd be cool to have multiple protagonists. Like SpencersGifts said maybe you could play a crooked cop for a portion of the game who has to tie up the loose ends the "whore" leaves behind. Or maybe you could play as a nanny type character who helps the whore protect her kids.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 09:32
B-Radicate
I think this sounds like a great idea. I think what some people commenting *cough*Palidi and Ocified-Xboxer*cough* are not realizing is that all you did was create a rough outline of what a new story COULD BE.

Clearly, if Rockstar did something so drastic to their narrative structure for the next game, they would obviously make all of their classic gameplay fit within the context of the story. So worrying about what missions you do and don't do or who gets skewered in the satire isn't even worth worrying about, let alone voicing your concern for here.

As it stands you have laid the groundwork for a very promisingly deep GTA experience, whether people here happen to acknowledge that or not. While I happen to agree with SPencersGifts in thinking a dirty or undercover cop story (possibly a la The Departed) would make a great tale as well, I applaud you for the time and effort you put into this.

@Palidi: Don't worry 'bout her not doing the misisons/work. Tommy did all the missions in Vice City and he was the coke kingpin of the town. They'd still let you do missions, no matter what your "role" was within the game world.

@Ocified Xboxer: I don't know what GTA games you've been playing for the past couple years but the political and social commentary/satire is exactly what these games are built around. Saying that you don't want to play a GTA game where those aspects are not at the forefront of the gameplay/story means you have not been paying much attention to anything within the game world(s) sine GTA3.

These games were originally created as complete and utter satires of our American culture and the cities and characters created as caricatures of real-life counterparts to help build the strength of that scathing commentary.

Take two minutes and listen to talk radio or commercials or sit back and look at character archetypes. Go ahead, I'll wait for you. K, thanks. See, claiming that such a game would BECOME something it ALREADY IS is pretty ludicrous.

Also, worrying about an eight paragraph condensed summary of a story that would stretch across 30-40 hours of gameplay is dumb. It's not like you'd be hit across the head with this stuff ALL the time.

Ugh, sorry, John. I'm rambling in your comments section.
dronkmunk's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 09:47
dronkmunk
I thought this was going to be a serious article. Phooey
BigKev's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 09:49
BigKev
It needed to be said B.
Setsuken's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 09:50
Setsuken
No offence dude... but that is just... a BAD idea. A woman as the pivotal character? A hooker? I can imagine the backlash that women everywhere will give.

Not to mention guys will not appreciate playing as a woman and dominating other men. The whole immersion and being able to relate factor will drop down an extreme notch.

Just because the GTA game is bullet proof now doesn't mean a bad direction will send it flying. GTA is always given a good dose of marketting, and I just can't seem to see how Rockstar can market the "be a bitch and screw everyone over" thing properly.

What GTA needs is to make the whole thing a more story driven experience. To INCREASE the immersion by 10 folds, to improve the gameplay. Have mutliple stories branching out (like in Japanese Eroge). NOT to add a woman into the main helm. IMO Tommy Vercetti and Niko are fine as main characters.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 10:33
Jonathan Holmes
@ Set- I'm confused. Women would be more upset by a new GTA game that puts a woman in a position of power than the previous GTA's where you can screw (exclusively female) hookers, then kill them afterward with no negative repercussions?

Have you ever actually met a woman?

But I do agree with you on the point that some men would have a tough time letting themselves get comfortable playing a game as female prostitute. This game would need to utilize the "Lara Croft factor" to the max in order to work, meaning the gameplay would need to allow for constant shifting between identifying with the main character and lusting after them.

I say it could be done.

@ B-Rad- Feel free to ramble in my comments section any time you like. That was a damn fine ramble.

@ SpencersGifts- Playing as a cop would be cool, but was already done (in a way) with NARC and Crackdown. That's not to say those games compare with GTA in craftsmanship, or that a GTA about a Training Day style cop wouldn't be awesome. It's just not as completely unexplored territory as the "whore-hero" concept (pats self on back).
conglomerate's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 11:05
conglomerate
i just want to ride a bike in the game.

you can't have a big city without bikes!
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 11:12
B-Radicate
@Setsuken: I'm confused with two points you make.

The first being that women would be upset to be put in a position of power and control within the GTA game world. I agree with Jon in that such a drastic change would likely allow Rockstar to avoid the criticism of objectifying women (like killing hookers and such) in the series.

Also, I disagree that they need to push the envelope any more with the story-driven experience than they are already doing with IV. In my opinion (and a few others on the site) the gameplay seriously suffered any sort of advancement or evolution in IV because they focused so heavily on creating a solid story.

Look back at Vice City and San Andreas at all the extra little things like character and car customization and store front ownership and the like. Instead of building upon those (sometimes) flawed but always entertaining aspects of the game they outright excised from the experience. Instead of creating a deeper world to play in, they stripped it back to GTA3 levels and just made it prettier with more cutscenes.

I for one think they can stick with the current amount of story and should focus on reintroducing gameplay that should never have been removed in the first place, let alone make them stronger and more strongly tied to the narrative structure.

Not to mention fix all the bugs that still plague the series since the GTA3 days (I'm looking at you car disappearance/pop-in and car spawning).
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 11:50
Jonathan Holmes
@ B-Rad- Let's make out.
Alexradl's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 12:55
Alexradl
It would definitely be interesting to see how the public would respond to having a woman play this type of role in a game. I like the ideas and am all for change in the structure of GTA, but like B-Radicate said, they need to get the gameplay down pat first. Great article, by the way. I'd definitely play GTA: Whore!
SorcererXIII's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 13:32
SorcererXIII
I get the feeling this whole article has more to do with your feeling about women and politics than GTA. What kind of message are you sending to your women readers (if you still have any)? If a woman were president the country would be like GTA? For a woman to be a president she'd have to be a gun toting whore? Hillary Clinton is a whore?

I agree with Christiangamer - the male protagonists of GTA already are whores. All you're doing here is putting a negative focus on the gender.
SorcererXIII's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 13:35
SorcererXIII
I get the feeling this whole article has more to do with your feeling about women and politics than GTA. What kind of message are you sending to your women readers (if you still have any)? If a woman were president the country would be like GTA? For a woman to be a president she'd have to be a gun toting whore? Hillary Clinton is a whore?

I agree with Christiangamer - the male protagonists of GTA already are whores. All you're doing here is putting a negative focus on the gender.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 14:08
Jonathan Holmes
@ Christian Gamer and SorcererXII- I never played Liberty City Stories or Vice City Stories. There is whoring in those games? Rats!

And for the record, I do not think Hilary Clinton is a whore, but don't take that as a compliment to her. Through my work as a social worker at a mental hospital, I know a lot of self professed whores personally, and I generally have more respect for them than I do for any politicians, regardless of gender. The whores I know would friggin' love my game idea. I know, because I asked them.

You're clearly not getting where I'm coming from, which I'll just chalk up to my need to work on my writing skills.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 14:18
B-Radicate
@Jon: Done deal.

@SorcererXIII: You bring up a valid argument. Putting a woman at the forefront of such a controversy-addled series will certainly only cause more controversy. However, knowing Rockstar, they'd shake it off anyway.

What few people understand about the GTA series is that it's a big joke and all the people who get shaken up about it are the punchline. Just look at the socio-political commentary throughout the series, especially in IV. IV has reached new heights in terms of scathing commentary on our culture and beyond.

For every immature picture (the Memory Lanes logo) or company name (Sprunk) there is a truly sardonic radio commercial (the scooter one) or station (Weasel News) that takes the state of the world around us and unabashedly forces us to look at it for what it really is, laughable.

The scaremongering and "terrorist" threat jokes throughout IV sadly fall on many a deaf ear because we as a society have become so accustomed to them in real life. The genius of Rockstar shines through, however, when they take the reasoning behind it (in the game world, anyway) and throw it out the window. If you listen to Weasel News after you unlock each island they say that there was no real threat and the authorities are looking for more to close them down again.

Ring any bells? How many false terrorist threats have we been subject to since 9/11? Countless. And they exist because those in power choose to frighten us and force us to live in a society of the scared and not the free and the brave as we so historically have been.

For every "problem" they may run into in having a female lead protagonist, I feel it only opens that many more doors, as Jon has stated, for more effective satire. Anyone who doesn't think that is genius-level wit and humor is likely part of whatever party they are trying to poke fun at anyway. So be it.
Mxyzptlk's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 14:54
Mxyzptlk
It's a really interesting idea, but once you get to the politician part it gets a little too out there even for the world of GTA.
Ocified-Xboxer's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 16:17
Ocified-Xboxer
@ Jonathan Holmes - I'll take a GTA style Training Day ANY DAY OF THE WEEK! You realize that the Training Day thing thrown out there was better than the entire composition? ;)

@B-Rad - I understand it is a rough translation/outline as opposed to something well crafted and thought out over the course of a GTA dev cycle. I think more of JHs ability to write more than to think that his idea was an entire plotline.

I think my point was more thatin a world where ridiculous things can happen (like casting lightning bolts from my fingers, and nailing blue alien chicks) the idea itself sounded (to me) like it wanted to be over the top ridiculous, but keep its feet on the ground...And I dunno if that can work.

My rant was more or less what I took from the write up...That it wasn't so much 'fixing' GTAs issues (whatever they may be to the writer) and more about creating a completely different game loosely based upon GTA...See? Which I think goes against the notion of "If you love it, Change it". If you were insulted Jonathan, I'm sorry. That really wasn't my intention.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 16:47
Jonathan Holmes
@ Ocified and everyone- I was not insulted at all by even the most critical comments here. In fact, all these criticisms have been so much less insulting than I'm used to, that I'm actually a bit confused.

Thanks everybody. I feel like this has been a fun mock up of how a meeting amongst game designers would really happen in the initial planning stages of a new game. It doesn't get much more fun than that.

@ Chrisiangamer- Lol! Took me a a little while, but I get it now.
RskimB's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 18:39
RskimB
An interesting concept
Droll's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 19:57
Droll
A very interesting read.

The core of this article could very well be "Vary up the mission designs! I'm sick of tailing criminals without being spotted!". By featuring a completely unique and random character, you hope that more interesting missions could be created around him or her.
Indeed, it seems that Rockstar would be best served in taking parts of this approach. Not necessarily any of the specific charecters you described, but rather creating the game's protagonists and side characters first, creating their story, and finding the right city to tell their story last. That's the one point I'm in lock step with you: it's definetly felt like Rockstar has created characters to fit inside whatever city their creating this time(It's 90's California! So it's gotta be a black guy!)

Hopefully, Rockstar, having proved their tremendous storytelling abilities in GTA IV, will start with charecters first for the next entry of the series
Ocified-Xboxer's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 20:03
Ocified-Xboxer
Good, glad to hear it...The voice of dissent is never bad....But when that voice belongs to an asshole, well, that's just an asshole...I really don't want to BE the asshole...

I'd be all over that Training Day-esque GTA thing...You think about it, and usually a game will end with the player winning...But what if the game could end, and you lose...Like really lose. Life, Freedom, Job, everything. It would set you up for a hell of a sequel too....
Ninjajuice's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 20:23
Ninjajuice
I'd just add more tactics, or something. I hate how GTA literally tells you EXACTLY what you need to do. Open-world my ass.
Detry's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 20:47
Detry
Great read Holmes and great discussion.

!Jonathan Holmes++
DynamicSheep's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 21:29
DynamicSheep
I'd buy this game and play the hell out of it!

If this hypothetical game were made, I'd like it if gave you one of those plot changing decisions before the end of each act:

At the end of act one, you can choose one mission and become the CEO, or you can choose another mission and become the leader of the mafia... at the end of act two, you can decide to enter politics as a liberal or as a conservative (no middle ground!), and at the end of the third act you can choose to run for president, or decide to leave politics behind and go back to being the CEO or Kingpin.

I like the idea of starting with the characters, too. As good as GTA IV's story is, it still feels like they said "Let's go back to Liberty City!" "But how do we keep it fresh" "We can introduce the city through the eyes of an immigrant!" Location-wise, this game sounds like it would start out in either Harrisburg, Baltimore, or Richmond, have you going to New York (Wall Street) for the second act and into DC for the third... or really the whole thing could play out in DC from start to finish.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 22:43
B-Radicate
@Dynamic Sheep: I move to Harrisburg next month!

GTA: Tri-State area FTW!
TheDreadHawk's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/02/2008 01:50
TheDreadHawk
Either that was the single greatest piece of sarcasm, or it was the dumbest comparison and cry for "omg politics and womenz in gaimz" speech. Seriously; Rambo and Niko Bellic? Something doesn't sound right there.
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