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Unjustifiable Carnage, Uneasy Alliances, and Lots of Self-DoubtWhat Grand Theft Auto IV gets right about gangland and illegal economies.

By Sudhir Venkatesh
Posted Friday, May 9, 2008, at 6:46 AM ET

(Continued from page 1)

The story lines of GTA IV's missions also resonate with life on New York's streets. Should our protagonist help his cousin even if it is not in his own interest? Should Niko remain with his girlfriend, even if it might jeopardize his personal safety? Could an enemy gang be befriended and turned into an ally? I was always left with a residue of self-doubt after making these decisions. Right and wrong are never so clear—at least in terms of the consequences of one's actions—and Niko's mission can fail because you either did or did not do the right thing.

While GTA IV is both a dizzying and dazzling experience, I definitely won't be playing the game up until the final mission. I could never master the joystick in time to stop running over pedestrians while I'm steering Niko's car. But I am curious to see what comes next. GTA IV was, by all reports, a huge improvement over Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and I can imagine GTA V taking us to even greater heights (or depths, depending on your perspective).*

If the creative team needs some fuel, they might want to visit Chicago's South Side. There, they will find that gang killings and mercenary actions have some interesting consequences—beyond the tragedy of injury and fatality. When a real-life mission fails and gangs are indicted, the remaining players must first form a gang before they can move on. No one can move forward until they come together and develop shared interests. The result can be a powerful feeling of solidarity—albeit in the South Side, it is one often wasted on disreputable pursuits.

Another logical step for the creative crew at Rockstar Games would be to extend the logic of the current game: Why not let us form gangs ourselves in virtual space? Imagine the possibilities: My friend and I could form a gang of nasty South Asian suburban nerds. A bunch of middle-class frat boys might realize their common interests. Let women join in the fun, too. They could create a group of disgruntled ex-corporate lawyers who, after failing to make partner, go after their pig-headed male superiors. In this way, the enemies would depend on the gangs we formed, and, over time, the landscape would reflect our decisions.

And, hey, maybe different gangs can advertise online and play each other? I, for one, would love to form a group of writers who could take on the editors at publishing houses who zap my creative juices with their unintelligible feedback. I'd like to run them over in the streets, get out of my car and bash their heads in, steal their keys and money, break into their homes and destroy their furniture, and then I'd … You get the point.

Correction, May 12, 2008: This story originally and incorrectly referred to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the "third version" of the Grand Theft Auto series. It was actually the fifth Grand Theft Auto game—two titles, Vice City and San Andreas, were released between Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto IV. (Return to the corrected sentence.)

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Sudhir Venkatesh is a professor of sociology and African-American studies at Columbia University and the author of Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets.
Still from Grand Theft Auto IV copyright 2008 Rockstar Games.
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Remarks from the Fray:

I haven't played the game yet, but I have played every incarnation of GTA before it. And I eagerly anticipate this version. But it isn't for it's social commentary, oh Sweet dread locked Jesus no! Gta, since the beginning has been about one thing for me, and I'm certain, many others. It is about ramming a baseball bat up to the hilt in your boss' ass.

The first GTA let us do something we would never do, and that is car jack. Don't get me wrong. I could, if I really wanted to. But I don't. I like people. I think most of them are cool, funny, or both. But, GTA let's me pummel these Every or Anymans senselessly, just like it seems that John Q nobody takes a dump on me once a day. GTA let's me perform the senseless violence I wouldn't actually do. It's escape, release, therapy that beats beating the crap out of a puppet with "DAD" written on it.

So why am I so entranced by the latest resurrection? Easy. What else can I do? See, I'm less and less angry at John and Jane Q public, and more and more I'm angry at the bus driver who definitely saw me and didn't stop, the guy at Grubway who has to charge me double for my double meat because I have two different meats on a foot long, and the waitress who is giving me attitude for informing her that scrambled eggs taking thirty minutes should be an arrestable offense. So, when I could go into each of these establishments with my golf club, chainsaw, or the sweet ole' Louis V and sort things out I DO feel better, even if their digital facsimile looks more than like Donkey Kong than the genuine McCoy.

Can I get revenge on everyone who could, should , and ever will deserve it here? Can I find someone so close to my boss that I can see the bad breath oozing out of him, and then back over him repeatedly screaming, "Is that Proactive enough...is it!?!?" Can I find a TGI Fatty's and then scream at the on scream conflagration I made, "Are French fries the same as steamed vegetables...no no they aren't now are they!"

Am I sick? Naw, no more than anyone else who goes through a 24 hour period without seeing another person whose first name I know, except the people at work, whom I wish I didn't know. Of course we have this much resentment.

Why am I waiting for GTA 4? So I can make a girlfriend without pissing mine off. So I can beat the ever loving badness out of someone who looks like my brother -in-law, so I can tell my boss how I feel about him, in a way only a bat could possibly do.

Fine, say I'm a sicko. I know I'll never do anything to deserve your scorn other than say what's on my mind, but I know that this game pushes the edge of what is possible, not in good taste, and as it expands in each rendition to include every impulse that I have ever had, it will sate my sick dreams , without involving any non polygon rendered police.

The uninitiated will say that no good can come from depicting this kind of violence, but I know the truth. This game is the greatest possible barrier between me really running amok.... that and possibly finding a better boss. Please email me with job offers immediately.

And let the countdown continue.

--ajasss

(To reply, click here.)

If you look at political alliances between governments throughout history, you see pretty much the same thing, especially between tribal chieftains in the absence of effective central authority.

This suggests that our government does not actually govern the ghettos, as the residents of these neighborhoods are unwilling to permit the government to do what is necessary to crush these rebellious insurgencies.

When one faction is willing to kill its enemies, and another faction (e.g. legitimate government) is not willing, guess who wins?

--fsilber

(To reply, click here.)

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