Grand Theft Auto IV: On Morality
Hello again. Writing about videogames for a hundred days, which is what this blog was once used for, can take a lot out of you, let me tell you. No wonder I haven't come back here for so long. I've dipped my toe into the blogging waters since then, with a short tenure on WiiWii.tv, a Nintendo blog, but I've been a bit quiet on that front.
Still, right now I've got a hankering to write again. Partly because I've got things to talk about, partly because the best advice people can give you to improve your writing skills is to, y'know, write. So I want to talk about the recent games I've played, and sometimes other stuff. What I don't want to do, though, is go off and write long, befuddling review texts. That's what put me off in the first place. Instead, I want to focus on short pieces about certain aspects of games I've been playing, or general overviews. They might not be about up-front new releases or anything groundbreaking, but this blog's as much about me shaping my opinions as it is people reading it.
Anyway, without further ado, a quick word on Grand Theft Auto IV, my game du jour:
Yes, I pay the toll. Sometimes. As the cars of Liberty City queue to deposit their coins at the bridges' toll booths, I'll nudge my way to the front and toss $5 away in order to open the barrier and drive through safely. It's not because I don't desire the police attention, that's nothing to worry about - the one star wanted level is a very minor irritation that passes almost as soon as you're off the other end of the bridge. It's less do to with the greater good, either. It's just sometimes it feels good to follow the rules, even if life's normal rules don't necessarily apply in this game.
Morality's a funny thing in Liberty City. It's twisted round in a way you wouldn't recognise and in a world of extremes, the line you draw can be very far out. I don't really like pulling my gun out and shooting innocent bystanders but I've got no qualms in running a few of them over in my car. I'm not deliberately doing so, mind you. I'm just saying that if I'm driving through the park and there's one between me and an immovable wall sometimes it's easier to let them tumble over my bonnet than stop and let them past. Hey, I'll sometimes beep my horn.
Of course, there's no real consequence to your actions, so why not? Your morals are only in your mind and if you're playing an embittered sociopath, why not? Would Niko Bellic do the same, controlling his own character out in the wider world if he knew he wouldn't get caught?
In terms of story, Niko has his morals. As rare as they are, those moments where you choose to let a character live or die show some form of right and wrong, as corrupt as the whole thing is. For the most part, though, he's a loyal puppet ready to roll over for whoever pays him. Early on, his story appears to be about revenge, then gets lost somewhere along the way. More than twenty-four hours in, so tell me, is Niko's distraction in working for drug dealers and assorted criminals for nothing but cash a satire on how money corrupts the American dream and the best intentions or just filler material?
So it's up to the game to provide the moral code. As far as it appears, Niko only kills bad people. There's no mission to slaughter innocents that I remember. Of course, everybody's corrupt in Liberty City in some way, but some more than others.
That said, there's one particular moment in which I felt slightly uneasy. Early on, there's a random mission you encounter in which you have to drive a rich kid to buy drugs. It didn't feel right. The game makes a point of making Niko refuse any substance offered to him to give him the moral high ground. So to actively take someone along to do this felt a little hypocritical. Here's an 'innocent' who asks you to do him a favour - help him score crack - and you just do it. No choice in the matter.
So why does that make me feel worse than running someone over and zooming away from the scene of the crime? He was an addict. He would have done it anyway. No, it's the fact that you're the one helping him on the downward spiral for cash that feels uncomfortable. You're closer to the consequences and you feel more responsible when the choice to refuse is taken away.
Later on, you'll meet the same guy, and he's all cleaned up, so it all ends up fine (as far as his character could be, I guess). Really, though, GTA IV makes a point in showing that morality doesn't always lie in the players hands, as you cruise through the streets, sometimes you don't get to make a decision. Not if you want to get a hundred percent, of course.
