Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1011https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3631Third GameLog entry for GTA: San Andreas (PC) After playing the game for about an hour and a half, I am still unsure of how to progress. I seem to be going in circles, and I can't find out where to buy food or items. Nonetheless, I am still observing the actions of everyone around me, as well as what seems to be good for me. I know I need to have money, in case I am "wasted" and put in the hospital. Aside from that, I am having a hard time not moving towards crime in a "world" that pushes you towards it so heavily. The situation the character is in is a difficult one to get out of. If he stays in town, he will be forced to steal cars, rob people, and basically be a complete and total jerk -- I mean...really. Then again, if he were to try to leave the town, we could be arrested anyplace where he had a criminal check, due to his being framed by the corrupt authorities for a murder. It is hard to say what the best course of action would be for him to take. I think that in total, GTA: San Andreas is a game packed to the limits with unnecessary violence, negative subliminal messages, bad influences, and the like. It's main point seems to stress that good comes from doing bad. I think that that is a skewed philosophy and that actually only bad can come from that kind of bad.Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:51:44 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3631&iddiary=6808https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3631After playing the game another 30 minutes, I not only found out how to steal a car -- who knew it was as easy as pressing the "return" key -- but I also am getting a lot better at driving them without hitting everything in my path. I also tried to hit someone to see what would happen. They started running away, so I followed them and kept hitting them until they appeared to die. Money then appeared and I politely took it, without too much regret. After all, what would a dead person need money for? I tried doing this same thing to a police officer, and instead of money, I got a gun, a nightstick, and a handful of police officers shooting at me and chasing me. I wasn't so lucky this time, and I got "wasted." A video told me that every time I died, I started back at the hospital, although the hospital takes some of your money, naturally. I died a couple more times as I tried killing people to see how much money I would get from them. Interestingly, it seems that there could be a pattern to the amount of money that certain characters have. For instance, whenever I kill this one particular type of old white guy, I get a bunch of money, where when I kill a certain type of black lady, there is no money. I need to explore this idea more, but it seems like there could be horrible subliminal stereotypes such as these embedded in the game. Still playing.....Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:00:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3631&iddiary=6801https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3631First of all, I am not an avid video game player. Quite the opposite, actually...I'm more into non-fiction books and current events. So play a computer video game is outside of my comfort zone, to say the least. After loading the game into the computer--which was an experience in itself (I hate Windows...)-- I opened the game and watched the introductory videos. Even during the credits, the sound effects included sounds suggesting vandalism and other violence. The videos immediately portrayed the police as being corrupt and self-serving. They stole an "innocent" man's money, set him up for committing a crime, and threw him out of a moving vehicle to start running. In theatre, we often discuss the "world of the play." In this game, the "world of the game" is a harsh one, to put it lightly. Many of the characters carry weapons that they are not shy to use, prostitutes walk around every corner, and people yell vulgarities and threats at others for no particular reason. At this stage, I am still figuring out the controls and what does what. As someone who doesn't often play video games, it takes quite a bit of getting used to. Thankfully I have pretty good coordination, which is certainly helpful in getting acclimated with all of this. I am still soaking in a lot about the environment portrayed in the game, as well as what the point of the whole thing is (if I didn't guess from the title) before I draw any conclusions about the ethical implications and impact it has on the players, the world, and the universe. More to come.......Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:10:26 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3631&iddiary=6793