Posted by I was talking with my old friend, who’d recently rediscovered the game Grand Theft Auto V.
His point—and it was a good one—is that inside GTA, there exists a game within a game, where you don’t have to execute the software’s primary use cases—carjacking NPC’s (non-playing characters), running over hookers (more NPC’s), and blowing things up—but can just tool around inside it, peaceably enjoying all the sights the massive open world game has to offer.
This sounded very satisfying, as it invoked my own memories of not just V, but the entire series, from Vice City on. I do remember driving around and admiring the open world for its depth, but keep in mind I do also remember carjacking people, running over hookers, and blowing things up, because honestly, repeatedly assaulting people and killing them is the easiest way to get money in the game to do things, like buy clothes, food, or condos (you could play the various mini games, but those almost always involve killing people, anyways).
Wanting to get some screenshots of this old playground to send my friend, I fired up my old PS3 and loaded up GTA V, only to find my controllers were wiggy. Buttons were firing off randomly, and the analog stick was forcing the game character to walk in random directions, alternating between jumping in place and over things, pulling out his phone to call someone named “Denice” or “Nicole” (I can’t remember), and arming himself with any of the variety of weapons he’d collected from my last save point, which was by this date, several years ago. Incidentally, doing this last bit would trigger screams, as people on nearby sidewalks would invariably run from ‘Edward Pistol-hands’, the man cursed to run in figure 8’s while brandishing an AK-47.
But, because I am a man with a job whose workday was on the verge of starting without him, I dropped the controller in front of my flat screen and walked away to get ready. By the time I returned just a few minutes later, I noticed the game character had been strangely busy. He was not peaceably enjoying the sights, but had instead found his way into a busy intersection, where he’d settled into a pattern of latently carjacking people.
Keep in mind that this is without me doing anything.
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As I followed along with the Kavanaugh hearings, in which President Trump’s nominee to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court was accused of attempted rape, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Brock Turner, the young man who, a few years ago, was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. He was sentenced only six months. I remembered his father’s defense, which argued that the young man had ‘already paid a steep price for 20 minutes of action’. Apparently, Judge Aaron Perksy ”cited Turner’s age and lack of criminal history as factors in his decision, saying, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him…I think he will not be a danger to others.””
I think about these two media stories—Kavanaugh, and Brock Turner—and am reminded that, like Grand Theft Auto, our world is programmed with latently prejudiced, violent use cases that if executed, destroy lives and promote outrageous injustice. And keep in mind that these use cases don’t require any kind of deliberate intention to kick off. They happen if you set your controls down, walk away, and just do nothing.
Because, in our world, just like in Grand Theft Auto:
* The easiest ways to make money involve turning off one’s sense of morals or ethics.
* Whole groups of people are regarded as NPC’s, the biggest examples of which are women.
* Consequences are relative to identity.
I believe the reason why Brock Turner’s dad was upset is the same reason Kavanaugh was upset, which in actuality, had nothing to do with guilt, but had everything to do with being offended by an upset in the balance of power; an overturning of presumed entitlement. Because NPC’s shouldn’t be able to speak up and challenge player 1 beyond the use cases the game was coded for. Such a thing would be profoundly unnatural for player 1, and not very much fun. This is because the ostensive owner of the game is the one entitled to the consequence-free thrills. To quote James Brown: “It’s a man’s world.” And for what it’s worth, Grand Theft Auto is the world.
Step away from its controls long enough, and the game might end up nominating a Supreme Court Justice.