Attention. Grand Theft Auto is not about Roleplaying.

Now that Grand Theft Auto hit the $1 billion sales markfaster than any videogame or film of all time, you, non-gamers, might be wondering what the attraction is.

Are gamers just outcasts, escaping reality by playing virtual rags-to-riches stories spiked with copious doses of drugs, sex and violence?

Newsflash world. Grand Theft Auto is not there for you to pretend to be a mobster, or even to “escape” reality. It is there for you to entertain yourself, to play, not to live out some gangster fantasy. Gamers don’t care about the often paper-thin narrative and movie-plaigarizing that grounds the main “story” in the game.

Grand Theft Auto is an action adventure game with light role playing elements. The attraction is the sand-box world and free-roaming spontaneous mayhem your avatar can wreak. The strength of the game isn’t the violence, it’s the challenge and variety that ensues when gamers play out different scenarios in a game world with rules and structure. In fact it’s the thrill of trying to survive with the police hounding you that make Grand Theft Auto entertaining. The ability to experiment and free roam in a structured world, the clash with authority and the game-world that you rub up against are essential to the challenge and drama that grounds the game. A five-star chase is fun only because of the strength of the law enforcement that comes after you when you go on a crime spree.

Grand Theft Auto is just a superior form of entertainment than traditional TV and film. It is spontaneous, filled with variety and allows you to act. Your agency as a player eclipses traditional media where you are merely passive as a viewer. That’s why game reviews continue to be dominated by the category of gameplay unique to the entertainment category and distinct from traditional entertainment criteria like aesthetics and narrative.

The world has changed, and games that continue to push exciting, fresh, spontaneous game-experiences, like Grand Theft Auto 5, will continue to outperform staid traditional entertainment.

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