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The Perfect Family Game: An E-Rated GTA
RetroVertigo
June 30, 2010
T
he casual gaming audience needs an open-world sandbox game like Grand Theft Auto. Arguably, the open-world exploration and the dozens of side-missions are what make the GTA series, Red Dead Redemption and Saints Row so addictive and fun! If a developer could approach game design in a similar fashion to what Rockstar does with their games--only with an E-rated mainstream-friendly game--casual gamers and even hardcore gamers might flock to such a game.
I've recently spent a lot of time exploring the world of Red Dead Redemption and I found myself stopping at almost every opportunity to pick flowers, tame wild horses, hunt down cattle rustlers, and bring the outlaws to justice; rather than complete the actual main storyline quests.
I thought back to some of the enjoyable mini-games in Grand Theft Auto and discovered that a great many of them were actually relatively non-violent: driving around town as a taxi cab driver, putting out fires with a fire truck, delivering pizzas, transporting people to the hospital via ambulance, etc. How about the addictiveness of orb-hunting, or the rooftop races in Crackdown? Both were non-violent and highly entertaining mini-games.
Why is it so hard to develop a title with the level of depth and detail, like GTA or RDR, for a
mainstream and/or younger audience? Certainly there are acceptable ways in game design to either eliminate the violent acts or water them down
considerably.
Many times I wanted to show my kids the world of GTA, Red Dead Redemption, Saints Row, and Crackdown, with the ability to drive (and fly) many different vehicles and the open-world exploration.
One time I did show my then 2-year old son Grand Theft Auto IV, despite my better judgment, because he really was into firetrucks and helicopters, as many boys are. I immediately regretted it. I phoned in a firetruck by calling 911 on Niko Bellic's in-game phone. When the firetruck approached, I casually walked over to it and pressed the Y button to "commandeer" the vehicle. Niko immediately beat the snot out of the driver, and then yanked him out of the car, perhaps throwing in an expletive or two for good measure. I face-palmed as my young son stared wide-eyed at the violent action, absorbing every visual and auditory detail like a sponge. I reminded him that we shouldn't do things like that, drove the firetruck around the block turning on the flashing lights and sirens, until I ran into a car and accidentally nicked a pedestrian. I turned off the game and suggested we play something else. Even the non-violent actions still made for violent results. It was a total fail.
These sandbox style games, with hundreds of things to do besides completing the main storyline, would be perfect for young minds with short attention spans. Perhaps, one day there will be a game with the level of detail and open-world options of a Grand Theft Auto that I can play and enjoy with my young sons.
Until then I'll just have to wait another 14 years until they're old enough to play whatever Grand Theft Auto sequel we're up to in the year 2024.
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