Shocho (who has packed up his blog and taken his schtick to Facebook), called out this interesting article/essay about a dad who sat down with his four-year-old son as he played Grand Theft Auto.
The piece has interesting insights about how kids play, how they see the world, and other good stuff. But I had a rather odd and different thought after reading the piece. I was impressed all over again with the design that went into the game. I mean, they have to know that very, very few people that play GTA are going to go around and do the sorts of things this kid did while playing the game -- rushing people to the hospital, putting out fires, and so forth. And in the target audience for the game? Those people would never know it or miss it if the game didn't accomodate such behavior. But they put it in anyway, to make the world that much more complete.
With so many video games these days putting you on the rails of a specific story you're meant to experience, a specific way you're meant to play it, this is a damn cool thing. Sure, the makers of the game achieved success partly because of the notorious nature of their product, but I say the actual design of it had more than enough merits to stand above and apart from that.
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