A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed. Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a game series that sees the truest of a rags to riches story, “Saint’s Row”.
Don’t Let Your Past Dictate Your Potential
After the success of “Grand Theft Auto III”, game developers saw open-world sandbox adventures as the way to financial & critical acclaim. Many so-called “GTA” clones were released across multiple platforms and even crossed gaming generations – the latter being the original “Saint’s Row”. Promising to be the next evolution in sandbox offerings with a gritter, more free-form experience compared to “Grand Theft Auto”, “Saint’s Row” delivered a solid experience where the protagonist isn’t some masterfully crafted personality created by the developer, but someone shaped by the player. In the original iteration of “Saint’s Row”, the player-created protagonist is nothing more than a punk kid ending up at the wrong place during the wrong time as a drive-by shooting occurs. The shooting doesn’t end with the protagonist being killed, but does open the door for the story’s focal point to join a low-tier street gang known as “The 3rd Street Saints” – an obvious fourth of four in the gangland hierarchy of Stillwater.
With this new infusion of gang-banging talent, The Saints go about taking over Stillwater through sheer violence, creative marketing, and some interesting turn of events featuring betrayals, shocking revelation, and tragedies. But the actions of “Saint’s Row’s” showcase character is one of a person taking advantage of a situation once beyond the protagonist’s/“Playa’s” control. The events of “Saint’s Row 2” sees the protagonist embracing the idea of not being satisfied with just living with not becoming the best gangster as he takes control of The Saints after the gang falls into disarray after the protagonist’s imprisonment & subsequent jailbreak.
The protagonist – who could be a man or a woman in the franchise’s first sequel – would go on to settle scores, end the rise of gangs that came to prominence during the leader’s hospitalization & incarceration, and even conquer a corporation. It is here where the protagonist embraces that the potential of The Saints and their leader wasn’t limited to being some simple street gang isolated to Stillwater while rocking purple clothes.
By “Saint’s Row: The Third”, the 3rd Street Saints are seen as celebrities. Thanks to a mix of Playa’s inability to settle for less and society embracing the worst of the worst during this time in reality, things like massive bank robberies done by The Saints are praised instead of frowned up due to the gang’s take-no-prisoners attitude & genuine absurd charisma. The Saint’s popularity would spread beyond the Earth and into space, and even Hell. By ignoring the limitations by being a faceless gangbanger, the eventual leader of The Saints becomes the President of the United States & the savior of the world during an alien invasion.
But it isn’t just the Playa that succeeds even when their past should dictate otherwise including former pot-head Shaundi embracing her gift of gab & impeccable planning to keep The Saints thriving. Even original “Saint’s Row” antagonist Benjamin King didn’t settle on being what was expected him; becoming a criminal emperor as the head of the Vice Kings. Once disgraced, King rose from the ashes and eventually partnered alongside his old buddy’s organization to help the president. While your past does shape and at times dictates your future, it shouldn’t limit your potential to be the best you can be even if that best means stripping naked and beating some poor soul with a gigantic adult toy shaped like a baseball bat.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing the “Saint’s Row” franchise or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
