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 the game that players running through the night, “Grand Theft Auto Vice City”.
Don’t Be Afraid to Restart at the Bottom
Less than a year after the release of “Grand Theft Auto III” changed gaming both from a short-term perspective and for generations to come, Rockstar Games showcased a trailer featuring the bright lights, sandy beaches, and gang violence of Vice City. While Liberty City was Rockstar’s take on New York, Vice City had the look, flair & general “anything can happen in this town” feel of Miami. And what better time to be in a town full of big hair, skimpy clothes & more drugs than there was sand on the nearby shore than the 1980s? Set in 1986, the player controls Tommy Vercetti – a member of the Forelli Crime Family. Following a drug ambush gone wrong, Tommy is arrested and put on death row; though his sentence is eventually reduced to being imprisoned for fifteen years. When Vercetti is released, he discovers that his status as a “made man” in his old family is only in word alone; pretty much disowned & left to rot in Vice City with the figurative guillotine hanging over his head with the threat of harm coming his way if he doesn’t make up for what he lost to his boss Sonny all those years ago. But Tommy has other plans.
Vercetti goes to work in building not a drug empire for Sonny or the Forelli family, but himself; reaching out to former friend & obvious cocaine fiend Ken Rosenberg. Through Rosenberg’s knowledge of the Vice City drug game, Vercetti is able to dig his feet in the figurative sand; taking control of certain avenues while making beneficial connections in the process. First there’s the eccentric Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez who actually put the players in place without knowing Tommy would be almost killed over fifteen years ago. Vercetti eventually befriends a plethora of beneficial allies including a wealthy real estate developer (Avery Carrington), the ridiculously paranoid (mostly due to his own drug addiction) Ricardo Diaz, and the exceptionally efficient Lance Vance whose brother died in the same ambush that causes Tommy’s prison stint.
These multiple alliances and more to come gives Vercetti a chance to establish himself as Vice City’s premier drug king; actually creating his own gang while purchasing several businesses in the city (and making a sleazy director’s dream come true). Though Tommy’s career of choice isn’t something to be praised or even imitated, the fact remains the methods to Vercetti’s success are applicable across any job or potential dream-turned-reality. Through sheer grit, determination & working with others, anyone can reach their intended level of status even if said status results in buying an ice cream truck business or a printing press that is just perfect for being burned down when an angry mob comes after you.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Grand Theft Auto Vice City” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.