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 made everyone question their friends, “Grand Theft Auto San Andreas”.
Watch the Close Ones in Your Circle
2004 was a monumental year in video gaming. The entertainment medium that had people dressing up as their favorite video game characters while waiting for a midnight release of the latest big game hit a new level in 2004 thanks to the arrivals of “Halo 2”, “Half-Life 2”, “Metal Gear Solid 2”, “Fable”, and, of course, “Grand Theft Auto San Andreas”. The memory of leaving my parents’ home, driving up the interstate (actually passing my mom as she came home from work) to, at the time, the closest Gamestop in my area to pick up my pre-order of “San Andreas”. Before social media there were message boards where gamers voiced their anticipation and, eventually, their joy playing Rockstar Games’ magnum opus to cap off a trilogy of “GTA” games originally made for Sony’s Playstation 2.
It doesn’t take long before the player is introduced to some of the major characters connected to “San Andreas’” story including the Samuel L. Jackson-voiced Officer Tenpenny. Carl Johnson – the game’s protagonist – returns to Los Santos after living in Liberty City for five years boosting cars and living a rather humdrum life even though his whole reason for leaving his hometown was to make a better life for himself instead of simply being a two-bit crook.
CJ coming back to Los Santos brings a startling revelation: his family & friends are suffering mostly due to the neighborhood gang headed by his big brother “Sweet” Sean Johnson losing its power because “Sweet” didn’t want to be a drug dealer. In an effort to make good for not being there for their mother when she died during a random drive-by shooting (the reason why CJ comes back to Los Santos in the first place), Carl steps up in helping reclaim Los Santos. Though CJ and the gang – Grove Street Families – do a good job in regaining ground in Los Santos, it seems they’re still one-step behind the other gangs and even the city’s policing unit, Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (C.R.A.S.H.).
After meeting his sister’s boyfriend and befriending him, CJ gets some shocking intel: his childhood friends & fellow GSF members Big Smoke & Ryder are actually working with C.R.A.S.H. To further drive the knife of betrayal into CJ and the GSF is a revelation that the drive-by shooting that ended CJ mother’s life was done by Ryder & Smoke with the intent of killing “Sweet”.
This news ends with “Sweet” getting imprisoned, his old buddies living in the lap of luxury (though Ryder’s drug addiction does take away the chance for him to live it up like his paranoid fellow Benedict Arnold), and CJ on a revenge tour while ensuring his real family & friends will have something to enjoy by the narrative’s end.
Loyalty to friends and people as close as family is a beautiful thing that can be used against the unsuspecting and downright naive. While someone shouldn’t outright distrust anyone or everyone who is trying to help you make it in the world, keep your eyes open for some telltale signs they aren’t on the up & up like a guy who wears the same clothes all the time suddenly having enough money to buy a fancy classic car or purchase a majority of a fast food chain’s extensive menu without batting an eye.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Grand Theft Auto San Andreas” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.