Response 14

Duncombe helps to create a terrific visualization of a world in which many of us look to escape to. Often times our internal desires for sex or death are what triggers us to conform to playing such video games like Grand Theft Auto. This is in order to play out those desires that we would otherwise not be able to carry out in the real world due to the many limitations and restrictions placed on our society. Grand Theft Auto is a immensely popular game since it provides the player with a fully manipulatable avatar placed in a 3-dimensional world where he/she can do whatever they want, however they want. The character (CJ) can be changed in terms of being obese or buff and can even get a haircut or a tattoo but his skin color can never change. “CJ isn`t a real black man; he is an action-packing stereotype”(55). The need to keep this character as a black man stems from the need to allow character identification. In order to fulfill the desire to identify with what we are not. This allows the player to understand the character that they are playing and form alliances that would not have been possible in another setting. It also allows the player to embrace difference and recognize the “Other” in an action of empathy. Through playing this game, it allows the player to view a world which is not his/her own and reflect on the views of others, only then may the barrier of stereotypes diminish.