The Lucifer Effect in GTA IV: Simulating ‘How Good People Turn Evil’
Violent media sells in many forms today, but the question seems to be, is it an influence to steer us to being more violent than we would have been in it’s absence? I would argue yes and no, depending on the situation. I would also argue that it can help us think more about morality and life in general.
Every experience shapes or changes us in some way, if only a little, and we can get ideas we wouldn’t have had before. Drawing a direct connection between one experience and real life action is not as accurate as taking into account the total experience of any given individual.
I know I have simulated car-jackings and murdering people in GTA IV, though I also know I will not commit these crimes in real life at this moment in time, and do not plan to do so in the future.
However, at any given point in the future, I admit to the possibility of these actions, simply because the future could be just as ugly as it could be pretty. That is to say, anyone can commit the most heinous crimes given the right circumstances.
A good book on the subject that I have read recently is, “The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil,” by Philip Zimbardo. The theme is that given the right environment, good people can turn evil relatively quickly. If we glorify and/or justify violence, for instance, as a people (as some would argue Americans did after 9/11), then certain actions become more readily possible both mentally and physically than they would have been before.
Whether these actions are labelled good or evil depends largely upon which side you are on in many situations, but the stimulus for action is the environment, not any one factor within it (though one factor can be a tipping point).
One of the great features of Grand Theft Auto IV is that it can stimulate thought along with moral questions. GTA IV simulates an environment where good people can turn “evil”, though how accurate it is perceived may be determined by your own personal experience.
Similarities to reality can end quickly after a chase begins or you “die”, but others remain. The game provides an environment to explore things you would not necessarily do in real life, adventuring on both sides of the moral compass.
Some questions to ask yourself if you have played: how long did it take for you to steal a car in order to get where you were going? Did you treat people differently than you would in real life? Why? Did you need to kill to survive or protect others? Did you justify your actions? If put in the same situations in real life, would you take at least some of the same actions? Which ones?
Being grateful for the relative peace we have in reality while enjoying an adventure we could never have experienced otherwise can also open our eyes to how some other people may be forced to live.
That a video game can spur these questions and thought is a good thing, perhaps even teaching us more about human nature and ourselves. That this video game alone can be perceived as evil in itself or a cause of evil is not only a statement lacking in judgement, but also intelligence.
By Carl Borrowman
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16 Responses to “The Lucifer Effect in GTA IV: Simulating ‘How Good People Turn Evil’”
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May 6th, 2008
Good article. I can see that there is a minority that can’t draw the line between what happens in a video game compared to real life. I am all for slicing prostitutes with helicopter blades in the game, but I won’t ever dream of doing it in real life.
May 6th, 2008
Roger that.
May 6th, 2008
how the hell do you slice…. never mind.. Ill stick to shooting them…
May 7th, 2008
It’s possible DWH!
May 7th, 2008
HOW??
I need specifics please… Im bored with just calling 911 and putting a bullet in their ass… I need some “improvisation”…
May 7th, 2008
I read it from another forum that it’s possible. I haven’t been able to do it myself, but hopefully someone will post a youtube clip of it soon.
Has anyone found out what the edited bit of the Australian version of the game is?
May 7th, 2008
http://www.xboxer.tv/
enjoy… its a little silly.. the stuff the edited out… not worth importing a copy… unless you want the TRUELY ORIGINAL version for your collection…
May 7th, 2008
i think games give gamers an avenue to do things they WOULDN’T normally do in real life, hence the entertainment value. In oblivion, i did some pretty mean and cruel things to the towns people that i would never do in real life. it’s part of the fun, part of being the somebody else for a while all while being in fantasy where noone is hurt. sometimes i hurt people becuase i had to (vampire disease sucks) and other times i did it because it was fun (pickpocketing while using Nord invisibility powers). these decisions do NOT translate into reality however as i would not even contemplate pickpocketing someone or feeding on the innocent. i think education (yeah, you read right) is what’s hurting this industry. the great educated minds just need to stop thinking so deeply about this and remember; IT’S JUST A GAME. i don’t think gaming “teaches” much…certainly not about my moral guidelines which were in place before i ever picked up gta, oblivion, bully, etc, etc.
May 7th, 2008
I think it’s safe to say that humans have done some pretty sick things throughout history because of their “entertainment value”.
The thing with videogames like GTA is the amount of freedom you have to do things without real consequences and without anybody passing judgment. It does allow the entertainment to occur without hurting anybody.
As “bad” as GTA IV is, or considered to be by people like Jack Thompson and others, it still has some boundaries it hasn’t passed. Why? Is it because of censors, good taste, or lack of space on the discs?
Say GTA X w/PS9 or Xbox Infinity has unlimited space, that it simulates our reality perfectly except there are no real consequences for what you do in game. At what point do you say no to what is allowed for action in game? When children are put into it? MGS4 was alleged to have caught flak for this for one situation in game.
If your argument is “it is just a game” then there are absolutely no limits, no matter how sick they are.
If you say there should be limits, what are they and why?
Videogames, if allowed to progress with technology, will eventually simulate reality enough to where they cannot be distinguished from it given the right environment (i.e. holodeck). If the issue doesn’t matter now, it will in the future because people may want to spend more time in that reality than they do this one. So much that they do learn behaviors that aren’t exactly acceptable in real life.
May 7th, 2008
Personally, it seems like the people who commit the world’s worst atrocities are the people who are far more bored than everyone else. Hitler, for example. Wrote Mein Kampf in prison, where he developed most of his political ideologies and further developed his own anti-Semitism.
Now, if Hitler had GTA to play while he was in prison, he wouldn’t have wasted all his time writing Mein Kampf and the Holocaust never would have happened.
…
Okay, so many this is a stretch, but studies DO show that people who actively use their imaginations (i.e. gamers) actually have a stronger sense of the separation between fantasy and reality, and their line between “bad” and “good” is more clearly defined.
Personally, I think the content in GTA is pure filth and I won’t touch it, but it is better for people to keep those filthy things locked away in fantasy rather than let it get to the point where they’d be willing to try it out in real life.
-Arvis
May 7th, 2008
Are you serious??? We miss out on watching Niko getting a hand job? Is that all?
I didn’t notice, was he a skivvy brother or a helmet brother?
May 7th, 2008
Arvis, could you provide a link to the studies you mentioned?
Also, I initially had the same impression of GTA III San Andreas before I forced myself to play it.
Experiencing the game was eye opening, and I had a totally different impression of the game than what the media was portraying afterwards.
My (non-judgmental) question to you would be: Why specifically do you think the content in GTA is pure filth? What content in particular is offending?
May 7th, 2008
Quote: “I didn’t notice, was he a skivvy brother or a helmet brother?”
Oh noes….not again.
May 8th, 2008
hahaha
May 8th, 2008
arvis – well said. it’s very impressive you admit hating the content, but not hating those who do like it. +1 Rep Point.
May 9th, 2008
Carl,
Some sociologist did a whole study with pre-pubescent children and how active imaginations actually helped curb their violent tendencies and made them far less likely to commit violence on another being. He published all his findings in a book which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of. It’s “(something) and Monsters” I think…. sorry, I know it’s probably not helpful.
As for the content I dislike in GTA, it’s mostly the overused obscenities and the totally unnecessary sexual content that turns me off, content-wise. But the biggest turn off, for me, is what other people do when they play the game. Something about sitting on a rooftop and just sniping civilian’s heads off over and over and over… kind of turns my stomach… especially when there have been people out there who do just that to innocent people in real life. It just… bothers me.
Kevin: Thanks.
….
Now I feel all warm and fuzzy.
-Arvis