The sad truth of GTA IV: You’re the monster

Grand Theft Auto IV is actually a tragedy, said John Davison, president of parental unit videogame guide What They Like and (more famously known as) a veteran of Ziff Davis. Niko Bellic, the protagonist, is a really tragic figure full of self-loathing for the acts he commits, he explained.

Last night he was filling in the gaping gaps in my GTA history. See, I’ve never actually played a Grand Theft Auto game — I blame the series for appearing to go out of its way to alienate women. Although I haven’t logged any time behind the wheel, I’ve certainly been exposed to the game and, frankly, have never been able to wrap my head around the cathartic joy of wanton destruction. I’m the one who spent hours playing Crackdown literally just jumping around.

As we discussed the series (well, as John told me about his GTA IV play time), it struck us: In GTA IV, the monster is you. You never have to engage in deprave acts outside of assassinating folks, which puts all the hooker beating squarely on your shoulders.

The series has always been about freedom to do anything, but its new-found gravitas highlights the fact that you’re running around steamrolling cops and innocent civilians because, well, you’re expected to, right?

Thinking about the franchise in this manner, I keep drawing the same conclusion: The Houser brothers have created the videogame equivalent of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. Sure it’s a tongue-in-cheek satire of America’s obsession with violence, but GTA IV’s more subtle “big stick” is the message: We should all be disgusted with ourselves.

Of course, I still haven’t played the game, so I can’t vouch that this comparison is, you know, actually true.