GTA V And Women: 6 Roads To Redemption And Reconciliation

contains spoilers for GTA V, so proceed with caution. On 16th September 2013, long-running and respected giant of the gaming community, Gamespot, published a glowing review of the open-world crime drama released by Rockstar Games, unreservedly praising the story, gameplay, characters, world design and sheer unparalleled freedom of the title, noting it as a stunning technological achievement and worthy swan song for the current generation of consoles. In a factor that should've been entirely coincidental and meaningless, the reviewer just so happened to be a woman, Ms Carolyn Petit, who, as a woman, dared to use her agency to point out the glaringly obvious: GTA V, for all the merits that earned it a virtually perfect 9 out of 10, was disappointingly reactionary when it came to portraying women. With the sole exception of Taliana Martinez (a random character in an isolated area of the map that might and can be ignored €“ how many of us have indifferently sped on past the random events of muggings?), there is not a single woman in the cast who isn't a tired male fantasy: the irritating, irrational wife; the spoilt, useless teen daughter; the disposable sex worker. The only notable women, Molly Schultz and Debra, two who dare to be something resembling autonomous, are treated by the male scriptwriters and male developers to getting gorily sucked into a jet turbine and being brutally murdered by Trevor to serve as punch lines for the darkest of comedy. No, wait, it's not comedy; it's just indefensibly revolting and puerile. I digress. For the crime of being a critically thinking woman, Ms Petit was on the receiving end of one of the most repugnant storms of recent memory. The flood of vitriol was so bad that Gamespot had to issue a video response condemning their own users' blindness and bigotry. Comments ranged from the blatantly odious 'women shouldn't review games like this' (because excluding half the population from a massive franchise is reasonable, evidently) to countless attacks on Ms Petit's transgender status. The maelstrom caught the attention of the international media. Ms Petit could not sing the game enough praises, but a minor, inoffensive observation that the franchise could stand to grow up (an indisputable fact that I tend to agree with, having read some excellent responses that effectively argue that the franchise itself is in a midlife crisis, and like Michael, the young and rebellious gamers that consumed the initially equally ostentatious and irreverent series may be feeling too old to take part), she was subject to some truly chilling venom. As the stereotypical image of the modern gamer is that of a middle class, cisgendered, straight, white male, it can be a difficult task to comprehend that the kind of hatred directed towards Ms Petit is constant and calculated; transgender people are perpetually in mortal peril in a prejudiced society, and when an enthusiastic gamer is turned on by a community that purports itself to be all-embracing and tolerant, it can be an unenviable nightmare. Perhaps all of this unpleasantness could have been avoided if we had had Taliana Martinez front and centre as part of the main trio. Maybe we might get some DLC down the road starring her; I for one would like to play through the events she vividly recounted. Though I have previously pointed out some historical figures that could serve as a base for (anti) heroes in the GTA universe, this article intends to delve deeper: into a potential protagonist's background, ethics, personality, and what they might do to earn a salary from their employers. In the aftermath of this most horrid episode, perhaps the onus is now on Rockstar to look back at their actions and accomplishments, and come out of the other side with a woman in the leading role for the franchise. When so many other titles have already done so, it's not daring anymore; it's basic human decency. Here's how they could do it...