10 Truly Horrible Things Video Games Made You Do
1. Waterboarding In GTA V
The Grand Theft Auto series isn't known for the rigidity of its moral stances. One of the weaknesses of the games is how to reconcile the complex and conflicted characters with the hysterical levels of vehicular carnage they leave in their wake as the game progresses.
GTA V makes the game's morality, or lack of it, more personal and immediate than ever before, as the player is put in charge of the psychotic criminal, Trevor.
Trevor needs information. Another character by the name of Kerimov has it. What follows is a full-on torture scene where the player controls the torturer.
The player selects which methods to use, from shattering Kerimov's kneecap with a wrench, to actually waterboarding him. Ask a group of people the worst thing in the world and many of them will say torture, and that's what GTA V makes the player do.
It's such a horrible experience the game stops being interactive entertainment and turns into a comment on moral responsibility - whether the ends justify the means.
Whether Rockstar Games intended this or not, it all stems from how reluctant the player is to do what they demand.