4. Killing Johnny Klebitz
Here we arrive at an event that happens within the first few seconds of Trevor's character being on screen outside the initial prologue; the death of GTA IV expansion 'The Lost and Damned's Johnny Klebitz. As is the beauty of GTA and it's subjectivity, I was pleased to see Klebitz pop up again as I hugely enjoyed playing as him in the DLC pack. However Trevor is first shown having sex with Johnny's girlfriend, an action Johnny is extremely upset about, and then out of nowhere whilst Johnny is taken aback from the realisation Trevor is just messing around with her, he gets glassed in the face and savagely kicked to death. Now I know, I know, 'this is a GTA game', and critics have pointed out that this wanton act of random violence serves a perfect mirror to the many acts the player has undoubtedly partaken in leading to this point in this game or any prior instalments. To some degree, I completely understand that, it's genius even, although with that comparison to player agency you have to forget about motive and context. For the most part any player of GTA is not putting a relatable face to any of the NPC's from previous games, nor are they violently screaming expletives in their face and directly affecting a known relationship in doing so. Again, that could be entirely the point, and Klebitz could be the cypher with which to represent any and all tertiary and ancillary characters that have died along the way, forcing the player to re-evaluate how they view their position in the game world. However I'd say to make that point, you have to make clear the element of choice, as it was always a choice to go on an escapist rampage in previous titles, yet to continue with GTA V, you are forced to inhabit the body of a man who has just murdered a very likeable character, and that was such a huge initial turnoff that I found very hard to come back from.