Is GTA: San Andreas stereotypical??...

[dave4shmups]

Ok, you all know I'm NOT with the P.C. crowd who want Christmas trees banned from certain displays, etc. But I have watched some footage of this game on Youtube, and, to me at least, the game seems very stereotypical of inner city African Americans. I know some people have said things to the effect that "that's how they talk" when it comes to a game like this or a movie like Boyz in the Hood, but is that really true? I love the sandbox design and game play of GTA games, but this is troublesome to me.

[Never_Scurred]

I take it you've never spent any time with any "inner city african americans", have you?

[linko9]

I've never played the game, but as for the dialect discussion; of course there are many different dialects/"accents" of English spoken in the U.S. It would be insulting if everyone spoke like Walter Cronkite in the game. There's nothing inherently "worse" about speaking differently than the "standard" (meaning white, midwestern) dialect of American English, so there's no reason the game shouldn't try to represent all English dialects accurately. Now, if the voice-acting is just poorly done, that another issue altogether.

[Mortificator]

Not long after San Andreas came out, I was asked "do black people in gangs really swear that much?" Yes. Yes, they do.

That said, the GTA series has plenty of characters who are walking stereotypes. I don't think it's hate-mongering, though, just satire. The cliches can get tiresome, but I wouldn't pass up a fun game like San Andreas because of them.

[jonny5]

Ok, you all know I'm NOT with the P.C. crowd who want Christmas trees banned from certain displays, etc. But I have watched some footage of this game on Youtube, and, to me at least, the game seems very stereotypical of inner city African Americans. I know some people have said things to the effect that "that's how they talk" when it comes to a game like this or a movie like Boyz in the Hood, but is that really true? I love the sandbox design and game play of GTA games, but this is troublesome to me.

this made me

especially the boyz in the hood reference....

and then i noticed you were from colorado....and it all makes sense....

and tbh i know just as many white people who talk like that

[dave4shmups]

Not long after San Andreas came out, I was asked "do black people in gangs really swear that much?" Yes. Yes, they do.

That said, the GTA series has plenty of characters who are walking stereotypes. I don't think it's hate-mongering, though, just satire. The cliches can get tiresome, but I wouldn't pass up a fun game like San Andreas because of them.

True about the GTA series, and yeah, I don't think it's hate mongering. Yes, I'm from Colorado, but Denver has plenty of blacks, in fact, my first friend in school, in 1st grade, was black. I'll never forget that-so many of the kids made fun of me, but he always stuck by me. As did the black lady who was a recess monitor. I still remember them both 26 years later. I'd try and see if the guy's on Facebook if I knew his last name.

I'm sure people in any gang, regardless of race, probably swear that much.

At any rate, what-compared to earlier entries in the series-do people love so much about this game? Is the world just a lot bigger then it was in Vice City? (I loved that game's '80's theme! )

[Gungriffon Geona]

San Andreas is HUUUUUGE. by the time you've gotten to the desert area of the game you've got enough area that it'll take 30-1hr to drive around the entire space. that's not including the hidden sky city stuff either! ( I don't mean driving all the roads. I mean driving around the outer rim of everything. )

[szycag]

The bicycles. I loved swerving through highway traffic on them and mashing to pedal faster.

[BryanM]

Pretty much every character is a caricature. From the hookers to hicks to blind ninja chinese mafiosos.

Shit is infectious. I've been referring to money as "paper" and added "buster ass fool" to my vocabulary.

And celebrate with cake. That one gets way too much use.

[Slump]

It's definitely stereotypical in my eyes but I don't really find it offensive (although I'm not African-American). Pretty much every amusing racial stereotype is used at one point or another in the GTA series so I think the jokes on everybody really. If anything the games are more sexist than anything IMO. Lot's of objectification of women in GTA IV especially but meh, most people playing it should be old enough and wise enough to understand this is just to be amusing. I would also mention that their IS a culture I've witnessed similar to what's presented in San Andreas but I'm pretty sure most people know that as well.