Boobie Tassels For Buddha

I read an article not too long ago about the ways in which the video game Red Dead Redemption shows how the Wild West and the game’s creators are women haters. Red Dead Redemption, if you’re clueless, is an open world game set in 1911 near the America/Mexico border in some fictional area. By open world, I mean you cover a vast expanse of game area which you can explore at will and your activities really aren’t limited at all. For instance, if you want to lasso a dog or hogtie a person you randomly come across, you can do so. If you want to tie someone to train tracks and watch the train turn them into pink mist, you can do that, too.


The basic premise of the game is that you, as the main character John Marston, used to be an outlaw. You married a former whore familiar to your outlaw gang and had a kid with her, but some crazy Federal Marshalls have basically held your wife and son captive while you track down said gang out West to turn them in. You play the game as a sell out in order to save your family. The challenge comes from no one out
West knowing you and not being willing to help a stranger. You have to prove yourself by building friendships and a reputation so you go on missions to help people out ranging from herding cattle to fighting the Mexican army alongside rebels (who you’ve already fought with the army…long story, I guess).

So, the plot sounds fairly entertaining, and in theory, the freedom should make it even more so since you aren’t restricted to linear game play like in most other games. You don’t move from level to level following a distinct set of actions. I’m sure a lot of players did find it highly amusing which is exactly why it is utterly disturbing.

I say that only after watching the game from start to end. Despite the fact that the person I watched play the game is fairly well adjusted, moral, and generally calm, I saw so many senselessly violent acts. I was truly taken aback by the capabilities of this character. Many or rather, most, video games have some element of violence. Several, in fact, are focused, seemingly, on seeing how many people you can shoot in the face, but what sets Red Dead Redemption apart from those other violent games is the fact that these are acts chosen with free will. They serve no purpose or point in the game. They don’t further your plight at all. They’re simply acts you choose as the player out of curiosity…just because you can. Hogtying people or lassoing dogs does nothing for you. Killing people by tying them up and dragging them behind your horse doesn’t either. Players still do these things, though. And most of the time, they laugh about it.


What disturbs me even more is the fact that game creators anticipated that people would want to do this. They anticipated that people would want to know what would happen if they tied a person to train tracks with a train coming along. There was curiosity about what might happen if someone randomly shot a dog and instead of doing odds and ends jobs for money, the creators had the forethought to make the character able to kill wild animals then skin them or pluck their feathers to sell for extra cash.


They created this game about a man who is pretty much a good guy despite his former criminal life. The missions in the game include saving a woman from rapists and a rebel from execution. When offered drugs and whores, he always refuses. However, the creators also understood this would never make the game popular. So, to ensure the mainstream public would go gaga over it, your character has the ability to do some really twisted, outright evil acts. It’s like in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (by the same company Rock Star Games). It’s another open world style game. In this one, your plot has nothing to do with anything redeemable but the boundaries are still pushed. Running around stealing cars and being chased by cops isn’t fucked up enough. No. The creators of this wildly popular masterpiece decided it would be neato to allow your character to pick up a hooker, have sex with her, then murder the bitch and get your money back. And, once again, the general gaming public thinks it’s pretty hilarious to do so. It’s only a game, right?


Right….but what does this really say about society as a whole?

I seem to be the only person I know who thinks these games take it too far. I think the world is filled with enough ugliness and violence without constantly adding to it. In movies, games, books, or any media source, the added violence just doesn’t seem necessary. With Red Dead Redemption, a fine line ethical mission oriented plotline--a how-far-would-you-go-for-your-family dilemma-- is totally corrupted by the overwhelmingly disturbed acts the character is allowed to perform--psychopathological actions which have much to say about both the creators and the players alike. Nothing said has a good ring to it…at least not to my ears.


This is why I lamented recently over my 5 year old already getting into games geared towards kids featuring favorites such as Scooby and Spongebob. In an almost tearful wail, I made woeful predictions for his future if this continues.

“This is killing me. He’s obsessed with games already.”

“Yes. Yes he is.”

“He’s going to be 1 of those kids who looks sick all the time from never seeing the light of day. Every weekend spent in his room attempting to triumph in the latest gamer obsession. I can’t take it. He can’t be that kid, man. I don’t want him to be that kid. Reading comics and playing RPG’s with al his lame ass friends.”

“He’ll be fine even if he does dress up in Dungeons and Dragons costumes.”

“No, he won’t. He’ll be a virgin until he’s 25.”

“Like hell he will.”

“I want him to like girls and music and go to shows and shit. Fuck. I can see it now…I’ll peer into his room and be like ‘What are you up to this weekend?’ and he’ll say ‘Going to Dragon*Con with some of my buds.’ and I’ll run from his room crying ‘oh jesus christ, son, why couldn’t you just be gay??????’