Thesis Ideas for Paper #2

True Crime: Streets of LA
First Idea:

I could discuss the use of Chinese Triads, the Russia Mafia, and the North Korean People’s Army in the game, in order to depict a fiction storyline used to entertain the players of the game. The associations of these group with the city of LA, however, are portrayed in such a way for the player to believe these organizations are terrorizing and destroying the city with their terrible crimes. It also depicts America as needing to be saved from the rest of the world, with these three organizations representing the world. The game uses realistic racial tensions, even though they are not actual occurrences, to make the game more enjoyable for the player, who is playing an LA cop.

Second Idea:

Through research, I have found the game has three alternate endings, based on how the player uses his power as a cop to receive justice in the streets of LA. Based on the ending the player comes to, he is able to realize whether or not his actions as a cop during the game were truly ethical, in order to find justice against the crime in LA. The player has to make the decision to stay a good cop or turn into a bad cop due to his actions throughout the game, and this allows the game to be more realistic with the player being able to decide his own fate. It also has many ethical issues, because if the player decides to be a bad cop in order to get through each trial the station gives him, he will end up killing each individual involved in the crime, instead of stunning them or beating them up.

Third Idea:

Violence is obviously an ethical issue with this game, because there are many types of it, throughout the game. There is road violence in the game, and the player, as the cop, is able to steal cars from common everyday citizens, is able to run pedestrians over or hit them, and is able to use the siren of the cop car to get everywhere without any stipulations. There is also weapon violence, such as the player being able to shoot any inidivudal without them committing a crime, and the player is even allowed to have shoot outs in the middle of the street where there are many pedestrians. Throughout the game there is even beating violence, where the cop is allowed to beat the inidivudals involved with a crime, without him getting in trouble with the station.