Grand Theft Auto or GTA is a very popular action-adventure game that gives you almost real-life experience in the game version. The game is designed based on real-life cities and monuments. The maps and some of the monuments and buildings of this game are exact copies of the real ones. But this game differs from its real-life counterpart in many ways.
GTA vs Real Life
The main difference between GTA and real life is that GTA refers to an online action-adventure game that gives you a real-life experience through its excellent graphics, on the other hand, real-life refers to real-world life-based on which GTA maps are made. The cities and monuments of GTA are not always the same.
GTA refers to a long-running video game series that is published by Rockstar Games and developed by its subsidiary companies. Primarily Rockstar Games developed this game. The game lets its user choose a criminal role in a big city. In the game generally, antagonists betray the protagonists or their organization and to take revenge protagonists need to kill people.
In real-life, taking the role of a criminal in society is not at all acceptable. In real life, there are several rules and regulations which are followed by society to maintain a peaceful lifestyle. The real-life version of the latest GTA V is Los Angeles. Los Angeles is situated in California, which is the largest city in this state.
Comparison Table Between GTA and Real Life
| Parameters of Comparison | GTA | Real Life |
| Nature | A two-dimensional world which is experienced through the online action-adventure game. | It is the real world |
| Rules and Regulation | In GTA everyone needs to choose a criminal role, steal cars without the permission of the owner and kill people mercilessly | Killing people or stealing cars or being a criminal is not acceptable in real life. For attempting these actions, you will get punishment |
| Cities | All the cities are isolated islands situated in the middle of the sea and connected through bridges | Not all cities are islands. There are many cities situated in the Northern American continent |
| Society | The society is portrayed as corrupted and amoral in exaggeration | Society has corruption but is in control of the contemporary government of the country. |
| Technological advancement | America is portrayed to be the most technologically advanced with developing several weapons which were unrealistic at that time | America developed advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, space-based orbital weapons. |
What is GTA?
GTA refers to a video game created by Rockstar Games, an American company. It was published in 1997 by ASC Games for play on personal computers and video game consoles. After the release GTA got very popular and started to release multiple expansions and sequels, like the Vice City version in 2002, in 2004 San Andreas version, in 2008 GTA IV, and in 2013 GTA V.
In this game gamers need to choose a character of a criminal and attempt to enhance their standing in the game by accomplishing the mission in the virtual cities. Most of the gameplay in GTA involves shooting people and driving.
The map of the original game mainly encompassed three cities- Vice City, which is based on Miami, San Andreas, based on San Francisco, and Liberty City, based on New York City. Liberty city is considered to be the most used city in the GTA.
There are many monuments and buildings in GTA which are influenced by real-world monuments and buildings and replicate those properly. For instance, the Galileo Observatory is the replica of Los Angeles’s Griffith Observatory, Big Creek bridge which is based on California’s Bixby Bridge, The Vinewood bowl which is the replica of the Hollywood Bowl.
GTA is considered to be the most accused and controversial video game in history. There are more than 4000 articles written against this game and accused of promoting violence, corruption, and amorality.
What is Real Life?
Real-life refers to real-world life which has several dimensions. GTA is based on many real-life cities, monuments, and buildings of the United States. The real-life cities and monuments are quite different from the game.
New York City inspired the game’s Liberty city which was one of the first GTA cities which were fully-realized real-live locations. New York is one of America’s states situated in the Mid-Atlantic region. San Francisco inspired the GTA city named San Andreas. San Francisco is the commercial, financial, and cultural center in the United States of America. Miami inspired the Vice city in the game. Miami is a coastal metropolis city situated in Southeastern Florida.
Real-life politicians are also seen in the GTA world. Real-life presidents like John F. Kennedy, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan are seen in the game. Other politicians who were seen in GTA are Miles O’Donovan and Roger C. Hole.
The society in the USA is less corrupted amoral compared to the game. You obviously can not act like a criminal and steal others’ properties without their consent, and kill people as much as you can in GTA. These activities are considered to be criminal activity and criminals got punishments for these offenses.
Main Differences Between GTA and Real Life
- GTA is an online action-adventure game, whereas real-life means real-world life.
- In GTA everyone needs to choose a criminal role, steal cars without the permission of the owner, and kill people mercilessly, but killing people or stealing cars, or being a criminal is not acceptable in real life. For attempting these actions, you will get punishment.
- In GTA all the cities are isolated islands situated in the middle of the sea and connected through bridges, on the contrary, not all the cities in real-life America are islands. There are many cities situated in the Northern American continent.
- Society is portrayed as corrupted and amoral in exaggeration in GTA, which was not present in real life.
- America is portrayed as the most technologically advanced with developing several weapons which were unrealistic at that time.
Conclusion
GTA V remains one of the most popular video games to date even after the release of the next-generation release of the game. GTA is the highest-rated video game all over the world for portraying the real-world experience precisely.
But the game is not a replica of real life. The social and political life of the game is shown amoral and corrupted totally. This game is all about stealing and killing which is punishable in real life. GTA is a game where you play the role of a criminal. So make sure you play GTA, but it doesn’t play with your mind.
References
- https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=grand+theft+auto&oq=grand+theft+#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D1d7CIfLh0ZIJ
- https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=grand+theft+auto+vs+real+life&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D0paagTmwcGwJ