Why Does GTA Appeal to the Casual Gamer?
Insight into one of the gaming industry’s biggest game series ever.
Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest gaming franchises of all time. It transcends the gaming industry and some would argue it’s the biggest video game series ever. People everywhere have an opinion of GTA; if you ask someone on the street they know what it is and have some opinion on if the game is appropriate to be played or not. However that’s not what I’m focusing on today, I want to know why the casual gamer is most attracted to GTA when there are many other fantastic gaming franchises?
Like I said most people know what GTA is, and most people have an opinion about it — most people under the age of 30 will have played it (no offense to those of you over 30). What interests me is that the casual gamer will often choose to buy and play a series, like GTA or Call of Duty, over other franchises that may be worthy of their time. Both of these game series are known outside of the games industry, and while the industry is becoming bigger and bigger these two series have outshone everything in the public’s eye. Someone picking up a console for the first time will be drawn to these series, specifically GTA, because they know what it is. Despite the controversy surrounding it, they know what they are getting themselves into. A good example of this is comparing GTA V to Watch_Dogs. Recently I tried to get my girlfriend to play Watch_Dogs after she had played lots — and I mean lots — of GTA. Despite how similar the games are in terms of gameplay she didn’t like it and wanted to go back to playing GTA, I was confused by this. How is it that two games which are so similar, even more so to the casual gamer, feel so different to the casual gamer to the point they like one but not the other? She claimed that it’s because Watch_Dogs felt more grounded and realistic so her actions had meaning behind them while in GTA her actions were meaningless and therefore more fun.
Grand Theft Auto, despite the latest entry being the most realistic — some may argue GTA IV is more realistic — it’s also the one where you can cause the most unrealistic mayhem that you can imagine. It’s a sandbox in which you can do almost anything you want. A hardcore gamer typically uses the world around them to be immersed fully, while the casual gamer wants a world in which the can “muck about in” for a couple of hours and GTA provides this. It’s much harder for a casual gamer to pick up an RPG such as The Witcher and “muck about” in that world for 45 minutes than it is in GTA. In GTA the player has no real consequences for their actions, it allows the gamer to be transported to a world in which rules need not apply to them. While most games also offer this they also take a more realistic or unforgiving approach to player actions. Once again comparing to Watch_Dogs, if you mow down civilians in your car your reputation will be effected and because of that so will your normal gameplay. You do the same thing in GTA and despite a police chase for 5 minutes, there is no real consequences and the player can continue to cause mayhem however they please.
Even the characters in GTA V, the latest entry into the series, attract the casual gamer; Trevor is the physical manifestation of the typical way casual gamers play the series. He is about causing mayhem and not being bothered about actions and their consequences, he gets distracted by the smallest of things — for example, randomly stealing a bus and driving up Mt. Chiliad — and then getting bored and moving onto the next “fun” thing they can think of. All the activities in GTA have some sort of appeal to the casual gamer; you can do side missions which invlove racing your car, or playing tennis or transporting a hitchhiker to a group of cannibalistic campers — the last one is a bit extreme but it’s an actual side mission you can partake in. There is a mission type and activity for everyone. GTA is positioned to attract all forms of gamers, it does this better than any other video game series. In-game worlds such as The Witcher seem daunting and you need to invest valuable time and effort to gain a worth-while experience, GTA is the exact opposite. Right from the get go you can have fun in the world with the wide range of characters, simple and accessible mission design, to the mayhem that ensues when the player is given free reign to do what they want. This sticks out to the casual gamer as a fun and rewarding experience that they can keep going back to.
No video game series has managed to be as popular in mainstream media and to casual gamers than GTA is to the hardcore gamers. Everyone knows the series and has an opinion of it, which could be good or bad but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that GTA is being talked about in mainstream media. People hear the name and want to check it out and experience the game for themselves before passing judgement on it, that is where the casual gamer gets hooked. They know the series, they know the experience they get from it and it’s familiar territory for them; why invest in a new game if you may not like it or it’s not as good as GTA? Casual gamers will stick to the series they love and will continue to play GTA for a long time to come.
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