DJ Regular Archives: My Open Letter to Dan Houser, on the eve of GTA6

After all the leaks and hullabaloo, there's been a gameplay look at Grand Theft Auto 6, and while I'm still probably not going to be playing it anytime soon for a number of reasons, I do have to give them kudos for addressing one of my biggest issues: The lack of a non-male playable protagonist for the series.

Back around the time of GTA 5's release, I wrote a blog that was intended to be an open letter to Dan Houser (co-founder of Rockstar, and lead creative on the GTA series), inspired by a piece Laura Beck on why she wouldn't be playing it. This was less of a genuine plea, and more of me gently subbing the narrative choices the Housers have made over the years. If you catch me at the right time, I'll be a bit more pointed about how my opinions have gotten a lot more barbed since, but I'll simply say that the Housers no longer being involved is probably a net positive.

Anyhow. I've posted this blog on Wordpress, Tumblr, Co-Host (RIP), and now in honor of the gameplay trailer dropping I figured I should drop it on a platform I actually run. The writing's old but I kept it in tact, aside from updating dead links. Y'all enjoy the game. I'm sure I'll get to it eventually.

A couple of days ago, Laura Beck over at Jezebel wrote a piece on why she won’t be playing GTA V. You should definitely go read the whole thing, but the gist is something that’s bothered me as a fan of Rockstar’s number one franchise for quite some time: The lack of female protagonists throughout the series. Over the years I’ve reveled in GTA’s evolution from just enough plot to allow the player to explore its sizable sandbox, to a collection of character driven stories inspired by crime fiction and heavily studded with pop culture satire. With each installment that’s released, while I’m reasonably excited about what the gameplay will be like or the crazy new stuff I’ll be able to do, what really gets me going is the new tales that the Rockstar crew has to tell. After a lifetime of digesting movies by Scorsese, Tarantino, Michael Mann, etc., being able to play through a similar experience is more than intriguing. The trouble that I’ve always had though, is that my enjoyment to some degree comes from a place of being able to relate to and be comfortable with the characters they’ve allowed us to play. No, I’ve never been gang member, a bank robber, or a mob enforcer, but I’m a man. Beyond my natural predilection to gravitate toward stories about crooks and con men, as a man it’s very easy to insert yourself those worlds somewhere. If you’re a woman though, it’s hard to find a place for yourself in the thick of things. To put a fine point on it, I’ll refer you this quote from an interview that the New York Times conducted with you:

Q. There are people who still aren’t delighted by the treatment of women in your games.

A. Of course. But is their argument that in a game about gangsters and thugs and street life, there are prostitutes and strippers — that that is inappropriate? I don’t think we revel in the mistreatment of women at all. I just think in the world we’re representing, in Grand Theft Auto, that it’s appropriate.

And that’s where the disconnect begins. The problem isn’t that you’re depicting the underworld–an admittedly unkind place for everyone involved in it–in an inappropriate light. It’s that you’re depicting it in an inaccurate light. The implication in the above quote is that the only place for women in these narratives is as prostitutes or strippers, or in the context of the games thus far, girlfriends and bystanders. No matter whether you focus on real life as an inspiration, or as other crime fiction, you can find women in positions of power or at the very least active in the underworld. Let’s start with the latter.

Other forms of media do suffer from the same sort of lopsided representation in terms of female characters as video games do, but much like video games, they exist. The first of the three protagonists we were introduced to in GTA V’s promotional campaign was Michael. A middle-aged, former bank robber who isn’t adjusting well to life as a square and seems to be itching to get back to his old criminal ways. You can draw parallels from that character to Pam Grier’s character in Tarantino’s 1997 crime drama, Jackie Brown.

A stewardess on the north side of a dead-end career due to a past run-in with the law, making one last play at grabbing something for herself. Playing a dangerous game of between cops and crooks, she hopes to get out ahead, or at least alive. Sounds like Jackie and Michael would have plenty to talk about, if she didn’t try to run his pockets.

Maybe you need an example of ladies who are a bit more direct in their actions? Then how about the women of Set It Off?

A crew of female bank robbers motivated by economic hardship could easily fit in with the post-economic crash themes that Rockstar frequently explores, and there’s a sufficient amount of pulp there to mine for the dark humor that Rockstar loves.

Laura already mentioned Snoop from The Wire as a character that could easily show up in one of GTA’s fictional cities and while Snoop doesn’t have many contemporaries on the small screen in terms of her ruthlessness and brutality, those characters do exist elsewhere. Greg Rucka, lauded for portrayal of women in both comics and novels, created Rachel Cole-Alves during his run on Marvel Comics’ The Punisher. Despite being a “superhero” comic, Rucka’s Punisher reads like a good crime-drama and Rachel (as a sort-of partner to the title character) is a layered, flawed character who was more than capable of keeping up with Frank Castle’s level of destruction.

But let’s say, Dan, that your policy of avoiding fiction that treads too close thematically to GTA has kept you from seeing any of this stuff. Perhaps inspiration comes from the real world. In that case, women like Thelma Wright, Estrella Hermila Ramos, and Jemeker Thompson have stories that even taking a fraction of them would provide a seed for a plot worthy of Niko Bellic’s climb from rags to riches.

So with the inspiration cards all played, maybe it’s concern that your writing staff wouldn’t be capable of writing believable or compelling female characters as protagonists. There’s a simple fix for that. Reach outside of your circle. You already cultivate amazing resources for things like music direction (the amazingly well curated radio stations that have been a staple since Vice City), as well as art (including Mister Cartoon and Cope 2 graffiti in San Andreas and GTA IV, respectively) to make your worlds more real. If you don’t think you can apply that level of quality to a female led tale in-house (or hell, even if you think you can) consult someone who you think can. Rucka, like I mentioned above has tons of experience writing compelling women, and he’s gamer himself (and I believe he’s written for games before). Even in the face of an particularly bad PR bungle, Rhianna Pratchett crafted a wonderful story for the Tomb Raider reboot that made Lara Croft more human than she’s ever been. Surely there’s someone out there who could pass muster for Rockstar’s standards of quality while at the same time providing a perspective that Rockstar and GTA series has yet to tackle. However, I have a feeling even looking inward, Rockstar would be able to do a female protagonist justice. Tony Prince from The Ballad of Gay Tony was an anomaly gamers hadn’t dealt with before. A complex homosexual character, not intended to be a villain or hero, who was defined by more than his sexuality. Popmatters has a great piece on the family unit formed between Tony and the main character that illustrates how unique that DLC was.

Rockstar Games has created vast worlds that I’ve gotten lost in more than once. It stands to reason that for reasons both financial and critical, Rockstar wants as many people to get lost in these worlds as possible. As a fan, I want to share the experiences that I’ve had with as many different people as I can. If women like Laura can’t find themselves or be comfortable in these worlds, you’re effectively locking them out. Sure, just like with many popular games of the past, some women will push past those barriers of entry in order to play. More and more often though, many women will take this as a sign that they’re not welcome. And while I can’t speak for all gamers or all men, one thing for me is clear. If I can not be assured that other gamers, no matter their gender are welcome in the same worlds that I inhabit, then I am more likely to eventually join them in leaving.