Looks like “Grand Theft Auto V” might be rated “A Little Too Mature”

Gone are the days, and rightly so, when anyone could argue that video games are just for kids. But the hot-button debate over who these games are meant for – and over who does, and doesn’t, get to call themselves a “gamer” – rages on like never before. That’s why I’m glad that the good people at Rockstar Games, makers of the infamous and beloved Grand Theft Auto series, have chosen to take the bold step of simultaneously targeting and lionizing lame dads.

I mean, look at the new trailer for Grand Theft Auto V, which is due in the spring. Is the instantly iconic protagonist a small-time thug? A psychotic mob enforcer turned drug kingpin? A dumb but ambitious West Coast gangsta? An immigrant and veteran with complicated moral issues that initially come off as deep but instantly become irrelevant once the cut scene ends and the game lets you go back to shooting whoever you want?

No, the hero of GTA V is none of these things, and yet he’s so much more. He’s a lame dad who choose to get out of the game and settle down, but who still has time for a little excitement.

You people can keep your Master Chiefs and your Assassin Creeds and your Pac-Men. Who do you think I’m more likely to identify with during the twenty minutes of gameplay I’ll occasionally get to eke out after everyone else has gone to bed? One of those clowns, or the badass lame dad?

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