In a game like Grand Theft Auto V, most of the occurrences are randomly generated player-based interactions with the environment and non-player characters (NPC). Gameplay is designed and structured in the Rockstar (RAGE) Advanced Game Engine. It is here where programming dictates many of the game interactions and functions within both the local and online gameplay format. The parameters of the gameplay are most situational and are structured in a ’cause and effect’ type, resembling protocols found artificial intelligence. I am not entirely sure if (RAGE) uses AI protocols to run gameplay. However, occasionally the game can generate situations by itself. This image was formed from the result of a mass shooting between civilian and police NPC’s while my character was siting idly in one of those fast cars with a weird name inspired by a real automobile brand.

I believe games like Grand Theft Auto V that offer a real-world style, sand box type of gameplay exist (and will continue to grow) in a place between virtual reality and hyperreal copy of our physical world. Games often emphasize their proximity to reality in the way they are designed to mimic the physical world down to physics, locations, and even parodied pop-culture references. As I continue this series of work it is my hope to highlight more of these abnormal moments in the game and the way they parallel moments in the ‘real world’.