Grand Theft Auto as a very depressing letter

Grand Theft Auto V keeps surprising me. I’m not talking about its charismatic leads, its large story or its captivating world. No, what caught my attention once more is how people uses some of the game’s elements in an unexpected way.

Some days ago we learnt about how a guy took advantage of the game’s camera to capture the surrounding violence passively, in true combat photographer fashion.

This time, Reddit user berdu combined great photos screenshots with some depressing lines to create a touching letter written by Sarah to her parents. Who is Sarah? A just re-located young woman telling her parents how hard it’s for her to live in Los Santos.

This is how it begins:

You can see the complete letter here.

Source: Kotaku

Grand Theft Auto Online’s Combat Photographer

The online component of last year’s record-breaking Grand Theft Auto V lets players become part of a vibrant world, full of activities, challenges and sociopaths. Although it may sound too similar to its singleplayer experience, the difference lies, of course, in the actors: the mayhem here is brought by other human players. For sure, there are still plenty of game-controlled cops, shop owners and bystanders to run into (pun intended).

The fun fact this time is that, as happens in real world conflicts, a new unarmed character appeared among violence and death: the combat photographer.

Redditor cy_sperling decided to take full advantage of the game’s snapshot feature, roaming Los Santos (GTA’s Los Ángeles) in the search of hot spots. He plays passively, snapping images of his surroundings.

Life and death in Los Santos

He even takes his GTA Online persona one step further, wearing camo pants, a black jacket with “MEDIA” printed across the back and a helmet. When possible, he also tries to find a Weazel Newsvan (Los Santos news station) to get to the conflicts in full journalistic fashion.

“Weazel News: confirming your prejudice”

However, as in any other warzone, being a combat photographer can be a very dangerous task, especially if people don’t accept your political immunity:

It’s fun to see who “get it” and let me get up close while they fight. Most people seem to have fun with it, but there is always one guy who can’t stop trying to run me over. And they are always dressed as some ridiculous ICP Clown nonsense…

It’s great to see what can emerge when people have enough tools and a canvas to interact with.

Source: Reddit via Kotaku