In video games many players adopt a screen persona: a terrible murderous raping persona. The common thinking is that in real life, the player is a weak person, so in fantasy, he/she compensates by augmenting his power and strength in the game.

The alternate viewpoint is that the terrible murderous raping screen persona is the real psychic truth of the player and the real life behavior is the fake persona enforced upon him/her by society. Only with the excuse of the fiction is the player comfortable expressing their true self.

(Paraphrased from Slavoj Zizek)

---

In games like Uncharted 2 or GTA IV or Kane & Lynch, where I actually start to get into character, but then have to kill people that really didn’t deserve to be killed, it makes me feel bad and breaks the fantasy for me.

On the flip side, I loved playing GTA: Vice City, picking up street prostitutes and driving recklessly around Miami in fast flashy cars wearing flashy clothes, which are all things I never do in real life. So, is that my true personality? Hmm…