ABSTRACT
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an excellent base upon which to demonstrate how wordplay can move from analyzing the context of gaming in general to the texts found in a specifi c series of games. Originally developed by Scottish game company and typically set in a reimagined United States, the game simultaneously is “all about the American Dream”1 and “highlights the real threat to the American Way of Life” as it is symbolic of “the war on middle class values.”2 A polarized reaction to GTA is manifested in almost any discussion about the game. Those who have played it are likely to regale others with their favorite memories of places like Liberty City or San Andreas, while those who have not played are appalled by tales of picking up prostitutes to restore one’s health and then killing them to get your money back. I witness this division each time I talk about GTA in class, as those who have played the game rapidly split from those who have not. Wordplay helps assess both sides of the reaction to identify how games in the series can be so many things to so many people, enabling a complex understanding of how discourse functions when multiple audiences construct perceptions about video games.
