My Project for Tal's Burda Centre Book

Of Sins, Vices and Pecados: The Cultural Context of Videogame Play

Using a case study of Grand Theft Auto 3: Vice City this paper will examine the cultural context of videogame consumption in Caracas, Venezuela in Summer 2005. Using data gathered through ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation and interviews over that period, this paper will examine the features of Vice City that made it the most often played single player game in Internet cafes. I will argue that in this case rather than any graphic or narrative elements that the game contained, it is the flexibility in terms of styles and approaches to play the game allowed that led to the game becoming a standard feature within Venezuelan gaming life. I will maintain that his is because it both catered to the requirements of the intense social space of the offline interactions within the Internet café, and superseded the limitations and difficulties imposed by the various social, economic and technological factors facing the game playing audience in Venezuela.