It’s rumored Grand Theft Auto 6 will include GTA’s first child character. If it does, I hope and pray they aren’t relegated to cutscenes or dull stealth side-missions like so many smaller characters are in triple-A games. Let the kids do crimes, I say.
No more boring stealth sections
According to leaks, it will likely be the child of one of the protagonists, Lucia, but won’t be playable or do anything in missions. I think that would be a wasted opportunity. Remember in The Last of Us when, spoilers, you got to play Ellie for the first time? She shoots a rabbit straight through the neck, cold as ice. You take control of a killer, not some weak, stealth puzzle-based sidekick like Miles or MJ in Spider-Man. God, those sections were boring. If I actually get to play as a kid in GTA 6 or see a child involved in the story, I want them given the same respect as the adults, not forced to sneak around, avoiding all conflict like a wimp. If there’s a child and all I see them do is sit on the sidelines, I won’t care about them as much as I’ll know they’re safe and sound. I need the stakes that can only come with them getting their hands dirty.
GTA has always been a series unafraid to offend, and what better way to stick it to all the parents who tried to get the games banned for supposedly inspiring violence in kids than having extremely violent children in the next game? Imagine a child rocking an uzi, slinging crack, barely seeing over the wheel of a getaway car. Hilarious. There could even be gameplay differences baked in. Wielding a shotgun as a kid could send you stumbling backward. Maybe they do less damage with melee weapons. They probably can’t jump or climb as high as the adults. There are so many possibilities that could really enhance the experience beyond just cheap laughs.
A hard truth
It also wouldn’t be the furthest thing from the truth. Unfortunately, real kids get involved in violent crime all over the world, even in the U.S. Gangs use kids to run drugs, hide illegal weapons, and worse. GTA has always been satirical, holding a funny mirror to the worst impulses of the U.S., and I think it would be good for it to grapple with child crime. But, again, the only way it can do that properly is by letting the kids get truly involved. In Euphoria, Ashtray, Fez’s kid brother, is just as involved in selling drugs as his big bro. Spoilers, again, this makes his death at the hands of the police in season two even more tragic. He’s not some helpless victim—he goes out guns blazing. It’s not heroic. He’s a dumb kid, forced to grow up too quickly, but his circumstances forced his hand, and that’s where the tragedy lies.
Rockstar squandered this opportunity once before with Red Dead Redemption. Last spoiler warning, I promise. When John Marston dies at the end, you continue the game as his son, Jack. Although, he’s not the kid he once was. Now, he’s a grizzled outlaw. He’s still a young adult, but how cool would it be to gallop around the Wild West as an actual child? Very, I think.
If GTA 6 just gives us a kid who sometimes tells their mommy that they disagree with their crimes, or their innocence is used to juxtapose two sides of motherhood—the caring, soft side and the mumma bear who would do anything for her cubs—rather than being an actual partner in crime, I’ll be sorely disappointed. I’d rather see a mother driven to force their kid into a life of crime with them than get the same tired old trope of a parent doing crimes to support their little ones. I don’t want to moralize in a simple way. Give me characters with some complexity and bite, Rockstar.
