Grand Theft Auto V’s protagonists are good antiheroes whether we like them or not | GamesBeat

From GamesBeat: The three protagonists of open-world action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto V are criminals. They’re robbers and murderers who commit a myriad of vile acts. But aside from the joy of running around and experimenting to see how many different ways we can break the law in Los Santos (here’s how you can wash your hands clean of all that sin), do we even like Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips, or Franklin Clinton?

We asked a couple of knowledgeable developers about whether antiheroes are just poorly designed heroes in disguise and whether they need to be likable. We also asked you over Twitter and Facebook for your thoughts on GTA V’s main cast. Here’s what we learned.

[Raistlinhawke]

Intriguing. I'd be interested to trace the cultural history of the anti-hero in media, find out when "likeability" became a necessary character trait. It wasn't always part of the equation.

[wita]

Likeability isn't a necessary trait, according to these devs. But that is an interesting idea!

[Irishguy95]

They are villains not antiheroes.

[Irishguy95]

Seriously disagree'ers? What makes them anti heros?

They are villain protagonists, they are robbing and killing for their own benefit, I know they aren't doing it out there own free will SOME of the time, but for the rest they have no excuse, they are villains true and true. An Antihero is a hero, they're just not your straight forward super good guy type of hero with the 'pure hearts' and all that ****. The MC's in GTA are doing it for their own greed and ego's and enjoyment. They're not doing it to 'get by' as some people are suggesting.

If i'm wrong tell me why. Tell me what noble deed they have in store at the end of their quest for money? I don't believe there is one 'hero' character in GTA5. Nor do I remember any anti hero's. Just a load of corrupt villains all out for themselves. At the very best you could call the MC's sympathetic villains, they are certainly not heroes in any way whatsoever.

Any before anyone even suggests it, a main character does not have to be a hero at all. They can be anything. And likability has NOTHING to do with the status of hero, anti hero or villain. The characters goals and tendency towards good selfless actions or bad selfish actions are what dictates this. Whether one likes them or not. I for instance, like the Joker from a Dark knight. He is a villain. Simple as. I strongly dislike the main character from Naruto. He is a pure hero. I love the character Kakashi from Naruto, he is also a pure hero, he's just not so stupidly blatant about it.

[Lord_Sloth]

Methinks they're confusing "Protagonist" with "Anti-Hero".

[ICANPLAYGAMES2]

I agree with both you and Lord_Sloth while I rooted for my characters in some parts of the game I never saw them as anything more than criminals. Much like many of the heist or gangster movies I've enjoyed (ex. Heat, The Usual Suspects, Ocean's 11, etc...), while I may root for the bad guys in whatever scenario is being played out before me, I'm not naive enough to believe that the MC's are anything more than criminals (the central figures used to tell the tale and drive the plot along).