With two months left to go until Grand Theft Auto 6, we’re finally entering the familiar stages of the run up to the launch of a new GTA game – outrage. Some social media users in relationships are claiming that playing GTA 6 can be classed as ‘basically cheating’ thanks to some of the relationship mechanics between protagonists Jason and Lucia.
As confirmed by Rockstar Games, GTA 6 players will be able to nurture a romantic relationship between both Jason and Lucia as the game progresses. In the 26-minute gameplay reveal, we can see how the couple can engage on dates outside of missions, text each other in the open world, and even hold hands when together in public.
In previews written by those who’ve played the game early, the romantic relationship between the two can fluctuate throughout the game depending on the player’s actions. While it likely won’t have an impact on the overall story, it will impact how the two react to each other.
As such, users on TikTok and Instagram are claiming that boyfriends who spend their time nurturing a virtual relationship with Lucia could be classed as cheating, particularly urging women from preventing their boyfriends from playing GTA 6.
TikTok user Landry uploaded a video in which she says, “My man has been playing GTA 6 and I did not realise that it is basically the same thing as cheating. I guarantee you, if your man is playing GTA 6 and keeping his little girlfriend alive on that video game, he is most definitely the type that is following models and all these girls.”
Another user, El Michelle, uploaded a video with a similar sentiment, writing on screen: “Unpopular opinion: Playing GTA 6 is cheating.”
Meanwhile, a third TikTok user, Shelby Haas, uploaded a longer video, stating: “In absolutely no human way is my fiance playing GTA 6 after I just saw that you literally have to maintain a relationship with a girl in the video game and text her, and she’ll get mad if you don’t text her back and you have to take her on dates and you can have sex with her… Don’t let your boyfriend or fiance or husband play GTA 6. Absolutely not.”
However, plenty of other users were quick to point out that this isn’t the first time romance has been a thing in video games. “I do worse things in The Sims,” reads one comment.
Another writes: “Oh girl, you’d hate Baldur’s Gate.” That game is famous for allowing players to romance a huge number of its cast of characters, sometimes at the same time.
Other RPGs like Mass Effect and The Witcher 3 have also allowed players to maintain relationships with NPCs, with this month’s The Blood of Dawnwalker also allowing both male and female romances with some of its characters.
While Rockstar has detailed some of the ways in which both Jason and Lucia will be able to romance each other during the course of GTA 6’s story, it remains to be seen the true extent of what their relationship will encompass, and how that will affect the story.
