A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
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Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#2Another attractive element of these games is the moral questions that sometimes arise. I know this is particularly true in "This War of Mine" (e.g. - choosing to take in a starving child that comes knocking on your door, but who also becomes a resource burden on your small tribe).
Questioning and reflecting on decision making, moral choice, and consequences of (in)action are a central focus of literature study, so I would love to know about additional games in this vein that I could potentially bring into my classroom as 'game-texts'.
Suggestions?
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#3Another attractive element of these games is the moral questions that sometimes arise. I know this is particularly true in "This War of Mine" (e.g. - choosing to take in a starving child that comes knocking on your door, but who also becomes a resource burden on your small tribe). Questioning and reflecting on decision making, moral choice, and consequences of (in)action are a central focus of literature study, so I…
"Moral" choices seem to be a trend lately, especially with BioWare RPGs and their ilk (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). Unfortunately, most of the consequences are fairly minor, mostly only revolving around the opinions of your in-game acquaintances. The events unfold a little differently sometimes, but the end result is almost always the same.
The worst of it is that they always main-line you into one moral extreme or the other. It's always obvious which choice is "good" and which is "bad", and once you've made that choice for the first time you'll always make the same choice later on, else you'll miss out on the in-game benefits of having a "pure" moral stance. Mass Effect and Infamous especially do this.
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#4Another attractive element of these games is the moral questions that sometimes arise. I know this is particularly true in "This War of Mine" (e.g. - choosing to take in a starving child that comes knocking on your door, but who also becomes a resource burden on your small tribe). Questioning and reflecting on decision making, moral choice, and consequences of (in)action are a central focus of literature study, so I…
"Moral" choices seem to be a trend lately, especially with BioWare RPGs and their ilk (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). Unfortunately, most of the consequences are fairly minor, mostly only revolving around the opinions of your in-game acquaintances. The events unfold a little differently sometimes, but the end result is almost always the same. The worst of it is that they always main-line you into one moral extreme or the…
On your point, KOTOR II comes to mind. Taking Lucas' Black/White morality of The Force and turning it more Grey.
It's just a burden of the games of today. And that it was a lot easier to write out text in older Bioware games for possible branches and outcomes. As that was the main way to tell the story and what players expected.
Versus recording dialogue, creating cutscenes, etc that modern games tell their stories though.
edit: the constraints of modern asset creation being fairly clear with the ending of the last Mass Effect game. A series that was toted for its story and depth. Where your choices 'mattered' but were reduced to the same end cutscene with different hues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vjHXchR8pw
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#5Another attractive element of these games is the moral questions that sometimes arise. I know this is particularly true in "This War of Mine" (e.g. - choosing to take in a starving child that comes knocking on your door, but who also becomes a resource burden on your small tribe). Questioning and reflecting on decision making, moral choice, and consequences of (in)action are a central focus of literature study, so I…
"Moral" choices seem to be a trend lately, especially with BioWare RPGs and their ilk (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). Unfortunately, most of the consequences are fairly minor, mostly only revolving around the opinions of your in-game acquaintances. The events unfold a little differently sometimes, but the end result is almost always the same. The worst of it is that they always main-line you into one moral extreme or the…
This has been my experience as well. I am attracted to bringing games into the learning environment because they can offer unique opportunities for action/reaction/reflection (in addition to other benefits) - but I am indeed more interested in complicated decision making rather than simply choosing Red Team v. Blue Team.
For instance, I would love to see a game like "Papers Please" with a stronger element of consequences. Rather than simply being told you allowed a terrorist through the gates (with a brief cut-away) the consequences of this action (deaths, social destabilization, etc.) would impact the future game play. Perhaps, you decide to actively aid and abet these terrorists (by communicating to them that you will allow them and their compatriots to pass through) - but then you put yourself and your loved ones at risk, as well as increase social instability.
This is already a wonderful game, but I would like to see the premise taken even farther. Games could be a wonderful place to consider and critique decision making and moral choices that are analogous to those we face in real life (even if filtered through clearly fictitious events/circumstances).
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#6Another attractive element of these games is the moral questions that sometimes arise. I know this is particularly true in "This War of Mine" (e.g. - choosing to take in a starving child that comes knocking on your door, but who also becomes a resource burden on your small tribe). Questioning and reflecting on decision making, moral choice, and consequences of (in)action are a central focus of literature study, so I…
"Moral" choices seem to be a trend lately, especially with BioWare RPGs and their ilk (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). Unfortunately, most of the consequences are fairly minor, mostly only revolving around the opinions of your in-game acquaintances. The events unfold a little differently sometimes, but the end result is almost always the same. The worst of it is that they always main-line you into one moral extreme or the…
There was an interesting critique of Mass Effect's morality system recently at http://www.avclub.com/article/mass-effects-universe-gets-ugl...
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Moral" choices seem to be a trend lately, especially with BioWare RPGs and their ilk (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). Unfortunately, most of the consequences are fairly minor, mostly only revolving around the opinions of your in-game acquaintances. The events unfold a little differently sometimes, but the end result is almost always the same. The worst of it is that they always main-line you into one moral extreme or the…
On your point, KOTOR II comes to mind. Taking Lucas' Black/White morality of The Force and turning it more Grey. It's just a burden of the games of today. And that it was a lot easier to write out text in older Bioware games for possible branches and outcomes. As that was the main way to tell the story and what players expected. Versus recording dialogue, creating cutscenes, etc that modern games tell their stories t…
For an A-list game this is probably true, but there are very many indie/small games being developed which use 'archaic' game mechanics/stylistics.
I'm actually surprised to see the visual and mechanical simplicity of many games that have flared up in popularity among my students. Certainly, the processing limits of mobile phones play a role - but that doesn't stop these small games from passing through the student body like wildfire (and then burning out equally quickly).
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#8Another attractive element of these games is the moral questions that sometimes arise. I know this is particularly true in "This War of Mine" (e.g. - choosing to take in a starving child that comes knocking on your door, but who also becomes a resource burden on your small tribe). Questioning and reflecting on decision making, moral choice, and consequences of (in)action are a central focus of literature study, so I…
You might consider Kentucky Route Zero. It falls in the point-and-click adventure game category.
Discovering how masterfully its creators have handled the game-mechanical, cinematic, and literary elements that comprise a modern video game is part of the delight of playing it, IMO, to the point that practically any discussion of it spoils some part of the experience, but without giving too much away it doesn't contain story-branching moral choices so much as... well, they're still choices and still have a moral character and they still the affect the story in a major way, but... the choices manage to be simultaneously unimportant and of great, even supreme, import, I guess. Look, just go play it, if you haven't. Read as little as you can to convince yourself to play it, especially if you're looking for interesting angles on player choices.
Granted, it's in five acts and only three are out so far, but act four should be up before too long and the existing material will take some time to get through. There are short episodes between the five acts, so there are three of those to play as well—usually each of those comes out not long before the next episode is released, and the third one is out, which is why I'd guess act four isn't far off.
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Moral" choices seem to be a trend lately, especially with BioWare RPGs and their ilk (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). Unfortunately, most of the consequences are fairly minor, mostly only revolving around the opinions of your in-game acquaintances. The events unfold a little differently sometimes, but the end result is almost always the same. The worst of it is that they always main-line you into one moral extreme or the…
This has been my experience as well. I am attracted to bringing games into the learning environment because they can offer unique opportunities for action/reaction/reflection (in addition to other benefits) - but I am indeed more interested in complicated decision making rather than simply choosing Red Team v. Blue Team. For instance, I would love to see a game like "Papers Please" with a stronger element of conseque…
To the opposite extreme, there's also The Stanley Parable. On the surface it's a humorous narrative seemingly about being a cubicle drone, but it's ultimately about the futility of choice.
Re: A new wave of videogames offers lessons in powerlessness, scarcity and failure
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has been my experience as well. I am attracted to bringing games into the learning environment because they can offer unique opportunities for action/reaction/reflection (in addition to other benefits) - but I am indeed more interested in complicated decision making rather than simply choosing Red Team v. Blue Team. For instance, I would love to see a game like "Papers Please" with a stronger element of conseque…
To the opposite extreme, there's also The Stanley Parable. On the surface it's a humorous narrative seemingly about being a cubicle drone, but it's ultimately about the futility of choice.
Thank you. The name rings a bell, but I will have to check it out.