The Karma dynamic is pretty interesting as it’s the first time a game has driven me not to behave as I would normally behave in a game world. Typically in these sorts of games, I enjoy playing stealth-type characters, sneaking here and there, defeating opponents before they see me. But a large part of my stealth characters in the past has been theft. In Morrowind and Oblivion, I stole—well—everything. There was only a consequence if I was seen and being incredibly stealthy, I could not actually be seen, so there was no reason in the game worlds not to thieve or to pick pockets.

In F3, my standard operating procedure has been changed drastically by the simple fact that if I thieve, I cannot be considered by the game a “good” character—and since on my first run-through I’m trying to be a nice boy, I therefore cannot thieve. At least from the standpoint of a game creating a moral system, this is the most effective I’ve personally run across.

But, oops, I should really wait until you post on the game, huh?
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BTW, last January it was time for me to buy a new computer and since I’m a graphic designer by trade and contract, I thought hard about getting a Mac. But then I looked at my game collection and said, “Nah.” It would just be too big a sacrifice for me. Plus, I’d have to re-purchase all my graphics and design programs…

The Danes last blog post..20081119.ChurchLies

Yeah, I saw that too. Unfortunately, I run a Mac, so Steams not an option for me until I use bootcamp or parallels to run Windows, and I’m to busy to get through all that right now. But since I played HL several times and TFC for probably hundreds of hours Back In The Day, I don’t think I’m missing too much.

As for your jab out our video game postings, if Fallout 3 was soooooooo awesome and soooo long I would have my post up on it by now.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that for the next day, you can pick up the original Half-Life off Steam for 98 cents. That’s 98 cents for one of the best-reviewed games ever made. If you’ve already got the game, no worries. But if not? Here’s your chance!

P.S. I know this is totally off-topic, but when I asked myself whether I should do the right thing or the correct thing, doing the right thing won out. You can thank me later.

The Danes last blog post..20081119.ChurchLies

Is this the kind of game Christians, or gamers in general, should be praising or playing?

Well, if they plan on praising it, they had better the heck play it. Nothing worse than praising or damning a game/film/book without having any real experience of it.

Is this game a triumph of style or merely another way to glorify violence?

It’s clearly something of a triumph in style. Especially for the Wii, which has for the most part ghetto-ized itself in terms of style. Is it another glorification of violence? I can’t judge the game (having not played it), but the trailer would suggest both yes and no. Overtly, the game certainly glorifies violence. You’re a participant in a gameworld whose sole intention is to pit human against human–kind of like a Running Man/Smash TV lovechild–in a veritible orgy of violence and death.

On the other hand, the world presented is meta-commentary in itself. It’s a pretty well-trotted trope of speculative fiction, but the irony of the fiction presented is that here you have a plausible future for our society (based on a mix of contemporary views and the indictment of human history) that is prima facie repellent. A society that devours human death to the point of massive televised death-games is a chilling future. Yet the interactive, gaming aspect of the world encourages participants to inure themselves to the repulsiveness of it. Yet while the announcer chatters on, the waves of revulsion and glee will continue to collide, turning the game into the moral morass it should be.

Well, for those who feel those things. As stated in the GTA article, it would be very difficult for me not to approach the game as mechanic. Videogames are not yet artful enough for me to empathize with their inhabitants. Bioshock told a great story, but I never felt anything for any of its characters; videogames still have a long row to hoe.

The Danes last blog post..20080716