Questions of good vs. evil and branching story paths seem to be all but unavoidable in today’s games. But do these strict applications of morality choices fit well in video games, and are they fair to the player?

Image Credit: http://www.nonfictiongaming.com/opinion/good-and-evil-moral-choices-in-video-games-29/

Game Context

If nothing else, video games are a series of value judgments thrown at the player; deciding where to go, what actions to use and when to use them. As gamers, we encounter value judgments when we go through the methodical process of stripping away useless or mediocre elements and focusing only on what, to us, is valuable. We prioritize good weapons over bad ones. We study a character’s actions and decide which moves are most useful and most versatile. We pawn away useless items and save only what we deem, through sheer experience with the game, to be worth space in our inventory.

This is a very natural kind of thinking which occurs within all games. Games are all about choice, and no choice happens without consideration of values and contrasting elements. Even when we play a game for the first time, and are unfamiliar with what it contains, we are using previous games, or even life experiences, to make choices based on some sort of judgment of values.

So what happens when a choice of morality pops up in our sessions of gameplay? Suddenly we’re asked to make a shift in thinking and incorporate new values into the game totally out of sync with the values we‘ve been using reliably. We’re asked to make a choice based on real world morality, not problem solving or resource management. Even if a player is particularly flexible, and doesn’t mind this shift in thinking, they still have to consider how the choice they make here (if it does truly lead down two divergent paths) will it affect their gameplay and their options in the future. And so the question, to the seasoned gamer is not “Do I want to play my character as good or evil?” it is instead “Do I want the good-character items, or the bad-character items?”

Image Credit: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/718981/how-to-get-gold-in-skyrim-our-elder-scrolls-5-money-guide/

Even if I don’t join your creepy assassin cult,

Can I still somehow get your armor?

Agent of Change

The value inherent in any game is the one that offers the most gameplay. So when the question of “Will you let this man live or die?” stands before us, the real question burgeoning at the edge of our minds is “Will it be more fun to let this man live, or will it be more fun to have him die?”

Morbid as it sounds, it’s true. It’s not that players are naturally sadistic; it’s that players are interested in tapping into the largest amount of content, the most interesting content, and unlocking the more dynamic branches of the story. It is unfair to ask a player to be, in a strict sense, an agent of good or evil, because by the game’s nature, and the player’s relations to it, we are simple agents of change. We want to do the most we can to create large explosive transformations in this world, and this desire transcends issues of good or evil.

If we do decide to make decisions based solely on judgments of good vs. evil then we find ourselves in a precarious position. Being moral may mean, to us, that no one can be killed, good or bad, and so we intend to only capture our enemies. Well, of course in most games capture isn’t an option, so we readjust our morals to accommodate the mechanics of the game. Then we discover that almost any side quest involves murdering people that aren’t clearly evil, we may be in fact killing those who are completely innocent! But if we opt out of the killing, we lose a large chunk of the game so we shift our morals once again. And on and on it goes like this until eventually we reach a compromised position where our morality is more of an abstract interpretation of bizarre game rules rather than something based on any real-world sense of right and wrong.

“Ogre Battle 64″ and “Skyrim”

One of the most clear cut examples of good-character content vs. evil-character content occurred in the Nintendo 64 game “Ogre Battle 64.” In the game you could either side with an obvious good faction of rebels who came to your country to help you fight against an established tyrant, or you could ignore them and recruit other more evil characters.

The issue here is that for the sake of a clear branching story you have to choose between these two sets of characters, there’s no way to play the game and get everyone. Worst of all, “Ogre Battle 64″ is a 60 hour game. It’s unreasonable to expect anyone to put that much time into a game a second time just to have full access to all of hte content.

A more immediate example is “Skyrim,” where you must join a clan. Choices include the Thieves Guild or the collection of assassins known as the Dark Brotherhood. Both of these factions are evil or at least underhanded, cut off to you if you intend to roleplay your character as good rather than evil. The Dark Brotherhood does give you a choice at the beginning of their quest line between killing the entire Brotherhood or joining them. Of course, if you join them you get access to a multitude of missions, special sets of armor, the money that comes from their mission, a dynamic unfolding story, and some of the most memorable instances in the game. If you fight them instead you get a single level where you besiege their hideout. These are disproportionate choices, to such an extent that it becomes more a question of how much content you are willing to give up for the sake of role playing a good character, rather than a personal choice of how you feel about the Dark Brotherhood.

Meshing Morales with Gameplay

Creating a functioning, branching story within a game is not an easy task, and I don’t claim to have a method for accomplishing it. The clear mistake being made in modern games though is that gameplay is being taken for granted or ignored when the issue of storyline comes up. Designers seem unaware, or unwilling to recognize that games exist in ways different from straight narratives such as movies or books. The first step to creating a functioning, branching story is to intertwine it with game mechanics and create a pattern of narrative that moves in sync with the natural directions the gameplay takes its player.

The guys at cabletv.com have discussed this issue for a while.  We have been geeked out over Skyrim and the rest of the of the Elders scroll series.  I know I look forward to more games where the story line really changes based on the choices i make.  If you would like to join the discussion contact me on Twitter my handle is @TimLCooley

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What I learned from The Hunger Games:

1. In film-making, it is perfectly logical to cut from one of the most touching, heartfelt scenes in a movie to one of the ugliest people in the cast for no specific reason.
2. Wasps cannot feel the branch their hive is on vibrating and shaking from the branch being sawed through…or if they do, they don’t take it as a threat. At least, Tracker-jacker wasps can’t.
3. Whatever role he takes, Woody Harrelson is going to have a drink in his hand. It must be in his contract.

Firstly, I have not read the book. My only information on this film was the basic premise and the fact that some folks are saying that it is ‘too violent for our dear, precious little young’uns’. As far as that second point, I’ll go on the record and say that I think we baby our kids way too much on this kind of thing. Sure, anything kids do not need to know should not be shown to them, and real graphic violence (like the Saw films, for example). However, we hear about violent death everyday on the news, and kids can understand some pretty deep concepts. I was 12 when I saw Star Trek 2 in theaters, which included the death scene with Spock, Scotty carrying his dying, graphically burned nephew in the ship, and the crew of Regula 1 being strung up like dead cattle. I also saw Luke’s hand cut off and the good guys essentially get their butts kicked in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back. They didn’t scar me, and with Star Trek 2 especially, I understood some of the subtext. Kids in other major cultures are taught to deal with these kinds of issues, since we all deal with death and tragedy, but American kids seem to only be able to take funny, singing animals and fairy tales until they are 15 or so. End of sermon.

"For Rohan!"

Synopsis:

I doubt there will be any spoilers here. The Hunger Games is set in a future or fantasy setting (I think it is Earth, North America) where 12 districts of ‘lesser peoples’, those who lost an uprising sometime in the past, must give up a girl and a boy 12-18 years of age to compete in a death contest. The one who wins gets rewarded and brings prestige to his/her district. We follow one particular competitor, Katniss, from just before the drawing of this year’s competitors from District 12 (I was hoping the competitors from District 9 would be space aliens that look like shrimp, but I was disappointed. *SIGH*) through to the competition.
Well, what can I say? I was very impressed by the film. We’ve seen the basic theme done different ways. In The Running Man, we had Richard Dawson sending Arnold Schwarzenegger into a city environment against WWE-esque enemies. We’ve seen Battle Royale, out of Japan, which is a violent, gory mess. We’ve even seen Gymkata (at least I have), which could be one of the most laughable bad movies out there, with an Olympic gymnast finding things like a pommel horse in the middle of a town square and using it to beat dozens of crazed attackers…who happen to charge at him one at a time! There are others, but none of these previous films really take the subject seriously. The blood game is just a premise to set up whatever they are presenting (Arnold, gruesomeness, or absurd gymnastic martial arts). The Hunger Games treats the situation seriously, presenting the events of the film more like Spielberg did in his early films.

You think I'm kidding about Gymkata?

The power of The Hunger Games comes mostly from Katniss. We follow her through the film; the other characters come and go as they interact with her. One thing I really appreciated was the subtlety of it all. There are many scenes where some weaker film would have given us exposition but here we just have facial expressions and body language. Pain isn’t just a hurt look, it is a clenching of muscles, a setting of the jaw, a trembling to keep control. Anger is in the eyes, lips, and stance. A moment of happiness is shown by a relaxing of the muscles and a shine in the eyes, not just a smile. You really get to know Katniss by the end of the film, which is somewhat rare in many films these days.

As far as the violence, it is there but it isn’t as graphic as I might have expected. I did feel a little discomfort about young people killing young people, but they used a Hitchcock-like trick here. I don’t remember ever seeing a weapon strike a person. You see someone charge, or swing their weapon, or draw their arm back, then a cut to a reaction, then cut to seeing the person wounded. Even then, you don’t see most of the wounds clearly. The most realistic injuries in the film are on people who live through the battle they receive the wound from. It is a nice trick, leaving your mind to fill in the blanks.

I also loved the subtleties of the setting and background. Here, many filmmakers (George Lucas, Michael Bay, Joel Schumacher, to name a few) would have blasted us with gigantic CGI landscapes screaming ‘LOOK AT WHAT MY COMPUTERS CAN DO! THIS IS HIGH QUALITY! LOVE IT!!! Not here. The sets, backgrounds and especially the city we see are kept in the background, just part of what our characters are experiencing but not an important point of the movie itself. The sound is great too. I’m so used to bombastic music scores and ear-pounding effects that here, where we often hear only what the characters are hearing at the moment, was surprising in its noticeability. Refreshing, too. And while the movie lasts for 2 hours and24 minutes, I did not feel like I was sitting there that long. The film was too engrossing for me to watch the time.
I won’t go into anything else since I would have to include spoilers. Even though I did see a couple small errors, I really liked The Hunger Games. The makers of the film decided to make a real film out of it, not just a show, and it reminds me of what a movie can be when someone puts their mind to it. It is a serious film with serious subject matter and serious consequences for the characters in it yet easy to ‘get’ by the younger audience that has embrace the novel. It is just an engaging, well-made movie, something we need more of. I think folks across the age spectrum will enjoy The Hunger Games. I would not suggest it for children 10 and under though, as they might not appreciate the quality of the film and may be more effected by the violent nature of some of the scenes.

I give The Hunger Games 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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Yahoo! is on its way down, Google is gaining more power and Bing is idly riding the waves of being Microsoft’s automatic search engine. But if the world wide web bore more resemblance to World of Warcraft, how would these search engines measure up? The internet is a ferocious place, with everything a constant battle for experience and loot (or visitors and ads) pitting Alliance (the websites that are the source of information) versus Horde (those in charge of entertainment and spam).

Google Warrior

Google would be the Lvl 85 Human Warrior; strongest of the tanks, it’s been pretty popular since its inception, but as time goes by it’s taken on many more roles. Much like Google keeps adding more and more programs and companies to their arsenal. Human Warriors are still the most popular, and while they’re not gaining popularity fast, they definitely have a stick-to-it-iffiness that mirrors Google.

Yahoo Night Elf Warlock

Yahoo would be the Lvl 80 Night Elf Warlock. It used to be on top, at the highest previous level limit, with one of the most popular class and race. You could previously cast fear on an enemy and watch them run around in circles as your spells did damage overtime (DOT). It was rather entertaining, but with smaller and smaller time limits on dot and fear, it made the class less interesting. The warlock class has a lot going on, much like Yahoo. When you go to the search page, there are so many options to choose from, so much on your screen. Still a decent place to get information, but not really as cool as it once was.

Bing Dwarf Shaman

Bing would be the Lvl 40 Dwarven (Alliance) Shaman. Oddly enough, they came out at the same time, they were raved about and had their big hoopla when they came out. Everyone had to try it, but when people actually did, they were rather unimpressed. Save for a few fans, most went back to their previous classes (and search engines). It’s getting better and making a decent amount of progress, but it still has a lot of work to do. Bing was designed to narrow down your results, much like the Shaman’s ability to talk to their ancestors and spirits.

You may notice that these are all Alliance. Well, Hordes would be websites like 4chan as the Undead or the Troll, as well as other sites as various other races and classes, but they’re a bit more complicated over there.

What races would you compare the various search engines to?

Image Credits: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/screenshots/races

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“Unless someone like you…cares a whole awful lot…nothing is going to get better…It’s not.” `The Lorax

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss was published in 1971 and at a time when showcasing the importance of preserving nature for our future would he have known it would be just as relevant forty years later?

The 3D Animated movie The Lorax is vibrant and full of color, it succeeds in drawing your imagination out and seeing the beauty of Dr. Seuss’s creations come to live in a way the old style 2d hand drawn animations do not.

The movie stars Zac Efron as Ted, a boy who in trying to impress a girl goes on a quest to find a tree and in doing so meets the Once-ler who tells the story of what happened to all the trees and his “close acquaintanceship” with The Lorax who is voiced expertly by Danny DeVito.

The Lorax speaks for the trees but doesn’t aggressively protect the forest and instead tries to reason with those who would do it harm.  He tries to convince the young naïve Once-lier (voiced by Ed Helms) who gets in over his head with greed and to impress his parents ruining nature in the process.

You will find touches in the movie from Despicable Me everywhere, as this movie was directed by Chris Renaud and the film has some familiar touches.  The bears in the forest and fish have minion like skits and behaviors, the Mr. O’Hare the villain voiced by Rob Riggle is a little like Vector crossed with Edna E Mode from The Incredibles.

This doesn’t make the movie feel less fresh but the warm familiar touches make it easier to get into the film.  The film has some musical numbers which are quite funny and one of the best scenes of the film is when The Lorax almost offs Ted trying to send him away from the forest.

Overall the film was an entertaining picture with a message to preserve our trees for the future and I read one review comparing it to Wall-E in a less somber way.  The movie may be a little preachy about the environment to some, but in an age where deforestation is occurring at increasingly rapid rates, it is a message that is important for all generations.

The Lorax gets ★★★½☆ 

-Dragon Blogger

Image Credit:  imdb.com

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This post does contain a sponsored video to help raise awareness for History Channel’s Full Metal Jousting Show

A reality show where you can watch modern day “wanna be knights” joust could be interesting.  History channel brings this entertainment in Full Metal Jousting where people show how dedicated they are to keep the sport of Jousting alive. My son was very interested in the show since he is very busy playing the Stronghold series of games on weekends lately and is very much into “medieval times” and activities around such things.

It does look a bit gritty though and he may be a little young to watch as some of the jousters appear to get seriously injured and bloodied.

If you are looking to watch a brutal full contact sport, why not give Full Metal Jousting a try?

Check out this preview clip and let me know what you think of the show.

-Dragon Blogger

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