War Crimes and Pixels
It has always been endlessly amusing to me when moral crusaders appear on my television and rail against the latest generation of video games. My reason is very simple. The most popular talking point appears to be the Grand Theft Auto Kill A Hooker Save A Penny scheme. While I have never actually done that, it would not rank even in the top twenty most horrible things I've done in a video game.
Now, the reasons for this are simple. I like RPGs, RTS and all games with a strong story. The more choice you give a character, many studios decided that you should also give them the option to be evil. Some more than others. I've committed terrorism, tortured heroes, sold a child into slavery and burned worlds from orbit.
When a game is very, very good it can provoke a very strong emotional response. Twice I have boiled over with so much hate that I nearly put my fist through the monitor. I have also shed a few manly tears and choked up when a character I liked died. Thrice I have actually fallen out of a chair laughing, and shrieked with terror far too often.
But now a new fly has come into my web. In the sandbox game Just Cause 2 you play as a magic-soldier-spy-hero-protagonist whose specialty is regime destabilization. He works for the CIA and business is booming. During the game, you get points and cash for blowing up...well anything. Military hardware, gas stations, oil derricks, pipelines, statues of the hilariously evil dictator, and water towers.
At first I was very happy. MIRV Grenade launchers tend to do that. But as I went from village to village and town to town, I stared to notice that what I was doing was a lot like what America did during the Shock and Awe campaign we pulled off in Iraq. By blowing up the infrastructure, I was essentially erasing this country's ability to live. Have you ever been without water? No showers, no sewage, and no cold water on the back of your neck come the noonday sun. Not to mention all the transformers and generators I blew to hell in a shower of fire and lightning.
I think the whole game is the worst and most immoral thing I have ever done in video land. But I have a lot of fun playing it. So I have moved onto a campaign of low-impact terrorism. Sure this means I won't get a 100% completion rating, but that is a foolish system rewarding obsessive behavior.
And that's what I've been thinking about recently.
Now, the reasons for this are simple. I like RPGs, RTS and all games with a strong story. The more choice you give a character, many studios decided that you should also give them the option to be evil. Some more than others. I've committed terrorism, tortured heroes, sold a child into slavery and burned worlds from orbit.
When a game is very, very good it can provoke a very strong emotional response. Twice I have boiled over with so much hate that I nearly put my fist through the monitor. I have also shed a few manly tears and choked up when a character I liked died. Thrice I have actually fallen out of a chair laughing, and shrieked with terror far too often.
But now a new fly has come into my web. In the sandbox game Just Cause 2 you play as a magic-soldier-spy-hero-protagonist whose specialty is regime destabilization. He works for the CIA and business is booming. During the game, you get points and cash for blowing up...well anything. Military hardware, gas stations, oil derricks, pipelines, statues of the hilariously evil dictator, and water towers.
At first I was very happy. MIRV Grenade launchers tend to do that. But as I went from village to village and town to town, I stared to notice that what I was doing was a lot like what America did during the Shock and Awe campaign we pulled off in Iraq. By blowing up the infrastructure, I was essentially erasing this country's ability to live. Have you ever been without water? No showers, no sewage, and no cold water on the back of your neck come the noonday sun. Not to mention all the transformers and generators I blew to hell in a shower of fire and lightning.
I think the whole game is the worst and most immoral thing I have ever done in video land. But I have a lot of fun playing it. So I have moved onto a campaign of low-impact terrorism. Sure this means I won't get a 100% completion rating, but that is a foolish system rewarding obsessive behavior.
And that's what I've been thinking about recently.