of cybernetics added as part of her real reason she went in) so she could and what simply isn’t. To some, that uncle’s training (one of the game collect the $18,000 bounty. knowledge may seem scary or mechanics was as the cyberware dangerous. I proffer it is not. It is what We all have one. You know, the increases, your human empathy, and OK, so maybe she was a little bit more one does with knowledge that makes it characters in games where we played therefore psychological intactness, than misunderstood. But why did I like bad. And it is without fear of this the bad guys. And lots of times, they decreases). So, naturally, she snapped. playing her? Because she wasn’t me. At knowledge, that we present this week’s are our favorites. Mine is Diva; the It’s really quite a sad story. all. There was nothing in her personality issue of The Escapist, “Good to be Bad.” game, Cyberpunk 2020, a tabletop role- that remotely resembled my own. This playing game. But it made for a delightful backdrop of was truly escapism. There were a couple Cheers, role-play. She was essentially a of key motivators I could latch onto, a First, a little background on Diva. Really, sociopath who joined up with a group of background from which to build, and I left she was misunderstood, see? When she mercenaries in the hopes that one day my real life behind on those Friday nights. was young, she was involved in an she might gain access to her uncle. She accident which cost her her two legs and trusted no one and cared only for Sure, the play was sometimes stressful the lives of her mother, a high-fashion vengeance. Her favorite possession was in its own right, but in a completely model, and her millionaire father. Her her sig sauer pistol that once belonged different way than my everyday stress. uncle took her in, raised her and to her father. She was beautiful and Yes, occasionally, we got really swept nurtured her need for vengeance, for the seduced people at will – it was a means into the action, such that we got angry loss of her parents, at the loss of her to an end, usually the seductee’s. and yelled at each other – the “I’m The following was received by The legs (though they were replaced with gonna take you out first” night was one Escapist from a designer at Doublefine, nifty bionic ones), and at the theft of the Among her exploits: She dispatched of a of those. But that doesn’t mean we’ve all the makers of Psychonauts, who asked fortune that was rightfully hers. boatful of corrupt river police while her since become a band of mercenaries. to remain anonymous. He sheds a little groupmates tricked them into going The game’s ability to pull us out of this light on the design theory behind the This need for vengeance was handy for below deck, one by one, to their doom. life to another was its brilliance, what level of Psychonuats addressed in Lara her uncle, a Chinese mafia bigwig, who She once uttered the words, “I may die, made it our favorite. Crigger’s article ”The Milkman Cometh” used her considerable talents for but I’m sure as hell gonna take you out issue 67 of The Escapist. removing barriers to his progress in the first,” to one of her groupmates who Playing “bad people” is the ultimate ranks. Yes, it was handy until the day betrayed her. She stealthed into a building trying on another identity for a time, We’ve taken to calling him “Deep Diva learned it was that very uncle who held by six hostiles holding several dozen escape of self. But in that escape, we Doublefine.” --Ed. was responsible for her parents, her civilian hostages, dispatched all of the also better learn what our self is. We legs, her lost fortune, and her near- hostiles to solve the situation, but at the learn better our shape, our lines we do To the Editor: Hi -- I just read Lara’s psychosis due to overwhelming amounts same time made sure to hit her mark (the not wish to cross, what feels possible, article and enjoyed it very much. I also was blown away by the Milkman At the end of the level we find out that In response to “World, Interrupted” [Conspiracy] when I [played it]. My the suspicious g-men are actually censors from The Escapist Forum: Having reading of the level is slightly different in disguise. This is surprising and brilliant spent many hours in WOW, some in Eve from Lara’s and I wanted to share it. because so many things are flipped on and City of Heros, and many in their head in that one moment. Guildwars, I have to agree with you The clues in the game point to the fact about the limitations of the games. The that the Milkman is not of Boyd. Boyd’s Throughout the game, the player is one redeeming element of WOW is the memory vaults make us suspicious, and taught that the censors are, if not evil, social interaction that you can get with then we see the censors fighting the at least antagonistic to the player. And developing friends and partners in the milkman’s agents, and after that we see those G-Men certainly seem suspicious: the milkman taking over, then leaving but we learn that the G-Men are censors Boyd. I think in some ways Boyd’s story in disguise, hiding from the squirts. They would have been stronger if the milkman are the good guys. The squirts are the had been his repressed but naturally- evil agents (although this was more occurring rage; it would have more real- obviously and humorously telegraphed). world resonance. We also learn that Raz fails. He doesn’t I agree completely that one of the best make Boyd better; the best you can say things about Boyd’s story is that his is that he accidentally initiates the paranoia is real -- “just because I’m struggle between the foreign Milkman paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to and the native censors. You can hop get me”! But it’s difficult to tell and only back into his head watch Boyd struggling becomes somewhat clear at the end of to regain control of his mind; I find it the level, and then again near the end of hard not to cheer, but sadly, when I see the game. the fight. The censors don’t look like they’re going to win, and of course I The level lacks censors. Their absence is know they don’t. of course a clue that this is a mind less healthy than previously encountered, but Thanks for reading. the clue likely registers as a vague feeling of emptiness and foreboding and - Deep Doublefine only becomes clear after the fact. game. Guildwars can also have this In response to ‘I Didn’t Leave element, with guilds and such. Games, the Games Left Me” from The Escapist Forum: Whether his ego - lmertz be justified or not aside, he’s the first “professional” dev to speak sincerely In response to “Football as Madden (perhaps, at least since Lord British?) of 07” from The Escapist Forum: how he feels in regards to the treatment Interesting article. I’m a bit more he’sreceived from his peers, how his IP skeptical of EA and the Madden series, was used, the control over creativity he however. I feel that EA these days tends was relieved of, and how all those to go on autopilot for their yearly companies are treating games nowdays updates (especially with Madden), as neato-business and zero care for it as knowing full well that the name alone a form of art and entertainment. will move plenty of units. This is compounded by the fact that they no - Ramification longer have competition due the exclusive NFL license. So we now have the NFL as filtered through the EA lens. As to whether that’s good or bad is up to the individual to decide, however is lack of competition ever a GOOD thing? Your mention of 10 Yard Fight (a great game) got me reminiscing about Tecmo Bowl. I am a longtime fan of football videogames, and Tecmo Bowl had a certain simplistic magic that was something special. There have been great versions of Madden, sure, but the games these days tend to be so complex it can be a turnoff.

- AF_Whigs show acts both sexual and violent. website devoted entirely to the topic, Shakespeare’s plays were almost always gamepolitics.com, has exploded in filled with depraved human beings, popularity since it started in 2005. betrayal, suicide and murder. The Terror Connection Why do these themes haunt us, and how In mid-September, the Global Islamic does this impact our current culture? Media Front, which describes itself as a “jihadist mouthpiece,” released a game One has to start from the position that The Man with the Briefcase entitled Night of Bush Capturing. The people are generally good. Good to Jack Thompson, a practicing attorney in game, which is a first-person shooter, themselves and good to others. Miami, has become the most polemic has six levels of combat, each one figure in gaming, second to none in displaying firefights with American troops And yet, there are times when otherwise terms of his influence and reach, not to on a U.S. encampment. Jihadist songs respectable individuals feel the urge to mention his mouth. Famous today for his loop in the background as the player do something terrible. How many of us work in trying to wipe out violent gaming fires his way through each level. The have felt the urge to beat the hell out of and link it to every kind of act of game’s concluding battle is with a our boss at work? How many of us have depravity and desperation, no matter character representing President Bush. gotten into a heated argument with a how tenuously, his original claim to fame The site proclaims the game is friend and just wanted to strangle him? was handing former Attorney General distributed for “terrorist children.” Thankfully, aside from some unfortunate Janet Reno a note asking if she was incidents, we don’t. We try to live with homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual. Suffice to say, this was not a good time the acerbic supervisor and make up with for such a game to debut. Games, our friends. Thompson has argued, both in court and especially first-person shooters, are through the media, that violence in under more scrutiny now than ever Yet, our need for violence in our lives is gaming leads directly to violence in the before. This would almost seem to prove undeniable. Though perhaps not real world. In other words, gaming is the point that violent games are used to embodied physically, violence in popular bad. And, as we all know, anything that’s train and influence young people. entertainment has been with us since bad can be spun by politicians to their time immemorial. Cave paintings depict advantage, almost always in service of In a converse game, the army’s official men on the hunt for buffalo and other protecting the children. The politicking of FPS, America’s Army, ranks players on animals, spears in hand. Grecian urns gaming has become so divisive that a their marksmanship, with levels going from “Unqualified” and “Marksman” to United States is at a 30-year low.” And, fantasies about dominating a partner. “Sharpshooters” and “Experts.” while school shooters are often gamers, But would any of these people actually youth in general play videogames at a enjoy being raped or raping in real life? Reaction to the former game has been high rate, with about 90 percent of boys Assuredly a very small percentage do, mixed, with some giving it a pass as (the vast majority of shooters) but most are just using their fantasy life being typical terrorist promotional BS, partaking. Similarly, studies proclaiming to arouse themselves. Such fantasies, and others having stronger, more an impact on aggressiveness from while common, don’t mean that they visceral responses. On the popular videogame playing can be criticized for a impact reality in any real way (other conservative blog The Jawa Report, multitude of reasons, from methodology than having an uncomfortable commenter “Leatherneck” wrote: “I have to the conclusions themselves. For conversation with a lover about how you a little game I play called, How Many instance, most find a correlation, rather want to spend that evening). Moon God Worshippers Will Die During than a cause-effect relationship, which Ramadingdong.” could mean “aggressive people like But why do we crave violent media? It’s aggressive entertainment.” ingrained in not only our current culture, Media violence and its effect raise many but past literature and entertainment. troubling issues. For those of us that Furthermore, studies suggest that, even One need only flip through Shakespeare enjoy violent games, we are stuck with in primates, a distinction is evident to appreciate that violence and death transferred guilt. Does our consumption between play fighting and actual were par for the course in theater cause murder and mayhem? And, if it violence. Similar to the way past productions and books. Even with this, does, would it be, as the filmEquilibrium generations enjoyed playing cowboys we appear to be living in one of the least posited, “a price [we’d] gladly pay?” and Indians but were aware of the violent times in world history. The difference between that and real murder rate in medieval Europe was Maybe violent media, while not affecting shootouts. Life and death are not so eight times higher than that of today. all, affects some. If this is true, we easily affected, and children, though should be seeing a great increase in they are impressionable, still understand This, however, doesn’t stop the crusade youth-related violence and crime. that one is play and one is real. to purge our society of such entertainment, sometimes forcefully. Not so. MIT Professor Henry Jenkins Adults are similar in their ability to compiled data relating to videogames disconnect reality and fantasy. It has and violent crime and found that, been estimated that 51 percent of “According to federal crime statistics, the women have had rape fantasies. rate of juvenile violent crime in the Conversely, 44 percent of men have had

We Don’t Need no Thought Control Curiously, the article also says that Yet, in spite of the attention focused on But despite the best efforts of Congress The Center for Media Literacy has Congress should use anti-trust and civil “decency” in broadcasting, nothing could and renegade lawyers, we still love our produced several articles on media rights powers to crack down on the have prepared the public for the ruckus violence. And maybe we can learn from violence. One, by Temple University systems that “impose violence on surrounding Hot Coffee. The Grand Theft that. Who doesn’t enjoy that feeling of Telecommunications professor George creative people and foist it on the Auto series of games, already under fire gleefully running over a pedestrian? Of Gerbner, proffers that the alternative to children of the world.” The funny thing for their graphic and apathetic portrayal course, that’s only in the game world. our current system is “elected or is, there is already regulation in place of violence against random bystanders, Very, very few of us would look to appointed representation in either blocking obscene content from all free- police and the public at large in a imitate that in real life, and those that do advisory or policy-making capacity over to-view-and-listen networks: The FCC, consequence-free zone, suddenly were likely disturbed before they ever the programming policy of TV systems.” as a regulatory body, can impose heftier received pressure from both the violent got their hands on violent games. In other words, Congressional veto fines on network TV and radio than ever. and the sexual angle when a hacker power over what people get to see. discovered a mini-game depicting a I began by saying that I start from the In a bit of irony from earlier this year, sexual act in a hidden portion of GTA: position that people are generally good. network news programs had to censor San Andreas. Yet those times when terrible things President Bush when he said to Tony happen test that stance, as they test us Blair, “See, the irony is that what they Several Congressmen, scenting blood in all. However, in our quest for answers, need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah the water, took action and had the FTC we should not forget that our second to stop doing this shit, and it’s over,” investigate. As a result, Take 2 Interactive greatest freedom, after being able to say speaking of his frustration with the U.N. and Rockstar Games, the companies that whatever we want, is the ability to There wasn’t much of a public outcry in publish and produce the games, agreed choose what we want to listen to. reaction to the fuax pas. to have the rating change from M (Mature) to AO (Adults Only), costing The people who want to censor and Yet, under the Broadcast Decency them $24.5 million in returns of the title. condemn should remember one very Enforcement Act of 2005, which he had important part about television, the recently signed, the networks had to Yet still, that didn’t seem to be enough in internet and media in general: The power bleep the President in order to avoid the quest to Protect the Children. button also turns things off. record-setting fines, while cable news Legislation all over the country has networks and the internet showed it attempted to block sales of videogames Tom Rhodes is a writer and filmmaker unsullied, making it one of the most to minors, all of which have been currently living in Ohio. He can be popular clips on CNN.com and video- unsuccessful, due to the reached through Tom [dot] Rhod [at] sharing sites. unconstitutionality of the laws passed. Gmail [dot] com. Like many gamers who grew up in the were preparing to burn a small halfling he didn’t intend for me to just let the ‘70s and ‘80s, my formative gaming at the stake. Now, I had no notion of this poor halfling burn, guilty or not, or else experiences came not on the computer person’s guilt or innocence, and I had no he wouldn’t have created this situation in or the console, but on pen-and-paper, in idea if the centaurs were administering the first place. the basement of a friend’s house playing justice or just being cruel. But instead of whatever RPG we happened to be into at riding down into the valley on horseback The issue of morality in games has been the time. It was during one such session and demanding an explanation as my with us for a long time and will be with that my brother, the game master, brother had expected, my character instead us for a long time to come. Of course, it confronted my character with a very quietly dismounted his steed, carefully got wasn’t always thus when it came to carefully crafted encounter. Below, in a into a protected position in the hills above, videogames. In 1978, no one really small valley, lay a group of centaurs who and began to rain down missile attacks on questioned the fact that one of the the unsuspecting centaurs. neatest ways to shoot aliens in Space Invaders was to shoot through your own I thought nothing of the moral cities, presumably killing thousands of implications of such a decision: I had the innocent civilians. I did not ask myself if tactical high ground! Charging down into the UFO shooting at me in Asteroids was a pack of potentially hostile centaurs really a bad guy or just trying to protect would not only have meant giving up the his planet from all the rogue space combat advantages of both height and debris I was generating. And computer surprise, but could also very well have games were no exception either: Most of been suicide! I had already learned by them expected you to kill just about the tender age of 10 that the background anything that moved and/or pick up story of what was happening down below everything you could find that wasn’t mattered little; the GM had presented nailed down. If the plot featured a bad me with an obstacle to overcome, and guy like Mondain or Mangar the Dark, my skill lay in accomplishing that task in there was no question that he was pure the most efficient manner possible. Why evil and must be destroyed at all costs. risk a long parlay that could result in close combat? Better to simply deal with All of that changed in 1985 with the the centaurs in the safest and most arrival of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. expedient manner possible. Obviously, Still hailed today as a landmark event in computer gaming, Ultima IV introduced integrated into the game: moral choices the player to a system of morality that with gameplay consequences and moral was an essential element to the game. choices without gameplay consequences. At the very start of the game, the player was required to answer a series of Those who advocate moral choices with questions that posed various ethical gameplay consequences often see games dilemmas, which in turn determined their as useful in teaching or advocating a Age. The subsequent and often stark character’s starting class. In order to win certain set of behaviors. In the simplest consequences are vividly illustrated for the game, the player had to not just cases, the decision presented is bimodal: the player to ponder. overcome digital obstacles, but to Make the right choice by trying to talk conduct his character in a manner your way out of trouble with a cop, and But those who advocate moral choices consistent with eight virtues: Honesty, you’re rewarded with more gameplay; without gameplay consequences would Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, make the wrong choice by opting to try counter that many of the situations Honor, Spirituality and Humility. While to run away, and your character gets presented above are not really moral the true moral value of such a system arrested and you lose. In games with choices in any meaningful sense. Instead of such contrivances, consider a has been debated frequently over the more elaborate stories, the choices are Because the gameplay is so tightly game like Doom 3. At one point during years, the virtues and principles they multimodal, allowing the player to coupled with the choice made, the result the game, you’ll come across a man were founded on continued to play experience a variety of different but is simply an exercise in pushing the right stuck in a reactor room. A simple press important roles in the rest of the Ultima equally “successful” endings. button to get the result you want. of a button on the brightly lit computer series, right up to the present day. In the bimodal case, the choice is often screen can either free him or subject For example, in Star Wars: Knights of no choice at all; one must make the him to a most terrifying, gruesome Since then, many games have featured the Old Republic, the player is faced with “correct” decision in order to continue death. Whichever you choose actually not only a sense of morality but actual a variety of decisions that lead his playing the game and “win.” And games makes no functional difference: The moral choices that arise during the character down either the Light Side or that feature multiple paths are really no game continues on, and events unfold course of play. However, such games the Dark Side, culminating in an ultimate better – players simply choose whichever the same either way. Some gamers have often brought mixed reactions from decision at the end of the game to either ending they feel like enjoying, or even would argue that this is actually more of players. While most of us enjoy dealing become the Hero and defeat evil, or save the game and go back again and a true moral choice, because the with moral and ethical situations embrace the darkness and seize the Sith again to access all the endings. Much like consequences of your actions take place presented within the context of a good throne for himself. In Deus Ex, a player my pen-and-paper days, players aren’t entirely within your own sense of self. story, there seem to be two distinct may choose from three different really engaging in moral consideration at camps when it comes to determining endings: merge with Helios, join the all; they’re just following the most More recently, while I was playing The how those situations should be Illuminati or bring about a new Dark advantageous path available to them. Godfather and battling with the game’s rather imprecise targeting system, I that if intelligent alien species existed on a year and were responsible for all of the seem human from time to time but are found myself accidentally strangling an other planets in the universe, they might child rearing, the males may have no not entirely so. Their actions may not innocent woman who was passing by, have different notions of morality than choice but to engage it what we would always map one-to-one with our sense instead of the well-dressed gangster I our own. Taking his cue from the consider rape simply to ensure the of reality, and something that is not had intended. As I dragged her lifeless growing field of what is now known as survival of their species. As their species acceptable in our world may be entirely body into the nearby alleyway, I felt a evolutionary psychology, Ruse argued became sentient, a whole complex appropriate within theirs. Of course, by growing unease in the pit of my that much of what we consider moral is system of morality may arise to justify this I do not mean to justify or endorse stomach. Had I just turned the game shaped by hundreds of thousands of such behavior in a way that most of us in any way the harassment or “griefing” into a serial murder simulator? I years of evolution and natural selection. cannot fully fathom. This is not to say by one player of another in a multiplayer explored this possibility further, finding Indeed, many biologists today believe that such behavior is either right or game; those are actions with real-life out just how many innocent women I that a variety of beliefs and behaviors wrong in an objective moral sense intent, directed at another real-life could murder without raising too much like justice, fairness, mutual cooperation, (assuming you even accept that such a person, with real-life consequences. But heat from the police. Within minutes, I reciprocal altruism, proportionality, thing exists), but simply that it is, for within the context of the reality of the became quite disgusted with myself and inclusive fitness, kin favoritism and even lack of a better word, appropriate game itself, it may be entirely acceptable couldn’t even standMuch to play the like game my pen-and-paperthe instinct to protect children days, all behavior in that particular context. for a warrior to attack a seemingly again for a day or two. evolved from basic biological behaviors unsuspecting centaur or for a hoodlum players aren’t reallythat made engaging those who followed in such How does this relate to games? To put it to shoot a hooker. There were no real long-term principles more likely to survive and pass simply, the environments we experience consequences formoral killing multiple consideration those valuesat all; on they’reto their offspring. just inside games are other worlds, and innocent civilians infollowing the game; indeed, the most advantageous many of the avatars we play in them are some amount of “collateral damage” was So, it stands to reason that essentially alien creatures who may expected and built into the mechanicspath available of extraterrestrial to them. morality would be the game so the player wouldn’t be shaped by a set of different unduly punished for a few stray bullets. environmental pressures, and that an But the resulting freedom of choice alien’s resulting moral code may be actually had a much more profound quite different than ours as a result. In effect on me than any cutscene of being a society where simple biology dictated arrested and hauled off to jail would have. that females only came in heat one day

In 1985, noted philosopher Michael Ruse wrote an article entitled “Is Rape Wrong on Andromeda?” in which he postulated Back in March at the annual Game her proposal I had an immediate sense there shouldn’t be any morality in games Developers Conference, I sat in on a that it simply wasn’t right for the game at all; in fact, moral choices, be they roundtable discussion of the issue of sex industry. In movies and television, most with gameplay consequences or without, in games. One of the participants was a of what you see is intended to be a can actually make playing a game a woman who worked for a media representation of real life; even if it much more compelling and enjoyable watchdog group whose primary concern involves characters in fantastic experience. Nor is it because most of us was ensuring that sex, when portrayed situations, they are usually humans who object to the moral guidelines that other in television or movies, was dealt with would be subject to the same sorts of non-gamers seek to implement; while realistically and responsibly. While not moral dilemmas and consequences as some of us may disagree on certain trying to impose a morality in the sense the rest of us in the real world. But when particulars, you will probably find of advocating either “Yes, unrestrained it comes to videogames, much of what widespread agreement on most general sexuality is great!” or “No, sex outside of they portray is distinctly not real life; moral principles. The problem we have is marriage is wrong!” they were interested indeed, one of the powers of the medium when someone presumes to impose an in making sure that the consequences of is that it lends itself more easily to external morality, not just onto one having unprotected sex, like pregnancy conjuring up such worlds. Games are particular game, but across all games as and STDs, were appropriately shown. At often escapist fantasies where much of a whole. There is simply no one morality first blush, such a goal may seem quite their appeal lies in is the very fact that – at least, no one human morality – that reasonable, even admirable, to most of you can do things that you couldn’t or applies to all the varied and fantastic us. In recent years, the organization has wouldn’t do in reality. landscapes and creatures that comprise set its sights on videogames and wanted virtual realities, be they bits trapped in to advocate these same principles to While a realistic portrayal of the an electronic computer or flights of fancy game developers. consequences of sexual acts may be confined to the realm of our own appropriate for Beverly Hills, 90210, it’s not imagination. Now, while I do appreciate the societal necessarily appropriate for, say, a fantasy- value and importance of the work her themed RPG. Did Aragorn really have to Bruce Sterling Woodcock is a computer organization does, as soon as I heard worry about catching an ancient elven STD and videogames industry analyst, from Arwen? Is the societal prohibition researcher, consultant and author, against interspecies sex really applicable focusing on massively multiplayer online when it involves, say, orcs and taurens? games. He is best known for his ongoing tracking and analysis of MMOG In the end, I believe the true objection subscription numbers on his web site, many of us gamers have is not that MMOGCHART.COM. “Almost there,” I tease, as I set my In the fall of 1994, I was about as far sights on another X-Wing fighter. I use down on the roster of cool as one could the onboard computers, a marvel of get without hitting the disabled list. modern technology, to match my speed to his and ease in behind him. I’d taken a break from my less-than- stellar undergraduate work and had “Just a few more seconds.” The effect is moved back in with the folks, ostensibly startling. It’s as if I’ve glued my craft to to save money while I worked a lousy his, and no matter how much he retail job and tried to “find myself.” But squirms, no matter how he tries to what had seemed like the perfect evade, I’m on him. I now begin the long solution to life’s problems while stoned dance of jockeying into just the right out of my gourd in my best friend’s dorm position for a clear firing solution. room, had turned out to be an existential cul-de-sac. “’I can’t shake him,’” I imagine him saying in my best impression of a whiney- I hadn’t written anything worth readingin ass farm boy turned would-be Jedi. over a year, my retail gig was just as boring as algebra class and my fledgling ‘”Luke, pull out!’” warns his advisor at acting career had rapidly stalled due to a headquarters (again, voiced by me), but paralyzing fear of going to auditions. he doesn’t. He’s cocky and arrogant. About the only thing I had going for me Sure that he’ll be the “Hero of the was my girlfriend of several years, until Rebellion,” the fool. she eventually decided to dump me to spend more time watching football. I switch from missiles to guns and fire off a shot. After only a few weeks, it seemed I’d been set adrift on the sea of life. I was *** no longer a student, a writer, an actor or a boyfriend. My confidence was in freefall; my identity gone. I was and third: a copy of LucasArts’ space sim, BASIC programming, I’d “optimized” the precariously balanced on the knife’s edge TIE Fighter, and a CH Flightstick Pro. configuration files so that my boot disk of complete irrelevance, and like every would actually work and the damn game teenager-turned-adult who’d come I’d been a gamer off and on since I’d would actually play. before me, and all who’d come after, I been able to hold a controller, had played was sure that my problems carried on most consoles made to that date and I’d gotten up at the crack of noon that weight far beyond their significance. So I had even monkeyed around with day to celebrate my victory over the did what any sane, barely-post- Commodore 64s and Apple machines creeping tendrils of mediocrity by adolescent person would do: For the belonging to friends, but that Packard- purchasing a top-of-the-middle-of-the- good of all mankind, I used the money Bell was my first true foray into the road PC and the year’s hottest game. It I’d been saving to buy a life raft in the exciting and terrible world of PC gaming. was well after dark by the time I actually form of a personal computer. I foolishly expected to be flying through fired it up, but as soon as I did, I knew space, blasting Rebel Scum, mere minutes all of the trouble had been worth it. Enter: the Packard-Bell 486 DX2. The after arriving home, but this, as you thinking was that I’d finally have an probably already know, was not to be. The LucasArts logo appeared on the actual word processor on which to write, screen, followed immediately by music rather than relying on the finicky DOS games of that era often required a I’d have known anywhere and the slow electronic typewriter I’d had since I was “clean boot” in order to run on a crawl of yellow text up the screen. 13, or the hit-or-miss method of writing Windows machine like my 486 DX2. In Instantly, my own world faded away; my manuscripts by hand, using a fountain spite of the “2,” it just didn’t have the fears, my disappointments and my pen on legal pads. (My handwriting was muscle to run TIE Fighter in a window. unrealized dreams detached from my so horrible I often couldn’t read it This meant that I had to make a “boot mind and fell about 10 feet behind me. I myself.) But of course, once I had the disk,” a floppy disk which would program was no longer Russ Pitts, live-at-home, thing out of the box and had plugged in the computer to circumvent the Windows retail working, failed student and all of the plugs, connected all of the operating system and instead allow the breakup victim. I was TK421, TIE Fighter connectors and pressed the switch, the machine to boot up in DOS. Problem: I pilot, Imperial Naval Officer and first thing I did was play games. didn’t have any floppy disks. generally evil badass.

I’d come home from Circuit City with An hour later, I was back to try again, There’s something liberating about being three boxes that day. The first contained and a few hours after that, after tapping a bad guy. You’re not restrained by the the computer and monitor. The second the limit of my sparse understanding of same morality, the same rules of behavior as we are in our normal lives. I’ve blown away his shields, but his blackness for more rebel scum to kill. And let’s face it: The bad guys always wingmen are coming on strong. I break There are none; I am victorious. have the best-laid plans. I often find off to thin them out a little. myself rooting for the bad guys in films, John Williams’s haunting, martial music in spite of the horrendous agony and They go down easy, their pathetic surges, and I feel a twinge of pride. I emotional distress they inevitably cause. training shooting womp rats in Beggar’s grip my joystick tightly, stare out Because seriously, an underwater Canyon back home is no match for the through my cockpit at the blackness of volcano base complete with space extensive training regimen of the space and prepare to reclaim this sector shuttle launching pad? No amount of Imperial Navy. I gleefully imagine their in the name of the emperor to the patriotic, save-the-world mumbo-jumbo muffled Wilhelm screams as they die accompaniment of a stuttering, tops that. And no amount of living-by- horribly, exposed to the vacuum of space triumphant horn section. the-rules, saving money, studying and ejecting from their crippled craft. “taking me to football games” I’m a TIE fighter pilot. And to steal from “satisfaction of doing the right thing” on “Stay on target,” I say, laughing, as I re- Roddy Piper, I’ve come to kick rebel ass that particular day could top being the engage the leader. and chew bubblegum. But I’m all out of bad guy in my favorite movie universe of bubble gum. all time. With his escort gone, he’s lost a bit of his cool. He’s jinking wildly and varying his Russ Pitts is an Associate Editor for The On that day I learned two things about speed. He’s harder to lock onto but still Escapist. He has written and produced myself that have remained true to this no match for the power of my evilness. for television, theatre and film, has been day. The first was that I am irrevocably a With a few easy twitches of the writing on the web since it was invented gamer. The second: When given a choice Flightstick’s HAT control, I redirect power and claims to have played every console in the matter, I will always choose the from my shields to my blasters and blow ever made. dark side. him out of the sky.

Sorry, Universe, their side goes to 11. His X-Wing incinerates around him, pieces of it twirling away into space as I *** go to full throttle, fly straight through the fireball and start scanning the “Know thy enemy, know thyself, include antagonists that are known for know victory.” more than malevolence. Conflict is inherent in every story, but most well- As tactical advice, Sun Tzu’s famous told tales are not just a simplistic battle maxim applies to a majority of of good vs. evil. A hit TV series like videogames. Knowing that Piston Honda Friends might feature characters with blinks just before throwing an uppercut competing goals, but there are no helps you know victory. Knowing that the characters that are completely morally mothership fires two small shots before reprehensible. A hit game series like the throwing up its shields helps you know Mario games, though, can get by for victory. Knowing how many whip strikes decades with an antagonist that kidnaps it takes to defeat Dracula helps you royalty and casts destruction upon the know victory. land seemingly out of sheer boredom.

But what about the kind of knowledge Even in stories where there is a clearly- that transcends the tactical – the kind of defined evil, we can usually understand knowledge that lets you truly understand the bad guy’s motivations, even if we your enemy’s motivations and don’t agree with their methods. Most background, his hopes and fears? As far viewers can at least relate to the as most games are concerned, such revenge and greed driving Simon Gruber knowledge is unimportant. The enemy in Die Hard: With a Vengeance, even if exists only as a part of the environment we would never attempt murder and - a set of pre-programmed rules to be massive theft ourselves. Other stories figured out and bested. It’s enough to actively encourage the audience to root know that Piston Honda wants to send for the bad guy, finding the underlying you a “TKO from Tokyo” or that Cats humanity in normally vilified characters thinks you have “no chance to survive like mobsters (The Godfather) or make your time.” We want to know the psychopaths (The Silence of the Lambs). enemy, just not, y’know, personally. As a medium, games are different in this This is in stark contrast to other forms of regard. In games, the bad guy is, almost storytelling media, which routinely by definition, the one you’re not controlling – the “other” that is trying to likable, non-playable bad guy. Given this (“I’m glad the Romans sacked my Multiplayer games have exploited this destroy or limit you. If you’re controlling inherent rule of standard game design, capital. They obviously wanted it more.”) advantage for years – while it’s possible a cop, the gangsters are the bad guys. If the question regarding enemies becomes to argue that StarCraft’s Zerg or World you’re controlling a gangster, the cops not “Why are they doing this?” but But Civilization’s multiple selectable of Warcraft’s Horde are the “evil” side of (and, sometimes, the other gangsters) rather, “Do we really want to know?” nation-states demonstrate one way to those games, it’s not an easy argument are the bad guys. There is no moral make a sympathetic antagonist in a to make to a devoted player of either ambiguity – most games are designed so How can a game designer/storyteller get game -- namely, making him the race. Even simpler games can exploit it’s you and your character(s) against the around this problem? Open-ended game protagonist. While videogames are this difference – M. Bison is an world by default. design is a solution, but often only a limited by forcing the avatar’s point of unplayable “bad guy” in Street Fighter partial one. Yes, you can spend days view on the player, they are also superior II, but once you can control him in No wonder so many game makers create being a law-abiding pizza-delivery boy in to other media in that they allow the Champion Edition, he becomes just paper-thin, cartoonish justifications for Grand Theft Auto III or a humble player to truly experience a conflict from another potential avatar in the fight their virtual enemies. No matter how fisherman inThe Legend of Zelda, but if all sides. While a movie can let you into against all comers (even though his well-defined and believable a game you want to move the story along, you the mind of a villain, a game can let you villain is, his motivations will almost have to go down the relatively narrow truly walk a mile in his shoes. always pale in comparison to that of the path the game proscribes – i.e., defeat protagonist you’re actively controlling. the bad guy. Knowing the misunderstanding that causes Sephiroth’s psychosis and rage in Eliminating the predestined defeat of the Final Fantasy VII doesn’t prevent you enemy often means eliminating the story from preventing him from destroying the altogether, leaving the narrative and goal Earth in the final battle. Knowing that to be defined completely by the player, Otacon will be crushed by the death of as in most simulation games. In theory, Sniper Wolf in Metal Gear Solid doesn’t this opens the game up to unlimited give you the option to spare her life and scenarios, but in practice all it really sit down to a tea party. does is add a “you lose” ending to the “you win” of more linear games. Allowing Like a Greek tragedy, most game your people to be overtaken in narratives march inexorably toward the Civilization does indeed subvert the final condition of “you win” regardless of traditional storyline, but not in a way what this might mean to the fate of a that’s fully satisfying to most players. ending reveals that he wants to wrap the view, requiring the player to replay the and often between him and police world in “the darkness of one man’s evil”). game multiple times to fully experience officers Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, all sides of the equation. Games like who are investigating his case. Actions Single-player games make balancing the Fable and Black & White partially fix this performed as one character affect the morality calculus more difficult. While it’s problem by allowing a player’s alignment success of future missions by the others, easy enough to allow players to choose to change throughout the game, but at and in the beginning it’s unclear to the between a good or evil character at the any one moment the player is still only player which character, if any, he should beginning of a game, this choice again experiencing one side of the dichotomy. be rooting for. Are the police the bad locks the player into a single point of guys because they try to thwart you as How do you combine the personal Lucas, or is Lucas the bad guy because experience of the game and the he’s trying to thwart you as the detached gaze of the camera? One of the investigators? It’s impossible to choose, most daring experiments in this regard is because they both represent you, and Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit to our what self-respecting person thinks of European readers). Though players start himself as the bad guy? the game as possessed murderer Lucas Kane, the point of view jumps quickly More than multiple viewpoints, though, Indigo Prophecy succeeds in having believable characters because it is focused on human interactions rather than endless battles. Far too many games feature hordes of expendable enemies that are barely around long enough to form a wisecrack; good luck forming a believable character structure around them. The ones that do stick around longer are usually just more powerful versions of the throngs of chattel, similarly waiting to destroy or be destroyed. To truly understand your enemies, in validation, or you can comfort Grace and where game villains aren’t just virtual life as in real life, you need to be defend her from Trip’s passive-aggressive remorseless killing machines, where the able to engage them in conversation as barbs. Or you can strive for a balance, bad guy is a sympathetic character that’s well as battle. Games like Indigo picking apart both parties for their petty striving for acceptance and Prophecy and Knights of the Old Republic concerns. Or you can make a pass at the understanding, just like us. When the use branching conversations to engage hosts, earning a quick dismissal. “love thy enemy” ideal becomes truly non-player characters, but this method integrated in our games, we’ll be able to inherently limits what you can say and Facade is notable because neither non- grok our villains so fully, we won’t be how the characters can respond. Every player character is the clearly defined able bear destroying them. path in the question-and-response tree bad guy. You’re not caught in a battle is predetermined, each discrete branch between good and evil, but between two It’s enough to give you preemptive penned beforehand by a writer. deeply flawed, deeply sympathetic people. nostalgia for the days when Soda The conflict is more awkward than that of Popinski’s only goal in life was to “make To really introduce moral ambiguity into most games, and also more real. you feel punch drunk.” a game, you need a system like that in Facade, an art/research project by two Why aren’t more games like this? Well, it Kyle Orland is a video game freelancer. artificial intelligence experts. The game took a team of people five years to He writes about the world of video game invites you into the home of Grace and develop the 20,000 lines of dialogue in journalism on his weblog, Video Game Trip, a couple in their 10th year of a Facade, and even then, the two main Media Watch. deeply troubled relationship. The characters tend to repeat themselves evening starts pleasantly enough, but after only a few plays. Apparently, it’s a the resentment between the couple lot easier to design a good gun than to threatens to destroy the civility and design a good, free-flowing conversation. possibly the relationship. But despite their limitations, games like You are forced into the viewpoint of the Facade and Indigo Prophecy show that guest, but you aren’t limited in what you there is at least the potential for can say or where you can try to lead the videogames to allow players to divine conversation. You can take Trip’s side personal as well as tactical knowledge of and harp on Grace’s insecure need for an enemy. There is potential for a future Steven Spielberg, purveyor of Serious apparent reason. It’s about swimming Oscar Contenders and moving around as a really big shark while killing melodramas about little kids with no people and eating them in incredibly father, is also responsible for one of the graphic ways. Bite off a swimmer’s leg, most effective horror movies of all time. and he screams and bleeds, maybe even Jaws terrified a generation. Anyone old clutching at a bloody stump as he enough to remember 1975, or anyone struggles to swim away from the subsequently frightened around the unforgiving jaws of the Great White. It’s family VCR, still feels a little quiver in his all those sick Jaws fantasies come to life belly when he puts a foot in the ocean. or, as I’ve called it previously, Grand The legacy of the great white shark was Theft Auto: Great White Shark. tainted by a series of increasingly terrible sequels — not to mention a Appaloosa Interactive, formerly mediocre NES game —and disappeared Novotrade International, is the developer into the cold, black depths as time behind the shark, a startling departure passed and the legend faded. from their most famous series, Ecco the Dolphin. While Ecco is all about saving But all that was made in the ‘70s must cute sea creatures — discounting the return to walk the Earth once more. So, time-traveling alien storyline — Jaws is shark rises from the dead. Shark goes all about eating cute sea creatures. And into game. Our shark. Majesco’s Jaws boats. And people. And giant squid. And Unleashed came out as a budget title, whatever else happens to be in the but it proved to be a very good one. water. Jaws is the Bizarro Ecco, and I Jaws Unleashed isn’t an epic RPG about found that Kadocsa Tassonyi, Project one boy’s struggle to overcome his Manager at Appaloosa’s offices in Hungary, oversized hair and mysterious past, and was quite happy to talk about his company it isn’t an entry in the games-as-art and how they went about capturing the debate. It’s precisely the game a spirit of a great white shark. generation of bloody-minded adolescents played in their minds when the NES’ He describes Appaloosa as a “full-service Jaws proved to consist entirely of sailing game developer,” formed in 1983, with around aimlessly before dying for no its headquarters in Palo Alto, California and development offices in Budapest, exterminate it, but also hostile sea That’s most likely because people are Hungary. “Over its 23-year history, creatures like hammerhead sharks, orcas afraid [of], yet fascinated by, sharks. Appaloosa established itself as a creative and even a giant squid.” In fact, just like and reliable [developer] of video and PC Ecco, “Jaws has to defend itself and “Combine that with the uniqueness of games, and original character creation/ react to the hostile environment,” though playing as an animal in a mature development through a long line of Jaws has to eat enough to keep from videogame, and it’s easy to understand award-winning interactive entertainment starving, and what Jaws eats is people. why the concept itself is so compelling.” products, with a track record few can And it’s not all self-defense, as he’s Elaborating, he says, “We like rock match.” He gives a figure of 120 eager to point out, saying, “Players bands, action movie heroes, etc. Being a published products, including Contra eager for some extra destruction can ‘bad guy’ in our imagination is tempting, games for the PlayStation, as well as also find plenty … to hunt by roaming because of the many rules that control games for Sega consoles, including the freely through the open ocean.” That our life and behavior. Playing as the bad MegaDrive, Genesis and Dreamcast. may include people, boats and other guy offers gamers a way to ‘break the They also work with licenses, and things that break or bleed. rules’ in a game the way they never “dozens of popular licensed characters” could in real life. During our focus tests, have found their way into Appaloosa’s To contrast it with the Ecco games, he the players were really excited about games. As for Ecco, he says, “We worked says, “It was a rule in the Ecco games to playing as the shark for the entire on several Ecco titles. The last one was not feature humans. In Jaws, eating game.” Indeed, among those who’ve Ecco: Defender of the Future for PS2 and humans is one of the most important seen or played Jaws Unleashed, the Dreamcast. Within the Jaws team, there features, so we worked a lot to make it reaction is half-horror, half-starry-eyed are team members who worked on the as satisfying as possible. Because of the 5-year-old-boy “Coooool.” Genesis and Mega-CD versions of Ecco close interaction with the human world, games, as well. All Ecco titles were from the beginning of the project, we I asked if the team felt the need to try developed by Appaloosa.” decided to extend the game territory and make something compelling story- from underwater-only to above and As for Jaws himself, and the Bizarro Ecco below water, so the player can meet, theory, Kadosca says, “Jaws is definitely attack and destroy different kinds of different than Ecco. It bites and tears boats, machinery and buildings in a everything in its way, and we built the variety of ways.” Kadosca acknowledges game around this behavior. Jaws’ that “it’s [something] of a guilty pleasure enemies are not just humans trying to to play as Nature’s most feared predator. wise, or if they thought swimming Throw and Catch’ or the ‘Corkscrew’ around and eating people would be move that more advanced players can enough. “The game primarily focuses on earn after completing story missions and the giant shark that eats people,” side challenges.” One of the hazards of Kadosca said without a hint of irony. “But working in a killer’s mind is that it can there are also many side challenges that prove to be a little too engrossing. I provide ways for the player to try out the wondered whether any of the developers shark’s various capabilities. There is also got a little too into the design process, an underlying story that plays out via and he was quick to assure me that Story Missions: Environplus is disturbing “none of us dropped by the pool to bite the ocean life around Amity Island with people’s legs. The fact that you play the the vibration of its oil drilling machinery. game as an animal and not as a human This makes the sharks more hungry and being helped keep things in perspective.” aggressive.” Jaws is an environmental crusader, eating people to save the world. The game’s perspective is unique, “The player faces more and more powerful allowing the player to explore the ocean enemies as he advances in the game — through the “lifeless eyes” of a true police, coast guard and harbor patrol show predator and a perfectly evolved killing up to hunt the shark, depending on how machine. For the team at Appaloosa, it destructive Jaws has been.” was a very different experience, but one they seemed to enjoy, and now Jaws As for designing the mechanics of the swims the oceans once more. Swimmers, game, where Jaws can eat people in boaters, oil drillers and cute bottlenose various fun and creative says, he says, dolphins: Be on your guard. “the game was created for mature gamers, so it made sense to deliver an If you have a problem, if no one else can experience that played off playing as a help, and if you can find him, maybe you true predator. Victims can be torn apart, can hire Shannon Drake. and there are special moves like ‘Surface EDITORIAL PRODUCTION BUSINESS Executive Editor Producer Publisher Julianne Greer Jonathan Hayter Alexander Macris

Content Editor Layout Artist Associate Publishers Joseph Blancato Jessica Fielhauer Jerry Godwin Russ Pitts Jason Haile Gregory Lincoln

Contributing Editor Lead Web Developer Director of Advertising JR Sutich Whitney Butts Susan Briglia

Research Manager Web Developer Chairman of Themis Group Nova Barlow Erik Jacobson Thomas S. Kurz Tim Turner Contributors Shannon Drake IT Director Kyle Orland Jason Smith Russ Pitts Tom Rhodes Bruce Sterling Woodcock

Issue 69, © 2006. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. To contact the editors please email [email protected]. For a free subscription to The Escapist in PDF format please view www.escapistmagazine.com