As anyone who has worked in, knows But, at some point, it has to be done. At So, to PCGamer, and any others recently high school, I decided to attempt to open someone who has worked in or really some point, we need to take a look at joining the fray: Welcome. It feels pretty a site offering these games as donation- has any vague notion of the media what advertisers are doing and saying in good, doesn’t it? ware, with all donations forwarded (no industry can tell you, advertising is key our magazines. Yes, it has to be done for administration fees, of course) to Child’s to the bottom line. That monthly/yearly legal reasons; pointing to their $7.2 Cheers, Play. The site, to be named TJGames.org subscription you pay? It about covers the million lighter wallet, The Sporting News (TJ being shorthand for Thomas production cost, whether it’s the printing can tell you that. But perhaps more Jefferson High School), is currently and shipping for a print magazine or the important, we, as media gateways, have under construction, but I’ve been bandwidth and upkeep for an online a responsibility to our audience. amazed already at how willing my fellow publication. Ads pay for the rest – gamers are to contribute work to the writers, editors, artists, equipment, This responsibility has led us, at The site. Already several have agreed to office space and so on. Escapist, to our advertising philosophy. contribute games, and the graphics for The relevant bit here is that we have the site and the site itself are being So, for a company to turn down ad never accepted ads or money from gold developed free of charge by students To the Editor: First of all, thank you for dollars, either they have plenty of farmers. In the nearly two years I have who have much greater expertise in doing everything you have done with The money, other advertisers in the wings or been around Themis Group, our parent these areas than I. Escapist. It’s wonderful and refreshing to there’s a really good reason. PCGamer company, we have never accepted ads have a serious, insightful look at the has recently come upon a really good from gold farmers on any of our The end result may not be all that much games industry and gamer culture. reason. They have recently made the properties. We’ve rooted out any gold compared to more professional small announcement they will no longer take farmer we find in our Google AdSense – games, but we aspire to create some This week’s issue, “For Great Justice!” ads, and so money, from gold farmers. almost 200 of them, to date. And over genuinely fun products. Hopefully, this the years, we have turned down, quite contained an article, “Child’s Play: The will be enough to raise awareness for Tai Chi Approach,” that had a timely and It is a tough thing, turning down tens of literally, hundreds of thousands of Child’s Play and perhaps to send some personal connection for me. Just a week thousands of dollars, per month (trust dollars, money that was sometimes money their way. or so before this issue came out I started me, I know). That is several people’s needed, because of ethics. -Teddy McNeill a personal project with the intention of salary. That’s updated software. That’s a doing my part to support Child’s Play. comfortable cushion for the slow months P.S. The target date for the opening of Since I programmed small games for after the holidays, but before E3. TJGames.org is early March. fun, and I knew several friends and acquaintances who did the same at my To the Editor: I’ve seen many a website charity a few years ago I was like “Wow Oh, and might I add, this overall issue of and I must say that your website design that is pretty cool, hope it goes well.” The Escapist contains some of the best is far and away the best I’ve ever seen. Once the totals were tallied, I literally sat articles I have read in it, since the article Have you won any awards or something? in awe staring at the pictures for several about Second Life. If I was a huge company and had a minutes. -Cinomed sweet award, I’d give it to you. It’s so simple and clean and makes so much “We” the gamers did this? sense. wft I wish every site looked like yours. Then the next year, there were some Amazon issues but still it grew Your new subscriber, exponentially. -Jesse The part that really blew me away was the dinner/auction, the game companies To the Editor: In “The Buzz is Gone” really turned out and supported the you mention that Noctis takes place in entire thing. Once again I was in awe. the Milky Way; it actually takes place in an entirely different procedurally- Penny Arcade (Gabe and Tycho) have generated galaxy. proven not only to be funny on a Demi- -Brandon God level, they are actually human, and honestly care about the well being of the From The Lounge: [Re: “Comrades in world in general. Cheap” by Pat Miller] Thanks for the great article. It’s by far the best written I hope to make it a family tradition with item on CAG in existence. my daughters, (Toddler and Newborn at the moment) “Shopping for Child’s Play Keep up the good work! gifts” will hopefully mean Christmas is -CheapyD coming to them as they get older.

From The Lounge: [Re: “Child’s Play: The Tai Chi Approach” by Shannon Drake] I am glad to see this getting some more press. When they started the Some of the world’s commentators say videogames are either incapable of having meaning, or are only now reaching that stage. Lev Grossman said it in Time magazine, film critic Roger Ebert chimed in and even Steven Spielberg joked about when someone confesses “they cried at level 17.” Critics say many things, but specifically that games cannot yet match film and books. No disrespect to the above gentlemen, or anyone agreeing with them, but I am determined to show games have been tackling old ideas and complex issues for at least 15 years now. They are as worthy as any other medium, and do have meaning.

Looking back over the decades, it’s easy to read into things that aren’t there, or wrongly re-interpret certain elements to prove a point. For the record, I have never once thought Pac-Man was a metaphor for drug taking or consumerism. You have to look at the motives of the visionaries creating games, finding those who intentionally set out to make statements through their work.

In Japan narratives dealing with fundamental ideas started to arrive in 1985, with early RPGs like Dragon Quest and many detective adventure titles. Seen as pioneering, they’re fondly remembered as being full of charm. People who were fully-fledged writers before turning their hand to games mainly wrote them, after all.

Things progressed before culminating with Mother in 1989, previously covered in The Escapist. Having struggled through painfully archaic design mechanics until the end, which sees you peacefully ending your grandmother’s existence and being stranded in the desert, you are left with an empty feeling and many deep questions. While the methods of conveying events weren’t as elegant as in the sequel, there was genuine literary weight to the game. Other RPGs have also given players the and visceral, smothered in an excellent difficult task of killing someone close. science-fiction storyline. It featured an The original monochrome Seiken amnesiac, recently estranged from his Densetsu, released in 1991, only allowed equally ailed wife, as he investigates an further progression if you fulfilled a otherworldly threat and tries to piece his female friend’s request. She begs for life back together. Borrowing from films death, and this self-sacrifice results in like Blade Runner and Body Snatchers, it her brother’s salvation, which continues also had underlying themes of social the story. It didn’t have the flamboyant paranoia and McCarthyism (there are splendour of next-gen hardware, but many cold war references), and neither did it shy away from such a ultimately makes you question human subject. nature. But it was still a game! Weaved within this finely crafted storyline were In 1992, a title featuring congressman perfectly integrated puzzles and tense Masuzoe Youichi was released. It was an shooting scenes where a lightgun could adventure game, classed as an “intra- be used. No separate element felt office politics simulation.” It subtly arbitrarily attached. Kojima has done tackled the realities of office life, difficult much for videogames over the years, bosses, and using sycophancy to debating aspects of humanity with them, succeed. Ironically, while American and yet only became recognized after political figures fear games and demand creating Metal Gear Solid, in 1998. bans, Japan accepts games, regarding them as something to be utilized. Which brings me to my final (and personal favorite) example: Toys For One of the landmark titles in the early Bob’s Star Control 2, initially released in 1990s was the Western Sega CD port of 1992 and influenced byStarflight . The Hideo Kojima’s phenomenal Snatcher game itself was utterly compelling (originally a 1988 NEC PC title). The throughout, comprising arcade-style game was uncompromisingly hard-boiled action, exploration, strategy and sponsored by diplomacy, while the scripting was examined cultural intolerances (racial, second to none. Don’t be fooled by the religious, gay etc.), as seen in the fantastical setting - the story maturely Androsynth’s oppression by “normal” dealt with wide ranging issues, from humans. Thankfully, the burden of proof genocide to religious extremism, and lies with the game, now freely available. still remained terrifying, touching and damn funny in places. Videogames don’t need cell processors, billions of polygons or realism to be The always jovial head of TFB, Paul immersive, profound and capable of Reiche III, kindly took time out from his dealing with complex issues. Equally as Christmas holidays to talk. “We intended important, they don’t need to lose their for the alien races to exemplify human sense of play or interactivity to have rich personal and cultural foibles in a focused and worthy narratives dealing with the and exaggerated manner,” humbly above. Great game designers have understating that he did what we think always found ways to perfectly marry all good science fiction should do. He the two. While this young medium has also revealed a human side to the been trying to elevate itself for well over ominous Ur-Quan: “My own take on a decade, the publishers and [them] came from my relationships with mainstream masses are only now people who had experienced significant waking up to the possibilities. childhood abuse and how those traumas produced distinctly odd behaviors in adults. [Their] doctrines were the John Szczepaniak is a South African overtly crazy but internally reasonable freelance videogame writer with a responses to their treatment by the preference for retro games. He is also a Dynarri, and the pain they had to staff member on the Retro Survival endure to win their freedom from project, which contains articles on retro slavery.” Further running themes gaming and is well worth investigating. We gamers love choice. darling Grand Theft Auto series, for all its widely acclaimed in-game options, Presumably, that’s a large part of the has precious little meaningful choice. reason we play games. We love to Steal cars to make money to buy bigger choose, whether it means going for the guns - whatever. Stealing cars to make rocket launcher over the rail gun, picking money to set up youth community Storm instead of Sentinel or playing centers for low-income neighborhoods - through Civilization II as a ruthless now, that’s an interesting moral emperor instead of a republic’s conundrum I haven’t seen in any games president. We love our games because yet. And to be honest, seeing the same they reflectus and all the decisions we crap make it onto EBGames’ shelves make, even if that means getting month in and month out really gets a fragged, having to put up another gamer down. quarter or getting erased from history by the barbarians at the gates. So, perhaps you can understand why I was so surprised to find, during my first This is why I’m continually baffled by the play through of Metal Gear Solid a year gaming industry. We like our gameplay ago, some game designers really do open-ended, our endings multiple and understand the tools of their craft well our cameras free-rotating, but we enough to convey a truly meaningful rarely see a game evoke the same kind choice. While MGS’ iconic stealth of primal calls of conscience we see in, gameplay has been imitated far and say, a movie. Watching Luke Skywalker wide, from Splinter Cell to Syphon Filter decide between good and evil in the , the skill and intention Hideo Kojima original Star Wars trilogy was a wholly lends to the Metal Gear Solid series gut-wrenching, existential experience. haven’t. Kojima uses the unique choice- Watching me decide whether I want to driven attributes of the videogame be good or evil in Jedi Knight II means medium to get across a simple moral - watching me figure out if I want the do not kill - in a way that hits much Force Heal power more than the Force deeper than any book or movie. Choke. Even the gaming industry’s guards between Snake and the mine detector. I tried silenced pistols, The original Metal Gear Solid is automatic rifles, grenades of all shapes commonly remembered for its TACTICAL and sizes, even hand-to-hand combat - ESPIONAGE ACTION; that is, its none of them could get me to the mine emphasis on sneaking around and being detector and back satisfactorily stealthy instead of mowing down unscathed. After dying repeatedly anything and everything between you (“Snake? Snake? SNAAAAKE!” ad and the goal. When we play this game nauseum) I tried it without attacking several years later, amid the countless anybody, and got it on my first try. stealth-based games composing the Hmm. genre MGS spawned, the TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION feels stilted and It’s not perfect, to be sure. To credit somewhat contrived. Controlling Solid Konami with intentionally making combat Snake with the degree of precision that obnoxiously clumsy is a stretch, and the any gamer born on first-person shooters entire scenario above could have is accustomed to is virtually impossible, transpired simply because I am and the combat itself is a downright amazingly bad at playing MGS. But it’s nuisance, since the lack of any first- not hard to see this was what Kojima person aiming system makes it difficult was trying to get across. Snake’s own for Snake to aim at anyone not caught in role as the reluctant hero, elaborated in the camera’s immediate view. Codec conversations and storyline moments, very clearly illustrates his A few nights ago, I was tasked with distaste for unnecessary killing, and finding a mine detector before taking on Liquid Snake even goes so far as to a very large tank. This wasn’t too bad, accuse Snake of enjoying gunning down enemy soldiers, just to get a rise out of for the first time, the player was him. Kojima intentionally uses capable of getting through the game everything in MGS - from the memory without killing a single person. Unlike card to the back of the CD case to the MGS, attaining the highest end-game Dual Shock controller - with the intent ranking (“Big Boss”) required the of telling his story, so it would be player kill absolutely nothing uncharacteristically inconsistent of him throughout the entire game. to not keep that in mind while designing the gameplay itself. But MGS But if MGS gave us too strong an is still too crude to articulate any of incentive to avoid killing, MGS2 ditched this very well; to a certain extent, it the incentive altogether. Sure, hardcore feels like the player has no real choice Metal Gear Solid fans will most likely quite yet. rise to the occasion, but the average Joe or Jane is probably not going to So, from here, we proceed to Metal even bother playing through the game Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , a game a second time, and will have had little which managed to piss off all the newly to no idea they were ever supposed to created Metal Gear Solid fans by giving avoid killing people. Where MGS may them a whiny bishounen punk kid have been too heavy-handed, MGS2 instead of the beloved Solid Snake, and wasn’t nearly heavy-handed enough. telling a story that is half spy-thriller The same do not kill theme was in and half love story at the same time. there, but it was buried underneath a Perhaps the greatest improvement plot full of weird. It didn’t do what MGS MGS2 had over MGS was a combat did right - that is, tie the theme system that didn’t suck; thanks to directly to the game. Instead, the additions like a first-person combat incentives to avoid killing were virtually view and localized damage, killing was irrelevant, if you don’t care about easier than ever. However, we also had rating or collecting all the dog tags. a new weapon at our disposal, namely, a tranquilizer gun that works on Last comes Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake everyone, including bosses, meaning, Eater . Unlike the first two, the game’s balance and pacing was heavily continue upstream and do his best to killing dozens of virtual human beings inspired by action movies, and as dodge the ghosts of his past. This - that makes this scene so such, it was perfectly reasonable to was no minor segment, either; should compelling. Books and movies, as play through like Rambo. The the player be fairly indiscriminate in passive media, relate a message to rewards for using non-lethal means his killing, it could take upwards of 20 the reader by presenting a story increased, though; in addition to minutes to complete. where the reader sees the requiring zero kills for a Big Boss consequences of the protagonist’s rating, each of MGS3’s bosses only The moral, here, was unmistakable, decisions and interprets from there. dropped their trademark camouflage of course. Rather, it’s the way Kojima Videogames, as MGS3 would have us items when you knocked them out. went about conveying it that was so understand, can be aimed directly at Perhaps one of the most significant interesting. Instead of using the story the player. moments of the game, however, and dialogue sequences to pitted you in a boss fight against a communicate to the player, MGS3 It is the regrettable truth that as long-deceased psychic named The managed to use the elements of popular as the Metal Gear Solid Sorrow , who had the supernatural player choice to set the medium of a franchise is, it’s never popular for any ability to communicate with the dead. videogame apart from, say, books of these reasons. If MGS is the This haunting “fight” took place in a and movies. In a sense, Kojima gave original TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ghostly jungle river similar to one the you a portion of the game entirely, ACTION game and MGS2 is the one player had traversed earlier, except and somewhat perversely, player- with the annoying protagonist, MGS3 this time Snake was forced to wade created - that is, a product of nothing will be forever remembered as the upstream, dodging bullets and more than the player’s earlier choices one that is half James Bond, half John encountering the ghosts of every - and derived a meaningful message Rambo. But underneath that action- single life he took, ranging from from it. He completely surrendered movie exterior lies a brilliant sense of jungle animals he killed and ate to his game to the whims of the player’s game design that does, ironically, gruesome shadows of enemy soldiers choice (which stands as artistic what so many games fail to do who recount exactly how the grisly anathema to people like Roger Ebert adequately: tell a story only a deed was done. And, despite his ), and in doing so, he got across videogame can tell. extensive arsenal and elaborate exactly the message he wanted. hand-to-hand combat training, Snake Indeed, it is the player’s personal Pat Miller has been doing this for way couldn’t fight back - all he could do is involvement in the game - and thus too long. I am constantly choking on the raw No matter one’s own take on physicality of everyone around me, and existentialist philosophy, it’s easy to all I want is a bit of freedom. Only when concede the sentiment of Sartre’s play is we play is our time together heaven, but a fairly sophisticated one, and capturing otherwise I’m in agreement with a dead such a sentiment in the interactive French guy named Jean-Paul Sartre – medium would be quite a feat. In July hell is other people. 2005, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern accomplished that very feat, with an Sartre, like a whole bunch of other interactive drama called Façade. alienated folks throughout the ages, decided to express his angst in literary There are exceptions to every rule, and a form, particularly in a play called No definite exception to “hell is other Exit, from which the above phrase is people” was Phrontisterion 2005. I taken. The play features three watched, along with a gaggle of other individuals: a heterosexual man, a hopeful innovators, as the finished build heterosexual woman and a lesbian. It of Façade was played, for the first time, sets them in a well-decorated room on Chris Crawford’s kitchen table. I they’re told is their eternal resting place. remember the candor of the voice A single door admits them entry and actors, the significance of their motions - presumably escape, yet each time they much weightier than any FPS stroll - and attempt to leave, they’re held back by the careful typing of Laura Mixon, a social compunction. Efforts to be silent Storytron storybuilder, as she engaged and not interact with each other these virtual constructs with fresh eyes eventually fail, and every time a and nimble fingers. I asked Michael if a pleasurable relationship begins to form player could cajole the drama’s main between two parties, the third’s influence characters, the married Trip and Grace, disrupts the harmony. into a threesome; he said you could try. Like No Exit, Façade is a one act points and skinned with blank facial dramatic discourse, involving three textures. Some give the idea a queer actors in a room accessible by a single look of revulsion, fearing interactive portal – the catch is, the audience is one drama will subvert the industry’s of those three actors. The player traditional ludic values or even make interacts with dramatic elements to games “homosexual”. These fears are determine the outcome of the story, justified: Interactive drama is going to aptly coined “interactive drama.” change everything; the ludic will be Entering text on an open parser, the subverted. user’s expressive input is interpreted by the governing drama management AI’s Maybe people suffer because of each shallow language processing. These other; maybe we’re so defined by our interpretations boil down to combinations interactions with society and technology, of verb primitives, “discourse acts,” suffering is inherent and pervasive to which determine the resolution of a beat being human. Maybe every honest coder and the next successive beat, or major and graphic designer who woke up on dramatic chunk, of which there are 27 their office floor this morning did so total. Roughly 16 of these beats add up because it’s just the way things are. to a single play through, which can end When you’ve been idling (or working) in in one of four ways – each of which hell for long enough, it can certainly involves someone making an exit. seem like there’s no other way. The game industry has locked itself in a Most game designers would balk at the room, splitting cups of ramen for what term “interactive drama,” off handedly seems like an eternity of crunch time dismissing the possibility of virtual agony. The door is unlocked, but we stay characters and social gameplay as being in because of fear, held back by the call contrary to the nature of computers. of the collective, suspended in a grim They’d say games are supposed to be consensus. about physical conflict, measured in hit And why not? It’s a comfortable room, some technical glitch. The way out of critically and commercially, though few after all. We’ve got our plush couch, the ludic box might not come other commercial titles have explored our new NVIDIA powered graphics card, intuitively, and the hard problems of the market demand for paidia. our tidy assumptions about lineated interactive drama may seem ill goal-orientation, spatial level design, addressed by the above text. I humbly According to Game Designer Raph an uncross-able gulf between game and offer the blueprint for the key. Koster’s understanding, “Paidia just story which nevertheless keeps sending means ‘very big rulesets.’” The memetic hurricanes our way. The truth The theory of game design is heavily implication of this is any paidic title is is, play is older than both games and limited, as seen in practice. This is going to have very high content stories, and despite its parsing largely because any “theory of game demands and production costs. This fuzziness, end-game agency constraints design” has until recently been confined assumption ignores the very Zen-like and a rather contrived narrative set-up to fuzzy definitions inside the intuitive notion that complex results can result of a bickering couple with irreconcilable drives of individual developers. Many from simple rules, and the best paidic differences, Façade has a very real joy unnecessary assumptions are play is fostered by the confluence of a of play, fleshed out in free social embedded in the minds of practicing few robust mechanics. In Façade’s expression. Façade’s social dilemma designers. We’ve assumed games are case, these mechanics are the two has an exit, an exit found through play. games and that’s all there is to it, characters and the drama management players equate challenge with an AI, which mediates the player input. Unlike Sartre’s deterministic expository interesting experience, and there is no From these, a very real - if constrained text, Mateas and Stern have shown us, market for titles without concrete - freedom results. In their bold attempt hard coded in algorithmic form, there is objectives. In contrast to “ludic” is to support paidia in a dramatic context, hope, provided we’re inventive enough another Latin term, paidia, standing at Mateas and Stern have moved away to mediate our differences. Likewise, the other end of the spectrum. What from the discipline of game designers there is hope for the game industry; we commonly described as games is and toward the discipline of interactive Façade has shown us the door, all we ludic play, structured by rules and storytellers. have to do is walk through it. inherently goal-oriented. Paidic play is unstructured and opened ended, it is True, there is much complexity in each If you take my words seriously, running the primal learning activity that of Façade’s primary objects, but this to that door with dewy optimism, there predates games and culture. The Sims, necessary complexity is encapsulated in is a chance you may find it locked by a highly paidic title, has done very well the ideas of Grace, Trip and you. The introduction of the third party is person orbit. Hence the phrase: hell essential here; it is the spark that isn’t another person, hell is other people. ignites the play space. Were the play just you and Trip talking, the game In Sartre’s play, hell is an algorithm of would be relatively boring, and the social interaction that perpetuates constraints of the AI would become mutual suffering by the confluence of quickly noticeable, as the player’s frame three different people. In games, hell is of reference casually bounded outside the uncertainty that the given play loop the magic circle. Were there no you, the you’re riding will result in an interesting interactivity would not exist. reward, or whether it will continue to throw you into Sisyphus-like frustration. With the introduction of the third party, A player of Façade can feel, by the the system dynamics enter a realm intuitive virtue of the paidic mechanics, referred to by the often-abused term after enough play through, a resolution “emergent behavior.” In astrophysics, will come to Grace and Trip’s existential two celestial bodies will circle each other gripes and save their marriage. When in predictable patterns, but a third that moment comes, the player is celestial body increases the complexity graciously and thankfully shown the door. of interlocking motions, the three parties of Façade’s drama create a Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get relationship to focus on, constraining the hell out of here. the frame of reference and, paradoxically, increasing the room for Patrick Dugan is a ludosophist. He runs play within that constrained context. King Lud IC, a blog regarding game This rule of three is not a coincidence, design theory, memetics and interactive Sartre’s take on hell as a self- storytelling. He looks foward to perpetuating cell of social suffering prototyping with Chris Crawford’s depends on the third party to Storytron, and to pioneering socially- continually interrupt any stable two- oriented narrative challenge. Books seem to have become a thing of saw blockbusters like Civilization IV, Call case, the volcanically preserved city of more like a graduate project than a the past. As a society, we have become of Duty 2 and Brothers in Arms. This Pompeii – that the significance of it all money-making enterprise. more reliant on the internet, television fascination also played out on TV, where sunk in. In Pompeii, I was able to walk and movies to bring us information, HBO’s Rome fascinated us. At the box- around a true Roman city, perfectly And let’s be honest; the primary function entertainment and to pass time. Over office, people lined up to see new films preserved in a single snapshot of Roman of a videogame is to make money. Any the last few years, videogames have like Munich and Good Night and Good life some 2,000 years ago. Sound studio that seeks to make a product they weaseled their way into the same breath Luck. While history finds a frequent familiar? Videogame technology offers feel will not make money, but serve as other major entertainment mediums. home in modern entertainment, and exactly the same opportunity and more. some higher ideal, best be a cooperative Like the others, games span times, games grab more and more of society’s We know, roughly, what most major or charitable foundation. Otherwise, it’s settings and themes of all varieties. One attention, do those who develop games historical cities looked like, and could – not fair to the people whose livelihoods thing games have not done, though, is bear some responsibility to educate admittedly painstakingly – recreate them depend on the success or failure of the alter humanity’s fascination with its past. consumers on their past? in 3-D. It would be a mammoth project, product. Unless there is a market for but it would also offer people the chance purely educational history games – Historical games – or perhaps I should Personally, I studied History in university, to explore their past as realistically as which I don’t believe there is, at least say games set in the past – are among but it was not until I actually traveled to we can hope to allow, short of time- among the mainstream of gamers – fun the most popular. In the last year, we the one of the places I studied – in this travel. Unfortunately, this plan sounds is the number one priority. However, that doesn’t mean developers can simply change whatever they want about history. With every major “period- piece” Hollywood released, there is inevitably a team of historians complaining about the alteration of fact in the name of drama. For example, I wouldn’t be shocked if most people Battlefield 1942 is a good example. It is believed the Roman Emperor Commodus arcadey, but the weapons they use – at – played brilliantly by Joaquin Phoenix in least until the Secret Weapons expansion Gladiator - is either a fictional construct – were really used on the battlefields of like most of the rest of the film, or truly WWII. The maps, while scaled down an accurate depiction of the man himself. dramatically, do bear a great Commodus was by no means a good resemblance to real WWII battlefields. emperor and he truly was killed by a The game is fun, and people play it for gladiator, but the similarities between fun, but at the same time – whether fact and fantasy end there. At times like they realize it or not – they’ve also that, some complain and some are learned a little bit about their past. Call undisturbed, but of far more concern is of Duty 2 again drew on actual historical some never stop to question it. WWII accounts and made a very fun game. Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 Accuracy is one key that maintains the takes it a step further. Like the cult-hit suspension of disbelief in an audience. television series Band of Brothers, it is Hollywood learned this and now routinely based on the actual exploits of the 101st hires historians to ensure that their Airborn. UbiSoft produced a blockbuster picture is as authentic as the integrity of WWII fighting game and dared to the tale will allow. The game industry promote it as “one of the World’s Most has largely not yet made that leap. A Authentic World War II Videogames.” careful blend of actual history and a Unfortunately, it seems, right now, the compelling game set in the past makes only area where we see some thought for a fierce combination. But some given to history is in the WWII shooter videogames have done this. crowd. Perhaps this hails a sad trend - it seems I challenge developers to consider the as if history is being lost. I’ve talked to past when they create their next project. high-school students who didn’t know Our society has been dreaming of time- what a Nazi was. Rome is a foreign travel for centuries. Videogames offer us concept to too many people. It is the the best opportunity to metaphysically responsibility of society as a whole to explore that past. In books, TV and make sure future generations, not just movies, we’re taken there, but through stuffy historians at the local college, the eyes of others. In a game, the eyes remember the past. Yet, doing so of the character – if done well – are your requires they want to learn, and that is eyes. You cannot lose sight of the main why I look to the entertainment industry focus of a game: fun. However, I am not to pass along this knowledge to the so jaded to believe people do not want masses. to learn and explore their past if they can have fun doing it. As games grab So far, games are extremely behind the more of our society’s attention, they take other major mediums in relating history. it away from areas that had previously In television, we routinely see period- preserved history in the minds of the piece dramas, documentaries and even average person. In doing so, game developers take on part of the responsibility, and not only give a generally accurate portrayal of the past, but also make sure people can learn a thing or two from their game. have The History Channel. In movies, bio-pics are all the rage, and we can look to smash hits like Braveheart, blending Dana “Lepidus” Massey is the Lead fact and fiction, and credit them with at Content Editor for MMORPG.com and least getting people interested. Besides former Co-Lead Game Designer for Wish. WWII, it just does not seem games have held up their end of the bargain, which is a shame, as games are the medium best equipped to do it. EDITORIAL PRODUCTION BUSINESS Executive Editor Producer Publisher Julianne Greer Jonathan Hayter Alexander Macris

Contributing Editors Layout Artist Associate Publishers Joseph Blancato Jessica Fielhauer Jerry Godwin JR Sutich Gregory Lincoln Lead Web Developer Research Manager Whitney Butts Director of Advertising Nova Barlow Susan Briglia Web Developer Contributors Erik Jacobson Media Sales Associate Khurram Ahmed Laura Rotondo Shannon Drake IT Director Patrick Dugan Jason Smith Chairman of Themis Group Dana Massey Thomas S. Kurz Pat Miller John Szczepaniak

Volume 1, Issue 29, © 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 An approach to God in videogames The idea of a single victim being able to cannot begin directly from either God or shoulder all the blame and malcontent in videogames. The complexity in the a system gives every other individual in argument requires us to take a step the system a sense of safety and back. Without delving into a specific god security. A society with a scapegoat will or religion, we will examine how the try its best to preserve it. The Gerasene general ideas of religious theory and demoniac was chastised, fettered and spirituality, as well as godliness and marginalized before Jesus arrived, but godlessness, are explored, espoused and never killed. The scapegoat represents a suppressed in videogames. single solution to all problems. So long as the status quo is upheld, the society’s The manifestation of religious theory in balance will be maintained. This is videogames is much more commonplace precisely why the Gerasenes were upset than religion itself. The particular notion and demanded that Jesus leave after he in mind is the scapegoat theory, which healed the demoniac. occurs in virtually every piece of art. We are, in fact, surrounded by it in our In any society, the scapegoat is not literature, film, society and politics. So singly responsible for all wrong with the much so, psychologists propagate it as world, but he is made to take on all the their theory, and anthropologists as theirs. blame. To this end, he is a victim. The chief antagonist in a game is not the root While every religion draws on scapegoat of all evil, or even all disorder. Hundreds theory, the most well-known example of problems plague a society, from occurs in the Bible’s New Testament. disease to famine and drought to sudden Three of the four Gospels retell the climate shift and of course, the happenings when Jesus lands in disappearance of mana. No single entity Gerasene, across the Sea of Galilee. is ever the agent that causes all the pain Here, Jesus performs the miracle of and suffering in every part of the game exorcizing the village demoniac of the world, but invariably, a single entity is demon, Legion. The Gospels of Mark made to shoulder all the blame. Very (5:1-20) and Luke (8:26-39) offer the often, a scapegoat narrative involves a greatest detail. vague darkness overwhelming a quiet and peaceful land. The archvillain is example is more powerful because never the master of all the negativity Mother Brain’s death triggers a self- that the dark forces bring. Too often, we destruct mechanism across the entire see game worlds shrouded in evil invite planet. Mother Brain is the perfect minor antagonists, like bandits and scapegoat. Her death causes the mercenaries, with no affiliation to the destruction of every sign of her single nemesis who personifies and existence. Bowser serves the same epitomizes evil. Whether the hero purpose when his armies invade the engages the minor antagonists or not Mushroom Kingdom. No matter how remains a matter of a gamer’s many Koopa Troopas are downed, the preference, but the dissolution of the world is in disarray until Bowser is scapegoat will resolve and redress the defeated. smallest and most tangential act of evil operating anywhere in the universe. Legend and game designer Shigeru Miyamoto voiced this truth when he said In literature, the Ring of Power in The Link is born to oppose the rise of every Lord of the Rings holds the essence of Ganondorf. Link appears whenever Sauron, and so its destruction Hyrule needs him; the deeper implication guarantees the end of its master. The is Link needs Ganondorf. Each episode of end of Sauron immediately resolves all The Legend of Zelda’s fiction remains far the evil in Middle-earth. He is the from completion, even after the final scapegoat. Middle-earth was on the brink dungeon, so long as the duel against of ruin and nothing was going right, but Ganondorf remains pending. the single act of killing Sauron fixes everything. Convenient. The scapegoat represents a single solution to all the troubles afflicting an Tolkien’s work might seem overly entire universe. In any game, beating a simplified in light of this theory, but like I single level or boss never comes close to said, scapegoat theory is everywhere. the single swift act of removing the Samus destroying Mother Brain in archvillain. So, Sonic has Dr. Robotnik; Metroid has the same effect. In fact, this Megaman has Dr. Wily; Ryu has M. Bison; and Earthworm Jim has The Evil that draws more mainstream attention is Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, the god game. We move from pseudo- Sweaty, Pus-Filled, Malformed, Slug-For-A- game to pseudo-mythology. These titles, Butt … Each malevolent boss becomes a which range from Populous to Black & victim raised to power through the same White to Doshin the Giant, serve as group recycled rituals and then sacrificed for the life managers. An entire village or society sake of a balanced universe. is at your mercy, and the decisions regarding who should prosper and who The list might well be endless. Every hero should suffer are solely yours. These goes on a journey to exorcise demons, games are pseudo-mythologies because and like Jesus when he performs any other the narrative, as you play it out, becomes miracle, he is celebrated. In videogames, the mythology. No pre-existing story the death of the archvillain returns the guides the empowered player on how to game’s universe to a Utopia. Religion is act. A village’s erection of monuments for directly avoided in videogames, even the player-deity is a flimsy game mechanic though its influence is obvious. serving as a novelty doing nothing to enhance the mythos or the gameplay. The Apart from this virtually universal element, shrines represent a token nod to religion and videogames rarely collide. The spirituality, and the self-aggrandizement in obvious, though still uncommon, exception the context means little. Despite the very is Bible games, which tend to play more name of the genre, the god-ness of a like video Jeopardy! than traditional player is never fleshed out. videogames. Crave Entertainment’s aptly- titled The Bible Game, now available for Another interesting aspect of god games is multiple platforms, is the most recent they consistently offer the player-deity entry with this goal. But when “gameplay” rule over primitive village people. Is this devolves into something resembling a to suggest that the fiction the game world Sunday school catechism, not much tries to create would not survive in a gaming happens. contemporary setting? Is the modern player too arrogant and narcissistic to Whereas The Bible Game might be believe a god game could function in her considered a God game, a larger genre city? If Project Gotham Racing 3 can create a sense of immersion and function fully without any place of attachment to its world by recreating worship. As mayor, the player makes present-day Los Angeles, why can’t decisions regarding airports, sea ports, Black & White 3? hospitals, fire departments, police stations, post offices and residential Doing so would invite present-day areas, but is not allowed to consider religious iconography. Lionhead Studios building a church. wants the player to think of a god (or God Himself) without the difficulties and The same philosophy pervades the other complexities associated with religion. For games mentioned. EA’s overwhelmingly the same reason PGR3 avoids depicting popular The Sims and Linden Labs’ churches, mosques and synagogues, burgeoning Second Life both promise a Populous follows suit. Despite the complete virtual existence for your obvious place temples and cathedrals digital avatar. You can earn money, do would have in a god game, they are chores and engage in intercourse. These ignored. They are removed from the are, to a large extent, the goals of the context by unerringly giving the player game. You cannot, however, visit or control over gangs of hunters and attend a place of worship. No avatar is gatherers. so distinctly Hindu that a Bindi is visible on its forehead, and none is so distinctly As we move from games promising an Orthodox Jew to permit preserved group life management to those forelocks. Both games bear a message advertising group and individual life for the player, arguing a virtual life is simulations, we can move from pseudo- best enjoyed bereft of spirituality. Even a mythology to “no mythology.” Titles like game like GTA: San Andreas, lauded for SimCity, The Sims and Second Life all try its huge and complete living, breathing to create a complete life within a game world lacks places of worship, but modernized, closed system. And still, is replete with dialog repeating the they all deny the presence of religion, words “God-damn!” religion iconography and places of worship. The seminal SimCity, for Among the games trying to outline even example, asserts that a society can a crude belief system (the one that usually explains the creation of the concerning the obvious spirituality of its see they are realized in many different world), most create some derivative universe (like Shadow of the Colossus). genres. Take, for example, Tales of simple mythology to service its game The former places many characters and Symphonia, Killer7 and Katamari world. The Legend of Zelda and Final settings from Greek mythology in its Damacy. Fantasy both employ these tactics. A engine not only to carve a narrative, host of other games will mention a group which employs significant borrowing ToS is an RPG that creates a believable of all-powerful gods that either from Greek legend, but also tries to mythology. It recounts the journey a abandoned the Earth, or were locked enhance the gameplay with group takes to regenerate a dying world, away by some malevolent force. This representative opponents, weapons and and involves thick symbolism of lackadaisical consideration of a world puzzles. On the other hand, Shadow of scapegoats, rituals, prayers, angels, mythology is trite and hackneyed. the Colossus offers an invisible demons and an all-powerful goddess, mythology with minimal information Martel. The game’s design presents Religion is specifically avoided in such regarding the circumstances of its world. frequent priests, priestesses, temples titles, despite the layers of complexity it Each of the colossi is clearly immense, and altars, and the characters often utter could unravel, because it would powerful and unique – the three most prayers in their exclamations. These compromise the integrity of the organic important characteristics of a deity, but nuances fill out the mythology in ways world the designers intended. Religion beyond that obvious interpretation, we ignored by most other games. and spirituality among players - be they are given little insight. Both these religious, sacrilegious or passionately approaches rule out traditional religious Killer7 crosses every line regarding the irreligious - remain higher on the iconography, while maintaining a sense sacred and sanctimonious. Every icon, hierarchy than any other aspect of our of sacredness and sanctity toward the image, figure and name is subverted. humanity, like economics, politics, race game elements. Every angelic figure the game presents and nationalism. Religion must offer a must have its wings shot off by the more intimate relationship and There are a handful of games that player. And yet, the player still manages experience. As such, it is unspeakable. accomplish what God of War does. That to serve as a hero in the game world. The word “God” becomes taboo, but is, employ its mythology to not only This is clearly an extreme realization of “god” is somehow still acceptable. influence, but also enhance all the vigilantism and extra-judicial violence, aspects of the game. Games with which consistently acknowledges the Occasionally, we see titles embracing developed mythologies engineered for a redemptive powers of faith and real mythologies as functions in the specific videogame, however, are more spirituality moments before abandoning game world (like God of War) as well as significant to this discourse. Although them for the game’s prescribed brand of titles choosing to say very little these cases are rare, it is interesting to justice and resolution. Coincidentally, the last time a game tried to accomplish a to be a touchy subject for game similar task, the result was Shiny designers, but remains a topic of active Entertainment’s Messiah, an abject discourse among players. While faith- failure, commercially and critically. Even based games are niche products, in hindsight, I doubt anyone would argue numbers of gamers of faith are growing it proved to be avant-garde. Subverting and looking for titles that – at the very the bifurcation of not just good and evil, least – do nothing to espouse but ethical and unethical, moral and philosophies contrary to their own. The immoral is not, in and of itself, internet has provided an outlet for provocative. purposes of such enlightenment.

Katamari Damacy develops a mythology Groups of gamers with single religious of an irresponsible King of All Cosmos and spiritual inclinations advise each and the player-controlled Prince. The idea other on the appropriateness, and by that a katamari will cling to anything extension wholesomeness, of games’ smaller than itself provides an awareness plots, themes and characterizations. A of perspective not realized since the 1977 game like Killer7 might score an enviable short science filmPowers of Ten. Being 80% for its gameplay component, forced into motion at the command of a adjudged based on graphics, sound and higher being, even the great Prince of All control, but manage a meager 20% for Cosmos is left to literally roll to and fro its appropriateness review, which over the Earth with no greater objective considers its graphic and gratuitous than to grow before disappearing into the violence and sexual themes, thus yielding stars. The existential ennui suggested in an overall score of 50%. the premise sounds remarkably like the desperation that left Schopenhauer The use of such a review system begs bewildered some 150 years ago. more questions of what the player hopes to get out of his gaming. When a gamer Having looked at the practicality of feels his or her sensitivities being religion in videogames, we are left to questioned, the wholesomeness of the consider the possibility of religion in playing experience is undermined. The videogaming. Religion has revealed itself entertainment value of the game is not subverted (as shocking as some of the imagine gaming imbued with religion in violence in Resident Evil 4 may be, it’s every conceivable way, the results would still damn fun), but the value of the be jarring. Consider id’s Doom series. entertainment becomes diminished. The How would you react to the games if the player will not want to play around designers had further enhanced the idea children, for example. If the of fighting through Christian Hell with appropriateness of the software based Christian iconography? That would, after on the criteria outlined by a religious all, make more sense. What if the imps lifestyle remains a major determinant of and demons were fought with holy water its playability, an impasse is inevitable. and crucifixes, instead of a space Given the increasing popularity of marine’s standard issue handgun and the Mature-rated games, and the aging BFG9000. What if you were required to demographics of the hobbyists, it seems pick up the Old Testament’s 39 books for that both sides of the equation will lose. an Easter egg hunt? The conscientious player will begin to suffer through his pastime, enduring it Not to parody Doom, or make you laugh, as a guilty pleasure. If the disturbing but the image conjured is compellingly themes continue to escalate and absurd. Our human mythoi are beginning frustrate the player, the sense of to converge in videogames. The remorse will swell to overcome the scapegoat in any game with a boss player’s attitude toward the hobby and hearkens to its religious roots. But new the industry supporting it, and not just a methods of blending religion and few titles. I believe this question of spirituality are clearly being forged. The wholesomeness will come to the fore examples of recent successes cannot be over the next decade once we all agree ignored. videogames are art. Khurram is pursuing his MA in English at Games incorporate religion to varying home in Kingston, Jamaica and holds a degrees, under varying circumstances, long-term goal of developing a working to varying success. If we were to framework for videogame criticism. It made sense, initially. There wasn’t the different types of high-powered machine memory - or the budgets - for much gun without breaking a sweat.” narrative beyond, “You are the ultimate good guy fighting the ultimate bad guy. This hero strides a wasteland, a strange Now please enjoy 20 levels of platforms world where a teenager or a government and jumping puzzles.” However, as the commando is the only person with a brain games industry evolved, chasing the or willpower, and where the entire world is graphical rainbow, its ethics remain firmly against him. Parents are lovable oafs rooted in an adolescent nihilism, a urging you to put on a sweater before you depressing action movie world where only go off to fight evil, kidnapping-prone plot one man can stop him, and everyone devices, or dead. The dead parent is the else is an unthinking automaton your way you make an RPG deep, unless you’re avatar can use and abuse as it amuses him. going to pull a “Luke, I am your father,” before he takes on his ultimate giant lizard Consider the average game protagonist; form for the thrilling finale. Governments when he’s not a lovingly rendered stand-in either conspire against you (Deus Ex, Half- for the artist’s fantasies, he’s a Life), are outright tools of evil manipulated misunderstood superman with world- by the evil bad guy (Final Fantasy IV), or changing power. Alternately, there’s the they’re paralyzed, distant and/or useless, torn teenager with daddy issues lugging as is the case with every small town around an oversized sword. While most plagued by monsters that’s forced to hire a game heroes might be 35-year-old men ragtag band of wandering mercenaries to with muscles big enough to crush walnuts, clean up the spooky old cave outside town. from a philosophical standpoint, they’re black-clad teenagers flipping ostentatiously Hoping for help from your passel of friends through a copy of The Fountainhead, and sidekicks? Of course, they’re useless, hoping someone asks them about it. A caught strafing into a wall or needing more protagonist’s good qualities usually come micromanagement than a 3-year-old, and down to: “Can carry approximately 140 that’s assuming they aren’t planning to betray you or sell you out to the bad finale ofMessiah , rather than anything guys. Be it Kain’s constant betrayals in comforting. Final Fantasy IV or the Marines in Halo, sidekicks are somewhere between In the game hero’s world, ethics may outright sellouts and useless cannon exist, but only in the most dubious of fodder. I felt no compunction about ways. Perhaps there’s an alignment gunning down my fellow Marines in Halo system cribbed from D&D, but a geek- and taking their ammo. Why should I? wide embrace of black trenchcoats and All their cohorts did was make remarks Darth Vader means the Dark Side is about my sanity. It’s not like they were usually fun, and sometimes the better going to desert, and even if they did, I’d way to go. Even if it’s a wholesale just gun them down and take their copying of the Lawful Good-Chaotic Evil ammo. I didn’t face the prospect of an system, the truest of the Lawful Good in-game fragging, the way a crazy officer paladins are prone to careening around in the real world might. killing random monsters in the same manner, sometimes right beside, the Turning to religion is equally futile. When most Chaotic of evil rogues. the gods aren’t non-existent - and they usually are - they’re working against Ethical character decisions are made you, as in God of War or even Kid Icarus. mainly on the basis of what powers you Maybe the church can provide you some get by picking good versus evil, rather solace in these dark times? Well, that’s than anything that speaks to the spirit. assuming it’s not literally full of evil, as Can we wallow in the abyss for many in Diablo Mark One, or figuratively years and really say it hasn’t affected us conspiring to do evil to you, as in Final with a straight face? Yes, games allow us Fantasy Tactics. Maybe they’ll help you to vent our spleen as vilely as we might get back on your feet with a choose, but an essential part of catharsis resurrection, but odds are, they will is the renewal of the appreciation for life, charge handsomely for it. Spiritual which most games lack. They encourage release is likely to be in the form of God the wallowing, but the ending’s more ditching you for your behavior, as in the likely to be a setup for a sequel than anything emotionally affecting or noir. Sin City is tame and boring fare enlightening. when everything is gritty tales of antiheroes struggling against a dark world. Even the heroes themselves are seldom likable. Either they’re pneumatic, buffed This lament is as old as the industry and pumped, and brainless connoisseurs itself, but the time has come for the of mindless explosions or they’re regular- industry to grow up. Hewing to an Joe types designed to appeal to people adolescent ethos of “me against the beyond the buff-guy-with-guns crowd. world” is damaging to the industry as a As a quick exercise, name the last five whole, and it restricts the possibilities videogame protagonists you’d want to inherent in the sheer power of modern hang out with. Personally, I came up gaming. Technicolor is out there, but we with three. like the black and white of our storytelling, and besides, the man’s They’re usually cardboard cutouts, keeping me down. It’s why outsiders designed to let you project your own seldom take it seriously from a desires and personality onto them storytelling, artistic and philosophical (though the more cynical among us may perspective, for the same reason that no say it’s because nobody wants to pay one takes 14-year-old “f--- the world” writers), rather than having a life and door-slam theatrics seriously. If we can personality of their own. Likable make world-class boob jiggle physics, protagonists are out there, but there someone out there can write a have been hundreds more faceless compelling, interesting good guy who’s protagonists fresh out of Cookie Cutter as interesting as the bad guys we know Hero School, mowing down enemies and love. because designers needed a stand-in for the player. Antiheroes have their place, Millionaire playboy Shannon Drake lives but we barely have the well-developed a life on the run surrounded by Japanese good guys against whom to cast them. schoolgirls and videogames. He also Noir means nothing when everything is writes about anime and games for WarCry. Khurram Ahmed, “Making the Sacrifice” The outside world that the Phantom could exist in would be one without Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft. And really Each week we ask a question of our staff and featured writers to learn a little bit ... can you imagine any games worth about them and gain some insight into where they are coming from. This week’s playing in such a world? question is: Joe Blancato, Contributing Editor I actually experienced this at CES 2005. I was scheduled to meet with the Phantom team for an interview, but the booth number they gave me led me to a circular structure with no windows or perceivable doors.

Patrick Dugan, continue to exist if remaining in JR Sutich, “An Exit” solipsism means remaining unemployed. Contributing Editor We are all insane, and the purest No console system truly exists until I can delusion is the belief that we exist. Dana Massey, play either a Star Wars or Shadowrun Wait ... what’s a Phantom? “History through Games” RPG on it. If someone manages to get it into a box Pat Miller, that is cut off from the outside world, Julianne Greer, “Metal Gear Pacifist” can we leave it there? Executive Editor As a philosophy major I am compelled to You can remove the Phantom from say: There is no guarantee that anything Shannon Drake, immediate presence, but the Idea of the in this world exists besides me. “Striding the Wasteland” Phantom is eternal and immutable; the Sure. You can keep vapor in a box. But idea of a thing is more real than the As a starving student I am compelled to eventually it becomes that icky water thing itself. say: There is no guarantee that I will that runs down your mirror.