Blogpost #6: Mass Effect Part 2

          Cosmicism has become an idea that is revolving my mind and I am still wishing to seek other people's view on this. Why do I get the idea that comicism is what is happening to our lives right now. With this amazing thought as well, I have also decided to buy a copy of Mass Effect 3 for my Xbox 360. I think I will enjoy playing Mass Effect because like I said, Cosmicism! This will be the second part of my Mass Effect blogposts that discusses Cosmicism.

          This second article is entitled " Philosophy and Mass Effect: A Response to Popbioethics" written by erikthereddest. The article was posted on lanternhollowpress.com .


" One must accept the premise that the technology to explore the universe is a trap, and a structure that forces galactic civilization to follow an invariable path. "

          Technology is a trap ! Woah. Now that is something that surprise me. Suddenly after reading that part I got a self-realization of what technology is. I know that improving technology might be bad but can be reverted if we control it's growth. Another but ! Yes ! It is just a trap. A trap that might cause us to steer towards an undesirable path. Why did I say undesirable ? Because when we reach this certain path, we will realize it was something painful. What we did has no turning point. We can't change. We can't do anything. We now just clinging to a small spec of hope and wishing for survival. Salvation will become impossible for we are on our own.

          This is one of the fun thoughts that invade my brain everytime I think of what I said "Salvation will become impossible for we are on our own " . I usually think that there might be false prophets during this time. Why would there be false prophets ? Obviously because they want to feed off of people's misery. Misery from the realization that there is no absolute or superior divine watching over them. Likewise, this is the perfect time for the arrival of false prophets. But like I said, this is one of the fun thoughts I have so I also imagine in the reality where cosmicism is present, heroes will arise. Heroes that will stand even though salvation is out of our reach. Heroes that will fight for survival not actual salvation. And finally we might realize something, faith is given to ourselves and to ourselves only.

          Now I want to go back to the invariable path. What kind of compelling forces of evil might awaits us there ? I have a fun prediction. It can either be technology itself or maybe even worse. Ourselves. We might reach the point where this path might be the place where we no longer hold our old moral values because of technology. We might become cold and heartless machines that is very similar to how technology has changed everything. Now that is really horrible. With that kind of event occurring, we might even drive our race to extinction.

" Mass Effect is the first blockbuster franchise in the postmodern era to directly confront a godless, meaningless universe indifferent to humanity. "

         There you go. This is another reason why I now want to play Mass Effect 3. It became famous without the masses going against it's framework. A godless universe does not have problems with my own belief because if you're an open-minded person, everything is possible. But anyway like the quote wants us to know, our existence means nothing. We have no meaning. Don't take it in the wrong way. It is just a certain type of belief. No one is forcing you to believe it. Now for my reccomendation, for those who haven't played Mass Effect just like me, We should give it a shot. Let us allow our selves to dwell in its structure that was built on cosmicism. That would really give us a greater feel on how cosmicism is portrayed. 

Blogpost #5: Mass Effect Part 1

          The only thing I remember from Mass Effect is that people were really angry on the way it ended. My friends were really frustrated because of how it ended. That is the only thing I remember because I didn't really want to play Mass Effect. I don't hate it but I really don't feel like playing it. Maybe it is because I was not able to start it from the first game that's why I lost the motivation to play it. But anyway, I am gonna discuss once again the video game's philosophy. I actually found two articles regarding this to help me discuss it further. So what I am gonna do is that I will actually do them in separate blogposts to be able to focus on only one.

          The first article I read is entitled " Why Mass Effect is the Most Important Science Fiction Universe of Our Generation " and it was written by Kyle Munkittrick who posted it on io9.com.

          " The flaw is a simple one: the assumption that life has meaning, that intelligent life has a purpose, and that humanity contributes anything to the universe. H.P. Lovecraft, a man "against the world, against life," refused to assume the universe was good. Out of that refusal crawled the sublime philosophy of Cosmicism. "

          Cosmicism is really an interesting concept. Interesting enough for me to get really satisfied. What I mean about being satisfied is for the question " Why do we exist? ". The way it tells us that our true purpose is above and beyond our own understanding and perception is a good enough answer for me. The way we project our beliefs into the fabric of universe itself might probably not be worth anything. Everything we have done can be erased in an instant for the things we have been doing was never and will never be in line with the meaning of our existence. The only reason I think we're doing this is because we are struggling an answer. All our efforts and attempts are just a way to search for the right answer. But like the concept of Cosmicism, our struggles will be for nothing because our meaning in existing is beyond our own hands. There probably is a higher form of meaning in the fabric of the universe but maybe this was not meant for us to discover for we are just small part of the grand architecture of existence and how things work.

          With these ideas, we can't really deny the fact that well, the universe is a bad place. So in the midst of evil vibes within the cycle, is being evil still right ? No, it is still not right even though we might not realize the things we do and why we do them, that is not a good excuse to be evil. Since we are in the blind when it comes to the meaning of existence, we should cling to our morals. While we hang on to our morals, we never let go of ourselves. Well isn't that a a good thing ? Standing against the evil tide of the galaxy ? Evil will never prevail if good makes a move against it. Since the galaxy has become a place similar to the void or oblivion, the only thing we can really do is to do good and survive. Stay true to our own moral beliefs and let these beliefs be our guide through our efforts for survival. We might not know our meaning of being here, but we know that what makes us " us " is our moral understanding that we must survive but not in a dark way but as much as possible in a good or best of ways.

" Why fight for survival in a meaningless universe? "

          This is the best quote and question for me. This is another form of portrayal of our everyday lives. Why do we struggle everyday ? Why do we need to survive ? I am not gonna answer this question because I recommend the readers to just think deeply about this question. Everyone has their own answer to this. Everyone has there own purpose. But don't deny the fact that it can be meaningless. Again readers, think deeply about it and answer the question. After you have answered, ask yourself this, " Will it be worth it in the end ? "

Blogpost #4: Fallout

          Oh yeah ! Another great piece of work from Bethesda ! Fallout ! Now before anything else, I just want to say that I regret not playing this game. I always said to myself that open-world games were my favorite types and I never even played Fallout which makes me really sad. Anyway, Fallout is a game that surrounds on the idea of moral decision. A game of moral decision, now that is one of the greatest perks a video game can ever have. Okay now let us put those aside for a while and let us begin tackling the philosophy inside these decisions.

          So like always, I read an article with same topic like the one I am currently studying right now and then try to relate and explain my side. So the article I read was entitled " Moral Decision Making in Fallout " which was written by Marcus Schulzke who posted it on gamerstudies.org

          " Games like Fallout cultivate what Aristotle called "phronesis" - the practical wisdom of knowing how to act morally in particular situations. "

          Phronesis ! Now that is one of my new favorite words with deep meanings. Now phronesis is a really good way to describe different values of different players of the game. There is a very high chance that the decisions we make in Fallout are different with another player. Because of this, we are often given actual consequences in our in game decision. For me, this are the virtual counterpart of actual real life consequences. Since we carry out our own perspective in morality inside the game, our personalities are the ones present in our character. Since they are ours, it just goes to show that whatever consequence we got from this video games is probably gonna be the same in real life. Now this is actually a good thing because if we encounter really bad consequences in the game, this could really change our moral view. Like I said, our own perspective in morality is present inside the game which means it is our fault that we received this consequence. There is something wrong with our own perspective causing us somehow to force ourselves to change it. Maybe this is what was meant when the writer said that this can make players more wiser and more sensitive. We change because of these kind of faults causing us to become wiser and more sensitive because we never really want to encounter really bad consequences especially in real life.

          " our actions in the game determine what our relation is to the game in reality "

          That is very deep quote and I think we can all agree. The way we do things in video games is just a virtual representation of our actions in reality. I know we sometimes realize this not only in playing fallout but in may other games. I could think of one. The Walking Dead. Man that game would really push you in making moral decisions in dire situations. But anyway, we learn from these actions and usually become affected of the results. What if this could happen in real life ? Yeah. That is my question to myself when I am really into decision making in games. I will say it again readers. These are just virtual counterparts of what we do in real life. Now here is my suggestion to all of you. Please reflect on your actions in video games and then ask yourself the same question I ask myself " What if this could happen in real life ? ". You might learn something about yourself and you might even change for the better.  

Blogpost #3: Bioshock Infinite

          Oh yeah! Bioshock Infinite! One of the few games I really wanted to finish but I really could not because of some odd reason. I always liked Elizabeth and those motorized patriots. Recently I realized something in Bioshock. There is actually a philosophy presented in the plot which blew my mind. Now before I start talking about it, I just want to make something clear. I might have a different understanding in the philosophy than other people. My understanding might be different but please bear with me. Now let us begin!

          In order to understand Bioshock Infinite deeper, I read this article entitled " Shoot First, Ask Questions Later " written by Michael Thomsen. The website where I found the article is www.slate.com.

         " The heart of all revolutionary causes is a belief that people deserve salvation from their present conditions. The anti-revolutionary mind is not opposed to salvation but simply believes it is impossible. (Think about this in context of the game’s ending revelations, when you get there.) "Some men crave money, some men crave love. My father craves a flood of fire," Elizabeth says to DeWitt on the road to the climax, something it seems everyone in Columbia craves. "Why do we deserve salvation?" By Infinite's end, Levine's answer seems clear: We don't. "

          Well isn't this something ? Being an anti-revolutionary or just the idea of it has not yet actually crossed my mind till now. If you read the whole article you'll see how this idea was portrayed through the characters especially to the Vox Populi, the revolutionary group in the game. Salvation is the prize of revolution and freedom always come with salvation. But something makes you think, the irrational violence caused by " revolution " . We destroy and kill in the process. It is for our salvation, yes that is true but is it justifiably good ? Are we given the right to violently protest because we want revolution. Now that is definitely something to think about.

          As much as my heart wishes to go against this idea, my mind seems to go with this kind of idea. Yes I know we all deserve freedom and has the right to fight for it but there is still something about the game's philosophy that makes me have a cold feeling about the idea of revolution. Bioshock Infinite did a good job if they were able to implant this idea to my mind and other gamers.

" There is an overabundance of revolutions where the struggle produces horrific acts of violence "

          Woah. That makes a strong expression doesn't it. With a little more adjustment, people might understand what it means. I am not saying that revolutions were bad. I am simply saying that people should understand even just tidbit of what the anti-revolutionary idea is. By the way don't worry guys, I am not an anti-revolutionary guy. I wish for freedom and salvation as much as the same person if the situation in the political state gets dire. For those who read this blogpost, I really wish that you could let even just a small part of the game's philosophy sip into your mind. I enjoyed the way it challenged my own philosophy on revolution. Try to let the philosophy sink into you and assure you your time will not be wasted.

  

Blogpost #2: Video Games: Philosophy Within

          Due to long hours of thinking and arguing with my self, I have finally chosen a path on how to tackle my topic. I chose philosophy. In the eyes of my close ones, it is very unusual for me to choose something with a deeper meaning. That's the thing, I chose philosophy because it is unusual but little did people know, I enjoy talking about philosophy because sometimes I like to relate it to how society works. But you know what's the best thing about this ? It is philosophy in video games which makes it ten times better. Now that I said the things I wanted, let us begin to study about the philosophy in video games.

          Before I go jump directly into discussing more on the specific points, I decided to be introduced into my chosen path. I read this article called which is a review about the "Philosophy Through Video Games" which was a study done by Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox. The review was written by Mr. J. Ryan Parker and I found it on www.patheos.com.

         "They argue, “The fantasies that we indulge in about ourselves when we pretend to be characters in a fictional world teach us about our place within the ‘real’ world, and this is precisely the sort of self-knowledge (one must surely assume) that will aid in the pursuit of true autonomy within our lives” (143). "

          I really want to talk about this part because it touched me in a very weird way. The way that it said that they argued that our "pretend" roles in video games actually teach us in our real roles in life, that phrase really got me. Why ? Because I feel like this is actually true. Take me as an example, I learned how to blend and act out my role smoothly because of the different video games I played.  How ? You tend to adapt to your role in a deeper way whenever your playing. I can't really explain how it works but that is just the way it is. Gamers suddenly fall into a weird spell or illusion that we feel that we ourselves are inside the video game. Our own self and personality get directly involved in our role causing some small or minor changes in the way we act as ourselves both in video games and reality.

          
          " While video game criticism has yet to reach the cultural status of its film counterparts, academic writing about and research into video games, their popularity, and cultural influence is certainly getting closer " 

          That quote presented above, that is one of the things that really inspired me in taking the path of philosophy in video games. I wanted to contribute more while we are getting closer to popularity. I also felt happy since I found out that there are people out there who actually wants to dig dipper in the philosophy hidden within video games. It is true that the usual people who actually know these things are what we call the more " hardcore " gamers. But still, even a normal gamer can know these and understand them. I mean hardcore or not we are still all gamers and we can all understand video games. But then again, it is still a matter of choice if we want to learn about stuff. I am gonna end this blog with a simple suggestion, try to be more attached to your role in a video game you are currently playing. Try to relate it to your role in reality and you might realize a connection between your two roles.