Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Discussion

Are their actual examples of video games containing actual philosophies in them?

Video Games and Philosphy

          Video games have always been a medium of philosophy ever since. Game developers put their different philosophies in different video games. Philosophers always said that video games are a way to escape reality because like philosophers said, “Life is Crap”. Video games are mediums that people can manipulate. Video games are what people want them to be.

          An article the researcher read entitled “How might video games be good for us?” and was written by a philosopher named Jane McGonigal. The article can be found at www.bigquestiononline.com

          “Life is crap, and it’s full of pain and suffering, and the ONLY thing that makes it worth living the ONLY thing that makes it possible to get up in the morning and go on living is play. Art, and play.”

          The philosopher the writer encountered delivered his message clearly. Video games are mediums to excape reality. Since life is full of pain and suffering, we clearly just want to leave and video games are perfect for that.

          Like what the researcher said, video games are what people want them to be. The pain and suffering experienced everyday are being portrayed in video games so that the players themselves can be the ones who can solve them. That is where philosophy enters video games. Different video games are like different scenarios that have different philosophies. Whether it be political, scientific or others, video games and their gameplay and storylines are now mediums of philosophy.

Bioshock Infinite

          Bioshock Infinite had its philosophy centered only on one thing. The anti-revolutionary idea.

          In Bioshock Infinite and as well as the other Bioshocks in the series, all setting are placed in unbelievably perfect conditions. The first was the “Rapture” which was an underwater utopia where science prospers and the second is “Columbia” which was a floating city for the American Exceptionalism.

          The researcher will only tackle about the floating city in Bioshock Infinite. Now, the floating city was another floating utopia but has one big flaw. The one big flaw is called racism. Racism was rampant across Columbia which caused an uprising lead by the revolutionary Daisy Fitzroy. This is where the anti-revolutionary philosophy of the researcher is gonna be discussed.

          The researcher read an article entitled, “Shoot First, Ask Questions Later” written by Michael Tomsen that can be found in www.slate.com .

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

          The writer of the article has seen the revoltion of Vox Populi in the game as only an irrational violence. Irrational violence that was highly uncalled for and nothing more. This is one of the philosophies that Bioshock Infinite wants to explore or explain in its own way.

In Bioshock, revolution is portrayed as an irrational violence that is not actually justifiable. People are hurt and killed in the process. No one was given the right to violently protest just because everyone wishes for a revolution. This was a point Bioshock is trying to make.

The Vox Populi was used to portray this anti-revolutionary philosophy. The Vox Populi in the game was the revolutionary group that wishes for salvation. The group had so much belief that they will save the state and cause the revolution to succeed. As time passed, the leader , Daisy Fritzroy , became already power hungry and wanted to do everything just for the revolution. A perfect example was a character in the game who almost died just because of Daisy’s views of revolution. That character was just an innocent boy caught up with problems but as the game wants to portray, revolution did not care. There is already too many revolutions occurring in the world that cause already too much violence.

Bioshock used violence in revolutions so that players receive the message. A message that could not possibly be delivered in no other appropriate way. Violence in the video game was perfect in trying to portray Bioshock’s philosophy about the anti-revolutionary idea.

Fallout 3

          Fallout 3’s philosophy is related on moral decision making. In a more complicated term, this is referred to by Aristotle as phronesis.

          The researcher has a hazy perception towards this philosophy for the researcher himself is not quite adept in the subject of decision making. But the researcher has an assumption that this kind of moral-decisions in video games can be related to real-life encounters. The video game Fallout 3’s setting might not be similar to the worlds current condition but nevertheless, encounters in an post-apocalyptic world can be very similar to encounters in the world’s status quo. The only difference is simple, these encounters are experienced in different leves.

          In order for more enlightenment on the said philosophy in the game, the researcher read the article entitled “Moral Decision Making in Fallout” that was written by Markus Schulzke who posted it in gamestudies.org.

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

          As simple as that, the writer is saying that the in game decision in Fallout 3 are moral acts in particular scenarios. Fallout 3 feeds on this kind of belief and decided to focus its gameplay on this kind of belief.

          The violent environment provided by Fallout is a perfect way to tackle phronesis. Phronesis is the basically talking about how people act and make moral decisions in different situations.

          Because of Fallout’s violent environment, the game encouraged the players to actually involve their own self-decision making in the game. Not just that, the decisions made were based on the players’ real life personality and moral judgement. There was a low chance of players doing the same decisions since the decisions needed to be made were requiring input from the players’ morals.

          Different decisions made in the game yielded different consequences that can either be negative or positive. This mirrored the players’ action in real life since if the events in the game happened in real life, the decisions made were expected to be made by the players’ who did them in the game. Because of that belief, the game aimed to challenge the players to review their own moral views in real life since the game portrayed to the players the representation of their in game morals.

          Fallout may be violent but it offered a more deeper concept. It offered the idea that the decision in game are very similar to the decisions in real life. The game was not just being violent, the game was really just testing the players’ morals.

Mass Effect 3

          Mass Effect 3’s philosophy is focused on the idea of Cosmicism. Cosmicism was perfectly shown in a galaxy torned by war in Mass Effect.

          Being a small being in a large galaxy poses a large question. “What is my purpose?” That is where the researcher believes where cosmicism enters Mass Effect 3.

          The reason why the researcher only focused on Mass Effect 3 is because of its ending. Each Mass Effect game portrayed different ideas like Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 3’s ending is in line with cosmicism and not like its predecessors.

          The researcher read two articles about cosmicism and Mass Effect. The first one was, “Why Mass Effect is the Most Important Science Fiction Universe of Our Generation” written by Kyle Munkittrick on www.io9.com. The second one was “Philosophy and Mass Effect: A Response to Popbioethics” written by someone with an online name erikthereddest who posted it on www.lanternhollowpress.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.”

          That statement itself has already described cosmicism in mass effect perfectly. Life has no meaning and we don’t have a purpose. That is what the writers are saying about cosmicism in Mass Effect 3.

          In Mass Effect 3’s ending, Shepard died and caused an uproar upon the fans of Mass Effect 3. The thing is, they failed to see the philosophy of cosmicism in the big picture of the game. Shepard believed that his doing a big sacrifice and the players believed this as well but the thing is, comicism stated that humans are just projecting its beliefs in the universe. Everyone believed that their purpose was to save the galaxy but that is not it. Humans have no actual purpose on this universe because the truth in understanding of the universe is beyond ordinary human comprehension. This is the reason why in Mass Effect 3’s galaxy, people strive to survive against the reapers. People wanted to survive to look for humanity’s purpose.