Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1709https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5842Columbine RPG: Session 3 3/26/2014 I didn’t expect the game to extend beyond the school rampage, but after claiming your life you find yourself in a version of hell inspired by the game “Doom”. The classic doom theme plays in the background as you roam around hell searching for your partner. Some might argue that this extension of the game trivialized the serious issue it was trying to address, but I actually enjoyed it. The monsters in hell, also inspired by doom, are a lot harder to beat than the defenseless school goers you fought earlier. I tried my best to avoid them, and died countless times before I managed to find my partner. But even with him back on my team, the battles didn’t get much easier. I roamed around a little more, with no clue as to what I was supposed to do. The gameplay was a lot better now that the enemy could actually do significant damage to me, but I wish the game had made my goal clearer. After suffering tons of more deaths, I decided to end my session and conquer the game another day. Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:07:46 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5842&iddiary=10217https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5842Columbine RPG: Session 2 3/25/2014 I started off at the parking lot after arming the two bombs inside the cafeteria. I proceeded to the park located near the school to wait for the bombs to go off. The player witnesses the two students having a conversation describing their frustration at the way people lived their mundane lives. While the developer had no way of knowing what actually occurred between the students, I feel that he did a good job of giving the player an idea of how they felt about the world and their frustration with life. After the brief chat, we return to the parking lot to arm the final car bomb. But as the minutes tick by, we realize that all of our explosives have failed and decide to go in with our weapons anyway. This is when the game enables the player to combat other students. The combat system is turn based, similar to the one used in the Pokémon games. Most of the battles are easy, with the opponents dying in a couple of hits. A majority of them don’t even put up a fight. This part of the combat felt a little too real, and I initially felt sick killing those innocent people. But I kept at it and fought my way to the cafeteria. I had read online that the two gunmen tried to detonate the failed explosives by using pipebombs and guns, and hence I knew what I was supposed to do ( It would have been hard for a person to decide the necessary course of action without that knowledge, as the game doesn’t tell the player what needs to be done). As you exit the cafeteria, you get an insight into the sad life of one of the students as he sits alone at lunch, seeking the attention of his peers. The developer explains how this plea for attention gradually turns to hatred and a desire to kill. The player can empathize with the killers to some extent, yet it is difficult to justify their actions. I decided to look at their actions from two moral frameworks: the utilitarian perspective and the social contract theory. From a utilitarian standpoint, they ended the lives of numerous people and also caused physical harm to dozens of others. They caused sorrow to the families and friends of those harmed, and also damaged a large amount of property. But their actions made the world aware of the severity of bullying taking place in some institutions, and the trauma some of the students were put through. It brought about the enforcement of laws which would prevent bullying in the future. It is really hard to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons for this act. Looking at it from a social contract perspective, I feel that their social contracts were violated when they were treated as outcasts at their school and were denied fair social interactions. Does this entitle them to get back at the school and the students who ill-treated them in the manner that they did? Perhaps not. I made it to the library soon after ( I avoided conflict as much as possible, but I was lost for a brief amount of time and thought that eliminating everyone was the only way to proceed. I killed many innocents under this illusion, till I found a side passage which I had overlooked). After exchanging fire with cops, I witnessed the two gunmen commit suicide. The real life pictures of the victims and the gunmen which followed were really powerful, and as I have mentioned earlier, the game developer has done a very fine job with choosing sound tracks for different events in the game. More to come in my final log. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:09:36.)Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:07:26 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5842&iddiary=10216https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5842Columbine RPG: Session 1 3/23/2014 I started playing this game with a very base knowledge of the tragic incident that occurred at the Columbine High School, and I believe that gave me a chance to experience this game without any prejudice. The player wakes up as one of the students responsible for the rampage, and proceeds to prepare himself for the event. The game developer has tried to give the player an unbiased account of how things might have actually transpired, and has stayed true to facts as much as possible( I read the lengthy wikipedia page on the incident after the session, and found the game to stay true to most of the facts). I managed to place the explosives in the cafetaria and exit to the parking lot to arm myself, before I decided to end the session( Sneaking through the hallway was surprisingly difficult). The game had left me exhausted. My high level of immersion actually made me sympathize with the two students to a certain degree( The developer has done an amazing job with the music. The audio tracks were suitable and perfectly timed). The game made me think about what could have possible caused these two to go to such extremes, but I think I will talk about that in my next log.Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:54:44 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5842&iddiary=10208https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5791Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas GameLog 3: I did my first mission for the corrupt cop Tenpenny today. He instructed me to burn down the house of an undesirable person, reiterating multiple times during our conversation that I was his pawn and would do well to remember that fact. The mission entailed retrieving some Molotov cocktails from an alleyway and using them to set a house on fire. On arriving at the target house, I noticed a bunch of Vagos gang members loitering around it. It seemed like the house belonged to them. I personally had no dislike for the gang, but I wondered whether my character in the game, Carl Johnson, would actually enjoy this mission, given that he would be killing members belonging to a rival gang. He probably did enjoy it, but then I began to ponder whether he would have enjoyed it had the house belonged to an anonymous person who had wronged Tenpenny. I don’t think he would have, but he would have gone ahead with the arson anyway. After all, his live depended on it. The game comes across as a good example of relativism. Whatever enables the character to survive is justified and moral. Wed, 05 Feb 2014 02:10:09 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5791&iddiary=10152https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5791GTA: San Andreas GameLog:2 My quest for the glory of my “hood” and the respect of my “homies” resumed as I dived into my second play session. I noticed that the police would react to any crimes I committed in their vicinity, but wouldn’t stop other gang members from attacking me, even if I had done nothing to provoke them. It felt unjust, but maybe the developers intended it to be that way. Gang violence was the least of their concerns, and if I remember correctly, the corrupt cop “Tenpenny”, at some point in the game, mentions that the mutual destruction of the gangs is in the law enforcement’s best interest. I successfully completed a bunch of missions, ranging from rescuing my brother, who was on one of his romantic escapades behind enemy lines, to reuniting with an old friend turned wannabe rapper (OG Loc), and helping him make it big. One of the most fun aspects of the game for me was driving. The feeling of satisfaction derived from speeding down bustling streets while narrowly avoiding traffic was unparalleled. On the other hand, I would be livid when I would ram into another vehicle and lose most of my momentum. Some of the more severe crashed would result in me exiting my vehicle and shooting the other driver. Around five such cold-blooded homicides later, when I was pointing my gun at my sixth target, the implications of my actions hit me. I was taking action against a person whose only mistake was getting in my way. I quickly put away my gun and drove away, slowly this time, determined not to kill another just because I was a maniacal driver. Tue, 04 Feb 2014 00:10:59 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5791&iddiary=10151https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5791Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas GameLog 1: I have completed San Andreas in the past, but I started over again in order to play it from a more academic perspective this time. The game gives you an insight into the state of oppression the lower strata of society live under and the insecure nature of their life. You play an African American character named Carl Johnson in GTA: San Andreas. The game starts off with your character being blackmailed by a trio of corrupt police officers into doing petty jobs for them. You have no choice but to comply, as then threaten to frame you for the murder of a police officer if you do not cooperate. The scenario leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and you realize how the poorer sections of society are subject to the whims of corrupt law enforcers. Once you’re let off, you make your way back to your old home. You meet members of your family and your childhood friends for the first time in five years, yet the reception they give you if far from warm. They accuse you of betraying and abandoning the gang. The pride with which they spoke about their gang puzzled me. I began to wonder why anyone would willingly choose to be a gangster. Living an uncertain life which could be lost if you strayed too far into an enemy gang’s territory, constantly going through cycles of pain (watching your friends die) and revenge (killing enemy gang members), just for the supremacy of your gang, doesn’t seem worth it. And I realized the obvious answer almost immediately- because they don’t have a choice. Our society has failed them. It has not lived up to its end of the “social contract”. Hence, they choose to form their own version of society. You begin doing missions to redeem your place in this society and regain the “respect” of your fellow gang members. Sun, 02 Feb 2014 01:12:52 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5791&iddiary=10146