Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1947https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6653In my final session, one key game-play aspect really interested and surprised me. This small feature was the the developing of photos in a black room. The game keeps tracks of the amount of photos you take during a certain event, and leaves blank spaces on a roll of film when you forgot to take a certain photo. The game has certain requests when developing film. One request was to find the photo of where another character, Abbas, gets stabbed. It seems that the game prompts the chance that while you are in certain events. You may miss photos and impact the story. The camera you use helps you progress the story through different ways, in this case it was solving a crime. I originally thought that this game was just going to be point-and-click, but I was completely wrong. Another sort of feature that is similar to the photo system, is also with collectibles you notice on the street. Examples include Abbas' wallet and the knife that stabbed him. These sort of situations are quite different in the case of choosing to be good. Now the choice of lying arises. In the photo scenario, you could have easily pointed out a photo that had nothing to do with Abbas' stabbing. In this case you could thwart the case. Sure, telling the truth is more favorable then lying to those that we believe are good. You even had the option to pick anyone within the group that you believed to be the man who stabbed Abbas. In this case, that character dies. I wonder if any of the characters actually stabbed Abbas. Maybe none of them did, and this result was just "fake freewill". The game is interesting. I really do want to write about this idea of decision making, and how a game can force you to pick a certain answer through ethical and moral presentation.Wed, 28 Mar 2018 23:50:30 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6653&iddiary=11790https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6653In this session. The game starts with a student named Bibi leading a portion of the Iranian protest and revolution against the shah, as well as another speaker, Abbas. You document this process, and meet the parties leader for the revolution, we also meet one of the leading members of the more violent protest. This is where the game gets interesting. You as the player get to decide how you want to handle your dissidents and protest against the shah and his military police. You as the player get to decide with violence or peace. As previously mentioned, I talked about "empty free will" being a possible aspect of gameplay. That your actions may have some sort of impact on the gameplay, but not severely. The decision of throwing rocks at soldiers seems to have no effect on the game itself for the player other then relationships, but I will see further on. When games have these situations, it seems to send a message to the player that your moral decisions are equal and unimportant. That the decision between the two having the exact same result means that they don't matter. An example of this is seen when the player has the option to throw rocks at the military police. When this situation arises, the only sort of thing that gets effected seems to be relationships, rather then a more serious outcome. Their are also different kinds of events that actually appear to have an impact in the game. Abbas, a leader of the peaceful protest gets stabbed during a skirmish and commotion between the military police and the citizens. If you fail to save Abbas and treat his wounds, he will die. I'm assuming that if this character dies then the game will change and different interactions will not be present. This sort of interaction though seems a bit interesting since it makes the player feel like they are forced to save Abbas. Even though we as the player have the choice to not save a life, we morally will. We kind of feel as if the game is forcing us to be a "good person" to save this characters life. The decisions feel more as good v.s bad, instead of good v.s good. I wonder if in the next session, the forced decision situations will feel more like good v.s good, instead of good v.s evil.Tue, 27 Mar 2018 18:14:12 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6653&iddiary=11749https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6653Before even starting the game. I was quite intrigued to see that this piece of work is based on real events and real people. I'm familiar with these types of games involving this sort of subject matter, such as games about the Syrian refugee crisis. At the beginning of the game we learn that this game takes place during the U.S. hostage situation in Iran. We start off in a photo room developing film and attempting to escape from the Iranian military police. The game-play has tell-tale vibes, with each action you make, your story changes. I kind of wonder how many options can split from one decision, or if this is some sort of empty "free-will". After getting captured by the police. We meet Mr. Shirazi, being threatened by a corrupt higher up within the Iranian police department. Mr. Shirazi is the supportable cause of the Iranian revolution and the overthrow of the Shah. By having this sort of beginning scene where our character is being beaten while ropes are tied around his wrists is an easy way to define who is good and evil in a sense. Who is the "protagonist" and who is the "antagonist". It's this sort of ethical consensus that we as players make when we see the "weak and defenseless" get harassed. The game also has this interesting feature where you play as the man who photographed an documented the Iranian revolution. These photos you take within the game are then compared with the actual photos that were taken. This sort of collectible is like an educational reward for the player. It seems like the goal of the game so far is to try to recreate history in a way since they reward you with historical information and context. The game also seems to cover topics such as fake news, world politics, and knowledge of Iranian culture. The game is quite interesting. I look forward to continue playing.Mon, 26 Mar 2018 23:25:45 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6653&iddiary=11740https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6602Thursday, February 15th This game has been a treat to play. I went from playing what I believe a police officer should be. Someone who is lawful, trustworthy, and who is Utilitarian in his power. To basically being a corrupt officer. I let crimes slide, and was given numerous different options for literally killing officers I didn't like. The features in the game are something to reflect on. I think that the game accurately represents a city watch in more corrupt areas with problems within governments. I think the game does a good job of allowing players to pick how they want to play. In this session I wanted to be as unlawful as possible, and the game let me. If I wanted to I could've screwed over the mafia group that I was working with. The game is very flexible and allows you to play as any type of police chief that you want. The game puts the players eyes and mind to realize the power of people in high positions, and can show how easy it is to break the law in the a position where you enforce. I can't wait to write about this game!Thu, 15 Feb 2018 16:59:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6602&iddiary=11679https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6602February 14, Wednesday My second session of This Is The Police was quite interesting. I went from a casual police simulator with maybe somewhat adult themes to a full force HBO television series. During this gameplay session I kept in mind the idea of Utilitarianism because most people associate the idea of maintaining happiness for citizens with police since they help create peace within a city. This idea of Utilitarianism for the citizens dissipated however with this second session when I realized that the police chief that we play as is not so in it for the citizens. In fact he works with the Mafia. Playing as a "corrupt" cop isn't the craziest stance to dissuade the playerbase to think that police are not utilitarian, but probably the most interesting proof of my original idea came from the city government within the game. In order to appeal to citizens who may have appeared to have this sort of racist bias in the game. The city government wanted me to fire all african american cops in order to appeal to the city itself. The idea of utilitarianism is to make the majority happy. To make decisions that will make as many people as happy as possible. The game has really made me consider that sometimes utilitarian ideas are not always moral.Wed, 14 Feb 2018 19:17:31 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6602&iddiary=11651https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6602February 13, Tuesday Today I started the game, This is the Police. It was actually quite enjoyable with it's incredibly depressing overtones. In the game you play as a 60 year old officer who I think got moved to the position of police chief. In the game you manage your own police HQ. The types of crimes in the game seemed plausible and also didn't seem exaggerated in anyway. My favorite crime that I sent police to was to stop a drug dealing crown selling crack. The game got me urked at times dealing with police officers who couldn't handle a certain job. My strategy was to try to get police officers with low success rate to complete easier jobs, such as vandalism and noise complaints. But they seemed to always fail. One thing we learned in class was the concept of Utilitarianism. The idea that some people see it as a goal to maximize happiness. However, the game really shows that this isn't possible since crimes often end with an assailant escaping. My goal for this game analysis is to consider the attempts of cops to maintain satisfaction within a city and with there career partners.Tue, 13 Feb 2018 21:16:23 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6602&iddiary=11622https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6535I don't think my third gamelog for Firewatch got properly uploaded so I'm just going to rewrite it. The character Delilah in the game is quite interesting to interact. Her character progresses from sarcastic and friendly, to dangerous and paranoid. During the campaign it is mentioned that you, Henry, and Deliliah's conversations have been recorded by some secret third party. This sudden realization of espionage creates a change in character for Deliliah. It kind of reminds me of how citizens react in forms of government with heavy censorship. That people who don't think about the NSA are more happier then those that think about them. That the ignorance of someone listening to you makes you feel more secure, rather than annoyed and vulnerable. The game really plays into this interesting idea of censorship.Thu, 18 Jan 2018 21:32:36 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6535&iddiary=11556https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6535Today is the second day of Firewatch, and the game gets really interesting. There is a lot of things to talk about within the days 3-72, before the fire occurs. The main characters seems to get a radio call at night from his early-stage Alzheimer wife Julia during midnight or very early in the morning around 2:00. Two days later within the game. Delilah mentions that the main character was talking in his sleep. I'm just really confused on how that was possible within the game. It really starts to make the player wonder what is real and what is not, and also start to question the sanity of the character they play as, or the sanity of the person that they talk to. The game is starting to get very weird, and I'm really excited to keep playing. One of the topics we talked about in class was coverage of sensitive topics. I think the main topic that is clearly mentioned throughout the narrative is mental illness. As previously stated, since the game almost mirrors a film it really makes the audience forgive the seriousness of the topics coverage. I can't wait to keep playing.Wed, 17 Jan 2018 21:01:01 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6535&iddiary=11504https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6535I just started playing Firewatch for my Ethics to Videogame class. It's a very interesting story based game that takes place in the Wyoming. The game puts in the eyes of a Bolder graduate who took a job as a lookout, a non-certified ranger. I won't go into to much detail on the summary, but I will talk about some spoilers in the first two days of the game. At first we get a really thorough in-depth history of this guy and his wife's life that you can personally control. I'm not sure if the decisions I made had any effect in the result. The wife would've probably had dementia the entire time, and it may have created unique dialogue options to have with your boss, Delilah. After learning the protagonists tragic backstory we are put in his shoes and forced to work as this sort of "ranger" of a hiking and camping ground. I think the reason why this game possibly got picked as a piece to study in this class is to show the definitive difference between the idea of game and film. The game itself feels more like an interactive film, rather then a game with the lack of intense stereotypical game-play mechanics. For example, no button allows you to jump in the game, making the player only worry about the control of movement for the character. The game has a lot of walking/hiking and talking to your boss Delilah. This sort of film-like experience may help developers decide to pick more serious topics within a game. Most audiences watching a film a more forgiving with serious topics, since films are considered more of an art-form when compared to games. I think the developers choice of making the experience more story-based really allows them to get away with having serious topics in the story. Such as coverage of mental illnesses, petty crime, and alcoholism, etc. I can't wait to play the other few days. First Diary Entry for Firewatch (PC) S. Brian ZavalaTue, 16 Jan 2018 19:22:20 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6535&iddiary=11458