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Aug 29th, 2017 at 02:13:06 - Batman: Arkham VR (PS4) |
I finished the game today and, as I expected, there was little else that would add to the topic of surveillance. The twist at the end threw me for a loop, and I must admit that it's impact was made more powerful due to its medium. I was actually looking at my own hands, covered in blood, as I came to the realization that it was I who'd murdered them. Enough about the medium though.
So, if we seek to continue the topic of surveillance I think we might need to go outside the game for additional information. The Riddler puzzles add a bit of meat to the game, and the second play through has some extra scenes I'm excited to get to, but the original concept was already grasping at straws in a game that doesn't naturally support the argument. I think I might, instead, question the ethicality of the medium itself. Video games already place us in a unique frame of mind to accept responsibility for actions. VR, if done correctly, enhances the sense of presence many times over.
Should we then place unsuspecting players into these kinds of situations. I felt incredibly claustrophobic as the walls started to close around me at the end. The rest of the experience doesn't have me directly performing the actions, and that toned down the sense of presence, but I can imagine games that do. Even regular game activities like the slaughter of a thousand monsters, is that something that should be done in VR? I think the question of the VR medium is what I'll try to tackle.
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Aug 28th, 2017 at 00:51:29 - Batman: Arkham VR (PS4) |
From the outset Batman VR placed me on a quest to find Robin, but at first all I could think off was how charming the VR interface was. I kept interacting with everything, seeing what I could and couldn't pick up, and taking note of how this changed my gaming experience. I loved the scene when you put on the suit and it brings down a mirror, allowing you to view the full suit in action as extrapolated from only the arms. It wasn't until I arrived at the scene of Nightwing's murder that I started moving beyond the unique interface and analyzing the world presented to me. Batman has a device that allows him to reconstruct (with amazing detail) the fight that took place between Nightwing and his unknown assailant. I then began to ask myself: Why, if you have access to this technology, would you keep it to yourself? Would this technology not be better used in the hands of the police, instead of the hands of a lone vigilante? Is there some reason why only the 'Batman' should have access to this technology?
I haven't come up with answers to these questions yet, but I think this idea of unshared technology, particularly surveillance technology, is the ethical quandary I want to delve into. Should Batman share his technology? Should any man have access to that technology in the first place? We'll see how the game unfolds.
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