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Sep 24th, 2018 at 18:00:47 - Nier Automata (PC) |
Today I played for about an hour. I was given a quest to investigate an area outside the Outpost. I discovered it was an amusement park where the robots were not attacking me and were chanting strange things like love and peace. I avoided my companions suggestion to not fight the heavily armored tank that was in the amusement park. I ran past all the robots and did not fight them. This is when I ran into the boss. The boss was a large robot in a dress who had dead androids attached to her. Half way through the batter we were then attacked by other androids who had fallen to the boss. They were attacking us and presumably we had no choice but to kill them. Afterward 9s assured me that the androids were only being kept alive by the boss and they died after we defeated it. This was interesting because it was like killing our own kind. Although we do not know if androids feel pain or can actually die because presumably the consciousness is kept in a black box they carry on them. So really they were just empty shells of people. This game asks a lot of philosophical questions on what consciousness is and how it relates to morality.
After beating the boss we were contacted by an intelligent robot who took us back to a village in the woods who were all intelligent robots. They were waving white flags to signify their peacefulness and most of them were intelligent but not fully autonomous. Some more philosophical questions were raised by this encounter. I wondered if they felt pain but we are not told yet if they do or not. If they feel pain does that make it unethical to kill them. And even if they cant feel pain does this make it okay to kill them? Some humans can’t feel pain but we still think they have the same value as anyone else.
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Sep 22nd, 2018 at 12:29:48 - Nier Automata (PC) |
Two and a half hours of gameplay today, I obviously liked this game. Playing the game in the beginning the most interesting parts were the variety of gameplay from the same mechanics. Seamlessly switching between side scroller, top down twin stick, and 3rd person combat/shooter. I really enjoyed the variation given because of this set up.
Storywise the game has some obvious ethical information. Finding out that when I die my consciousness is backed up “on the cloud” and my body is just a vessel was not surprising. Although it is an interesting game mechanic, turning the souls formula futuristic. Some ideas came to me when the protagonist seemingly committed suicide, is it ethical to commit suicide if you know your consciousness is backed up and the “you” that is “you” is still there. This made me think of the Star trek teleportation dilemma. It is obviously not you, because the atoms are not the same, but because you start experiencing consciousness at the time your old body ended it makes it feel like you are the continuation of the experience that is you.
Another point in the game that posed an ethical question was when man running the shop at the first outpost you visit, with the handicap leg, asks “if i replace every part of my body am I still me?” This is a great philosophical question, and possibly a moral one. The weapons dealer says “he wonders if him trying to help the cause by selling guns, is just making his friends die faster anyways.”
Talking robots makes you feel for them and the tribal music makes you feel like you are committing genocide on the robots. Looking forward to playing again.
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Aug 29th, 2018 at 21:46:48 - This is the Police (PC) |
Today I played for about 40 minutes and didn’t face many different scenarios. A feminist organization was protesting and city hall requested that I use brute force with them. I refused because they did not give any evidence of violence from the protesters. City hall then decided to cut the number of officers I could have. This was also because I refused to fire all my black officers because of a racist group in town. Because I thought this was unethical I didn't do it. I was then requested to fake evidence on feminists because the district attorney is backing them. This was another uninteresting decision on a ethical standpoint. I refused their request.
I was surprised in a new element of the game after two of my officers died in the line of duty. I was given the option to keep secret about the death of an officer and still receive the paycheck of the officer. The police department needs money and city hall has been cutting my budget and officers because I haven't done what they said. This made me want to lie, even though in the Kantian perspective lying is inherently wrong. But because city hall has been unethical it makes me feel like I can be unethical towards them. Ultimately I did not lie about the officers, truthfully because I was afraid of what would happen if I was caught, but ethically I knew it was wrong.
Overall this game is showing how being unethical gives a person in society an edge above the rest. They do not have anything standing in their way. If I had played the game ignoring ethical dilemmas and looking at things as a numbers game then I’m sure I would be ahead. Is this game unethical for essentially promoting unethical behaviors.
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Aug 28th, 2018 at 16:25:35 - This is the Police (PC) |
Today I played for an hour and got to see some results of my actions from my previous play session. Since choosing to not help out my friend the mafia sent me a picture of him and his family of just their heads. Then I got a phone call from the leader of the Mafia telling me that I had joined the mafia. This pissed me off because I feel like it's the same outcome (joining the mafia) than if I had chosen to help my friend. I’m hoping that this game gives me an actual choice and consequences of those actions besides different small cutscenes. I feel like this is setting up a crucial part of gameplay but I would have liked some more “good” choices.
I would have liked taking control of a fresh officer that hasn't any past or previous obligations. This complicates things when the character made a promise to do things that I wouldn't have promised in the first place.
So now in the game I have the choice to use the mafia’s “special moves” by paying them to perform illegal actions. So far I haven’t used any of these actions because I view them to be immoral. The mafia has also asked me to look the other way on some crimes they are commiting. I have not, in fact I sent more officers there to ensure that they would be caught. The mafia boss has given me a warning to not do it again.
More interesting is the small choices that you are faced with as the police chief when sending units out to crimes happening around the city. When hearing about a incident that doesn't seem too serious I will send less experienced officers. But this has backfired more than once because sometimes they are worse than expected. A R&G in ethics, if it is all random then how am I supposed to make an moral decision when only a certain amount of officers can be sent out on calls. Choices while the officer is on duty do have interesting choices. So far I have acted as a cop would, ignoring the silly and obviously wrong answers. Every one of these incidents have resulted in unharmed officer and civilians.
I am playing the game with a Kantian/ honor ethics in mind. I will not do “bad” things, so we will see the consequences of these actions in further play sessions.
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KalebHogan has been with GameLog for 6 years, 2 months, and 27 days |
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