|
lawboy's This war of mine (PC)
|
| [January 28, 2015 12:36:06 PM]
|
Did I let Picasso die? Or at least the equivalent game version of Picasso. While rummaging through an abandoned squat for supplies I found a poor starving man begging for food. All of the clues so far indicated that a talented artist lived there. Normally you don't bring food scavenging as it just takes up useful space. The man informed me he would surely die if someone didn't help him in the next few days. I left the squat with plenty of construction supplies for myself and headed home. My group wasn't in the best of shape either with food running low at that time, so I proceeded to scavenge for food elsewhere the following nights. I number of days later I returned to to the squat to collect supplies and feed the starving man if he had made it this far. He was dead. Another scavenger had covered the body and spoke some harsh words for me however never directly said I was responsible for the poor mans death. Did I let Picasso starve to death? With the lack of a save system there’s no easy way to see the alternate possibilities without restarting the entire game which at day 20 and nine hours of game time just isn't feasible. The lack of a robust save system raises the stakes and gives the player a sense of consequence to their actions. This in turn adds more intrinsic value to the moral dilemmas the player is faced with.
add a comment 
|
| [January 27, 2015 03:47:38 PM]
|
All I wanted was some food and I ended up with an assault rifle, ammo, and a warm fuzzy feeling for doing ‘the right thing’, the downside I was covered in a dead soldier's blood. At night you scavenge the city for supplies and I chose the Super-Market which was clearly labeled ‘Danger’. Upon entering the grocery store my character overheard a conversation between a soldier and young woman looking for food. It became clear this soldier was looking to rape the young woman and it was up to me to either stop it or go about my business rummaging in freedom since the soldier was occupied. I chose the former and when the soldier was marching the woman away I sneaked up with my recently crafted kitchen knife and murdered the soldier. The young woman ran off terrified.
When I went back to the store the following night, as its impossible to loot an entire location in a single evening, I was greeted by a friendly scavenger. This friendly informed my character that the young woman made it home and is safe all thanks to some stranger. Now I must point out I got extremely lucky as there are no save games and the soldier could have easily killed my character with a single volley of bullets. The game pits doing the right thing against large amounts of risk and consequence. It captures the moral difficulty of decisions people must make when placed in extraordinary situations. This blurring of right and wrong are backed up by the path of least resistance being the utilitarian path where the needs of the people whom are dependent on the player come first.
This entry has been edited 6 times. It was last edited on Jan 27th, 2015 at 16:03:07.
add a comment
|
| [January 26, 2015 11:35:59 PM]
|
This War of Mine is game where the player takes control of civilians trapped in besieged city. The game does little to inform the player of what to do or how to play, your characters in game needs are expressed in status windows, with such things as very hungry, or content. The goal seems to be survive and manage a finite amount of resources. Off the bat I noticed the game presented a number of ethical choices such as who gets food, whether you should trade crafting supplies so your characters can die with full bellies or meds when they are sick. Even the choices of what household objects to craft have effect on your characters. Feeding one character results in the others expressing in their journals, which the player has access to, that they wish they could help the hungry one.
When I first play a game to examine the morals and ethics boundaries the game developers may be trying to communicate I push everything to the extreme. The key to these extremes to find where the moral lines are drawn, what will they let you do? and not let the player do? The answers to this question can aid in discovery of the games inherent moral code. For example, my survivors were starving and someone came to the door looking for shelter. Dont ask me why, but my first instinct was that food just walked to my doorstep. However I quickly discovered there was no way, that I could find, to murder and eat one of your characters to save the others. Hence the game’s inherent moral code implies cannibalism is just too wrong by omitting such a mechanic. Before you jump, I do realize that the game developer may not have thought of this scenario and therefore didn’t omit cannibalism due to a moral reason. Or it may be yet to come, which is what I’m hoping for.
add a comment
|
|
|
 |
lawboy's This war of mine (PC)
|
|
Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Saturday 24 January, 2015
|
|
