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ChrisGordo's Thomas Was Alone (PC)
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| [January 22, 2017 03:17:11 PM]
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Team Jump seems like a fascistic/collectivist annihilation-of-the-self team that speaks out against the otherwise individualist elements of the game. That being said, they only succeed when using the abilities of the original team members, which would be a rejection of a conformist view of the world.
Additionally, they immediately jump behind the first individual that they come across, and refer to him as their leader. All its individual members are nameless, and instead of being a uniform group of equals they revert to being nameless lackeys to Paul. While they end up serving Paul's noble ends, it does echo many real world examples of collectivist regimes that become extentions of their leader's will.
Despite initially being portrayed positively for their teamwork and lack of individuality, I think Team Jump actually serve as an illustration in the game's argument of why individuality is an important virtue.
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| [January 20, 2017 07:50:21 PM]
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The character of James seems to me to be an allegory for a homosexual character. His “inverted” nature and “weird” color seem to have been off putting to other AIs in the past. Going with this interpretation, his story in the game could be seen as an attack on morality arguments against homosexuality that come from a perspective of it being “unnatural” or “perverse”. He provides a counter example, and shows a view point on it as being merely a flipped perspective.
Similarly, Sarah is a parody of the nobles oblige idea that the game seems to reject. Much like John she is incredibly confident in her abilities, looks down on the others, and joins them despite their “disability”. She subverts John's similar actions by being better than him at his own game, while also being helpless to complete a level without help from the others. Additionally, she is unable to reach the fountain despite the relatively unable Thomas being able to make it.
The game as a whole has utilitarian elements to it, with Thomas and the Architects sacrificing themselves for the good of the others. This action is universally shown as a good one in game, and quotes from fictional characters such as AI civil rights campaigners further promote the action.
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| [January 19, 2017 11:47:37 PM]
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A lot of the narration is devoted to character development, despite the characters being quadrilaterals. I think the purpose of this is to develop sympathy for beings that in most science fiction are relegated to villainous roles (AIs, especially AIs that are developing sentience).
The game doesn't have any branching paths or choices, so the impact isn't in asking the player to make a decision as much as it is in holding the player's hand in their journey. I don't mean this in a bad way, as much as it is less an empathic moral choice game than it is a more traditional moral story.
As far as moral arguments go, a large part of it seems to be about the idea of nobles oblige, the idea that those who are capable have an obligation to help those that are not. The various characters have advantages over others and much of their self image is based on how they can help (or not help) others. A lot of it also ties into the idea of ability/disability, where every character is incapable of solving certain problems by themselves and their advantages can turn into disadvantages.
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ChrisGordo's Thomas Was Alone (PC)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 12 January, 2017
GameLog closed on: Sunday 22 January, 2017 |
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