Tuesday 16 January, 2018

The narrative of Firewatch begins by having you make ethical decisions such as taking care of your sick wife or putting her in a 24 hour care facility. Upon reaching the lookout tower, I was introduced to Delilah, the supervisor of the firewatch. While talking with Delilah over the radio, the game too gives choices to drive the conversation in a certain way. I had to find the culprits of some fireworks in the area and traced them to a couple girls skinny dipping in the lake which then gave me the option of handling it in a few different ways. I tried to be nice to them but they were still rude unfortunately.

When looking at how Firewatch intersects with ethics, I thought of the forced point of view we went over in class. The game seems to really focus on making me feel as if I’m the main character Henry. The conversations and decisions I make are decisions that feel as if they have weight to them and are mine alone to make. With my in game wife Julia being sick and being forced to make the decision of her care, I really felt troubled and thought of what I myself would do if my wife was put in the same situation. Due to real life scenarios with my own family and sickness, it gave me the “pit at the bottom of my stomach” feeling and I could see how others could be triggered emotionally by the weight and tone of this game.

Good job here Ben! You make a profound observation where you talk about the forced point of view concept covered in class where you talk about how taking the role of Henry gives the decisions you make more weight. One question to consider in line with this would be, how do games use perspective to either distance or bring players closer to the roles of the player character? Additionally, aside from the camera perspective (for example, 3rd person vs. 1st person), in what other ways do games make you feel closer or further away from role of the player character?

Clay