Existentialism in Videogames

[Toaster]

(Yeah, this was just posted on Kotaku, but I feel it's worthy of discussion.)

Floating Through Life on 8-bit balloons.

The video turned out to be one of the most thought provoking pieces I have seen concerning videogames in a long time. It really makes you look at how much time we've spent in our lives performing mundane tasks not only in real life, but inside of our videogames as well. It's not like any of this thinking is completely foreign to me, or the gaming community, it's just that it's all put together in rather very neat, 3 minute package.

[Translucid]

Re: Existinsilism in Videogames

er, existentialism?

oh and read some Heidegger.
I guess there's more to relate between video games and existentialism than I thought. maybe I'll write some stuff later.

[marcus]

Re: Existinsilism in Videogames

Well, the video only reminded me that bad games have existed since the dawn of virtual entertainment and spent so many years being "entertained" by them because I was young and impressionable.

Now that I'm older and more critical I can further avoid wasting my time but I still fall for the trap of "innovation" in games which usually turns out to be some sort of half-assed novelty that becomes repetitive quick.

Verdict: I need a new hobby OH HEY star ocean 2 is coming out on the PSP early next year *slaps down reservation money*

[Sivart the Sloth Trencher]

Re: Existinsilism in Videogames

Oh. So it's a hobby for you?

...

[IRC]

Re: Existinsilism in Videogames

In Fallout 3 I find that I can't just discard random junk on the ground but that I have to find a trash can to throw it away in. Sometimes I use a mailbox but I always feel bad about it later.

[Perversion]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Yeah...I really need to work on my current RPGM idea.

(This post actually IS apropos to the topic).

[Red Dragon]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Somtimes I enjoy some games that make you think.

However I also enjoy games that make my mind numb. Mundane is somtimes good for videogames.

Somtimes I just want to sit back and bash some baddies with a sword and forget about what I need to do tomorrow.

Or forget about that lady with the missing eye and four teeth on the bus sitting right across from me.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Soul Blazer and Valkyrie Profile are my favorite purposefully existential video games.

[Magus]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Vagrant Story, the MGS and Silent Hill series are chockful of LIFE'S QUESTIONS.

[John Mora]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

I questioned the meaning of my life while playing Mega Man 9. But not in a good way.

[Duel]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Metal Gear Solid 4 answered all of my life questions.

[Toaster]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Soul Blazer and Valkyrie Profile are my favorite purposefully existential video games.

I've only played a little but of Soul Blazer, from what I gather it closely resembled an SNES Dark Cloud. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Valkyrie Profile was a well-executed game in the sense that you were given freedom and choice, and you had these time periods in which you could do whatever you pleased in order to accomplish the end goal; which was getting ready for the showdown with the Aesir army training an army of undead. You were given a goal at the end of each chapter, to transfer a certain type of Einjahnder that would fufill the requirements and you would be rewarded accordingly--and in the end that was really all you needed to do. Valkyrie Profile did however, reward its players for going above and beyond the call of duty, as there was a hidden ending (and a completely alternate ending scenario and boss) that would only be discovered by those who truly explored every opportunity that the game handed to you. Good luck finding it without the help of a strategy guide, though.

In the end, unfortunately, Valkyrie Profile fell victim to its own design and that you were still confined to its mechanics, which in turn created a dissonance between the game design and the actual game itself. It's design embodied a sense of freedom in which you could do whatever you wanted with your time on Asgard (i.e. freedom), but the actual mechanic divulged into only needing to press select on the world map to hear a vision, then flying to that destination (i.e. linearity). You would then be presented with a) a chance to recruit a new character b) a dungeon to fight through, or c) a combination of both choices a and b.

A game that is truly aware of its own existential existence would not only encourage, but reward its audience for sequence breaking and experimenting with the rules and pre-conceptions of gameplay systems. The gameplay structure would then call for a generous overhaul in terms of how actions and consequences are viewed in terms of narrative.

The easiest example I can think of is when fighting Balio and Sunder for the very first time in Breath of Fire III. (SPOILERS FOR A 10 YEAR OLD GAME AHEAD) Right after successfully infiltrating the mayor's palace, stealing all his money, and giving it back to the townspeople these hired blades burn down the house of our hero and his delinquent friends, and beat them to a bloody pulp. What happens afterwards is Ryu is separated from his party, left all alone, and you are to assume that they are dead. The game then moves on with you going to Wyndia trying to find your friends. I was left wondering "What if you could actually win that battle, and you know, change Rei and Teepo's fate?"

You would think that this fight is impossible, and it was intended to be. But the fact of the matter is, I was a naive child. I level grinded until I could kill even the strongest random encounters without taking a single scratch. I fought Balio and Sunder, and used my best tactics. I assumed it was impossible, but I wanted to try. Lo and behold, I actually... won? I was ecstatic. My reward? Not a god damn thing. It was like a I was a helpless victim to fate and I was merely going through the motions. The fact that I did manage to oust them in that encounter changed absolutely nothing, and the game went on pretending that I did not even accomplish this feat. The only things that changed were that Ryu's level was now much higher and I had spent another 5 hours playing the game when I didn't need to.

Granted this is an example from a game made a long time ago, my point remains valid. Many games do not reward their players for "breaking" the game, and confine them to a very strict set of rules. Videogames have still yet to evolve to the point where they have really begun to become focused on the journey and how the players actions truly affect the world around them. Most are still stuck within the trappings of Balloon Fight, where we are merely being strung along for the ride. Sometimes that ride is rife with repetition and achieving abstract goals we set for ourselves, but that's the nature of a given game and what the player decides to make out of it. I think it says a lot about a person if they've resigned themselves to accepting videogames as a "hobby", rather than a form of entertainment.

...

I'm finished! I honestly don't even know where I was going with all that. But there you go.

[marcus]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Granted this is an example from a game made a long time ago, my point remains valid. Many games do not reward their players for "breaking" the game, and confine them to a very strict set of rules. Videogames have still yet to evolve to the point where they have really begun to become focused on the journey and how the players actions truly affect the world around them. Most are still stuck within the trappings of Balloon Fight, where we are merely being strung along for the ride. Sometimes that ride is rife with repetition and achieving abstract goals we set for ourselves, but that's the nature of a given game and what the player decides to make out of it. I think it says a lot about a person if they've resigned themselves to accepting videogames as a "hobby", rather than a form of entertainment.

;_;

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

Oh, I get what yer saying.

I was thinking about Valkyrie Profile in the more thematic sense. It's all about life and death, and what the point of either really is. Depending on the ending you get, Lenneth reaches a different conclusion.

Soul Blazer is kind of that way, too. You're an agent of God sent to save the world, but after a while you kind of wonder what the point of the world is, and what reason you have to serve your master - the reason of course being that the game doesn't let you do anything else.

If games were more like the hypothetical Breath of Fire scenario you described, developers would have to do a lot more work to prepare for those contingencies.

[Toaster]

Re: Existentialism in Videogames

;_;

It's all on how your view the activity, really.

Oh, I get what yer saying.

I was thinking about Valkyrie Profile in the more thematic sense. It's all about life and death, and what the point of either really is. Depending on the ending you get, Lenneth reaches a different conclusion.

Soul Blazer is kind of that way, too. You're an agent of God sent to save the world, but after a while you kind of wonder what the point of the world is, and what reason you have to serve your master - the reason of course being that the game doesn't let you do anything else.

If games were more like the hypothetical Breath of Fire scenario you described, developers would have to do a lot more work to prepare for those contingencies.

Haha, we were both on two completely different pages. It didn't even occur to me to think of those games in the THEMATIC sense. Oi.