SubJeff on 2/4/2014 at 22:11
Well that escalated quickly.
Kolya on 2/4/2014 at 23:16
Not that quickly really. I (
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=5424.msg59223#msg59223) commented on this game very similarly in July last year. And the ambivalent feeling I had back then only intensified with every trailer. How can you make a game like this these days and NOT take into account real world events? Or show any critical thought about this topic at all?
Ken Levine's Bioshocks about Randianism and Racism may have been twitchy rehashes from a gameplay point of view, but at least he tried to ascend the genre by asking some serious questions. In a video game.
What question does this game ask? "What would you do with that kind of power?" That's just not enough in my opinion.
LaffyTaffy420 on 2/4/2014 at 23:59
Quote Posted by Kolya
Not that quickly really. I (
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=5424.msg59223#msg59223) commented on this game very similarly in July last year. And the ambivalent feeling I had back then only intensified with every trailer. How can you make a game like this these days and NOT take into account real world events? Or show any critical thought about this topic at all?
Ken Levine's Bioshocks about Randianism and Racism may have been twitchy rehashes from a gameplay point of view, but at least he tried to ascend the genre by asking some serious questions. In a video game.
What question does this game ask? "What would you do with that kind of power?" That's just not enough in my opinion.
sonic the hedgehog is clearly a commentary on our fast paced society
henke on 3/4/2014 at 05:42
Quote Posted by Kolya
How can you make a game like this these days and NOT take into account real world events? Or show any critical thought about this topic at all?
How do you know it doesn't? We've barely seen anything about the story yet, all the trailers have focused on the gameplay, the gameworld, and individual missions.
Just to be clear, personally I'll be perfectly content if this is just a game where you play a hacker vigilante. I'm sure the developers and writers have had a lot of time to think about those issues over the course of making of this game, and if they have something interesting to add to the discussion, and some unique way of presenting those ideas through the gameplay, that'd be great! But it absolutely will not be necessary in order for me to enjoy this game for what it is.
SubJeff on 3/4/2014 at 06:07
I highly doubt the game will not have some element of commentary on surveillance. For all we know the tech you use may be used to bring down the system, with you walking off into the sunset tech-less at the end. You heard it here first.
Thirith on 3/4/2014 at 06:44
I'm not sure what I'd prefer: no commentary at all or the shallow, simplistic commentary that I expect from the game. Has anyone watched the recent Errant Signal on Assassin's Creed? It makes some good points about how the game's depiction and gamification of slavery and freeing slaves, and the craven shallowness ends up being pretty problematic. I think it's great if games try to be at least somewhat relevant, but often this turns into smugness at having tried, which I find pretty aggravating.
Also, while I'm all for such themes being addressed by games, I don't think we ought to demand that every game - or indeed any specific game - does so. Watch Dogs can be amoral, apolitical and still a good game, and if this is the case then both sides of the equation should be addressed, but if Watch Dogs ends up saying absolutely nothing about surveillance and privacy, this should not be the only thing by which the game is measured. Look at military shooters: I absolutely think there should be more examination and critique of the genre along the lines of Spec Ops: The Line, but I also wouldn't want every single military shooter to be Spec Ops.
Kolya on 3/4/2014 at 07:40
Good points Thirith. Yes, games should also be allowed to be nothing but oblivious amoral fun of course. But to my knowledge there has been no other big game commenting on surveillance yet and watch Dogs deals with this specific issue at a time when it has become very important and influential in the real world. Maybe there will be some side comment that we haven't seen yet. But unless the devs are terribly insecure about the subject to the point of creating misleading trailers, this won't really be a question the game poses and the ending will be nothing like what SE said unfortunately.
Thirith on 3/4/2014 at 08:06
To be honest, AAA games are about the last place where I'd expect worthwhile political or ethical commentary. Doesn't mean it can't happen, but the very nature of AAA development makes it very difficult. Pretty much by definition, AAA titles are intended to sell well, first and foremost.
I'm not saying that this is how it should be or that we shouldn't be disappointed at how shallowly uncritical games generally are - but I think it's worth adjusting our expectations, otherwise you'll live life constantly wanting to bang your head against the wall. At the same time, the attention that such big titles get may provide something of a platform for smaller, more interesting indie titles (and a lot of indie crap, too) that take up the theme.
