Saturday, November 8, 2008
Video Game Morality
There's an odd dichotomy when it comes to "ethical" decisions in a video game. Tot those in the know, we've all been extremely violent towards pixels that resemble our fellow humans. We've fought zombie hordes, we've assassinated merchants and guard captains and hit people in our vehicles, either accidentally or on purpose. And having done these things, we've felt about as guilty as if we had just stapled some papers together, or closed the blinds. And yet I have loudly denounced hunting games as evil, and would only ever play the clay pigeon levels of Duck Hunt. TV Tropes, a website which should be everyone's first reference for anything of value, has named the cliche of a villain proving his true evil nature by inuring an animal a "Kick The Dog" moment. There's something about injuring an animal in a game that is reprehensible, while recreating the battle of Themopyle if fun and exciting. I'd write more, but I've gotten addicted to TV Tropes again.
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I can see how TV Tropes could ensnare you for a whole evening, much like watching you on Wikkipedia tunneling off in all directions in your epistemania. It's the male line of the family I think, if my dad was online he'd be doing the same thing, burrowing through the obscuria and leaving worm holes as he passed through cybersapce. Cyberspace filling with ionized matters, like a black hole, becoming denser, while the edges glow from all the knowledge gleaned.
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