Morality Games

Posted on June 5, 2007
Filed Under Journal, Society, Movies, TV and Media |

The Ten Commandments The old guy was motionless; asleep - silence stalked the lower depths of the inn and on its trail walked death. The corridor was unlit, shadows stretched out from the room grabbing at me as I stood in the doorway. Only now did I reconsider the orders. It would be a quick thing indeed, but did he deserve it? The air around me reeked mildly of damp timber, dust rimmed the walls, inside the room the table was coated with a thick grime. Kill him in his sleep if you wish, a slow or fast death it makes no matter. Lucien’s words echoed in my mind. The man’s breathing was shallow, a deep sleep then not much chance of him waking…a slide of the knife and it would be finished. The inn’s owner had explained how the old guy had been living down here for weeks; no property except for the clothes on his back. A lost soul with only coin enough to rent the room for a few weeks…and then what?

Well now that wouldn’t matter - a quick glance back, and the shadows finally consumed me as I entered the room. The knife was sharp and made quick clean work, a single wound and he became another face in my memories. Locked in the vaults, and quickly forgotten. I could have thought Lucien would be pleased, had I been that way inclined. I knew Lucien would be as indifferent to this as he was with all things. A point which would be hammered home on my next assignment; the murder of my colleagues and associates. Ultimately I would become as indifferent to the world as Lucien.

Jesus

The World of Games

The world of games create an entirely new reality within the mind. Espeically those with such depth that they mimic the real world with a certain degree of grace and complexity. Inside the mindscape these worlds take on the form of a living and breathing environment. The memory accesses events from the game-world as readily as it does the real world. There really is little distinction aside from the knowing that it was only a game. In many respects the memories play back as memories of a dream would. They can in some ways become indistinguishable from real world memories in the context of each specific event.

A friend of mine point-blank refuses to partake of the above “quests” in the game Oblivion. Why? Because they challenge his sense of what is morally correct. Killing people in their sleep isn’t right, neither is killing entire families - another “quest” within the game. Well I did these quests anyway - after all it is just a game isn’t it?

So why then am I left the feeling that I have been morally challenged?

Does this speak to the complex reality of these games? Or does it speak to the nature of morality?