In post-Littleton America,
the right and the left are gradually converging on a “centrist” compromise
to throw over both the 1st and 2nd amendments in
order to achieve some mythically safe society. One of the prime targets
of this new consensus are video games that realistically depict acts of
violence.
Numerous commentators have
noted that some branches of the military use the 3-D game Doom
as a training tool, the implication being that any game realistic enough
for the military couldn’t possibly appropriate for impressionable young
minds. Of course such comments usually fail to note that Doom is
used by the military to teach small unit tactics rather than for its depiction
of violence which is relatively unrealistic. As computer graphics technology
continues improve, these sort of games are destined to get ever gorier
and the controversy more heated.
Contrary to the received wisdom
of pundits, however, the main impression playing these games gives is
an appreciation for just how unrealistic they are even when the graphics
look like Hollywood special. The settings are usually bizarre space stations
or underground dungeons populated with evil looking aliens and monsters.
Some recent titles veer from this formula, but are still basically unreal.
Consider the current state-of-the-art 3d shooter, Half Life. The
player is cast as a physicist takes on the hordes of an invading alien
army all the while fending off a large military unit sent to wipe out
everyone with knowledge of the aliens. Yep, better keep that game far
away from Stephen Hawking before he goes Rambo.
Ironically the games that present
serious moral quandaries are precisely those games that the media either
ignores or, more often, actually praises: so-called “god games.” As the
category title suggests, in a god game the player gets to act as a sort
of god, often the most minute details of the game world. The classic (and
most popular) examples of god games are Civilization and SimCity.
Civilization casts the
player as the leader of a small tribe around 2000 BC. The player tries
to guide his civilization to success over 4,000 years or so, which generally
requires defeating the other civilizations in military conquest, although
the player can also win the game by being the first to successfully build
a spaceship to colonize nearby Alpha Centauri. Along the way the
player can take a wide variety of actions of questionable morality. Want
to rain nuclear weapons on your opponents on the next continent? No problem.
Think unleashing horrific biological weapons is a legitimate act of war?
ItÂ’s in the game. Having problems getting your pesky democratic society
to go along with such war plans? Plan a revolution and switch the government
to communism and they’ll fall in line.
SimCity is more of a
pure god game since it doesnÂ’t have any specific goal. The player is presented
with an empty map and some starting funds to create a city. The player
then goes about zoning land, building public works, raising and lowering
taxes. The game gives the player the sort of control over the Sim citizens’
lives that modern urban planners lust after. Do the people in your city
dislike the landfill on the outskirts of town? Time to bring in the mandatory
recycling ordinance. Do the environmentally minded citizens want more
open green space? Demolish the low income housing in the downtown area
and create a park for the Sim yuppies to play in.
Just as developers of 3D shooter
games keep upping the ante with ever more detailed bloody graphics and
smarter computer opponents, so the god games are also engaged in their
own race to push the morality envelope. In the recently released Sid MeierÂ’s
Alpha Centauri players fight for control of an alien planet. Among
the many gameplay innovations are the ability to commit massive human
rights violations against civilian populations. If a player’s citizens
aren’t cooperating, he or she can order them to be nerve stapled which
turns the population into mindless drones who work harder and with fewer
complaints. To give your troops a greater chance of victory they can be
outfitted with the latest in nerve gas and genetic weapons, or elect to
build “planet busters” that make nuclear weapons look like cap guns.
At the start of a game of Alpha
Centauri, the computer-controlled civilizations will react very harshly
toward anyone who commits such atrocities, but this problem can be obviated
by convincing the Planetary Council – a sort of simulated mini-United
Nations – to repeal its human rights charter. After this the player may
commit atrocities with no risk of sanction from other governments.
Unlike the politicians, activists
and busybodies who whine about the role of guns or movies or music, I
donÂ’t place a lot of stock in the ability of games to turn those who play
them into bureaucrats and fascists. What is interesting, however, is that
the moral issues portrayed by these games are simply ignored by the media.
In fact both Alpha Centauri and SimCity have been praised
for their innovative game play in mainstream newspapers and magazines.
Shooting a few monsters on a Quake II level is portrayed as craven and
perhaps dangerous, but despite the ability it gives to nuke large cities,
Civilization and its imitators are praised for their fascinating
gameplay.
One of the reasons for the
difference in coverage clearly lays with the outlook of journalists who
generally embrace the overwhelming power of modern states, even when they
might disagree with some specific use of that power. A game where a single
person armed with a gun kills dangerous foes is clearly wrong in this
context, but a state nuking a city – well, that might be morally justifiable
depending on the circumstances. The sort of social engineering simulated
in a game like SimCity fits perfectly with the general attitude
favoring “rational” management of society by experts that seems so many
in the media find appealing.
But come to think of it, perhaps
this is a strength rather than weakness of the god games. Yes, they allow
the player to treat the people in the simulation as mere means to an end,
but could there possibly be a better introduction to the modern state?
One of the things that has always struck me about SimCity, Civilization,
Alpha Centauri and their imitators is that no reasonable person
could possibly want to live in the worlds these games simulate. What with
taxes being constantly raised, oneÂ’s livelihood depending on whether the
state wants to fight another senseless war simply to score a few more
points, the allocation of resources to satisfy military demands while
average people live on the edge of starvation and the constant manipulation
of people to meet the ever changing needs of the state.
What a minute – sounds an awful
like the real world, which is why the god games scare me a heck of a lot
more than any 3-D shooter.