Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1893https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6495Well holy carp, the game has taken a crazy turn. Ghosts trying to come back to life by possessing people who tuned into a radio frequency. Interacting with Clarissa while she's possessed has been revealing in so many ways. The scene in the past, on the beach with Mike, really helped me set a baseline for Clarissa and has led me to understand her far better than I did at the beginning. However, considering the GTFO movie we watched today, the scene that stood out the most was when Jonas and Ren are having their pissing match. The fact you can try to disarm the situation and, failing that, just choose to go with Nona instead made me realize something. This game is portraying a bunch of meaningful characters, three of which happen to be female. The protagonist is a surprisingly deep character with many defining traits, one of which is that she's female. It also doesn't shy away from acknowledging that these characters are female, which I feel is an important aspect. The game doesn't, however, make that the only point; just one among many. Perhaps there's an ethical analysis there. However, the details of that argument are not coming to mind right now. This isn't a case of harassment, its simply a case of good female characters. That in itself has value, but is it an ethical dilemma I can take a side on? It is good to have games with well crafted characters, but I don't think I can make an analysis out of that. Perhaps there's an ethical analysis in what the ghosts are attempting to do. My gut instinct tells me that it's wrong, that life shouldn't come at the expense of another's free will. Is it really that simple a question, however? These are 85 people who would be 'alive' at the expense of one? Is that not worth it? Kant would likely argue that by taking the actions they've taken they've given up their deontological protections. By using these children as means to the end of their revival, they deserve to be left to rot. However, utilitarianism might argue otherwise. These 85 'people' would gain immensely from this act. Sure, these 5 kids would suffer, and likely their families assuming the ghosts don't try to impersonate the children. Perhaps there might be repercussions for the greater world by freeing these 'people'. There are too many unknown variables to make a meaningful Utilitarian argument. It feels too simple though. It's such an instinctually wrong act that I can't imagine anyone taking the other side of the argument as anything more than a devil's advocate. I hope to finish the game on my next play session. Hopefully I'll have an epiphany between now and then.Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:31:16 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6495&iddiary=11402https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6495I managed to find Ren after having a very strange experience in the woods. I'm not sure if it's because I'm still exhausted, but this game really has me on edge. The strange figures that *might* have resulted from some experimentation with radio waves really add to the ambiance. I've gotten a bit firmer on what type of character I want to portray. A bit funny, a lot confused. Trying to cope through the insanity with silliness instead of anger. Speaking of saving Ren, there was a time-loop where I was sure he was going to jump of the cliff. I'm really glad he didn't. Concerning ethics: They've given us the dilemma of who to save first. Our friend, or this person who has treated us badly. It didn't seem like a difficult choice, specially if you ascribe to the virtue of ethics. It's only natural that I would go after my friend first. I guess the carrot for going after Clarissa first is the radio equipment? Regardless, it wasn't enough. Still, this was a fleeting and shallow dilemma. Maybe the real question is the experimentation that has been hinted at? Hopefully I find out tomorrow.Wed, 08 Nov 2017 10:01:46 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6495&iddiary=11386https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6495I've made it to the tower. The game is giving me some serious super brothers sword and sorcery vibes. Perhaps its the focus on sound, perhaps its the freaky light show with the pyramid on the cavern wall. As much as I enjoy the idea of choices that time out, forcing you to engage with the game and really pay attention to the pace of the conversations, I don't like the execution. So far it feels like I'm just interrupting the flow of the conversations whenever I answer if there is more than one other person on the screen. Perhaps that's part of the point though, that we should be willing to listen as much as speak. I definitely feel that not talking is as much a choice as any of the ones they offer you. I'm curious to see how they implement this mechanic moving forward. As far as ethics go: only social drugs have come up and only shallowly. I've had the option to refuse smoking, drinking, and drugged brownies. There was also something relating to Ren's misconduct regarding Nona, but that was one of the dialogues that got interrupted. Hopefully it'll come back up. I look forward to playing some more when I'm not falling asleep from pulling an all-nighter.Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:17:41 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6495&iddiary=11379https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6453What do you know? I know I exist. Why do I think you're a person? I don't think I can make you believe that. That was the latest conversation I had with the terminal. More and more this game is making me recall the concept I was forced to grapple with during our last game log: why do I believe what I believe. A concept I'm likely going to keep referencing as long add I choose to live an examined life. One thing I believe is that I'm not up to the task of making a ONE page argument admit what it means to be alive, or sentient, or a person. Less than a week remains for me to find a topic. The search continues.Thu, 28 Sep 2017 10:45:40 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6453&iddiary=11324https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6453I've made some progress along the first temple, now in level 6. I continue to enjoy finding the stars. It almost feels like the other levels are merely tutorials to teach you the tools to find the stars. The second time capsule gave me some interesting tid-bits to think about. The one talking about iteration through play. That, combined with the athena entry about the purpose of the riddles, makes me wonder what RLD's purpose is. I wonder if the game isn't supposed to be a metaphor for machine learning. I failed my first attempt at getting admin privileges. My answers conflicted on two counts, though I failed to note which those were. One ethical dilemma has been proposed by the game: that of citizenship of AI. It ties into the question of "what is a person?" I'm still unsure what to write about. Hopefully, like Elohim, I'll be able to banish this darkness of doubt.Wed, 27 Sep 2017 10:03:02 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6453&iddiary=11306https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6453I'm about an hour and a half into the game. The puzzles are still relatively simple. I spent most of my time exploring and figuring out where the first three stars where. I'm glad the game tells me when I've collected everything in a level or I would go crazy searching every nook and cranny before finally checking the internet to make sure I had. My favorite parts of the game so far have been the terminals and the QR codes. It gives me a hint as to what's actually going on. Are the QR codes left by previous AI's? If so, where are they? Is the game one big Turing test? Honestly, I have no idea yet. I hope I can unravel the mystery as I go.Mon, 25 Sep 2017 11:32:43 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6453&iddiary=11285https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429I was able to play another hour, again tackling the Riddler puzzles and exploring certain scenes again to re-evaluate their impact. Two scenes, in particular, continue to have a strong impact on me - spoilers ahead. The third time Croc attacks, just as Robin is freeing you from the cage, is a scene that haunted me the first time and continued to haunt me the other two times I played through it. Despite it being almost a still image as Croc comes in for the kill, I always found myself with the desire to look away. The other scene that continues to torment me is the end. On my second play-through, I tried to catch the wonderfully done scene transition, to no avail. You slide open a cell grate only to reveal The Joker, who is supposed to be dead. He asks you to come closer, luring you to the very edge of the play area, possibly triggering the sensors that demand you step back. I wonder if that, in itself, is part of the message. A brief moment of lucidity reminding you that your senses are being deceived, much like Batman's. When you step closer, the Joker taunts Batman and you start hearing voices around and behind you. When you turn around you find that you're no longer outside the cell, but inside it. It's revealed that Batman was the one who trapped or murdered his two side-kicks due to the Joker infection coursing through him, and the secret ending heavily implies that Batman is going insane and on the way to becoming a new Joker, or even that his consciousness is somehow being subsumed. Two parts of this scene were particularly impactful for me. As it becomes clear Batman was the one who murdered his companions, you can look at your hands (and it really does feel like you're looking at your own hands) and see them covered in blood. Then the walls start to close in, leaving you trapped in an ever smaller cell of claustrophobia inducing nightmare. Where Batman VR failed, as a game, was in the lack of direct action on your part. You uncover the story well enough, but you never play through the actions, and thus there is a disconnect between what Batman has done and what the player has done. Then again, perhaps that disconnect was intentional. I can envision this game with an early chapter where you actually fight an enemy, and it later turns out that what you'd perceived as an enemy was actually Nightwing. With that barrier between character action and player action removed, would the impact at the end be that much stronger? Would it be right to expose the player to that level of potential trauma? I believe, as I hinted above, that this connection would have made for a stronger emotional impact and would have made for a stronger and more memorable experience; but, I must admit, I am unsure how the average player would respond to such an emotional blow. Ultimately, the game had a strong narrative, a surprising amount of replayability due to the Riddler content, and was a wonderful way to spend five hours. I hope the rest of the games on this list lead me to have as many interesting experiences as this one has, and to as many quandaries.Thu, 31 Aug 2017 08:16:40 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429&iddiary=11258https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429Thu, 31 Aug 2017 07:37:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429&iddiary=11257https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429I finished the game today and, as I expected, there was little else that would add to the topic of surveillance. The twist at the end threw me for a loop, and I must admit that it's impact was made more powerful due to its medium. I was actually looking at my own hands, covered in blood, as I came to the realization that it was I who'd murdered them. Enough about the medium though. So, if we seek to continue the topic of surveillance I think we might need to go outside the game for additional information. The Riddler puzzles add a bit of meat to the game, and the second play through has some extra scenes I'm excited to get to, but the original concept was already grasping at straws in a game that doesn't naturally support the argument. I think I might, instead, question the ethicality of the medium itself. Video games already place us in a unique frame of mind to accept responsibility for actions. VR, if done correctly, enhances the sense of presence many times over. Should we then place unsuspecting players into these kinds of situations. I felt incredibly claustrophobic as the walls started to close around me at the end. The rest of the experience doesn't have me directly performing the actions, and that toned down the sense of presence, but I can imagine games that do. Even regular game activities like the slaughter of a thousand monsters, is that something that should be done in VR? I think the question of the VR medium is what I'll try to tackle.Tue, 29 Aug 2017 02:13:06 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429&iddiary=11225https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429From the outset Batman VR placed me on a quest to find Robin, but at first all I could think off was how charming the VR interface was. I kept interacting with everything, seeing what I could and couldn't pick up, and taking note of how this changed my gaming experience. I loved the scene when you put on the suit and it brings down a mirror, allowing you to view the full suit in action as extrapolated from only the arms. It wasn't until I arrived at the scene of Nightwing's murder that I started moving beyond the unique interface and analyzing the world presented to me. Batman has a device that allows him to reconstruct (with amazing detail) the fight that took place between Nightwing and his unknown assailant. I then began to ask myself: Why, if you have access to this technology, would you keep it to yourself? Would this technology not be better used in the hands of the police, instead of the hands of a lone vigilante? Is there some reason why only the 'Batman' should have access to this technology? I haven't come up with answers to these questions yet, but I think this idea of unshared technology, particularly surveillance technology, is the ethical quandary I want to delve into. Should Batman share his technology? Should any man have access to that technology in the first place? We'll see how the game unfolds.Mon, 28 Aug 2017 00:51:29 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6429&iddiary=11219