I had killed thousands of lives in virtual world. I killed them using cold weapons in Mount & Blade. I gave them head shots in Call of Duty. I teared them into pieces by my magics in World of Warcraft. I killed them so I won and got promotions, rewards, and more power. I got everything in these worlds by killing. So in these world we are killing for fun. The mechanics and systems behind these games are designed to encourage killing in certain areas and circumstances. So in these kind of games, I don’t remember how many lives taken away by me because I kill everyday and the lives are actually similar to my character.
Then I met sandbox games. In Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas and Watch Dog, mechanics and systems provide more variations on solving a problem. You can choose to kill since that is the most traditional way. But you have other options, such as bribe and persuasion. Compared to the games mentioned in the last paragraph, these games are less violent and more optional. Still, I don’t remember how many lives I killed too because killing is just one way to solve a problem (mostly a task) in the worlds. I am care about finishing a task instead of my way to finish it.
However, I killed an old man in This War of Mine. I killed him in a game one month ago but I still remember all the details of my behaviors and my mental process. And I still feel guilty. I Let me tell you that. My character was a cooker at that night, one of my companions was in charge of night watching at home and the other one was badly sicked in bed. I was going outside to scan for resources. I need food for my group and I need medicine to save my companion. Hospital was taken up by a group of soldiers so I had to test my lucks on an shabby building. It was said that there are foods and medicines but dangers as well so I took my pistol. Entering the building is pretty simple because it is a big building and few people lived here. I tried to be polite at beginning avoid entering the room which is taken up by others. I scanned for hours but failed to find anything useful. Even my character were murmuring that he is hungry. So I decided to take a risk. I entered a kitchen which is obviously belong to someone else. Then I got some food successfully and no one spotted me. Since I had stolen something, then I think I should steal more since there was already a penalty for stealing. So I walked around and entered a bedroom. All I spotted was the clear icon floating on the bed which showed that there was items inside. So I clicked that and my character found medicines! Oh, I can save my companions life! I took them. Suddenly, a dialogue popped out, “Don’t take the medicine. I need them”. Then I found that there is an old man lying on the bed. Obviously, he was ill. Actually, in the game, I always try to help others. I traded my medicine to one of the son whose father is ill to save his life. I went outside to help my neighbors. But now I was taking other’s medicines, I was taking his life supplements away. Without any hesitation, I pulled out my gun and shot at his three times before he died. I run away and back to home. Finally, my companion still died in sickness because it was too severe and I was killed when suffering a robbery later.
Why I kill that old man? I keep thinking about it. Rationally, killing a non-enemy using bullets is a waste of bullets and they are precious in the game. The instant thought is that I took his medicine so he would die. I was just try to make it easier. It was nice to him. But now I can admit that I killed him because I felt guilty to steal his medicine and his existence was evidence of my guilty. So I killed him for my own relief.
Emotions in game are precious and important. So one interesting question is why I feel guilty to that exact old man instead of the former bodies on my game experience path. I consider the followings might be part of the reasons.
First, in This War of Mine, there is no exact goal for players. Players struggle with survival everyday, but the game never says that is your goal. Without a goal, players cannot blame killing to game. They have to take their own responsibility for their own behaviors.
Second, when a character kill someone his mood and his companions’ and his moods will be low for several days. Exposed to others makes players more affected by social opinions.
Third, NPCs are responsive to the world. If the old man was just lying down or kept saying before I took medicine. I won’t feel he reacted to my behavior. Then I do not care about him any more.
Fourth, I died from robbery from someone else. I feel the hopelessness when suffering it.
In sum, This War of Mine provides a successful example of how to create a realistic and impressive world by an innovative way, evoking emotions.
Christian Murphy
Criticism – Mount and Blade
Mount and Blade: with Fire and Sword is the most recent of the Mount & Blade games. The series is a hard mix of historical facts, role playing, and large scale combat. While the game has an open world environment, and near limitless player freedom, it forces the player to act violently. This is counter intuitive because plenty of things are happening in 17th century Poland/Russia/Ottoman Empire. However the only way to level up and increase your personality in the larger world is through warfare.
From the moment the game starts up you find your village under siege by a group of bandits. Luckily a French nobleman is in the village and teaches you a thing or two about fighting. He also gives you a pistol, and a horse. After you kill the initial attacking bandits, your party rides off into the country side as the Frenchman tells you to visit a different local town, and ask their elder for work. Once you ride into the town the elder warns you of some looters that have been pillaging the town at night. You agree to wait until nightfall, and then engage them in battle. These two similar quests right off the bat might make Mount and Blade seem outdated, or repetitive- but it’s not. That’s why it’s so disappointing thing, so much is going on, yet Mount and Blade forces the player towards a path of violence.
Mount and Blade features a robust character building setting. Levels give points in 3 sections, with each section acting as a surrogate of the one before it. This leveling system changes all the generic things like health, melee damage, persuasion and party size, but also unique things like shooting from a moving horse, prisoner management, tracking, and engineering. The levels aren’t hard to attain- at first. However it quickly becomes obvious that you are going to be forced to kill. A good amount of missions don’t require killing to complete, but at least half do. While theoretically someone could level up without fighting by completing dozens of mail courier missions, they offer far too little experience and a laughable amount of coins.
Thus in order to level up basic attributes like movement speed on the map and party size, you need to kill. However Mount and Blade tries to maintain realism, so your character dies quickly. To last more than two blows, you need to purchase expensive armors. All the quests offer very little money, so your best bet is to loot and burn villages. Your actions will be scorned by your followers, but rarely do they actually abandon you in disgust. With at least $10,000 in goods from a looted village, the courier quest can hardly compete with a mere $300 reward. Rolling in wealth you can leave the burning countryside behind to kill whoever you please, hungry for experience points.
I’m not complaining about the combat in Mount and Blade. It’s fun, engaging, and chaotic. I just wish that you could raise to power in a more diplomatic sense. With many games offering cultural and intellectual victory, the straight forward need for combat is what makes Mount and Blade: with Fire and Sword a war game not a historical simulation.