Re: Mechanics are the message

[Bob <mantic@mbo.net>]

Fiction is always about ethics -- and the author is God in the universe
of his creating. Consider the character of Vincent Vega in the movie
Pulp Fiction. He commits murder, and manslauhter, and a whole slew of
other ethically questionable crimes, but it is not this which damns him
but his failure in loyalty to his boss (exemplefied by the choice to
keep secrets from him). Do I have to agree with this ethic to enjoy the
movie? I don't think so...

	Games have also done this. Unfortunately the options are often too
limited to garner much meaning, but not always. In Sim City, the
existence of a rules based ecological system by it's nature conveyed an
ecological message. Adventure games, by their close relationship to
fiction, often play directly upon the ethics of player decisions
(usually with immediate results). Some of the tomagochi, such as
'Princess Maker', delay the calculated results of ethical decisions to
the conclusion of the game (does your daughter become a princess or
queen of the damned?). Dink Smallwood attempts to let the player be free
to choose a path without serious judgement, and winds up making a
particularl clear ethical statement. In all these cases I don't feel
that the ethics or the implied messages are an impediment to my
enjoyment of the game, whether I agree with the conclusions or not.

But I do appreciate a game more when I can understand the means to an
end.

							--Bob