Arca

Contributing writer for The Artifice.

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    Latest Topics

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    games
    Regret and Shame
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    Regret in Gaming

    On a deeper level than selling an important item or getting the wrong upgrade, what about actions in gameplay that cause regret and or shame in the player? How can developers use this to further the emotional connection between the player and the game? When is it effective and when is it frustrating?

    A good example of a game with this theme would be "Spec Ops:The Line", where the horror of the game comes from forcing the player to endure uncompromising and increasingly meaningless combat, difficult and no-win choice scenarios, and the violent shift in tone in the characters.

    • One challenge is making gamers regret choices they actually made; not actions they took as part of the plot. I don't know if a gamer can really regret, for example, killing Andrew Ryan in Bioshock and trusting Atlas. The player had no choice in the matter. RPGs, due to their emphasis on player choice, are much better at eliciting regret than a linear shooter in my opinion. Take Mass Effect. The player must choose either Tali or Legion, and unless the player has high enough karma to defuse the situation, must watch as one of these colorful fan-favorites die. Suddenly, the player regrets not trying harder to make Tali see Legion as an ally, or Legion see Tali as a refugee. Sometimes these regrets are smaller too. For example, should you really have spent money on Oblivion's horse armor? So, my point is: the author should show a difference between scripted "choices" and if the resulting regret should be considered lesser in some way than regret elicited from a real choice the player made earlier on. – Hunter 9 years ago
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    • Also using Bioshock as an example, I've heard that of the people who chose to harvest the Little Sisters, some felt intense shame and regret later on in the game. When Jack is in Tenenbaum's sanctuary, those who harvested the Little Sisters would be treated with fear and caution; the girls in the sanctuary are clearly afraid of him. Some players felt so ashamed at this point that they quit the game in order to start over from the very beginning. – DankileLin 9 years ago
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    • Games like "Heavy Rain," "Until Dawn," and "Indigo Prophecy" rely on this sense of making the "right" choice as well. – Tarben 8 years ago
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    Latest Comments

    May 18, 2016
    Arca

    That’s a tough point to make as many children do not have the emotional maturity or background knowledge to really understand certain ideas.

    Follow the though process of this:

    “Where’s the Dog?”
    “The dog is dead?”
    “Why?”

    Or even more potent “Why did the dog have to die?”. This is not a conversation that will get very far without bending truths or omitting facts. Sometimes the easier and more productive answer is “just because”.

    I appreciate the idea of exploring children’s thoughts and ideals, but this does not make them philosophers. Nor does it make the adults that don’t try to push constant new ideas onto them bad people.

    		 Inside Out and St. Thomas Aquinas' Philosophy of the Emotions
    May 18, 2016
    Arca

    The problem with Fan Service is that it usually exploits a character’s sexuality for audience appeal which weakens their depth and complexity. Don’t get me wrong, sexuality has it’s place in all media but when the action is out of character it disrupts the dynamic of the story and relationship of the viewer and the character in questions. A good example of this is the whole controversy that happened recently with Blizzard’s “Overwatch” game and the character Tracer.

    		 Fanservice in Anime: Perception Versus Intent
    May 18, 2016
    Arca

    I lived in China for a few years and I think this system would be difficult to enforce at first. Many people I worked with avoided most forms of social media and the ones that didn’t were more interested in photo sharing and shopping. Most if not all understood the limitations of their ability to surf the internet and found ways to get around it.

    But at the same time it wouldn’t be ridiculous to see this in practice, and to see it held up by the people who use it. My coworkers and friends were often required to get a social messaging app in order to stay in touch with their clients at all times. If you were a teacher for example, that meant twenty to thirty students and their parents. Wouldn’t be that odd for them to check and demand that their workers use an app like that too.

    		 Sesame Credit: The Dark Side of Gamification