I’ve played through Spec. Ops: the Line. Interesting though that game is, there’s one aspect that I found very lacking; the intelligence and rationality of the protagonists, both instrumental and cognitive. It’s not just in their poor decision-making, or their delusions, but also their complete lack of defenses in front of the horrors of war, both from them and from others. They act from the gut, they mismanage the feelings of guilt, obligation, and fear.
The game has a theme of helplessness in the face of chaos; it doesn’t matter whether you try to do the right thing, because the world does not bend to your will, and you’ll find yourself forced to do unsavoury things, or having things you do turn out to have horrible unforeseen consequences.
I was wondering whether it was possible to hammer this message home in spite of having intelligent, rational characters. The game, as it is, says “Good intentions and outrageous badassery aren’t enough to prevent failure or protect you from moral bankruptcy”. I’d like to amend that to “Good intentions, a rational and intelligent approach, and outrageous badassery, aren’t enough to prevent failure or protect you from moral bankruptcy or insanity”.
Spec. Ops: The Line; a Rationalist twist?
I’ve played through Spec. Ops: the Line. Interesting though that game is, there’s one aspect that I found very lacking; the intelligence and rationality of the protagonists, both instrumental and cognitive. It’s not just in their poor decision-making, or their delusions, but also their complete lack of defenses in front of the horrors of war, both from them and from others. They act from the gut, they mismanage the feelings of guilt, obligation, and fear.
The game has a theme of helplessness in the face of chaos; it doesn’t matter whether you try to do the right thing, because the world does not bend to your will, and you’ll find yourself forced to do unsavoury things, or having things you do turn out to have horrible unforeseen consequences.
I was wondering whether it was possible to hammer this message home in spite of having intelligent, rational characters. The game, as it is, says “Good intentions and outrageous badassery aren’t enough to prevent failure or protect you from moral bankruptcy”. I’d like to amend that to “Good intentions, a rational and intelligent approach, and outrageous badassery, aren’t enough to prevent failure or protect you from moral bankruptcy or insanity”.
Any suggestions on how to tackle such a problem?