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Which video game has challenged your perspective on the way you live your life and how?
The video game I credit is a role playing game called Final Fantasy 7.
The conflict of the game begins immediately. As you play the story unfolds and you learn of a corporation that is extracting 'Mako Energy' from the planet by means of giant reactors. This 'Mako Energy' is then converted into electricity that is used in the city surrounding the reactors. It is a lucrative business. As a player, you begin the game with your character being directly involved in a vigilante terrorist group; a group whose goal is to destroy these 'Mako Reactors'.
Though the character you play cares little for the goals of his group (your character's main interest is making money), you continue to be involved in these vigilante missions. As time progresses in the game (meaning you complete more story-line) your character learns that 'Mako Energy' is found in all of the creatures and plants that inhabit the game's world. When a life ends this 'Mako Energy' flows back into the planet. It is then recycled by the planet and used to create new life. You understand that the extraction of 'Mako Energy' will result in the disabling of the planet's ability to support new life, and it also means that the planet is itself a living thing (as a player you can visit a place in the game and hear the planet itself making painful noises). You learn that the corporation's president is aware of these facts and is yet still planning to progress with the extraction of 'Mako Energy'.
How did this challenge my perspective?
Growing up I had been exposed to many different ideas of accountability but only at the age of 12, with the help of this compelling story, did I seriously contemplate my role in society. I wondered what kind of character I was, and what kind of character I would like to be. The story made it clear that those who act from a source of greed were ostracized from a moral society. I decided that indifference towards suffering cannot be hidden and that greed will never be satisfied.
Carmen Hung
Catherine (PS3). This game is truly for the mature gamers but the story is so intriguing and equally relevant. Some reviewers describe this game as a “coming-of-age” story and I think the gameplay and narrative really resonate with me as someone recently graduating from university and entering society as a ‘real human being’ (somehow I can’t help but agree with the sad and probably unfair mentality that students are not ‘real people’). It is a story about taking responsibility, about facing and overcoming the fragility of human relationships, and about commitments (either to oneself as being true to their hearts or to others as being faithful to their promises). There is no ‘correct’ ending to the story, and I think that’s the beauty of this game since it allows the gamer to discover what it is to be an adult. An eye-opening example of what the future of gaming can do in terms of narrative and gameplay.
Bernd Fesel 30+
My experience was much easier: "The Settlers" were enough to change my perspective on the media; to understand the active part of it ..... However Twitter really changed by behaviour and my information horizont - and made be a different person. I now feel globally more repsonsible than ever before.
timber maniac 20+
Andrew Petts
timber maniac 20+
Spencer Ferri
A central theme in Warhammer 40K is internal corruption, brought to life by an evil force called Chaos which prays on the personal desires of individuals. A popular writing within this vast story-world (developed for decades by dozens of story developers and even more novel authors) is "Chaos claims the unwary and the incomplete. A true man may flinch away it's embrace if he is stalwart, and if he girds his soul with the armor of contempt."
I always viewed the topic of Chaos Corruption as a mirror for the corruption of personal morals. We often wonder if we can change a system founded on immoral practices from within the system without corrupting our own moral ideas. These stories of holding to an ideology, of slow corruption and guarding ones integrity form a back-bone for my own moral integrity.
Jacob Miller 10+
Mary Ashun 500+
Karen OBrien 50+
TOM CAVANAUGH
Stephanie Schiffman-Marushia
David Chitty
one a side mission in the game, you learn that there are 2 sides to the geth, 2 religious factions. their programming was a few 0's and 1's different from each other in the beginning due to a programming error (of which side you don't know) and a religious war between the 2 factions of geth had broken out.
after a few shooting bits, you end up at a console. you have the option of changing the programming of the geth so that the programming is corrected without them even realising or you can destroy them.
It asks the question, what if you could have you view changed, something that you are willing to die for in a second. so that say for the argument that you would meet a past version of yourself and want to kill each other.
very hard one indeed. but thats why i like games, they ask very hard questions and reveal things about yourself rather than teach you a lesson... that what an interactive experience is made for! (that and fun!)
Austin Berrier
Yuliya Uzunova
Daniel Mestiz
But deep down I’m still a puzzler. Echochrome on PSP really made me look at myself. It’s just a mannequin trying to get from A to B on an Escheresque, existential platform. THIS is life…
timber maniac 20+
Julia Grotenhuis
Kim Bunting
These days, much of my play is more about observing the interactions of the other players than the competitiveness of the game itself.
Julia Grotenhuis
The Final Fantasy games are definitely some of the games that have touched me. I watched my brother play most of them because I'm just so horrible at actually playing video games. Yet I love them. Sigh. Oh well. I actually played through Final Fantasy X. By the end, I could not believe the journey I went through, and how real the characters had become. All of the Final Fantasy games are definitely precious to me in so many ways.
The soundtrack of them, for one, is always brilliant.
The other game that has astounded me is The Word Ends With You. That game is definitely one that has great gameplay, cool animation, a GREAT story, GREAT character development, and for a lot of people probably did challenge their perspective on life. Constantly showing the message to "broaden your horizons". The gameplay is endless, the story is amazing. Overall, The World Ends With You is a complete work of art. If we're going by Aristotle's Poetics here (which can be applied to anything), TWEWY has got it all. And it shows.
charlie sealey
Jacob Jackman
Carl Men
Bioware's Mass Effect series is another one. Aside from the somewhat 'realistic' future outlook this RPG game gives, the importance of choice and morality is a thing to take away also. "Every decision" you make will have impacts on the story. In fact, decisions made in the first game will have big impacts on the last one with saved game file imports.
Anyway, look these up if interested.
Tommy Bong
Comment deleted
Mohammad Marohombsar
My take was on the protagonist's perspective. Never in a game was a character made more true to life.
Cloud Strife changed with the story. At first he was cocky, then later he regretted an event in the story and then he resolves it.
I came to a conclusion about Life:
Your story is about your trials(strife), how you choose to get through them, and what you become in the end.
I hope I resolve all that I regret in the end.
Jamal Mosley
Jonathan Gronli
Though, in more recent terms, the general The Elder Scrolls games, mostly as they are the interactive, digital versions of the medieval romances and Norse/Germanic sagas, which were often used to question or reinforce different societal values.
Probably one of the things that made me question the most though, most recently that is, is Alan Wake. Then again, this is coming from someone who is trying to break into being a writer and it was covering aspects of the psychology of both writer's block and the act of writing itself, as the story revolves around a writer who has writer's block that ends up falling into a story that he's unaware of the fact that he's writing it.
Simon Tutek
It has the most complex economics, strategy and tactics in any MMO I know of.
As 20 something I learned a lot about trade manipulations, unrestricted human behavior, power abuse, need for making an impact on people and the world (meaningfulness).
It has taught me much:
- It has simulated times of war to me.
- Shown me how war profiteers are making money, how they manipulate and create conflicts.
- How little an individual is worth.
- How greed motivates people.
- Not to be naive.
- That most people are generous and cooperative.
timber maniac 20+
Blake Holmes
Varlan Allan 10+
martin smith
In 7th grade I started playing in January 2000 and didn't quit until 2005. I am 25.
This game is a fantasy MMORPG game.
Immediately my vocabulary increased, a lot. The game content did this not the PCs.
Started educating myself how to build computers to run games faster leading to a interest in science and technology. Again no one helped me (except forums).
Throughout high school my twin brother got in so much bad trouble it was deafening, I however got in no trouble.
Adventuring frightened me a lot and had me on edge whenever I traveled to unknown locations (sometimes dying, one time losing my corpse and everything on it) but afterwards having the knowledge and experience to then help people know what I know and grouping with them to help me and them was well worth the sweat and adrenaline, not to mention the anger and beat-in keyboards.
Everquest has taught me a lot looking back over the years, particularly at a very young age, but if I would have to tell you one thing this game has taught me more than anything it is you have to group with different types of people in different environments, some times, to have a really good time and the same applies outside.
I have been catching up outside since 05 going off to college in Colorado and doing everything there is and I've only hit the 1% mark so keep adventuring wherever and whenever!
Safe Sailing,
~Martin
timber maniac 20+
Fletcher Kauffman