Gaming after conversion.

I am sure many of our readers can recognise how, at some point in their life, they made a transition from a child apprehension of the Catholic Faith to an adult one. A good number of others will have approached the Faith from a nearly total neo-pagan upbringing but in both situations the 'converts' will come to see many of the things they used to do as incompatible with the Gospel of Christ.

It is interesting as to how deeper conversion effects catholic gamers. I was certainly someone who was playing video games long before I had any grasp or acceptance of the faith and 'converted', as it were, only around the age of 17. How then should the full Catholic faith alter my appreciation of gaming? I don't think I have come to a conclusion yet. On the one hand, if I reflect on the philosophies underlining a lot of the games I really love (Console RPGs mainly) I find really questionable stuff (I'll reflect on this later) on the other hand, I know that such games can be great for relaxation and can be a common point of dialogue with many guys my age.

I think there are two legitimate approaches then towards gaming (especially of the RPG and adventure variety which are essentially interactive novels), the first is to totally reject all games that are not explicitly and wholly in conformity with the Gospel (this was the approach of Tertullian on the subject of whether Christians should read pagan fiction or attend the theatre). A 'liberal' reading of Tertullian's approach would be to also allow the legitimate video game corpus to include morally ambivalent games like Duck Hunt, Driving Sims, Sports Sims, Puzzle games and a few cheesy 'bible based games'.

The second legitimate approach towards games, so far as they are not intrinsically evil, is to see the values, philosophies and ideas that are good and noble in them so as to enrich our appreciation of what Tolkien refers to as 'the true myth', the Christian Revelation. Vatican II, in the quotes on the side of the blog takes this positive approach and hopefully in my posts I will be able to look at some of the great video games and see what we can take from them that will enrich us as followers of Christ.

Catholic Gaming Community?

From the e-mail files:

"I’ve been looking around the web for any ‘Catholic Gaming’ groups, specifically on the Xbox 360, I came across one of the blogs you contribute to and decided to shoot you an email.

Do you know of any Catholic-based clans, or gaming communities? I’m interested in gaming with like-minded individuals, and if you’ve ever played Xbox Live, you know that most people tend to be vulgar, crass, disrespectful and the like. Right now I’m playing ModernWarfare 2, but I love almost all games. Let me know if you can point me in the right direction!"

Being the online gaming square that I am, I got nothin.' Readers! Knowest thou anything relevant about this topic?

Video Game Violence, Part Trio

Heavy Rain, QuanticDream's heavily anticipated "interactive movie" (their words, not mine) experience developed exclusively for the Playstation 3, released to a flurry of positive reviews this past week, and the flurries of snow here in Chicago didn't stop anyone here in the Chi from picking up the game - including one of my brother seminarians.

I have yet to play or even watch the game myself; however, the buzz about the game has reached my ears, and as it has some pertinence to the oft-discussed topic of video game violence here on CathVG, I'm going to offer the readership a chance to comment on it.

Now, the lexicon of the video gamer "chattering class" is awfully pretentious (the diction employed to describe the gaming experience is strictly limited to words like "innovative," "immersive," and "deep," and there's rarely any substantive attempt to distinguish between terms). Still, describing Heavy Rain as "immersive" is probably an understatement. The game takes a sort of "choose-your-own-ending" approach to the story; every action you as a player undertake has a dramatic effect on the story's progression. Anyone remember the "Goosebumps" books from the 90's, with the funky "alternative endings?" Yeah, it's kinda like that, only there's a seemingly limitless amount of endings to the story in Heavy Rain. Why is this important? Read on, gentle reader, read on...

Heavy Rain also "immerses" the player in its utilization of the Playstation 3's motion-sensing controller. Case in point: you character is a gun-wielding, neo-noir detective. You hold the controller as if you were holding a handgun (not too disimilar to the "light gun" arcade games of yore) as your character is forced with a moral dilemma: shoot an innocent bystander in cold blood (and thus save the character's son), or choose to back off and watch someone else die the same brutal death.

THE PLAYER pulls the trigger - or at least, this is what the game compels the player to think, as the motion-sensing control scheme demands that the player simulate the actual murder sequence.

So...with an immersive setting like that of Heavy Rain, is the moral culpability of the player any different? It's awfully clear that the developers are pushing the envelope in that direction, blurring the line between the "player-as-viewer" and "player-as-agent," per se. At the very least, the postmodern, "it's all just a matter of perspective..." thematic is certainly a part of this game, and for this reason alone I will say, without hesitancy: DO NOT buy this game for your 4-year-old grandson/nephew/brother. Even then, given that this game deliberately attempts to soothe away the pangs of a guilty conscience in its portayal (simulation?) of murder, well, I'm not sure if anyone else should be playing it, either.

That being said, I await the judgment of those who have actually, you know, played the game.

DRM - Reasonable or Unreasonable? (Part 1)

Gamers are not generally known for clean language. Most gamers I know, are pretty liberal with vulgarities. In the game community, though, there is a three letter acronym which has become the equivalent of a four-letter word: DRM, Digital Rights Management (anti-piracy measures, essentially). And it is not surprising that this is the case. In their rush to stop piracy, developers and publishers of software have included all manner of draconian and invasive methods of DRM with their products.

Piracy: My Own Thoughts in Relation to Catholic Teaching

There exist very diverse opinions concerning software piracy. They range from those who consider any unauthorized use of software to be unacceptable to those who see it as a badge of honor never to pay for software and everywhere in between. The in between is, perhaps, much more interesting than the extremes. It is there in which we see the various justifications people use for piracy.

Looking carefully at the matter, I would say that I consider software piracy to be a form of theft. As such, I would say that it is wrong under any normal circumstance. The various people in the chain of software production and sale deserve to be justly recompensed for their labors. This is a Christian principle as well as one which is in keeping with the general concept of individuals rights. Taking the fruit of someone's labor both without permission and without recompense is theft. I do not think that it matters if you are not taking a physical item, even though some people will try to justify piracy by saying that non-physical goods are somehow not afforded the same protection as physical ones.

While there are numerous different justifications which are used for piracy, I will list a few here:

1) Justification: The software is over-priced.
My Thought: It could easily be replaced with "I do not want to pay for it". This argument strikes me as especially weak in light of the fact that software is not a basic human right nor, generally, do you need it for your livelihood.

2) Justification: "Try before you buy". The idea is that you pirate the software and then buy it if you like it.
My Thought: This is a concept which, if you were to attempt it with most other goods, would likely not be accepted by those who are purveying them.

3) Justification: Certain publishers or, perhaps, all publishers are "rich" and/or "evil", therefore making it acceptable to pirate their products. Microsoft is a popular target for this.
My Thought: This mentality does not strike me as having particular merit any more than the over-priced reasoning. Simply because someone is wealthy does not make it right to pirate from them. Not even if it is Microsoft (and please note that I am writing this on a computer running Linux).

Along with my individual responses here and the moral perspective from a religious and individual rights point of view, I would also like to add a practical test for personal actions. It is always good to ask: "What would be the result if everyone else were to do as I do?" In this case, if everyone pirated, then it would become difficult to profit from the production of software and many high-end games and powerful applications would no longer be available to us. Further, it would be a great injustice to those who labor to create software for our use.

There is one more justification for piracy which I find, perhaps, the most interesting:

Protest.

Yes, sometimes people use software piracy as a means of protest against some policy or other which a developer or publisher undertakes. Ironically, as was the case with the game Spore, it can even be a response to draconian DRM (anti-piracy) measures. Once again, I would not endorse the idea of pirating software simply because the developer or publisher has made you angry. At the same time, a part of the reason I am looking at this issue on this blog is the very phenomena of piracy as protest.

NOTE: This article is NOT addressing issues such as "abandonware" and foreign titles not released in your native language. I will talk about that in a different article as it is rather a different circumstance.

NOTE 2: I am also not a fan of DRM, despite not supporting piracy.


God be with you,
Steely

For Freedom! - Two Great Classic Game Deals at Steam!

Freedom Force: Freedom Pack

Freedom Force, the light-hearted real time tactical game based around Silver Age style super heroes, is on sale this weekend on Valve's excellent Steam service. Right now, you can get the Freedom Force: Freedom Pack, containing both the original Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich for only $2. Such a low price for two excellent classics of the PC gaming genre is a real deal.

For those who have never played any of the Freedom Force series, this would be a perfect chance to get into it. The game stars a cast of heroes and villains reminiscent of what was known as the "Silver Age" of comic books which is defined as being the era between 1956 and around 1970. As such, they are over-the-top and bombastic in the most endearing ways. Perhaps the best example is the main character, Minuteman, a patriotic themed hero who wears a tricorn hat and belts out slogans about freedom and justice. Add in abilities with names like "Strike for Freedom" and "National Defense" to create an awesome retro feel.


The gameplay itself involves controlling a small group of individual super heroes from a zoomable isometric perspective. While the action takes place in real time, the game can be paused at any time to issue orders - something which becomes essential when there is more than one character in the team. Each super hero is colorful and features their own set of powers and weaknesses. The powers and traits are upgradeable through an point system, adding an RPG element to the game. Due to the varied strengths and weaknesses, each character has their own set of tactics to work with and the chemistry of your team becomes an important planning factor in each mission.

From a Catholic perspective, I have to say that I like the light tone and heroic theme of Freedom Force. I definitely enjoy some dark games - such as Bioshock or Resident Evil 5. However, it is good for the heart to get something light sometimes. Freedom Force definitely fits the bill there.


X-Com Complete Pack

Also on sale at Steam for the ridiculously low price of $2, one of the great legendary games of the PC genre - X-Com: UFO Defense - along with a collection of four other games of that series. Serious PC gamers will likely have least heard of this title from ye olde days of DOS games. Well, if you have played it before and you want to play it again, here is your chance. And if you have never played it, then I think that you owe it to yourself to check this out.

X-Com: UFO defense (originally X-Com: Enemy Unknown) is a turn-based tactical game released in 1994. As the name implies, the game involves fighting against an alien force. Aliens are making the first moves towards invading Earth and you are placed at the head of an international military organization known as X-Com, tasked with defending against the new threat. You begin with a base, a team of soldiers, interceptor fighters, a transport, and international funding. From there, how things proceed is up to you.

The game takes place on two levels. X-Com is commanded globally from a rotating globe map. The player oversees operations such as base construction, research and development, personnel, supply and equipment, and, of course, defense. UFO's appear at regular intervals across the globe. Depending upon radar coverage, which is part of base building, the player can detect these intrusions and attempt to intercept the ships. There are also cases in which the aliens actually land and must then be dealt with. Eventually, the player will have to deal with alien terror attacks, alien bases, and attacks on X-Com bases by the aliens as well.

It should be noted that speedy and efficient defense is crucial. The world's leaders will become upset if the aliens get away with too much in their territories. If they see X-Com as ineffective, then they will decrease funding or, worse, sign a pact the enemy.

The missions themselves involve turn based tactical from an isometric view. Once a team has landed, they are controlled by the player one by one, with the amount of action each can take determined by an action point system. Each team member may be armed with a variety of weapons, including heavy weapons and grenades. In the beginning, the X-Com forces are heavily outgunned. But, with time, captured weapons allow for the use of more advanced technology.


While the graphics and sound are quite primitive by today's standards, they still serve to create the eerie atmosphere which sucked me in the first time I played. There is a certain tension created when you have first landed and look upon the landscape of the mission map, then obscured by fog of war. Somewhere, in that darkness, aliens await your brave team of commandos. Life and death will depend upon sound tactics and careful planning. Around each corner, a hostile might be encountered.

Indeed, I would venture to say that the minimalistic nature of the game with its old technology perhaps adds to the creepier aspects of the game. There's something about that pc speaker style music which has its own effect. Even if someone were to offer me a remade version of the game with better effects, I do not think I would want to replace this original version.

Additional details tying the missions to the overall strategy game elements include a robust research system. If the player captures alien equipment or even live aliens (using stun devices), then they can research them. This is crucial to success, as it can lead to better technology and more information on the nature of the enemy. Not only that, but it adds just that much more flavor and enjoyment to the experience.

X-Com has a certain heroic feel to it which I think is a good thing to experience in a game. It features bravery, honor, and duty in the struggle against the invading forces. Even though your soldiers are not fleshed out characters in any way, you can easily begin to think of them as brave defenders of the innocent in your fight against the alien menace. I always hated to see one of the soldiers die and would always do whatever I could to ensure the survival each member of the team.

Turn based tactical games are not very common these days. However, there will always be a place in the hearts of many gamers for this tense, thoughtful style of play. X-Com is a part of gaming history and its place is well-deserved.


God be with you,
Steely

U.S. Navy: Video Games are good for you

H/T to the NeoGAF forums

"Think interactive video games are a waste of time or more suited for children? Think again. Research by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) indicates that video games can help adults process information much faster and improve their abilities to reason and solve problems. Dr. Ray Perez, ONR program officer, discussed video game-induced “fluid intelligence” on the Jan 20 webcast."

Other notable excerpts:

"...Early indications suggest that cognitive improvements from video games can last up to two and half years, Perez said, but he admitted that so far the results have been relegated to observations and measurements in a controlled laboratory environment..."

“The major question is that once you’ve increased these perceptual abilities and cognitive abilities, do they transfer to everyday tasks,” he said, “and how long do they continue to influence the person working on these everyday tasks?”

For the record, this is hardly the only instance of the scientific method demonstrating the health benefits of video gaming; one such benefit that goes unmentioned in this particular study (and, thus, earns a peculiar mention here) is accentuated eyesight. Personally, I think my prolonged hours of video gaming have done wonders for my hand-eye coordination, though that's probably the only physical health benefit I derived from them. The intellectual and spiritual formation these games provided, however, was invaluable. The artistic imagery of some of the games also gave me a taste of the transcendent, instilling in me (during those precious formative teenage years, no less!) the idea that beauty was, in fact, NOT in the eye of the beholder. I learned a bit about storytelling and characterization, as well; as a budding English major at a major Catholic University, it is no exaggeration to say that I owe my interest in the subject at least partially to the video games I enjoyed well into my teenage years...and still enjoy, albeit with less frequency, to this day.

That being said, the social isolation and addictive potential of these same games also contributed at times to a kind of spiritual desolation; I will be the first to admit that I failed to employ moderation during my more "hardcore" gaming years, and no amount of acquired ocular aptitude can replace wasted time (not to mention neglected friendships, a deteriorating physique, and a regrettably over-extended introversion). Too much of a good thing is, well, too much of a good thing. Games became my god, and that was...well, not healthy at all.

I sincerely hope the Navy Officers in this study don't fall into the same trap I did. There's something about video games and an incarnational spirituality that really...doesn't quite mesh. They can't replace love of neighbor, even if they do teach the value of the practice of this or any other particular virtue. They can impart wisdom and knowledge, but they can't make you practice it. They can depict, and even bring to life, Christ on the cross, in a way peculiarly unique to the medium, no less. They can never, however, replace Him.

man games - Scorched 3d

Scorched 3D

Imagine, if you will, the early 90's. A group three or four of middle school boys huddled around a computer screen in someone's living room or study. The focus of their rapt attention is a terrain which looks like it was made in a few minutes in MS Paint on which were gathered a handful of tiny pixellated tanks and artillery pieces. The guy at the keyboard takes a thoughtful sip from his Coke and then lines up a shot. He carefully measures out angle and power, adjusting for wind and for the fact that, despite the game taking place outdoors, the borders of the screen were "walls" of rubber which would send even nuclear warheads bouncing around like superballs. Finally, the player punches the fire key with a singular force which has a sort of exclamatory nature to it, as if the satisfying clack of plastic key were a kind of battle cry. Everyone watches the screen intently as a tiny white dot, its arc traced by a white line behind it, is lobbed across the screen and down into a small valley in which another pixellated tank waits. The shot strikes earth and issues forth a massive explosion, not only enveloping the target but disintegrating an entire chunk of hillside.

The owner of the targetted tank waits with fist clenched, willing his tank's shield - represented by a white circle around it - to save it from impending doom. But fate has decreed otherwise. The shield falls with a shrill pc speaker whine sound blurb and the tank colorfully explodes into even tinier pixels while issuing a one-line lament of its demise.

Scorched Earth was a cherished part of my early gaming years. My friends and I loaded up the simple but incredibly enjoyable game many times to blast the computer and each other into tiny pixels using a variety of death-dealing and amusing weapons. It was a great time to be a gamer. Those days are, of course, their own moments in time. The same combination of wonder, companionship, and place are something I cannot replicate because I am no longer in middle school. But the game which brought us all together around a single keyboard is still around - a classic which has spawned many similar titles, including the incredibly enjoyable Worms series.

Version 1.5, the last release of Scorched Earth, is still easily available online as free shareware. It can be played using Dosbox. I do recommend that anyone who has never played it before give it a try because it is a real part of gaming history.

However, out of all of the various descendants of Scorched Earth, one has stood out to me both as a fan of the original and as a Linux gamer. That game is Scorched 3D.

Put simply, Scorched 3D is Scorched Earth with a 3d environment. It presents the players with a group of tanks and artillery set on an island or set of islands with the objective of lobbing heavy munitions at each other. Why? For what purpose are they engaging in this conflict? What are the ecological ramifications of disintegrating small islands? None of that matters. This is a game about tiny tanks and huge explosions. That is all we need to know.

Whenever you have an "update" of anything creative - be it a tv show, movie, video game, or what have you - I am suspicious. So very often these things just screw things up royally. Well, I am happy to say that Scorched 3D treats the original property with the tender loving care which a classically destructice game like this deserves. In fact, the designers have done their best to deliver an authentic experience of what the original Scorch (as we called it) would be if it was put into a 3d environment.

Among the things which carry over from the old classic are the basic mechanic of turn based artillery gameplay, the deformable terrain, and, very importantly, the massive arsenal. All of the great weapons are back - from the funky bomb to the sandhog. So are shields and other accessories. In short, it does not try to fix what was already a fantastic gameplay element.

Where the new game shows its improvements is, naturally, in the area of graphics. I found the environments to be impressive, varied, and enjoyable to play on. Perhaps the best part is the water, both in terms if how it looks and how it reacts to terrain being blasted away. Watching a newly created crater fill with seawater makes the game that much more fun.

Adding 3d to what was once a 2d game works extremely well in this case. The additional dimension adds a great deal of tactical thought that was not available before. Moving your vehicle was always important, for instance, but now it is even more essential. The terrain can become an asset or a liability, depending upon how you make use of it. I have played matches in which a tank nestled in a particularly tough to hit spot proved to be a real pain for everyone else. On the other hand, if you start a match in the middle of the open, expect to be a target. It's all part of the experience. And while all of this was present in the old Scorch, it is magnified and made more complex through the new iteration.

In the old days, we used to gather around a single keyboard in order to play Scorch. While that is still possible, the evolution of networking capabilities in games has opened up new possibilities of which Scorched 3D takes full advantage. It is easy to set up a game to play with friends or to join online games. If you play with friends. I recommend using some kind of audio chat - such as Ventrilo - because the best part of Scorch has always been the interaction with your buddies.

Overall, Scorched 3D captures the sense of fun which the old Scorch had to it. It continues the spirit of the original and is a great update for both those of us who played in years past and those who are new to the legacy.

Scorched 3D works in Linux, Mac, and Windows. Downloads are available on their website. You can also install the game via the Synaptic Package Manager in Debian based Linux distributions (including Ubuntu and Mint). Synaptic has a GUI available. However, if you want to use the terminal, do the following:

prompt ~ $ sudo apt-get install scorched3d

Then if you want to play the game, simply use the following command:

prompt ~ $ scorched3d

I played the game in Linux Mint and, aside from some sound issues which are probably related to the sound card on my Sony laptop, it worked quite well. When I played it on my desktop in Ubuntu, it ran with almost no issues, though again the sound could bug out at times. Since the game is 100% free, I will not complain. It is such a fine production overall.

And now for the links.

Scorched Earth Website: http://whicken.com/scorch/

Scorched3D: http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/