expressivegame.com

This game definitely succeeds at making me reflect on my own life, as well as some general philosophical topics.

1) How much do you believe that you control your life?

When confronted with the observation that we play games do avoid the problem of making real choices in our lives, I felt a sting. This is not a simple topic at all.. I think we all believe we have a certain amount of control, but the real difficulty is determining how far it goes. And one way of thinking is not necessarily better than the other. For example, if you believe you can be happy at an awful job that does not suit you, then you are likely to continue to try to fit in, and feel good there.. meanwhile losing out on opportunities to "find your place". Perhaps leaving such a situation would allow you the ability to find something that suits you, and positions you to really make a difference in the world.

On the other hand, if you believe you have no ability to control your life, you might go from job to job, or relationship to relationship, maintaining the belief that they just weren't right for you, that you couldn't be happy with them.

Either extreme seems similarly doomed.

2) Is there a difference between justice and vengeance?

I think there is most certainly a difference between these things and deterrence. If someone does something wrong, you want to stop them from doing it again.. something which is clearly better for society. However, going the extra step and trying to account for their actions by punishing them more than would be necessary for deterrence is another issue entirely. Who does it serve?

The victims and the victims family? Is this really a benefit for them to know they have another's blood on their hands? Is it really their call?

When you put the knife in a person's hand and ask them to do justice, it just doesn't feel like justice. It feels like vengeance. It feels like murder. Victims families would likely not ask for an opportunity to murder another. However, we've placed enough layers of abstraction between us and the justice process to make us feel like something good is being done.

Interesting how when you turn a guillotine into a signature it becomes something else..

3) Stress and video games

Are we just running away from our problems? Is it possible to confront all your problems at once? Is there a beneficial reason to distraction of this nature?


Alright, that's all I got.. anyone else?