The moment that inspired this question:

A long time ago I was playing an MMO called Voyage of the Century Online. A major part of the game was sailing around on a galleon ship and having naval battles in the 1600s.

The game basically allowed you to sail around all of the oceans of the 1600s world and explore. The game was populated with a lot of NPC ships that you could raid and pick up its cargo for loot.

One time, I was sailing around the western coast of Africa and I came across some slavers. This was shocking to me at the time, and I was like “oh, I’m gonna fuck these racist slavers up!”

I proceed to engage the slave ship in battle and win. As I approach the wreckage, I’m bummed out because there wasn’t any loot. Like every ship up until this point had at least some spare cannon balls or treasure, but this one had nothing.

… then it hit me. A slave ship’s cargo would be… people. I sunk this ship and the reason there wasn’t any loot was because I killed the cargo. I felt so bad.

I just sat there for a little while and felt guilty, but I always appreciated that the developers included that detail so I could be humbled in my own self-righteousness. Not all issues can be solved with force.

  • JulianEnglish
    44•1 year ago

    It’s kinda cheating but The Beginners Guide is a game I think about all the time. As someone who makes things, the themes it explores about validation and the purpose for creating art really hit home.

    For just a profound moment, the sun station in Outer Wilds.

    HUGE spoilers

    It really marks a turning point in the game when you find that out. I assumed like most people that it was a classic tale of science gone wrong, and now I have to fix it. As a video game it’s also really easy to assume that your goal is to fix everything - to save the solar system. But there is no villan, and no solution. You and everyone in the solar system will die and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a really powerful subversion of expectations that works well with the games themes.

    • @[email protected]
      13•1 year ago

      Outer Wilds had so many profound moments, imho. Just listing a couple more:

      Spoilers, obviously
      • The core of the interloper
      • The dead Nomai in Dark Bramble (two of them in an embrace, iirc)
      • The messages from other Nomai tribes in the Vessel
      • Having to remove the warp core from the ATP
      • The number of loop iterations in the probe tracking module
      • The ending of the DLC
      • @buzziebee
        4•1 year ago

        !Oh man the DLC ending was incredible. The tragic story that unfolded as you played was incredibly sad, but then inviting the prisoner to join you at the fire and add their song to your music was beautiful and moving.!<

        Those devs really caught lightning in a bottle. I can’t wait to play whatever they make next, whenever it’s ready.

        Btw. You can use >! and !&lt; blocks to create proper spoiler tags.

    • @[email protected]
      7•1 year ago

      I think the first time I read the board in the sun station I decided to just stay… Wait it out as it was inevitable. I ran around trying to find anything I missed for a while but eventually stopped and just looked out the window. It was always over, but at least I’d have, for one loop, the best seat in the house.

    • @atmurEnglish
      3•1 year ago

      The Beginner’s Guide is excellent, it’s always surprised me how little I see it talked about.