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.

  • @[email protected]
    4•1 year ago

    I ENJOYED Human Revolution. It just didn’t feel like Deus Ex. I never played the latest one, which may be for the best?

    Hbomberguy’s video made me realize exactly why it didn’t feel that way to me. I couldn’t put it into words myself, but his Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles-length video essay really contextualized a lot of my feelings.

    Unrelated… If I could recommend another, much shorter masterpiece of his as well…

    • 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚐
      3•1 year ago

      I never played the latest one, which may be for the best?

      Me neither, I feel the same. I remember passin up DXMD on release to give it time. 7 years should be enough, right?

      Hbomberguy’s video made me realize exactly why it didn’t feel that way to me.

      All of the glaring issues are coming back vividly as I am watching this. I remember the frustration with the forced narrative. It was a decent looking game on release though, I do remember that.

      Unrelated… If I could recommend another,

      I’ll be sure to watch it, thank you.

      Edit: grammar