Recently announced as the winner of the TIGSource Adult/Educational Competition, it's probably better not to tell you what Edmund is about in any great detail. Suffice to say, it tackles a subject seldom explored in videogames, indie or otherwise.
I didn't like it, at all. And not because of the subject matter.
I'm getting rather burned out on games that claim to offer meaningful activity, but are really just prebaked stories with some multiple endings thrown in that don't really lend themselves to interactivity. The playable characters in Edmund are horrible and unpleasant people, and you may well find yourself not wanting to continue after you realize what one of the gameplay scenarios entails (sort of like the shift that occurs Shadow of the Colossus once you begin to sympathize with the Colossi, only much more immediate).
Unlike SOTC, however, I had no personal reason to continue playing other than morbid curiosity: my control over the characters was horrifying, but didn't reflect on my own involvement as a player in any meaningful way (although Edmund admittedly outdoes SOTC in that you're given a canon, ingame method of quitting the story). The game seems to congratulate itself for giving the player controversial, disturbing roles to play, without considering that those roles are so wildly distancing that the entire experience might better be conveyed via fiction or film rather than through a torturous, not-all-that-interactive pseudogame.
Still, it'll give you something to think about.
Contest:
5:20 PM on 09.10.2009
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This. This is a small piece of the argument I wasn't able to articulate for the Suda 51 stuff.
Except for the fact that Passage is an interactive game where your moment-to-moment choices change both the gameplay environment (via your score, your ability to traverse the map depending on whether or not you grab the wife) and the player's relationship to the theme (can you recognize the treasure chests that contain points and those that do not, and can you interpret what that means in order to be more successful; is it worth it to grab your wife and give up some freedom or is it better to go out on your own and explore with total, lonely freedom),
and that in Edmund your moment-to-moment actions mean absolutely nothing apart from allowing you to further progress through a prebaked narrative where you control characters who would be better suited as autonomous characters with their own free will rather than cyphers which the player can control considering their dense backstories and jarringly unpalatable motivations,
and if you ignore the fact that expansive moment-to-moment freedom in a closed system with only one ending is more game-like than an entirely scripted system with one or two plot branches scripted throughout (in roughly the same way that Ikaruga is more of a game than a Choose Your Own Adventure novel),
then yes, you're completely right.
Based on some of the Indie Nation items you've posted, it's clear that the line between "game" and "interactive art" is gray at best. So why deny Edmund the same inclusion as others that were far more dubious (While I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, I'm sure I could go back and find some if you insist)? Perhaps instead of ranting about games, you could take some time to define what a "game" actually is.
Personally, I found it interesting in the same way I found Passage interesting. They both are designed to provoke particular emotions, and succeed in that regard. I was certainly entertained by neither (especially Edmund), but interested to be sure.
When I punched her in the face, it was an accident. I was playing around with the controls and, all of a sudden, she's being raped in the ass. I really took myself by surprise, which fitted in very well with the personality of the character I was playing as - maybe he had a flashback. But I also felt guilty about it. My curiosity and carelessness had caused whatever history the character had to resurface. That guilt manifested in Michael hunting down Eddie and killing him, except that they're the same person.
So, just to recap, I ended up killing myself through guilt over my past mistakes, all delivered through the interactive mechanics of a 10 minute game. The design was to make me feel like an asshole.
So yeah, I liked it.
Anthony that effect you felt was not what the creator intended. Check out our interview with him to get some insight in terms of what he was trying to accomplish.
As someone who is GROSSLY offended by rape, and is quite vocal about it, I didn't think it was that bad.
"Anthony that effect you felt was not what the creator intended"
That is an awful excuse for a creator of anything.
I will probably be thinking about this game for a little while, but I can't say I feel like I've really been exposed to anything new. This is probably more meaningful for people who don't normally think about sexual violence. But it still could have been a better game if it had shown a more balanced description of rape.
"Anthony that effect you felt was not what the creator intended"
That is an awful excuse for a creator of anything.
I will probably be thinking about this game for a little while, but I can't say I feel like I've really been exposed to anything new. This is probably more meaningful for people who don't normally think about sexual violence. But it still could have been a better game if it had shown a more balanced description of rape.
I'm not speaking for the creator, I just think that Anthony's assumption that it was created mostly for shock value isn't correct.
But the whole "whoops, I didn't know that button would rape the shit out of her" emotion isn't even remotely shared by the character you're playing as. He's out there to rape, he wants to rape, and even if one half of his personality wants to pretend he isn't complicit, he knows deep down that this is who he is. He's experiencing guilt because he sees who he truly is; you're experiencing guilt because the game told you to hit X and you didn't know that input translated into "rape the fuck out of a stranger." Edmund rapes because he wants to; you rape because you were tricked into it and because it didn't seem like there was anything else you could possibly do to progress the game.
MechaMonkey:
Yeah, but the whole freedomless-mechanics-as-symbol-of-fate-and-inevitability thing has been done to death, and is really more of a bad excuse than anything else. Even games that are at least in part about inevitability (Passage, Photopia) allow the player a great deal of both mechanical and interpretive freedom, where Edmund just settles for being a slightly-interactive movie. Beyond that, lack-of-freedom-as-inevitability is a tremendously easy and boring design philosophy to explore in my opinion, considering noninteractive media already has that kind of stuff down pat and choice is the defining characteristic that makes games special. Why purposefully ignore the greatest strength of a medium this early on in its development?
Mind you, I haven't played this one: got an old Mac. But it seems fairly straight forward, game-wise.
There's only so far I'm willing to participate in having a multiple personality rapist embrace his true self.
This was said by the maker.
There are 4 endings but I dont know how to get to them at all the game feels busted from being so limited.
See, now that I can deal with. Calling it a poor design choice is cool in my book. I was just confused over why you refused to call it a game. (For counterargument, see everyone's gushing reaction over [OLD ASS SPOILER] Andrew Ryan's death scene.)
SPOILERS:
1-not raping Emily
2-by killing Edmund with Michael
3-by reaching the end of the Vietnam level
Not that you're necessarily coming back to read this ever, but here's what I got:
1- Just get back in the cab and dont' hunt down Edmund
2- Track him down, kill him
3- track him down, rape Emily (seemingly the most complete ending, tbh)
4- Vietnam level- play through
5- I think if you don't fire a shot in Vietnam, game ends...
6- Not sure if you can just walk back out after hunting down Edmund
Agreeing with Anthony on this one. While I think the guy succeeded in what he intended, creating a more meaningful interaction would have been more poignant/less superficial. Provide some positive/meaningful feedback to the player would have been a stronger use of the medium. The effect would be pretty horrifying, I think, but it would have put the player inside the guy's head. The act of rape fulfils something for a rapist, and the player isn't necessarily presented with that.
*shudder* Games could be atrocious if the craft really gets perfected...
Prada Sunglass
Dior Sunglass
Emporio&Armani
Police Sunglass
Roberto Cavalli Sunglass
Chloe Sunglass
Fendi Sunglass
Tom Ford Sunglass
Homes For Sale in Destin
The Krup Law Group
Philadelphia Nanny