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<p>Doing less savory acts in gaming is nothing new. <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> makes gunning down innocent victims fun. Strategy games often require you to sacrifice your units to achieve your goals. <br /> <br />But what about games where the goal is not justified? All the aforementioned games have a clear reason for your morals; even <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> gives you reasons for the violence, otherwise sending the police your way for your behavior. But what if your goal is not only unclear, but the game creates almost no negative feedback for your actions? Sure <i>Shadow of the Colossus</i> did that, but the game slowly revealed the consequences and in the end made that revelation very clear. What if there is a game where the player has all but no reason to realize that what he is doing is wrong?</p>
<p>2D Boy's <i>World of Goo</i> is one of those games. <i></i></p>
<p><sub><span class="help-text"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[<i>Editor's Note: We're not just a (rad) news site -- we also publish opinions/editorials from our community & employees like this one, though be aware it may not jive with the opinions of Destructoid as a whole, or how our moms raised us. Want to post your own article in response? Publish it now on our <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/elephant/my_post_new.phtml" target="_blank">community blogs</a>.</i>]</span></span></sub></p>
<p>Doing less savory acts in gaming is nothing new. <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> makes gunning down innocent victims fun. Strategy games often require you to sacrifice your units to achieve your goals. <br /> <br />But what about games where the goal is not justified? All the aforementioned games have a clear reason for your morals; even <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> gives you reasons for the violence, otherwise sending the police your way for your behavior. But what if your goal is not only unclear, but the game creates almost no negative feedback for your actions? Sure <i>Shadow of the Colossus</i> did that, but the game slowly revealed the consequences and in the end made that revelation very clear. What if there is a game where the player has all but no reason to realize that what he is doing is wrong?</p>
<p>2D Boy's <i>World of Goo</i> is one of those games. <i></i></p>
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Whoa, deep stuff. I haven't gotten around to playing World of Goo, so I'm wondering if I would have picked up on the same things and had the same realizations you had playing through.
This makes me even more interested to play the game.
just less than an hour ago reached the End of the World level. this game is fascinating
Interesting concept!!
(haven't played the game... but definitely more than a "kids's game" that the title implies.)
I love you just because you've read the Terrible Story of Animal Crossing.
Great blog, btw.
@callmeAlex, Elsa: Yeah, if you haven't already done so, get it. Its my favorite Wii game of 2007.
@Anonymouse: I know, its quite possibly the best fan-fic ever created. (granted, that's not saying much, but still)
Whoops, favorite game of 2008.
Very clever, for the record I think most people can be persuaded to gleefully do evil simply because they don't see it as evil and games that illustrate this human flaw are fantastic. Any game that makes us look at ourselves and our motivations and ask questions is a game well made.
I felt disturbed playing the game knowing what the goos are used for once they make it past the pipe...
Your right VG, I think throughout the game you DO get that sense, and the sign painter definitely... perhaps subtlety, contributes to that knowledge. Amazing game :)
The game's both ominous and adorable. You nailed it. The beauty goos being sent through the grinder to break them up for use in beauty products? All with that funeral dirge soundtrack backing it? I played it on Wii for the multiplayer, so it was my girlfriend and I giggling at the cuteness, chagrined by the morbid annihilation and finally beating the game with a mixture of satisfaction and relief.
I hadn't thought of it that way at all, and I've played through the game twice. Good stuff. I love how the story is told through the Sign Painter and the environments (my favorite is "These balloons should be used for fun. Not bypassing security devices.")
To counterpoint, World 4 is where you "switch sides" as it were, going on the goo's side.
Very well-written, and I thought about this kind of stuff playing it as well. There is one thing I disagree with, though:
"I could have stopped playing the game and the damage would have come to a cease."
Would you really have felt like you were doing something good if you had simply stopped playing the game before it was finished? I think this differs from "moral choices" in games in the sense that there is only one ending in World of Goo.
Whether that ending, or the path to reach it is satisfying or not, it is still the game's ending. Stopping anytime before then just wouldn't be right.
But that's just my two-cents. This was a really great article, and will hopefully get more people to buy World of Goo!
@phantomile: Yeah, after the blog went live, there were a few parts of it that in hindsight weren't entirely accurate. That was one of them
Great game, and great write up. This is all the stuff I wished I could have talked about in the review last year, but didn't want to spoil.
Nothing is more disturbing than the final level of World 2. And I was sure the Sign Painter was going to end up being evil, but no, the player's quite a bit worse. Until World 4 anyway.
Great game indeed. I feel like a dummy now. I didn't pick up on any of that while playing through. In fact I felt it was all pretty random and didn't fit together in a story arc at all. This may be a stretch but the way you unlock the levels on the globe almost represents comming full circle and I don't even know what I'm talking about now.
The title of this article reminds me of this old sayin in Texas. Play me once, shame on you. Play me twice...shame...you see the player can't be played.
To summarize your point - would it be fair to say you are suggesting
perhaps the sign painter is a liar with a dark purpose, trying to dupe you into committing criminal acts?
I think you are suggesting that World of Goo is a 'Milgram's Experiment'.
A test to measure the participant's "obedience to authority", no matter how immoral or tortuous.
The authority figure says - "The experiment requires you to continue."
and/or "for the experiment to succeed
you are required to continue."
Milgram's Obedience to Authority Experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
I will simply say - goo balls, and in general, actions taken in video games are fantasy.
It is a known variable that, 'You know it is a fantasy'.
It is an error of logic to generalize from a specific fantasy to a general hypothetical reality.
You can not commit a crime against a goo ball. Goo balls are not people. Etc...
Here is a big list of logical fallacies.
http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-authority/
Goo balls are indeed sentient.
World of Goo is a phenominal experience. I should delete my save data and start it over. . .