Lose/Lose

[Tek7]

Lose/Lose is a video-game with real life consequences. Each alien in the game is created based on a random file on the players computer. If the player kills the alien, the file it is based on is deleted. If the players ship is destroyed, the application itself is deleted.

Although touching aliens will cause the player to lose the game, and killing aliens awards points, the aliens will never actually fire at the player. This calls into question the player's mission, which is never explicitly stated, only hinted at through classic game mechanics. Is the player supposed to be an aggressor? Or merely an observer, traversing through a dangerous land?

Why do we assume that because we are given a weapon an awarded for using it, that doing so is right?

By way of exploring what it means to kill in a video-game, Lose/Lose broaches bigger questions. As technology grows, our understanding of it diminishes, yet, at the same time, it becomes increasingly important in our lives. At what point does our virtual data become as important to us as physical possessions? If we have reached that point already, what real objects do we value less than our data? What implications does trusting something so important to something we understand so poorly have?

Source: lose/lose

I have some thoughts on the subject, but I'd like to hear from others first.

EDIT: Based on the game developer's description, I don't think this game is intended as an anti-war statement. Please keep that in mind while posting.

 

[Durruck]

wait, so I install this game, play it... and it randomly nukes files on my computer?

I think I'll pass.

 

[Keero]

I'm no gambling man.

And that game isn't in 3D.

 

[Elader Arkon]

Wow, interesting game. I don't think I'll be playing it because I tend to like my files...

 

[ewoksrule]

Is this an appropriate way to clean up a users temp directory? This could make tech support fun!

 

[Odale]

This raises many moral questions normal video games do not answer or touch on.

Very interesting.

I doubt I'll play though.

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

I'd play this game. But not on my computer /sadisticevilgrin.

 

[Kidan]

hmm... ok, from a technical/it perspective, this thing is whacked. A game designed to delete files from my pc as a "real cost" to the virtual concept of destroying things. That's epic fail, and a definite pass, even with my backup schedule, nas, and ghosted machine.


Now, as for the moral implications that the game is attempting to beat folks up side-the-head with... well, that's kind of silly. Sure, it's applying a real-cost to this virtual violence--and that's a real cost that has never been applied to said virtual violence before. And while I don't think it's necessarily an "anti-war" statement, you can't discount the fact that the cost of "winning" the game is going to be high (one wonders if the number of total aliens is the same as the number of files that happen to be on your PC)--and as such, makes you think, why am I going to destroy this alien, despite the "reward" of a point... It makes you question if that point is worth a digitized image of your kid that only exists on your pc. Or if that point is worth the very expensive visual studio executable or something similar...

And I guess that questioning is the point.

As I tell my son, whenever he gets into a fight, he will get in trouble. But at the same time, I'll be proud of him if he gets into a fight for the right reason.

That whole concept that every action has a repercussion, that everything you do has unseen side-effects that you may or may not notice for day, months or even years later.

I think this is a lesson that a lot of folks in my generation and the ones beneath mine need to learn. They need to learn that doing something may cause bad things to happen, and that sometimes we have to accept those bad things happening to us in order to do something we know we should...

In the end, I don't know if the creators of the game and their proposed questions--are really the right ones to be asking here. I value my files because I know that randomly deleting files can quickly lead to a BSOD; additionally, there are a number of images/video of my kids that only exist digitally. Those files are infinitely more important to me than a physical fork sitting in my sink. Maybe I don't see their proposed question as that relevant as it's my JOB to know about technology--especially on the software side of things... so that I don't see it as this mysterious bauble floating in the cloud....


Still... I wouldn't play it and I won't. Least of the reasons why, is that I know enough to not download random pieces of software which expressly describe themselves as malware.

 

[Abba San]

What is the win? What could possibly be worth risking even one of the files in any of the programs on my computer?

I wouldn't play Guild Wars if Shiro or even a bog skale were going to be let loose in my computer to do real life damage.

 

[Odale]

The game's title is Lose/Lose... I think winning is out of the question.

 

[vibrokatana]

The game's title is Lose/Lose... I think winning is out of the question.

If you take the limit as lose approaches zero it obviously heads toward win.

 

[Odale]

Sounds like breaking even... (except for the amount of time you spent trying to not get your files deleted).