Video Game Questions Your Ethical Standards While Deleting Files from Your Computer

Posted by John Farrier in Religion, Toy & Video Games on September 30, 2009 at 1:31 pm



(Video Link)

Zach Gage says that he created the free video game Lose/Lose to make people question their ethical assumptions. The game is similar to Space Invaders, but every time you kill an alien, the game deletes a randomly-selected file from your hard drive:

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?

Clicking on the link below will not download the game onto your computer and begin deleting your files. But it will give you the option to do so.

Link via Geekologie


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COMMENT

19 comments to "Video Game Questions Your Ethical Standards While Deleting Files from Your Computer"

  1. FishBottleT
    September 30th, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    Sounds like it is only a computer virus in disguise! Why whould you need to put something on your computer that is going to delete random things.

  2. Orpheus
    September 30th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    Didn't someone set out to play world of warcraft without actually killing or destroying anything? Sounds like an extension of this mindset.

  3. A
    September 30th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    This reminded me of Reboot, the cgi cartoon from back in the day.

  4. HSDell
    September 30th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    Brilliant! Makes one wonder about similar choices in the real world. Look how easily we support war where the lives of others are at stake, but wouldn't consider playing a game where something of our own is at stake, even something as relatively innocuous as as data file.

  5. Steohawk
    September 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    It's a pretty good message, but hopefully, in real life, you would have access to more relevant information about the ethical choice at hand. Are the aliens on Earth, or are you on their homeworld? Why do you explode when they come into contact with you? Are they aware of this fact? Are they even aware of your presence?

  6. James Tracy
    September 30th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    "The only winning move is not to play."

  7. Cnidaria
    September 30th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    That is why I like the game "Spore". You can play the entire game without killing anything, or you can choose to kill everything you meet. You can choose to help other creatures, or become isolationist and only help yourself.

  8. Felipe Venancio
    September 30th, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    Anyone who plays this is a perfect idiot.

  9. Tim Giachetti
    September 30th, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    O.K. I Grok.

    But nothing more than a virus wrapped in trojan that he calls a game.

    And you wonder why Nortons and McAfee make so much money.

  10. Manticore
    September 30th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    that's retarded.

  11. CheeseDuck
    September 30th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    Ender's Game anyone? No? Come on!

  12. A
    September 30th, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    Great for school computers!

  13. Lnothing7
    September 30th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    when i finally decide that they are on to me and i need to get rid of of my files thats the way i am going to do it. none of this hard drives in microwaves malarky

  14. MightyCow
    September 30th, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    I know lots of video games where the only winning move is to delete the game.

    I prefer "Punchopoly" where ever time you land on a property, instead of paying rent, I punch you in the face. It teaches you life lessons about playing moronic games.

  15. ted
    October 1st, 2009 at 8:06 am

    I'll stick with my human chess players, thank you. Although, they are getting harder to replace...

  16. 1525
    October 1st, 2009 at 8:06 am

    So, what's the point of this game again? To demonstrate how winning and losing are arbitrary concepts, and that winning isn't inherently better than losing?

  17. Video Game Dork
    October 1st, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    This is a horrible idea. If a person doesn't understand that killing something has consequences, the deletion of files while playing a video game isn't going to make them understand.

    There's also an underlying message that the designer of this 'game' believes that people who play games with violence in them confuse games with reality. This just isn't true - anyone who would confuse a game with reality is just confused about reality, game or not, and needs help.

  18. Monkey Juice
    October 1st, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    The whole thing isn't very well thought through is it? I read the first few sentences and thought: "So the point of this is that the player is being punished for using the weapon." And "Deary me, we're laying on the moral allegories a little thick here aren't we?"

    Then I read the part about assuming that violence is being rewarded. Er, hello? It seem the author is the only person making that assumption.

    Either the creator of the game isn't nearly as clever as they like to think, or they have made the same mistake as many slightly intelligent people in so far as they make assumptions about other people's intelligence and reasoning.

    Sorry, but the vast majority of people can tell the difference between computer games and real life. And know full well that violence in real life has serious repercussions. Jeez, computer games are just for fun. Some people may take them seriously, but only for a certain value of "serious". Indeed some research has shown that children who regularly play violent computer games are less likely to use violence in real life. Presumably because those games have taught them the consequences of violence can be very serious.

    So please, please take your cod psychology back to your bedroom until you can think of something truly insightful to say with it.

  19. brett maxwell lansing wedding photographer
    October 2nd, 2009 at 1:31 am

    human nature is scary. i wonder if anti-gun advocates will pick this up?


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