It’s Monday ~ An Experiment
Did you ever hear about a bloke named Milgram ? He was a social psychologist and dedicated his life to an experiment called.. Milgram Experiment. Yes, it’s fascinating how imaginative scientists are with name. Anyway, Milgram came one day to discuss with his colleagues Psychologists and told them that he had a theory : Under what is considered as an authority, a man will obey even to the worsts orders. Actually his punchline was better but I’m not here to earn a Godwin point so early in the morning (it’s 2:24AM here) and maybe it will make you curious enough to read the Wikipedia, watch Dei Welle (The Wave) or to play Paper, Please.
Science, History & Games
As you can see, I didn’t play the game yet, for the simple reason that I bought it 2 weeks ago and I had a lot to do before that, but I heard about the game (I mean, I’m sure a lot of you already either heard about it or already own it) and its concept is certainly partly based on Milgram Experiment and the others which followed, such as the Third Wave which is the topic of the movie I linked above.
Remember that I said that Milgram spoke about his theory with his colleagues ? They all laughed at him, without exception. They bet that not a single person would accept to participate to the experiment which was rather horrifying you may say.
Four people in a room, two pseudo scientists who pretend to work on an experiment about learning, one subject recruited by an ads posted on the newspaper (from memory it was stating something like “help the science and earn a few dollars) and one actor. At the beginning of the experiment, they randomise the roles, but the actor will always be the one who learns and the subject the one who teaches. Our teacher is placed in front of a machine with buttons, on top of which is properly labelled the volts, if the student gives a bad answer, he should be given a punishment more severe as time pass. The two authority figures (here, the scientist), should press on the subject to continue the experiment would this one begin to doubt. Pre-made sentences are used and they won’t touch the subject. As for the actor, he has to react as if under pain and over time plead for the experiment to stop until falling unconscious.
Said like this, of course it seems completely crazy to think that a subject will electrocute someone else for a few bucks or just because two guys wearing a white coat push them to do so. Right ? Except that for the years it was tested, no matter the variation (there were 19 total), only one single person refused completely the experiment and left without giving it a try. Food for thoughts.
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I believe that Papers, Please is one of the games following the same sort of experiment. What should you do if someone, in front of you, is running away from the famine and the war. Should you offer them the opportunity to live in a dictatorial but more wealthy country, leading your own situation to be more precarious ? Or should you obey without thinking of the order given and their consequences ?
I have no idea how I will react to the game, I actually fear that the fact I know Milgram Experiment so well might create a bias that may lead me to a decision.. Or its opposite.
Ethic & Moral
There have been a lot of controversy around the Milgram Experiment, is it ethical to place a man in a situation where they could have killed someone just to obey one or two figures of authority ? The experiment having run for so long, people who participated to it spoke about how it changed their point of view about a lot of things and Historical events. They don’t see the authority the same way, think more of the orders given and all in all, earn something I dare to qualify as precious, the ability to not think anymore “I would never have done that”, simply because we don’t know exactly what we would do under specific circumstances.
I voluntarily didn’t read anything about the game beside its synopsis, I didn’t watch any “let’s play”, I didn’t read any review or discussion, didn’t even google it, except earlier to find the steam link. I do wonder though if people had the same thought about it and what I’ll think of it.
Did you know about Milgram Experiment (which I explained super badly, I know) ? Did you play or watch a let’s play of Papers, Please ? What did you think of the game ? What did you think of the movie (and the third wave experiment behind) and / or the Experiment ? Are games pushing you to make ethical choices such as Papers, Please but also all games which lead to situations where none of the choices are good ones ? Could you tell me of other games you know which have Moral or Ethical choices you have to do at some point (beside DA:I, there are a few ones there that leave you with a bad taste in the mouth) ?
List of games suggested by you !
- Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You
~ 4.5 hours playtime
27 achievements
- Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
~ 3.5 hours playtime
19 achievements
- Beholder
~ 6 hours playtime
60 achievements
- Do Not Feed the Monkeys
~ 3.5 hours playtime
33 achievements
- The Walking Dead
~ 13 hours playtime
48 achievements
- LISA
~ 10.5 hours playtime
68 achievements
- Undertale
~ 6.5 hours playtime
no achievements
- I fell from Grace
~4.5 hours playtime
46 achievements
Never heard of the experiment, but I played Papers, Please. And I enjoyed it a lot. On one side it stressed me out quite a bit, but on the other side it had… well depth I guess. And yes moral conflict and all that.
Same as Renegade Master I played Orwell as well - only the first though - and it’s also pretty intense on the moral front. I still want to play Beholder but haven’t yet.
In a way This War of Mine also has moral choices but it’s totally different.
And since I’m a Telltale fan… playing the first Walking Dead games makes you choose a lot of think. And a lot of moral things. I personally think it’s the most intense of the lot (the TT lot :D )
Dunno if I have more games with moral choices, but I’m pretty sure there are more out there :]
Have a great week <3
Thanks Nin, I added your suggestions as well as those from other people + “I fell from Grace” which has limited time moral choices such as Telltale games and you may fancy, check it out, it’s less than $1 on Steam until tonight.
But… it’s… pixely. Also in Germany it’s not reduced.
Temptation averted! \o/ xD
Maybe the sale ended, I didn’t exactly note down when it would be (but I’m in France and got it in sale ^^ !)
You should give a chance to Pixel, poor them, try The Last Door for example, it’s a really nice pixely one :)
I played pixel. Back in the day, when there was basically nothing else. Mostly. Oh gosh, remember the first Monkey Island? I loved it! And honestly I loved the governor way more in that one… then in the remake. They totally ruined her pretty, pixely face :(
And yes, I totally came across a few pixel games which are not bad. I mean pixel doesn’t say anything about game quality. It’s just making me wanna run away. Real quick :D
So instead of giving it a closer look, I normally tend to follow that instinct and… avoid them :]
I second every game already mentioned before and add LISA. It’s not about authorities like Beholder etc but also with ethical choices. Slightly similar to Undertale but without the different routes bad, neutral and good.
I know about the experiment although I haven’t thought about it for years, so thank you for putting it back to my memory! Also I absolutely love Papers, Please. Never had thought about it with the experiment on mind so thank you again? Your comparism makes sense tho with the only difference: If the teacher refuses to participate there are no consequences which is not the case for you in Papers, Please.
LISA has been added to the list (who knows, maybe someone will stumble on it and be interested by all those games ?).
I remember that for Papers, Please there is something related to status and family, I still haven’t played, I have other games to begin / finish in priority, but still want to play it when I’ll be able to.
I knew of the experiment, I watched Die Welle twice (one recently, one in high school), and I’ve seen a couple videos of Papers, Please. Honestly, I’ve never thought of Papers, Please in this context, but it makes sense. In the second viewing, Die Welle kind of lost its … charm (for a lack of a better word) for me. It felt like it’s a different movie than I first watched, and not for the better. shrugs It’s probably just me.
I’ve also played Orwell, but it was mediocre in my opinion. They could’ve made it a really good game with a strong message. This way, it’s just dragging and dropping information, and the message is there, but not as strong.
I don’t think it’s about you, there are movies which are meant to be seen just once or if you have the ability to forget the whole plot, otherwise they lose their power.
Reminds me of the beginning of Ghostbusters. Thanks for the info, quite interesting. The game is on my wishlist, haven’t picked it up yet though. I thoroughly enjoyed the first Orwell game personally, not familiar with others not mentioned previously.
If you liked those sort of games then maybe you can find others through that list you may enjoy ^^ ?
I don’t believe I’d heard of the experiment (or perhaps I forgot about it), but it reminds me a little of The Stanford Prison Experiment in that it relates to behavior related to authority, although in this case, it was being the authority instead of acting in response to it. It was also on much shakier ethical ground, IMO. I saw the movie based on the experiment a few years ago.
I actually did watch a playthrough of Papers, Please some years ago…and I very seldom watch playthroughs. I was a bit intrigued by the game, but consulted a playthrough to decide if I was interested in obtaining/playing the game. It turns out I wasn’t, so I watched more of the video than I otherwise would have. It looked kind of tedious and stressful, IMO.
I do, however, like moral choices in games. I pretty much always tend to be the good guy. Related to this, although not video-game related, is I’ve played a lot of tabletop / pencil & paper RPGs over the years. I remember many years ago when I was playing a tabletop FRPG and my character, while not evil, wasn’t exactly a Paladin. She was a power-hungry battlemage who like big explosions and powerful displays of magic or swordfighting. At one point toward the end of the campaign, she was recruited by some “evil Elves,” if you will, who were Elf purists and believed in racial cleansing, etc…and they had the means to make her much more powerful if she joined them. But even if my character might have considered such a thing, I just couldn’t even get myself to consider seriously trying to role-play that, to have my character go down that path. I found it interesting and learned a little about myself.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was apparently partly an answer to Milgram Experiment, which is interesting ^^ !
Happens that until tonight the game “I fell from Grace” which has a lot of moral choices and puzzles is at less than $1 on Steam, you may want to catch that one, you may enjoy it :) !
The game looks interesting, but it’s not on sale for me. Also, I don’t love pixel graphics, but it doesn’t rule it straight out. Thank you for the recommendation.
It’s highly possible that the sale ended, I didn’t note down when it was exactly.
There are some really really nice games such as “The Last Door” which are pixel graphics. Also I’m a pixel artist, so I’m definitely biased ^^” !
Yes, that is a game that I still have in my library because it looked good/interesting despite the art style. But when I was little, that was how all games looked (if they weren’t just text), and I always wanted them to look more realistic. So now that they are / can be, I don’t typically like to go back to those days!
Yes I’ve heard of the infamous experiment, and I highly recommend watching the indie movie based on the guy’s work & life.
I havent played Papers Please, but in the dystopian genre I have played both the Orwell games, Beholder 1, and Do Not Feed The Monkeys. I think at least the first Orwell game and possibly the second dont have any good/positive endings, but I didnt play them multiple times to see them myself. I enjoyed all these dystopian games, but was the most disappointed with Orwell 2 because it didnt improve much on the first one and its new Influencer feature had limited use near the end of the story.
I added your games suggestions to the list as well as a few others. The last one, “I fell from Grace” is currently under $1 on Steam.