Power and Gaming: A Short Musing on Power

So we look now to power in ANT. It's a strange concept that I am just now getting into and one that I think really lends itself to the video game entirely. But first, criticism of sociology is abound in this section. Latour talks about the collection of phenomena needed to understand associations of power. He says that we need to learn how to not limit the actors within the social before they even start interacting. Indeed, looking at Conflict Theory, SI, Functionalism, and their ilk, we see society existing apart from the actors within it. The rules, ideas, and everything flow from this great invisible thing. In trying to look past the invisible thing, Latour says we can actually identify those phenomena that exist to create these asymmetries in society. If we limit ourselves, and state that these phenomena are needed to keep society going, that the social could not exist. He points to this example of the baboon.

"Still, I knew my work painted a picture of baboon societies that others would find difficult to accept. My shocking discovery was that males had no dominance hierarchy; that baboons possessed social strategies; that finesse triumphed over foce; that social skill and social reciprocity took precedence over aggression. This was the beginning of sexual politics, where males and females exchanged favors in return for other favors. It appeared that baboons had to work hard to create their social world, but e way in which they created it made them seem "nicer" than people. They needed one another in order to survive at the most basic level - the protection and advantage that group living offered the individual - and also at the most sophisticated level, one marked by social strategies of competition and defense. They also seemed "nice" because, unlike humans, no member of Pumphouse [the name of the troop] possessed the ability to control essential resources: each baboon got its own food, water and place in the shade, and took care of its own basic survival needs. Aggression could be used for coercion, but aggression was a roped tiger. Grooming, being close, social goodwill and cooperation were the only assets available for barter or to use as leverage over another babbon. Baboons were "nice" to one another because such behavior was as critical to their survival as air to breathe and food to eat. What I had discovered was a revolutionary new picture of baboon society. Revolutionary inf act, for any animal society as yet described. The implications were breathtaking. I was arguing that aggression was not as pervasive or important an influence in evolution as had been thought, and that social strategies and social reciprocity were extremely important. If baboons posessed these, certainly, the precursors of our early human ancestors must have  had them as well."

Through this example, we can see that Baboons have to be nice to each other to keep their constant social interactions maintaining the social thing that they have. In this way, their society can and has to exist. If it should break down, the Baboon's group will fail. We move from here to game space.

The creator of a game has absolute power over the part of the game that the player has to cope with. In Shadow of the Colossus we see a young boy knowingly going to what will probably be his death in an effort to ressurect some woman we only know was sacrificed. In Metal Gear we are stuck in whatever Kojima has decided will be Snake's environment. Indeed, we had to even watch the normal main character as the new playable character, "Raiden". In this way, we are powerless to the game creator. But, there is more.

In GameSpace, you could, say, as Snake, just stand there and do nothing. However, the game world doesn't move with you, the game world simply waits for you. It urges you to go on. You have to go on to see what happens next. Further, we are urged to perform well becaue a perfect score here just might mean an extra dialogue about the box Snake hides in or a new suit with incredible powers of camoflauge. 

So we are lead along a course of play that is created by a programmer who is lead along by a designer who is lead along by a project lead or head designer. We all end up the victim of whatever designer's decision might be made.

It's interesting to think about. A game could be hard because the designers want it to be. Or, a game could be easy and beautiful in an effort to just entertain the masses with a pretty project.