yo,
had an idea for project 2 as well. anyone played Jade Empire by Bioware? its like the ancient chinese precursor to mass effect. its very similar in many regards, just mass effect does it alot bigger and better. but anyways they use the duality system where you can make dark and light choices. however, they are, as far as i know the first and only ones to make a justifiable claim as to why you may want to make the dark choices. you see im sappy and always make the good choices in other games because i feel like those are the choices i would make, and only go back and do the bad ones just out of curiosity. but jade empire makes a really good argument in favor of dark deeds. check out this video for an indepth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MParI4FBB-A ). but basically said that it is a way that values strength as the greatest virtue. if someone is not strong enough to take care of themselves, then they do not deserve to be helped. being kind only coddles weakness. i thought about comparing it to the idea of survival of the fittest in Darwin's theory. however, i feel like there may be some better books dealing with this idea of how society has taught us to baby each other and our children. so if you can think of some other books that i should consider, please let me know.
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ReplyDeleteSomething to think about:
ReplyDeleteStrength is a great virtue. Many animals'-including man- greatest strength is the pack mentality, the social instinct intrinsic to all of us--well, most of THEM. Acting in concert relatively, weak animals can bring down much stronger creatures: Hyenas v. much larger ungulates. Taking care of sick elders allows us to reinforce the social dynamic and traditions that made us strong in the first place, as they are in a position to share their experiences.
-original post deleted because of typo
Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, particularly parts 5, 7, and 9, deals with the problem you mentioned in the first of your post, that of the distinction between ideas of "good" and "evil". He argues that these issues are not natural creations, but socially integrated through the use of religious influence into a universal issue of human morality. However, I have never played Jade Empire, so I don't know how closely this correlates with the gameplay.
ReplyDelete