Originally published at: https://integrallife.com/inhabit-your-game/
In this continuation of our “integral media” series, Ryan and Corey take another look at the major stages of human development, this time using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage. All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.
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This was a very big episode! As a life-long gamer, I was very excited to put this episode together with Ryan. We would love to hear what you think!
This episode was so timely and inspiring as I’ve been thinking through for a while now how I could create a game based on more integral thinking that is fun while also teaches stage development directly or indirectly. I wonder if there any other people in the community working on something like this in a digital, video or board type format?
This was a very interesting episode and I really enjoyed it. Not only because of the nostalgia for the games of my childhood like “Pools of radiance” and “Doom”. It is a really interesting perspective to look at his new art form.
I was particularly interested to know which games could be qualified as second tier. I even tried out the game that was promoted as Teal, “Rimworld”. As Corey is saying, people can discuss if it is actually a teal game but he is enacting it as such. But to me the game has an inherent Orange, even materialistic feel to it. The easiest way to show this is to compare it with a game that has a similar theme and similar gameplay, “This War of Mine”(TWM). As I remember when one my survivors in TWM killed another person in self defence, there were enormous consequences. He got into a depression and didn’t do anything useful for days, plunging the groups chances of surviving the winter.
In Rimworld, there is some effort to let the characters show moral reactions, for example their mood drops a few points if they see a dead body or if they wear clothing stripped from a dead body, but killing a person (or an animal) in itself does nothing. This lack of realism contrasts with other features that have a lot of detail into it including the effect of comfort, beauty and social interactions on the mood of the colonists. The health system is also purely Orange/materialistic. For example sickness and injuries only effect the colonists mood if they experience physical pain.
What I am trying to say is not that it is a bad game, but that if we want to talk about or develop (potential) second tier games we probably need a more extended vocabulary. Vocabulary is not my strong point. The characteristics that Corey gave are a good start: emergent gameplay, place for perspectives, first person motivations, second person relationships, third person skills/roles. TWM also has these features but at the same time has a much more Green feel to it. The makers intended to make it a anti-war game and I think they succeeded mostly by giving a realistic outlook on the effects of war and violence.
The last game. Everything really made me an impresion of awake. And theres an other game called flower similar in terms of gameplay that only takes the perspective of a flower. I also have rimworld. Never thought before it could be an integral perspective. Very good show. Next one can be about music maybe. Just some sugestion.