Ian Law section 4
PART TWO – THE VEIL OF IGNORANCE COMES TO GAMING
Link to part one: http://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2016/04/part-one-exploring-work-of-john-rawls.html
Link to part one: http://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2016/04/part-one-exploring-work-of-john-rawls.html
In part one, I discussed the political philosophy of John
Rawls, and the difficulty of applying his ideas in real life. In this part, I will introduce a recent game that has
made news for incorporating aspects of Rawls’s “Veil of Ignorance.” Does it
really aid in the conversation about Distributive Justice, or is it simply a
gimmick?
In most games these days, people are given a raft of options
and sliders in order to perfectly craft their ideal self. Players can endow
their alter-egos with all the beauty, strength and talent that they desire and
live out a power fantasy in a virtual environment. Most such commercially released
games are truly about pure entertainment, providing gamers with a sense of
empowerment and a means of wish-fulfilment. They play into the seductive
“meritocratic norm” that informs much of capitalist philosophy. But lurking in
the background, and spreading across distributors like steam is minor avalanche
of games that try to bring new ideas to a stale industry. While they could be
dismissed as pretentious, many of these titles exhibit what could be thought of
as politically motivated design elements that challenge gamers to think. One
recent example is the online multiplayer game Rust.
Made by the UK-based Facepunch Studios, the game is a clone
of popular survival games. The player is dropped into a harsh environment and
tasked with surviving the elements using only a small set of tools and their
wits. Many games in the past have brought a similar conceit to the table. Where
this one gets interesting is the way the player is made to appear in the
virtual environment. Where most games would give the player agency to select
their in-game appearance, Rust hard-codes the gamer’s avatar into a pre-set
configuration that cannot be changed. Initially, this applied to the race of
the player. People were shocked to discover that they were forced to wear a
color that they didn’t intend, and had no option to switch. People eventually
warmed to the idea, but then phase two began. Up until this point, there were
only male characters. After introducing female character models into the game,
the developers decided that gender, too, would be enjoined on the player, with
no hope of alteration. This surprised many who didn’t wish to be encapsulated
in a gender that they didn’t identify with.
Many pointed out that it was only fair, women and minorities
who play video games have been forced to become the cliché bald space-marines
for years. Now the shoe was on the other foot, and some had difficulty
adjusting. While we could assume that the developers were making a political
statement directly inspired by John Rawls’s Veil of Ignorance, it is indeed
primarily a gameplay feature. This is an online game encompassing the making
and breaking of alliances. The reason
for the permanent and unchanging avatar is that the player should not be allowed
to alter their appearance in order to fool other players into believing that
they are now someone else. There is no actual drawback to being any race or
gender within the game world, it’s simply a cosmetic change. So, it’s all a
part of the game, there only to make it more fun. But does it not still
incorporate part of Rawls’s concept?
The question then remains, does this experiment in Rawlsian
justice actually have any lasting impact on the worldview of the players? Ultimately,
it was a vocal minority that protested the move, and most players have
acclimated to the forced persona. The developers have actually received a lot
of positive feedback about the unique character selection. But there’s no
indication that anyone is thinking more politically due to playing this game.
However, I would say that by making people think about how they can’t choose
their body, and forcing them to endure any perceived imperfections in their
selves, in just a small way, the Veil of Ignorance plays a part in this title.
At this stage, it’s really just a normal game; perhaps that’s all we can expect
from computerized entertainment. But we might see in it a precursor of more
sophisticated technologies down the road that will truly challenge our received
notions.
http://kotaku.com/rust-turns-50-of-its-players-into-women-1770379368
http://steamed.kotaku.com/rusts-controversial-random-gender-update-has-led-to-mor-1772390030
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