Disempowerment Makes a Good Game

By Tye Van Horn
Staff Writer

Video games are inherently interactive. From a creative standpoint, a developer’s only job is to give the player the tools necessary to carve out their own unique experience, and a setting to use those tools. The story that your character is a part of, the enemies that he must face, the weapons and armor that she is wearing, and the path that they do or do not have to follow all are just manifestations of that job. Whether it is imposed by the creator or the player of the game; whether you are trying to get a high score in “Tetris” or aiming to find diamond in “Minecraft” or just trying to get to the end of the story, video games are about utilizing the mechanics of the game to accomplish a goal.

Since everything in a video game can be stripped down to some form or compliment of this truth the balancing of the mechanics to the goal must be considered a top priority. Yet time and time again all I see is games becoming borderline trite as beefy protagonist after beefy protagonist dispatches scores of foes with laughable ease. Is this what we’ve become as gamers? A group of impotent children constantly reliving a power fantasy in an endless loop? Is empowerment all we seek for in a video game anymore?

Think about the greatest moments you had in gaming, those moments that took your breath away and made you sit back and just absorb what you just were a part of. Think of seeing that colossus for the very first time, of navigating Spencer mansion praying that you won’t run out of ammo before you have to navigate that room full of zombies, of having to decide what you would do to save your son’s life. What all of these great moments have in common is disempowerment. You are thrust in a scenario that you are constrained by your own limitations and must react the best you can with the limited tools that you posses. Getting head-shot after head-shot in “Call of Duty” can be fun but will never be as emotionally fulfilling as watching a vulnerable and inherently flawed character deal with the situation in spite of his limitations.

The constant stream of “empowering” games can be intense but can often bring diminishing returns. You end up chasing an action high, where your awesome protagonist must continue to fight stronger enemies, complete cooler objectives, and reach new depths of power in order for interest to remain. Playing empowering games is good for a bit of escapism, but to truly appreciate a game on an artistic level there has to be some sort of relatability about the world around us. The careful constraints upon the characters are what makes it a human experience that can force us to actively consider the implications of the scenario that we are in.

Great examples of disempowerment include games like the horror title “Amnesia: The Dark Descent.” In Amnesia, the protagonist has no ways of protecting himself other than running and hiding. He has no health bar. Instead he has an insanity meter that drains in the dark or around monsters and must constantly be watched when budgeting your limited lamp oil. This game would not be scary if the limitations were no longer there and suddenly you were able to shoot rather than run.

Another good example of a recent title is “Spec Ops: The Line.” This game tricks you into thinking it is a cookie cutter third person shooter, but in reality is a deep criticism of the entire genre. At one point the villain says that “[all of this happened] because you are trying to be something you are not: a hero.” He might as well have looked at the players when he said that, trying to point out how pathetic we are trying to build ourselves into more than what we actually are. The game forces you to make difficult choices and make you feel helpless against the linear structure of the game.

That isn’t to say total powerlessness is always a good thing. Even with games like “Bioshock,” which has an endgame twist that has to do with the powerlessness of the player and the futility of choices in a linear environment, good application of empowerment is prevalent too. The tools given to you are always little pieces of empowerment, like the guns and plasmids of Rapture city where Bioshock is set. Games like “Minecraft“ and “Little Big Planet” survive because of the breadth of tools given to the player. Without them the magnificent castles and complex obstacle courses would be unnecessarily difficult to build. It is all about striking the balance best to let the player build a fulfilling and memorable experience.

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