I’m not necessarily talking about moment-to-moment gameplay or mechanics (though I could see some interesting points being made about, for example, RTS gameplay or RPG character building influence how you approached “strategy” in your own life).
What I’m trying to get at are the games you felt really had something to say.
For example, while I’m by no means the biggest fan (only ever played 2 and V), playing MGS V recently (and catching up on the background a bit) has created this sense in me, and I wondered where else one might have experienced that from vidya
You know, I’ve not played BO3, seen The Congress, nor read Naked Lunch, but you make them sound interesting enough to check out should the chance arise. I was just yesterday thinking about the “main theme” of Mass Effect, the struggle of integrating synthetic and organic life, it’s definitely an interesting arena of thought, becoming more and more relevant every day as we (likely?) approach the so-called “Technological Singularity”.
Regarding Destiny (and Bungie in general), funnily enough, it’s just quite the love/hate relationship. Of its ~10 years so far I only really played for 3 of them. But anyway, let my try to explain what I mean with some examples
First of all I thought they did an amazing job of creating an actual universe. Nothing was (or atleast, nothing ever felt like) it was just set dressing or a prop. I struggle to put it into words, but taken as a whole, the world presented in Destiny felt real, which I know sounds absurd. But in the same sense that a religion has the power to present something both “fantastical” yet also “realer than reality”, I see parallels with things like Q-Anon (as a worldview) and “turbo-fandoms” (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, etc at their peaks). It’s like a world is presented to you which both contains deep mysteries to ponder while also offering “answers” about “real life”.
Ok sorry for that semi-esoteric ramble, let me get back to specifics for a couple “harder” examples of this:
Res-ing after death / “darkness zones”:
https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/no-rez-for-the-weary
As you likely know, normally you can resurrect a couple seconds after dying in most cases. Even this basic gameplay mechanic is explained because your character, the Guardian, literally starts the game as a long dead individual brought back to life by the “Light” to fight the “Darkness”, interestingly enough, with all memories of your past life wiped away. A blank slate. Well, in particularly “dark” places (boss zones, raids, etc) you can’t res, and if you die you go back to the checkpoint just as you entered the “darkness zone”. “Canonically”, the player character never dies in a Darkness Zone. That short story linked above provides a really interesting “first hand” look at one of these places from the perspective of a Ghost (the “Spark of Light” released from the “Traveller” which resurrects you in the first place - each Guardian having their own Ghost, and without which they lose their connection to the Light)
Which brings me to the next idea, ambiguity and collective storytelling (the community “filling in the blanks” and drawing threads between “disconnected” ideas). I thought they managed to do an amazing job of creating a world which asked questions while just hinting at answers. When this is done poorly it feels flimsy, and retrospectively-applied, but at least my feeling was that there was this grand plan, this fully formed universe being slowly unveiled. Which frankly has always been Bungie’s biggest strength. Marathon, to Halo, culminating in Destiny. Not necessarily achieving that, but definitely creating the feeling, especially if you ever observed or took part in the communities of the games. The grimoire, despite being “the worst possible way to do story telling”, has stuck with me the most so ill just link a couple entries I think you might find interesting:
why does anything exist?
ambiguity of Light and Dark
philosophy of the Darkness (i linked to the first entry but there are about 10 there in a series)
I could probably ramble on all day so I’ll just cut myself off there lol
The part about the three queens reminds me of a Thomas Henry Huxley quote... "Mr. Darwin endeavours to explain the exact order of organic nature which exists; not the mere fact that there is some order"
This also reminds me of the short story "Supreme Happiness" from the Zhuangzi collection, a snippet of it was used in the game the Path of Neo, but this section always stood out...
When Zhuangzi went to Chu, he saw an old skull, all dry and parched. He poked it with his carriage whip and then asked, “Sir, were you greedy for life and forgetful of reason and so came to this? Was your state overthrown, and did you bow beneath the ax and so came to this? Did you do some evil deed, and were you ashamed to bring disgrace on your parents and family and so came to this? Was it through the pangs of cold and hunger that you came to this? Or did your springs and autumns pile up until they brought you to this?” When he had finished speaking, he dragged the skull over and, using it for a pillow, lay down to sleep.
In the middle of the night, the skull came to him in a dream and said, “You chatter like a rhetorician, and all your words betray the entanglements of a living man. The dead know nothing of these! Would you like to hear a lecture on the dead?” “Indeed,” said Zhuangzi. The skull said, “Among the dead, there are no rulers above, no subjects below, and no chores of the four seasons. With nothing to do, our springs and autumns are as endless as heaven and earth. A king facing south on his throne could have no more happiness than this!” Zhuangzi couldn’t believe this and said, “If I got the Arbiter of Fate to give you a body again, make you some bones and flesh, return you to your parents and family and your old home and friends, you would want that, wouldn’t you?” The skull frowned severely, wrinkling up its brow. “Why would I throw away more happiness than that of a king on a throne and take on the troubles of a human being again?”
BO3 might be worth it if you have a few friends. The four-player co-op was the real highlight. As for The Congress? It's a better concept than its execution. The third act can be heartbreaking when thinking about it in the larger context of what a world like that means in the grand scheme of things, but getting there can be... tedious.
As for Naked Lunch? Both the book and novel can easily make you lose your literal lunch. Once again, both are better in concept than execution. Naked Lunch the movie is a visual spectacle thanks to David Cronenberg's crew that brought to life some amazing cinematography and special effects, but it's thoroughly disturbing from top to bottom.
Yeah, I can understand that. When a world feels "real" enough it can make it much easier to convey more abstract concepts you might otherwise miss in the mundane ins and outs of real-life.
I see. So it was the mystery of something greater and the concepts associated with this greater mystery that was an alluring concept for you, as presented through the world/universe of Destiny?
That piece comes from one of the excellent plot threads of the game, which takes Darwinian “Survival of the Fittest” / “red in tooth and claw nature” to its absurd, space-magic conclusion - known as the “Sword Logic”. In an almost American Gods sense, an entire race’s belief in this “logic”, and their dedicated practice to it twists them into an almost unfathomable threat, existing over billions of years in an unending crusade of murder and growing stronger. And this is just one of the 5 or so enemy factions, each one almost a distillation of a storytelling genre or set of tropes into an utterly interesting and appealing force. There’s the “robots” who seemingly exist outside of time, tending the timelines like gardeners, but allowing only those timelines which lead to the extermination of every race but them to flourish. There’s the fallen race of “space pirates”, long ago uplifted by the Traveler who desperately chase after it, coming to sol and putting themselves in conflict with “us”. There’s the Roman Legion of space turtles, who despite their overwhelming military force seem to be running from something.
Ya know? It’s not like you’re just fighting blue guys in level 1 and green guys in level 3, it’s like an actual world of agents in situations, just one that exists within its own set of logical (“space magic”) confines.
Like you say, it’s amazing what kind of ideas can be conveyed to us with a solid foundation beneath them, to build on.
Have you ever heard of the Game of Life in mathematics/compsci? How everything in existence can ultimately come about through a “zero dimensional starting condition” playing out following simple rules? Part 2 and 3 of that “Unveiling” book bring that into the Destiny universe as the ultimate metaphor for what kicked it all off. Our universe, all of existence, is the spillover from the overturned gameboard of a metaphysical Game of Life played by the ontological principles known as the Gardener and the Winnower.
Jumping around, in a sense, the planets themselves are “conscious” “entities” - loops of dark matter, in their cosmic dance tugged by planets and solar systems and the eventual life on that planet - which “woke up”:
I am.
I am I am I am I am I am I am I am I am I am I am I.
At first this is all the loop of dust can calculate. It is the hardest thing in the universe for the dust to make a loop at all, because, like a gust of wind or a river, it was only meant to move one way. For a mind to function, the end of one thought must alter the beginning of the next: so, like rivers, like wind, the Nine could not have minds until they could make loops.
For a game to be able to take something like that, the idea that “planets” have emotions, and senses, and existences distinct from their mere soulless physicality is something that dates back into pre-history right? Mars, Jupiter, we’ve always thought this way. And here comes a video game, which can take all that, and synthesize it into something which not only “makes sense” but which is actually impactful on the game in a variety of ways (mainly story/world building but these entities have been known to aid Guardians with various gifts)
the Demiurge of the Guardian is
So yeah, I think that’s all to say that the reason it had such an impact was because of its apparent depth breadth and width, wholistic design (everything is there for a reason and if you wonder about it there’s probably some extra information or characterization available for you to find), and also knowing where to leave the more concrete and standard approaches to “world building” for more “lore/mystery building”, if that makes any sense.
I’ve never been one for Cronenberg movies, so maybe I’ll skip that lol.
Zhuangzu? Or zhuangzi? Or was he a butterfly?
Interesting.
You made Destiny sound far more profound than any gameplay trailer, video, walkthrough, or even my own play sessions managed to pull from that property.
That's a fascinating way upon which to build a universe and expand from there. Especially this part....
Now that's something interesting because in many ways, Earth does seem to be a conscious entity, in the way in which it breathes life and sustains life. I'm always drawn back to Tesla's experiments with using the natural Earth's wave functions as an energy source to power devices. It's a shame that was never explored more.
The structure of its universe definitely sounds fascinating, it's a shame that the game itself didn't lend mechanics to the experience that were/are as philosophical as its worldbuilding and lore.
He's an acquired taste, for sure. Some of his films I absolutely adore, like eXistenZ The Fly, and Scanners (which is one of my all-time favourite films from any genre)... others... not so much.
Is that Jon Hamm narrating?!
Yep, from one of my all time favorite pieces of media Legion - I strongly recommend it to almost everyone. Show runner was Noah Hawley if you’ve heard of him before (the Fargo show)
“It’s a shame” is a statement which applies almost fractally to that game. Unfathomable potential squandered on greedy monetization and lack of in-game narrative. Like I mentioned I only played actively for a couple years and have since had to abandon it due to their utter disregard for the fans.
Y’know, I actually liked The Fly, and I have memories of that movie eXistenZ seared into my mind (the soup scene) but I didn’t realize those were Cronenberg films. Maybe I can stomach more of his work than I realized lol
Hmm, never heard of that might need to put it on the list to check out