"If we agree that games with a narrative have a moral universe, full of characters that follow their own moral values and gameplay choices made by the player following their own moral values"

It's not really that there is a moral universe, but when choices are involved, morals (or lack thereof) are involved. You cannot determine what a moral premise is in a game, that is only possible in novels or movies. In a game, a player makes choices. If you pre-determine the moral premise, you are essentially limiting a player's available choices and decreasing fun. Because of this, you can only produce an environment where moral choices can be made. The place for a moral premise is in novels and movies, not in game narrative.

Interestingly enough, the most selfish choice to make in Bioshock in regards to the little sisters is saving them. You get even more ADAM this way. This sort of shows why inserting a moral premise does nothing. If you really wanted a moral premise, you'd be forced to rescue the sisters. Players should be left to explore moral choices, not have the choice made for them.

@ Reid

Very interesting article! I actually like the idea of game stories becoming more morally relevant and telling stories with messages and consequences, though I wonder if the designers themselves attempting to build those choices in themselves is the best way to go about it. Usually theme in books and movies is determined after the fact, usually by other people, as a form of analysis... something to ponder, for certain.

What this article really does bring out to me, however, is that the moral premise of these stories can't just be applied to the cutscenes while the gameplay ignores it entirely. Gameplay is its own story, and the last thing we want is the experience to be disjointed and inconsistent. I can't remember who said it (maybe it was Sid Meier?) but "one good game is better than two great games".

@ Louis

You certainly can determine a moral premise in a game, there's no reason games have to be distinct from movies or film in this regard. In fact, I'd argue that interactivity gives more potential to exploring a moral premise, not less.

Predetermining a moral premise does not necessarily reduce choice... the difference is all on the developers end, as they must be more consistent on their end to make the CONSEQUENCES of choices consistent within whatever statement they're trying to make. I also take issue with the idea that limiting choices reduces fun. Often, a smaller selection of meaningful choices is far more impactful, interesting, and engaging than a wide variety of choices with small variations between them. In fact, that wider variety of choices might just lead to paralysis on the part of the player as they're overwhelmed.

The inconsistency you note in Bioshock doesn't discredit the idea at all. What it DOES show is that Bioshock applies their moral premise unevenly and inconsistently. I'm not sure what you mean by "If you really wanted a moral premise, you'd be forced to rescue the sisters", since I don't see any connection in this article about making choices more linear or forced as a consequence... in fact, Reid seems to prefer a more open approach. The idea is that players shouldn't have their choices made for them, but if they're working against your moral premise, they better be prepared to accept the consequences.

I think a great example of this is Left 4 Dead. The moral premise is, in a nutshell, "hang together or hang separately". The gameplay elements are very consistent in this regard: you CAN go wandering off on your own, behave selfishly, or otherwise refuse to work together, but doing so means that you'll usually get picked off one by one. You have the choice, and you also have the consequences. You can work together as a team and find success, or work on your own and meet an untimely end.

"I'm not sure what you mean by "If you really wanted a moral premise, you'd be forced to rescue the sisters", since I don't see any connection in this article about making choices more linear or forced as a consequence."

If you really want to create a moral premise, you cannot let the player wander from it. The only way to make sure someone gets the -exact- moral premise you want is to tell the player what choices to make. Exploring morality is not a moral premise. A player can explore all the ideas regarding lying, but a designer should avoid making any decision beforehand what a player's choice should be.

The fact that Bioshock's moral premise is so loose is what makes it good. The player is left simply experiencing the remnants of a dystopia. The player is shown what Rapture is. The designers just need to create the environment and provide a believable backstory. Again, a moral premise is for books and movies (more specifically: stories). The reader cannot decide how a character will act, so the reader cannot help but see the writer's moral premise. Viewed as a whole, good games should avoid a moral premise (however, the parts that the player doesn't interact with, i.e. what lead to Rapture's downfall, can have a moral premise)

@Louis said:
"If you pre-determine the moral premise, you are essentially limiting a player's available choices and decreasing fun"

I wouldn't use the word limiting but instead say giving their choices more cohesive focus. The number of choices the game offers is up to the developers.

@Ian:
I wasn't sure if I explained this topic well enough, but it looks like I have. I haven't played Left for Dead, but I think you are exactly right that its gameplay mechanics can be interpreted as having a Moral Premise.

I'd enjoy hearing from others if they can think of Moral Premise statements for other games.

The problem in many games that attempt to include morals is the addition of mechanical incentives. Games tend to reward Paths 1 and 4 fully and Paths 2 and 3 suboptimally. If you don't act full vice or fully moral, you receive less reward - so you naturally pick the reward you want first and then the choices follow in line. If the mechanical incentives were removed and the players were interested in purely story creation then it would be more free, however that has its problems as well (not the least of which is psychographics).

The industry always talks about freeing up 'fixed' story elements and forced moral choices so that we can have some sort of fully free-form ludonarrative but then proceeds to reward the 'moralest' path and the 'vicest' path. As I see it, the problem is our love of defining choices as binary. As long as each presented choice is 'save them' or 'kill them', then anything other than the cardinal opposite paths is simply inconsistent and dissonant (and not mechanically rewarded). The other issue is that we tend to create these choices in isolation: choice A is "good", choice B is "bad" regardless of the story up until this point.

Until we raise the discussion above the 'two-track' view, and begin rewarding character arcs and consistency beyond the two characters we create with the game I feel that we're stuck where we are.

Why can't I play (in Fallout) the guy who's all about money and destroys Megaton but then feels bad about it, gives up his material pursuits and spends the rest of his days repenting and helping others? (something like Path 3 in this article)

@Reid:

Moral premise, World of Warcraft and similar: "You can only go so far on your own. True power requires cooperation." You can solo to 80 easily, but true endgame content is group-only, no matter how much money you throw at it.

Moral premise 1, Far Cry 2: "You cannot touch corruption without becoming corrupted; but salvation remains through self-sacrifice." The mission arc has you doing things each slightly more "truly evil" than before, until you are no better than the "main villain" you were sent to kill. At the end, you can redeem yourself through a suicide mission.

Moral premise 2, Far Cry 2: "No villain is a villain in his own mind. From their perspective, they are doing the right thing. Beware lest you become a villain." The arms dealer who has been arming both sides of the bush wars whom you are sent to assassinate is a thinking, thoughtful man who is trying to accomplish something good, yet by anybody else's standards he has sunk deeply into true evil.

and just for fun:

Moral premise, Burnout Paradise: "Ultimate self-expression liberates self and others, and collateral damage is just the price of it. Denial of ultimate self-expression leads to extinction of self into a wallow of boredom." Ten million dollar Showtime, baby!

Reid, my primary problem with your article, thoughtful as it is, is that you seem to sell the average game player a little short. For example, with regard to your analysis of the implementation of the moral premise in Bioshock, the latter two arguments come off as rather presumptuous of a moral blank slate interpreting the actions proposed by the game.

"Players can embrace the vice and still 'win' the game."

This presupposes a generalization across all personalities, psyches, genders, and cultures that embracing a vice can even "allow" for a feeling of completion, in or outside the game world. I mean, it really depends on one's definition for "win," doesn't it? One's morals don't necessarily lend themselves cleanly to Aesop-like didacticism, and isn't that sort of the point of temporarily filling the shoes of a character? Trying to see outside of the ethics of the self, peering into a world where such things are more loosely defined? The reaction of the player to such interactions cannot always be predicted, as one might opt to become so disgusted with the actions of his/her avatar that the conclusion is not a premeditated causal effect, but something else entirely--a stepping outside the protagonist and viewing what is success inside the game as another kind of "loss" for one's complicity in seemingly immoral acts.

"Harvesting vs. Rescuing doesn’t make the Moral Premise clear until the very end."

Really? Isn't the act itself a sort of performative moral rhetoric? I'm pretty sure any player will take away your deduced "selfishness = destruction" moral premise from the repeated bludgeoning of little girls, especially when it is cast in such a terrible light by the animation and sound effects of the game. I agree with you that the choice between harvest and save is an ethically shallow one, but I blame that more on the thin dichotomy with which this repeated choice is presented (you can harvest some, save others, but you can only get one type of ending or another) than on obscuring the moral suggestion of the act.

By your logic, I would think that Shadow of the Colossus similarly leaves its moral premise up in the air until the end of the game, as success is predicated on the destruction of the seemingly peaceful or pristine Colossi. Yet the game's simple repetition of the animation in which the protagonist absorbs the soul of the Colossus is what led me to eventually conclude, far before the end-game, that this was morally questionable. Just as in real life, however, Shadow of the Colossus illustrates that not every action can be reduced to moral certitude: One must question the worth of another being's life over that of a human or loved one.

Having a moral premise seems like it requires a bit of preaching, which I'm not sure gamers appreciate. They don't like being told what's right and what is wrong.

Furthermore, in real life, doing the selfish thing tends to put you ahead (unless you get caught). In designing a game, I would want a realistic set of consequences for actions a character/player might take. Being a good guy who trusts everyone you come across generally leaves you with the short stick.

Essentially the reason you don't see more games based around a true moral premise that in most cases it's pretty much impossible to do so and still keep the game "balanced" and "fun". For example, if you want to make the statement about selflessness and selfishness, they CANNOT have equal consequences/rewards in the game. Making sure that both the selfless and selfish path provide equal amounts of "fun" for the player only tells them that it doesn't matter what you chose.

However, most games are only concerned about entertaining their audiences, so it makes sense that they don't get too deep into real morals. It's the same reason that you don't see many summer blockbusters dealing with heavy topics, too.

An Dang: "Having a moral premise seems like it requires a bit of preaching, which I'm not sure gamers appreciate. They don't like being told what's right and what is wrong."

This is a common argument I hear against injecting games with a message, but it's pretty demeaning to gamers if you think about it. Why are people that watch movies, read books, and listen to music open to "preachy" subject matter, but people that play video games aren't?

Michael: I meant that providing good and evil choices and then rewarding the protagonist/player for choosing the good choice (this is how "Moral Premises" are described in this blog) would be too preachy. I thought my second paragraph might have made a bit clearer what I was referring to.

I'll try to be clearer here: a "Moral Premise" in a game which rewards the protagonist for being selfless and punishes him for being selfish is too preachy; it is not realistic as the self-serving man in our world (who possesses moderate intellect considering the circumstances) tends to have an easier time at getting ahead. At least that is how I see it.

@Reid: A great read! I do agree with An that the rewards for each choice should be equitable, in terms of having equal value to the player, but should also serve to cement the player's choices along that path. A player's selfish choice should reward them with something that will make them want to choose the selfish choice later on. To use Bioshock as an example, perhaps when harvesting little sisters, the player should become noticeably more powerful, but at the same time enemies should become more powerful too, further requiring that the player continue to harvest little sisters to increase their personal power. Choosing to save little sisters, however, could provide the same increase in power, but in the form of allies - perhaps the rescued little sisters appear at intervals in the game, allowing the player to bypass dangerous enemies and locales, or appearing every now and again to help in battle by using subterfuge to spring traps on enemies, and so forth. This way, at the end of the game, when the player confronts the final boss, if the player has chosen the selfish path, the battle becomes a clash between plasmid-enhanced titans, and the player must kill Atlas on their own (and take his place as the new tyrand of Rhapsody). If, however, the player has chosed the 'good' path, the player only needs to weaken Atlas to a certain amount of health, before the little sisters appear and swarm him, as they do in Bioshock as it exists now.

@ An Dang and Michael Rivera
Firstly your right about it being difficult to pull off often due to balancing issues. But what a lot of people forget is that there are different ways to balance a game than just direct you gain X for this and Y for that. Along these same lines this blog post is NOT about rewarding people for the good message. It's about attempting to deliver your message appropriately. If that involves a reward then do so. The big problem with Bioshock is that it DOES reward the player directly for being good. Which goes against it's message, because all of a sudden helping others becomes a form of direct rational self interest, which in reality, it often isn't.

@Louis
Also what's the point of crafting a complex moral message if you don't allow the player to explore more than 1 side of it. Traditional narrative structure explores both sides of most moral dilemma's by directly showing the consequences of one side then having the main character "repent" or "change", thus demonstrating the other side of the message. A loose moral premise is no premise at all, it's a sandbox, you cannot deliver a message without first crafting it.

@Matthew
The problem is mainly with repetition, when harvesting repeatedly many players begin to lose touch with the horror of what they're doing. This effect is multiplied by the non-graphic and implied nature of the harvesting. To deliver the message the game should be actively challenging the player, not sitting idly by and then going "hey guess what, you're a monster" at the end. Without the challenge the moral decisions stops being a moral decision and merely becomes a game play one. Perhaps you shouldn't bash the player in the face, but there needs to be a clearly defined way of demonstrating to the player the results of their actions. I mentioned it once before (in another of Reid's articles)

Let me put it another way, the game could have greater impact by a) finding a little girl, b) asking you to kill her for great power, c) showing a cinematic of the results of your decision, d) Game Over. At least in this way the action/result is directly paired. But that shoves the message down the player's throat, and doesn't give them a chance to have an epiphany, nor does it allow for their own evil to creep up on them.

As for the Vice-Win-Game etc, I'm not sure it's a problem, in games with a linear narrative you cannot do this, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to do this. As for "win" the game, I think he means, you ultimately finish the game in the same state either way, defeat boss, get cut scene. Both paths of choice lead to this moment. A better ending perhaps would be to, after not saving the little sisters, to actually lose in the end, it would intrigue me a game that actually couldn't be won if you chose a certain path....after all, that's what happens in reality.

An Dang: Ah, I see what you are saying now. I definitely agree with you that the mechanics behind the choice need to be somewhat "realistic". After all, the player still needs some sort of temptation to take the selfish path or the choice won't be an engaging one.

I guess I was just trying to say that some sort of reward/consequence imbalance is needed if you want to make a statement with your game. It may make a story sound preachy if done incorrectly, but that risk is also present when injecting morality into movies and novels. Video games aren't special in that regard.

Christopher Wragg: I pretty much agree with what you're saying here, but I have a big issue with the idea that the "selfless" path shouldn't reward anything. Sure, the definition of selflessness is that you help people even when it doesn't benefit yourself, but the problem here is that most players don't regard in-game characters as people. They are just toys, playthings. When you take away the "selfless" reward it doesn't present players with a compelling moral decision; it just tells players that the other path is the correct choice.

Now, if they had a game that donated a small amount of money to charity every time you chose the "selfless" path, THAT would be a real moral decision.

Hmm, that sounds like a pretty interesting premise actually... I guess I'll have to put it on my list of games to design if I ever become a millionaire =)

"Also what's the point of crafting a complex moral message if you don't allow the player to explore more than 1 side of it."

To have a moral message in a book, a writer must put events in such a way to demonstrate his moral premise. There is no room for a reader's choice in the course of events. In a video game, it is all about choices. It's not that here is no point in crafting a complex message, but that it's not the right way to make a great game. The disagreement may be that I don't think games are art, which is a discussion that is a whole lot deeper than "moral premises in games".

The problem with "realistic" cause and effect is that people are typically sharply divided on ideological grounds about what those consequences will be. For instance, a "realistic" take on gun control could honestly go either way because the consequences are too complex and uncertain for us as a society to know how it will "actually" go. Instead, we fall back on ideology and argue from principles instead of empiricism.

I don't think we need to be talking about making statements... in my experience, that tends to detract from instead of strengthening stories. Instead, I think we should be putting more thought into making sure we're thematically consistent. It doesn't matter so much if the "lesson" is wrong if it's applied consistently in the story and game mechanics. There's certainly something to say for cohesivenss in that regard.

Hello Reid Kimball! I cited both Dr. Martin Luther King and Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D. “Moral Premise” in my 2005/2006/2007/2008 patents--would be awesome if you could cite/link to some of the prior art in your article! Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy reading through some of my work!

If you google "moral premise video game" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=moral+premise+video+game&aq=f&oq=&aqi= , you will find my work!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=moral+premise+videogame&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g%3Ap1

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http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=ee-jAAAAEBAJ&dq=Morality+system+and+metho
d+for+video+game:+system+and+method
http://www.google.com/patents?id=aAuzAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=exalte
d&as_psra=1&as_psra=1

In the ABSTRACT of the application "Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art" , http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html (filed 2005/2006) I cite the" moral premise."

"Abstract :A video game and game system incorporating a game character's morality level that is affected by game occurrences such as moral, amoral, or immoral choices in an epic story's deeper context. The character's morality level affects the game's environment. Such a feedback system based on MORAL PREMISES provides an efficient means to enhance and deepen game play, as a sensible, realistic, meaningful, profound, and epic story naturally emerges. The measurement of moral choices will allow a player's soul to be rendered upon the screen in cinematic action paralleling internal dramatic action, thus providing the dramatic elements of classic literature and film. The presentation of moral choices in the game, based upon moral premises, will allow plot points that result in character arcs, romantic relationships, exalted game play, and epic story. Moral choices will lead to overall success, while immoral or amoral choices will lead to overall failure."

A couple weeks back they cited my work (both patents) at neogaf:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." --Arthur Schopenhauer

The neogaf thread/my work were discussed here @ gamasutra:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4061/dramatic_play.php

Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video game (2005/2006)
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING EXALTED VIDEO GAMES AND VIRTUAL REALITIES WHEREIN IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES (2007/2008)
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

From the 2005/2006 (Prov. (2005), Filing Date:10/12/2006 ) patent application (please forgive my copying and pasting this text, but it probably shlould have been cited in the article):

[quote]
In the 2007 Guide to Making Movies published by Movie Maker Magazine , Stanley D. Williams writes, “All the star power in the world can't help a film lacking a moral premise . . . Since the first stories were ever told, only one thing has ever consistently and successfully connected the storyteller with his or her audience: The Moral Premise.” So too is it that all the processing power and pixel counts in the world can't add to the story. When considering the dramatic arts in his Poetics , Aristotle ranked story first and spectacle second to last. Thus video games and a lot of contemporary movies fall short of exalting, engaging entertainment, as does video game AI which never contemplates, nor includes, nor embodies, nor seeks to embody, nor manifests a moral premise.

Stanley D. Williams goes on to say in Movie Maker Magazine , “On paper, the Moral Premise is a once-sentence description of the physical and psychological arcs of a movie's main characters. The Moral Premise focuses the storytelling in one direction and inextricably links the main characters' motivations with their physical action.”

So it is that by adapting an entity that forms the foundation of successful movies, video games may reach a brand new plateau. Within the context provided by morality, and more specifically, within the context provided by a moral meter, and moral premise, the character's physical actions in a game take on a deeper meaning, as the physical actions are really manifesting the internal soul, just as they do in movies.

Stanley D. Williams goes on to say in Singular Sensation in the Guide to Making Movies 2007 published by Movie Maker Magazine , “In order for a story to be successful and connect with its audience, it must present evidence towards some conclusion. In the courtroom, every piece of evidence, like the final conclusion, is called ‘a premise.’ In a story, individual scenes are like the pieces of evidence or premises. As the scenes pile up, the story leads us to the character's physical climax, and, more importantly, to a psychological or moral conclusion. It is this moral conclusion, or premise, that drives everything physical that we see on the screen.”

The dramatic device of a “moral premise,” when introduced into video games in a manner disclosed in this present invention, will endow video games with epic storytelling capabilities. So it is that deeper story may be gained by incorporating the notion of morality in video games in both subtle and not-so-subtle manners, including presenting players with moral choices, altering the player's morality level based on their choices, altering the surrounding character's morality levels based on the first player's choices and other players choices, and having devils and demons, and angels and gods, intervene to help or hurt the character based on their morality levels.

So it is that classical literature might be rendered in the realm of video games. And so it is that deeper, more exalting games, capturing that elusive Holy Grail of “storytelling in video games,” that has eluded so many experts for so long.

Furthermore, the environment will change in accordance with the character's actions, creating even deeper game play. The environment could include gods and angels and other in-game characters which would react positively or negatively to the player's moral or immoral choices and moral actions. For instance, the gods and angels could help the player with tips, guidance, and spiritual help when the player was making the right choices. Alternatively, they could abandon and desert the player when the player was doing immoral things, and the player would end up in a meaningless, open-ended game. The environment could include demons and devils which would seek to impede or hurt the player's progress, when they player strayed from the straight and narrow via immoral or amoral choices. So it is that the struggle between virtue and vice in the player's soul could be rendered on the screen, and the deeper dramatic action could inspire the physical action, which in turn would exalt the spirit in deeper, meaningful entertainment.

Stanley D. Williams goes on to say in Singular Sensation in The Guide to Making Movies 2007 published by Movie Maker Magazine , “For your story to be accepted by mainstream audiences, your Moral Premise must be true and consistent with natural law—taking everything from nature's law of gravity to a human being's feelings of injustice into consideration.”

Mr. Williams is talking about movies, and this present invention is novel in that takes Mr. Williams' expert advice and applies it to video games in a novel manner, fostering unexpected and previously unseen results, including deeper story in video games, augmented markets for video games, better videogaming experiences, and a brand new realm of videogames capable of epic storytelling, moral education, and eternal art.

An embodiment of present invention would include a Moral Premise that is true and consistent with natural law, based on the Bible, Dante's Inferno, and other works of literature espousing and rewarding moral behavior in this open-ended world. Just as realistic physical action demands a realistic physics engine grounded in classical physics, realistic emotion and storytelling demands a game engine grounded in classical literature.

The present invention surpasses prior art such as Sanity system for video game described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,954, which is described as, “A video game and game system incorporating a game character's sanity level that is affected by occurrences in the game such as encountering a game creature or gruesome situation. A character's sanity level is modified by an amount determined based on a character reaction to the occurrence such as taking a rest or slowing game progress and/or an amount of character preparation. That is, if a character is prepared for the particular occurrence, the occurrence may have little or no affect on the character's sanity level. As the character's sanity level decreases, game play is effected such as by controlling game effects, audio effects, creating hallucinations and the like. In this context. the same game can be played differently each time it is played.”

While the presence of a sanity level in U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,954 leads to varied and interesting gameplay, the presence of a morality level in the present invention leads to epic storytelling, more emotionally-involving game play, deeper characters, and games that can achieve classical art on a spiritual level. The present invention surpasses in U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,954 in numerous ways, including expanded markets and audiences for video games, increased use of video games in academia, enhanced brands for video games, and novel and enhanced game play in current RPGs and FPSs and MMORPGs that choose to adapt the novel approaches of the present invention.

The present invention can lead to a renaissance in video games and usher in a brand new era of deeper and more exalting video games with deeper storytelling and a heightened cinematic experience.

So far video games have failed to incorporate a moral level ever in a subtle manner or an explicit manner. Thus the prior art lacks emotionally-engaging stories and “soul.”

Nowhere at Chris Crawford's storytronics.com website, nor anywhere in his books, nor patents, nor any of his other prior art, does he mention the central significance of a Moral Premise in storytelling in the realm of video games. Nowhere at Chris Crawford's storytronics.com website, nor anywhere in his books, nor patents, nor any of his other prior art, does he mention the possibility and advantages of the notion of morality and a moral level meter in the realm of video games. Nowhere in Chris Crawford's prior art, nor in any other prior art, is this present system and method for morality in video games presented. The present invention will have far-reaching effects throughout the industry, as it can launch both a renaissance and a revolution.

Because game developers have been unable to incorporate morality in video games on a deep, profound, realistic level, they have fallen short in creating memorable characters, deeper emotional involvement, and superior, more realistic game play. Because the moral sense is intrinsic to humanity's reality, only games with higher moral contexts can approach reality, thereby offering richer game play experiences.

In all the leading discussions on storytelling in games, and in all prior art, no mention is made of the central significance of morality to storytelling—not even in books, movies, film, and literature—and certainly not in the realm of video games.

This invention, by offering a world which is wed to the character's moral behavior, offers a unique and superior game play experience. This invention may achieves this in the following manner—the protagonist needs the help of a woman to accomplish his goal. By behaving in a moral manner, he draws her closer. By behaving in an immoral manner, he pushes her away.
[/quote]

----http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html
--I also cite that patent in this patent: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886

[quote]0008]The present invention will foster a new era of exalted gaming in multiple formats and forms, including RPGs, FPS, an MMORPGs, and too, it would provide enhanced means for bringing successful films and dramatic art to life in the realm of video games and gaming. Producers have failed time and again to translate movies into games and games into movies, and that is because they do not comprehend nor grasp the secret--the classical ideals which have consequences and the simple moral premise must be woven into the fabric of games at very level. For the classical ideals are the most efficient and natural and simple way to unite the plot and the subplot, the dramatic action and physical action, the love interest and the battle. Most fanboy producers, who came of age in a declining fiatocracy, are used to arrogance, hypes, and doublespeak as methods and means for producing movies, which ultimately suck. So it is that this present invention would exalt and foster novel video games that would in turn exalt and foster a cultural renaissance; wherein one would be able to battle the snarky fiatocracy producers head-on, both in the context game and beyond it, finally avenging all the innocent civilians, prostitutes, children, cops, and unborn who have been killed by the fiatocracy's fanboys, while the artist's natural rights have been dismantled and debauched, and the home and family destroyed along with the currency. So often it is that the poet and hero know not what they do, and this game humbles itself before the epic poets, prophets, and heroes of all ages; even as Socrates' ultimately, and reluctantly humbled himself before Homer, who was exalted by Aristotle. This patent humbles itself before the secret of epic storytelling. This patent does not drive down Sunset in a Ferrari, as fanboys and failed producers do, screaming and hyping their lackluster creations--lackluster movies based on video games, or lackluster video games based on movies--as exalted art; but rather this invention simply states that all epic story derives for living for, speaking for, and sometimes dying for higher ideals. Such is the way it has ever been, and will always be; and this invention will exalt a higher realm of games and gaming by returning this central tenet to modern art, leading with Character and Plot based on Virtue as did Aristotle, and introducing all these soulful, sacred, moral agents in the realm of video games.

0022]The present invention will allow us to imagine and exalt a game wherein AI that exalted the classical moral premise in Plot and Character--that allowed the first person player to exalt in Honor and Integrity. Imagine an FPS that rendered the archetypal masculine and feminine--the Odysseus and Penelope, the Dante and Beatrice, the Hamlet and Ophelia--and like Zeus, saw to it that only those who treated strangers and beggars with common decency and respect ever prevailed. Imagine a video game that wore black like Johnny Cash: [0023]I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, [0024]Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town, [0025]I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, [0026]But is there because he's a victim of the times. [0027]I wear the black for those who never read, [0028]Or listened to the words that Jesus said, [0029]About the road to happiness through love and charity, [0030]Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.--Johnny Cash--The Man in Black . . .

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0925]Opportunity abounds to create video games with souls, deep intellect, and exalted spirits by endowing them with that which renders mankind unique and exalts his greater heroes--ideas and ideals. From dialogue, action, and world trees that branch according to the profound ideas that are expressed, or remain unspoken, to the moral premise, to ideas having consequences, to a vampire or zombie game wherein the viruses are ideas, opportunity abounds to exalt video games with superior gameplay. As every single work of classic literature centers about a moral premise and classical ideals, and the moral Character of the protagonist, from Hamlet, to Odysseus, to Dante, to Jesus, to Socrates is founded upon ideas; endowing games with ideas that have consequences and a moral premise will result in games that achieve higher art.

[/quote]

http://libertariangames.blogspot.com
http://gold45revolver.com

Best,

Dr. E :)

p.s. I also mention "moral premise" in the final claim: "
19. A video game system including a control processor for playing a video game including a game character controlled by a player, the video game system comprising means for setting a morality level of the game character; means for presenting the game character with choices of moral consequence, based on moral premises, and requiring moral considerations, said choices becoming plot points means for modifying the morality level of the game character during game play according to occurrences in the game and choices made by the game character, wherein a modifying amount is determined based on the morality, amorality, or immorality of a character's choice; and means for controlling game play according to the morality level of the game character, game play being controlled at least by varying game effects and the actions of other characters in the environment according to the game character's morality level. " --http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

Thanks in advance for the citation!

In Russia!
ded-maxim.livejournal.com/337627.html

@NEOGAF:
www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448

@TWITTER
www.google.com/search?q=%22exalted+video+games%22+site:twitter.com&hl=en&...
www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22video+game+patent%22+site%3Atwitter.com&...

@GAMASUTRA:
www.google.com/search?q=%22exalted+video+games%22+site:gamasutra.com&hl=en&a...

@WORDPRESS:
www.google.com/search?q=%22exalted+video+games%22+site:wordpress.com&hl=en&a...

@LIVEJOURNAL:
HOPEFULLY THE CRAZIEST THING YOU WILL READ ALL DAY
May 27th, 16:42
What happens when a schizophrenic libertarian has an idea for a video game? He files a 100-page patent for it, of course.
steffo42.livejournal.com/24420.html

a fallout 3 mod based on this s@#$ would be boss as f@#$."
"What’s scary, for me, is that this might be exactly what gamers want." --onelastcontinue.com
www.onelastcontinue.com/9136/vampire-zombie-communist-hookers-patent-it/

@SIMDYNASTY: "I didn't bother reading it, but my friend (who found it) said "did you notice he quotes the Declaration of Independence, Gandhi and then talks about Clint Eastwood and Eminem?"" --simdynasty.com
"That thing is the proverbial gift that keeps on giving." --simdynasty.com
"F@#@#! I actually have to come back and read this later as it will take too long right now. F@#$ing hell though!"
@TWITTER: Wow! Most amazing videogame patent ever. Save the earth from communism by not shooting the hooker! 120page WIN tinyurl.com/savehooker --http://twitter.com/DenUngeHerrHolm

Finally, Dr. MArtin Luther King Jr. in a claim!
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING EXALTED VIDEO GAMES AND VIRTUAL REALITIES WHEREIN IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

"11. The method in claim 1 where the character can battle for said ideas that are based upon classical moral and economic principles of famous philosophers, prophets, poets, statesmen, and economists including Plato, Moses, Jesus, Gandhi Sun Tzu, Buda, Jefferson, Aristotle, F. A. Hayek, Martin Luther King Jr., Homer, Ludwig Von Mises, Adam Smith, and others, and witness the consequences of both their success and failure of their battle, as the consequences are rendered in the game's physical world."

Sorry about the above formatting!

The formatting cam out better here:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589&pagenumber=14&p
erpage=40#post362965295
http://libertariangames.blogspot.com

Rock on!

Can hardly wait to buy some of the games that incorproate thsi new technology!

You can see how the Moral Premise/Ideas Have Consequences/Gold 45 Revolver technology solved a major game design issue in Fallout 3 & other a plethora of other games:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908

All the best!

Dr. E :)

Yeah, I believe games should have a moral premise... And today I conceptionalized one. You can find it on my blog. http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JohnPetersen/20090707/2281/Fishing_game_inspired_
by_NATGEOTV.php

How can you patent a system like that, when game developers have been making games with moral choices as far back as the Ultima series?

Kumar: Don't worry, no patents will be granted. Elliot is a known "internet-schizophrenic" (it's not an exact term here, but you know what i mean) who has long tried to patent his moral games ideas, no patents have been granted afaik as it's all incomprehensible from a gameplay perspective and extremely vague.

Any attempts at other forums/comments sections to communicate with him has shown he just replies with massive unreadable posts containing large amounts of copy+paste tinfoil material and completely ignores any questions or comments that other people have tried to engage him with.

The best action is to just ignore him until he is able to show a game prototype or good video with his moral system in action, then we can together evaluate if there is anything good behind all the crazy and if it's worth looking further into.

Thanks Kumar,

This is Dr. Elliot McGucken again, on my other computer/Gamasutra ccount.

Well, if it's nothing new, then I guess we should be asking, "Why should we be writing articles such as "Infusing Games with a Moral Premise"
as Ultima already did it?" :)

Over the past several years I have been defining the next paradigm shift in videogames, and it is just now taking off! Don't you want to ride the rocket?

System and method for creating exalted video games and virtual realities wherein ideas have consequences United States Patent Application 20090017886 Kind Code:A1

"Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video games United States Patent Application 20070087798 Kind Code:A1

http://www.google.com/patents?id=aAuzAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=exalte
d&as_psra=1&as_psra=1#PPA1,M1
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=ee-jAAAAEBAJ&dq=morality+system&as_psra=1
&as_psra=1

And just now, the gaming community is catching on--exalted morality and classical ideals are the key to the next-gen:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ReidKimball/20090706/2235/Infusing_Games_with_a_M
oral_Premise.php
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4061/dramatic_play.php
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AdamBishop/20090309/832/Morality_In_Video_Games.p
hp

Don't you want to be a part of the next, next thing?!?!

That's where all the $$$ & glory are!

O my prophetic soul! --Hamlet

"Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video games United States Patent Application 20070087798 Kind Code:A1
Abstract:A video game and game system incorporating a game character's morality level that is affected by game occurrences such as moral, amoral, or immoral choices in an epic story's deeper context. The character's morality level affects the game's environment. Such a feedback system based on moral premises provides an efficient means to enhance and deepen game play, as a sensible, realistic, meaningful, profound, and epic story naturally emerges. The measurement of moral choices will allow a player's soul to be rendered upon the screen in cinematic action paralleling internal dramatic action, thus providing the dramatic elements of classic literature and film. The presentation of moral choices in the game, based upon moral premises, will allow plot points that result in character arcs, romantic relationships, exalted game play, and epic story. Moral choices will lead to overall success, while immoral or amoral choices will lead to overall failure. "
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

System and method for creating exalted video games and virtual realities wherein ideas have consequences United States Patent Application 20090017886 Kind Code:A1
Abstract:A video game method and system for creating games where ideas have consequences, incorporating branching paths that correspond to a player's choices, wherein paths correspond to decisions founded upon ideals, resulting in exalted games with deeper soul and story, enhanced characters and meanings, and exalted gameplay. The classical hero's journey may be rendered, as the journey hinges on choices pivoting on classical ideals. Ideas that are rendered in word and deed will have consequences in the gameworld. Historical events such as The American Revolution may be brought to life, as players listen to famous speeches and choose sides. As great works of literature and dramatic art center around characters rendering ideals real, both internally and externally, in word and deed, in love and war, the present invention will afford video games that exalt the classical soul, as well as the great books, classics, and epic films—past, present, and future.
--http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2009/0017886.html

I hope you find them entertaining and nejoyable reads!

I think the majority sentiment of the rising renaissance is that the industry is ready to move beyond Ultima.

As you can see, the novel "Moral Premise/Ideas Have Consequences/Gold 45 Revolver" technology has solved a major game design issue in Fallout 3 & a plethora of other games:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908

Best,

Dr. E :)
http://gold45revolver.com

Hello Janne,

Thanks for the ad hominem attack: "internet-schizophrenic." I hope taht we can move beyond namecalling and discuss the issues at hand, and the impending revolutionary changes in the gaming industry.

I know how it works: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." --Arthur Schopenhauer

It is entertaining to see some of my 2005/2006/2007/2008 work finally getting some airplay, while people try to seperate me from it with ad hominem attacks. :)

Well, that's not how reality works in the long run; and books such as Homer's Odyessy and Jospeh Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces are both about the long-run--serving causes greater than yourself.

And I do hope to see some of these novel games soon, which exalt the moral premise, as videogames can exalt the fulture!

Over at the Something Awful forums, a Bethesda employee stated:

"This may be the first time in history that, rather than blaming video games as the root of society's problems, they're being blamed for NOT being the solution."

And I answered:

Yes! That's what I'm saying! There's a vast opportunity for epic, exalted art which inpsires the soul!

And videogames can lead the way with a paradigm shift that both a) leads to deeper storyteling and b) exalts classical ideals and heroic idealism.

And so, sensing I was a bit ahead of my time after trying to explain it to some MBAs at major gaming companies, I buried it all in a patent or two. It was as if they were against both a)making money and b) exalting art and culture.

So I figured, if that's the way they wanted it, then that's the way they'd get it--they'd come to me."

--http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589&userid=0&perpag
e=40&pagenumber=12

I hope you join us Janne!

Best,

Dr. E :)
http://gold45revolver.com

Thanks Janne. :)

McCoy / McGucken(?):

I've skimmed the patent summary and fail to see what in your patent is much different from for instance what the Ultima series did 15 years ago.

As a game designer I completely agree that we need to move beyond the simplistic choices and moral outlooks as presented in for instance the mid series of the ultima games, but could you be more specific exactly how your idea differs in a gameplay sense?

(Sorry I'm at work and don't have time to read the full patent, but the discussion is interesting and I figure I should ask now while you were here and posting still.)

Cool parallel language! We're all heading on up the same mountain!

"The use of a Moral Premise naturally leads to games that allow multiple play paths." --Reid Kimball in Infusing Games with a Moral Premise

"Such a feedback system based on MORAL PREMISES provides an efficient means to enhance and deepen game play, as a sensible, realistic, meaningful, profound, and epic story naturally emerges. " --Dr. E in Abstract: Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video game, http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

Rock on!

Dr. E :)
http://gold45revolver.com

@Joel

Hello Joel! Thanks for the words! Would love to discuss it all when you've had a chance to read the patents. :)

Feel free to conatct me:

drelliot@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/45surf
http://facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

Best,

Dr. E :)

Ranger McCoy / Dr. Elliot McGucken please refrain from copy/pasting large amounts of text from your "patent". If you want to discuss the article or the comments others have made, by all means please do so. But we had a good discussion going until your comments set things off track. If you'd like to share your patents or other work, please post ONE link to a relevant website and include why you think the info will be of interest to us. Thanks.

To everyone else, thanks for the comments. Good stuff to think about. I'm still learning how to best to apply the concept to games. Christopher W., my problem with winning the game while embracing the vice is the overall message that it sends. That behaving in morally selfish ways is valuable and worth doing. I think to correct this, in order to win the game it should offer a chance for redemption. But then that eliminates the tragic narrative arcs. Not sure, I'm still working this out.

You're making it sound like a formula man... Do it from your heart.

Reid:

I think giving the player the chance to redeem themselves through a plot twist/decision at the end kinda negates part of the value of pursuing the virtuous path. The player should be allowed to finish the game no matter what their choices are, but the player should be aware that following the path of vice until the end of the game, only to 'switch sides' at the last moment still leaves a long trail of selfish actions in the past that the player/character is responsible for, with any number of victims.

There are ways around your concern about encouraging selfishness. I can think of a few, but I'd rather discuss them somewhere where they aren't going to get patented.

I suppose "winning the game" via the vice really depends upon what message your sending and how you want to deliver it.
Do you a) want to present a realistic representation of what can occur depending on the path you take;
b) deliver a message based on the path they take, good or bad or;
c) show them the "right" path, by only allowing them to "win" using that path.

For instance a) is very sandboxy in nature, b) is basically making a proposition or challenging the player, and c) is effectively trying to teach the player something.

I think b) is the ground that Bioshock tries to live in, it kind of goes, guess what Randian Objectivism actually is a valid way of living, look you get stronger, and you eventually overcome the odds, but look at the cost of it, is it really worth this? Look at the flaws in the system and renounce it if you can. (As a side note, ever noticed the similarities between Randian Objectivism, Machiavellianism and Narcissism?)

@ Michael Rivera
"When you take away the "selfless" reward it doesn't present players with a compelling moral decision; it just tells players that the other path is the correct choice."
The thing is I wasn't talking about taking away balance. There are other ways to balance a game than just get A for this, get B for that. For instance, often the good reward should be quite delayed in it's appearance, for instance perhaps you should gain help from other people that you cannot when you bad (think reputation gains). Perhaps the people you help, help you in a different way, for instance rather than gifting you something on a silver platter they give you a map and a keycode for a safe you have to find yourself to get something the bad guy couldn't get. In this way you don't receive a direct reward, they're helping you as opposed to rewarding you. Alternatively you could be punished for taking the morally darker path, become more powerful, but because people hate you, you end up in conflict more often. Your right though, because this is the biggest issue with designing moral dilemma's in games, no feedback makes the dilemma ultimately pointless to the player, but rewarding "selflessness", makes the act very selfish when you know you're to be rewarded for it nullifying this particular dilemma. In fact cleverer even would be to hide the moral proposition, don't ever give the player something for doing good, and if they feel cheated they will start following that "darker path", but if you then rub it in their noses by say, having other people in the world of rapture treat you like a splicer, you open the way for that epiphany. My main point is there are better ways to handle the reward system than Bioshocks.

Thanks Reid,

Please do cite my work/research. Thanks!

Had you properly cited my work and prior art, which extensively develops the novel concept of "the moral premise" in the realm of video games, I wouldn't have made *any* posts. I hope you can add a couple links to my work/words/patents in the above posting and at your blog. By posting a simple link/reference, you would save me a lot of work!

This vast and unprecedented paradigm shift is going to lead to billions in revenue for agile, innovative gamemakers who adopt the novel technology! For soooo long I have felt all alone on this road, but it is good to see there are others. For some reason, all of a sudden, people all over started discussing my novel work and innovations in May!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589

It puzzles the will that you are so concerned with readers having to read excerpts from my novel work, but you are unconcerned with your moral duty to cite my work and prior art. The "moral premise" of all academia and innovation--of the very advancement of knowledge--is the diligent necessity of referencing prior art and work that precedes your own. So it is ironic for you to be writing about the "moral premise" while not following the "moral premise" fundamental to all research and innovation, which is enshrined in our Constitution, and, as Mark Twain reminded congress in 1906--in that earlier Decalogue.

You write, "If you'd like to share your patents or other work, please post ONE link to a relevant website and include why you think the info will be of interest to us. Thanks." Yes--if you could please post a link to my work and prior art @ your blog, which is the *proper* thing to do, then I wouldn't have to. Many of the readers here have been interested, and they have contacted me.

Had you posted a link or two to my work yesterday after I notified you of the research/patent which will be worth billions, I wouldn't feel the need to write this. In physics and academia, when we are notified of prior art, we add the reference *immediately*. Why are you not adding a reference to the prior art, which develops the use of a moral premise in the realm of videogames far further in a patent filed almost three years ago?

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886

Even the wording is oft similar: "moral premise", "meaningful", "narrative," "unifying/fusing," "gameplay," "experience," etc.

Above you write, "The Game Universe Bends Towards Meaningful Experiences. In this article, I’ve introduced you to the idea of using a Moral Premise in games. The benefits are twofold; fuse narrative and gameplay into a more meaningful, cohesive experience and to engage players in a dialog."

My work and patent, which could be easily found by googling "moral premise video game," or "morality video games story," uses the same words/phrasing, in exalting Meaning, Story, and the efficiency of the Moral Premise in rendering narratives in video games, unifying the polt and subplot as well as the character/action/dialogue as Aristotle suggested: "A video game and game system incorporating a game character's morality level that is affected by game occurrences such as moral, amoral, or immoral choices in an epic story's deeper context. The character's morality level affects the game's environment. Such a feedback system based on moral premises provides an efficient means to enhance and deepen game play, as a sensible, realistic, meaningful, profound, and epic story naturally emerges. The measurement of moral choices will allow a player's soul to be rendered upon the screen in cinematic action paralleling internal dramatic action, thus providing the dramatic elements of classic literature and film. The presentation of moral choices in the game, based upon moral premises, will allow plot points that result in character arcs, romantic relationships, exalted game play, and epic story. Moral choices will lead to overall success, while immoral or amoral choices will lead to overall failure. "
--http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

Above you write, "Stories have been used for thousands of years to teach people within its societies valuable life lessons, morals and profound insights into the human condition. Through a Moral Premise, there is potential to engage players in thinking about important ideas on a variety of subjects that will help them understand the world or their own lives better. "

My patent states, "The dramatic device of a “moral premise,” when introduced into video games in a manner disclosed in this present invention, will endow video games with epic storytelling capabilities. . . Stanley D. Williams goes on to say in Singular Sensation in The Guide to Making Movies 2007 published by Movie Maker Magazine , “For your story to be accepted by mainstream audiences, your Moral Premise must be true and consistent with natural law—taking everything from nature's law of gravity to a human being's feelings of injustice into consideration. Mr. Williams is talking about movies, and this present invention is novel in that takes Mr. Williams' expert advice and applies it to video games in a novel manner, fostering unexpected and previously unseen results, including deeper story in video games, augmented markets for video games, better videogaming experiences, and a brand new realm of videogames capable of epic storytelling, moral education, and eternal art. . . the words of Shakespeare, Jesus, Socrates, and Dante have endured for thousands upon thousands of years. Moral precepts, like the soul, are eternal. Action, lust, and the physical are fleeting. By endowing games with a moral premise, this game takes games to a new, profound level. "
--http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

"The physical action and dramatic action would be unified by the moral premise, thus deepening and emboldening the experience of both; thusly resulting in a higher artistic experience in the game." --Dr. E

"Just as a moral premise unifies movies, and just as holding onto a moral premise through adversity leads to complex and great stories such as those described by Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, so too would a moral premise unify a game and provide the game designers an easier method for designing open-ended, realistic games, without first of all going through every possible iteration of the game. " --Dr. E

"Note the book, penned by experts, mentions narrative, but nowhere does it mention morality nor a moral premise, both of which are essential to deeper, everlasting story. Indeed, the moral premise is the seed from which the Oak of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey naturally grows. Nor does the book mention a “ morality level meter” anywhere throughout its pages." --Dr. E

The word "meaning" is also in the very title: "Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video games."
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

"Not only does this present invention introduce morality into video games in a novel manner, but it also introduces epic storytelling into the realm of video games, and it thus allows video games to achieve everlasting art. For every eternal classic, from The Bible, to The Odyssey, to Dante's Inferno, to Hamlet , is built upon the solid-oak frame of Story. And the seed of the story is the exalted moral vision of the central character—a moral premise they harbor in their souls. By providing opportunities for characters to choose whether or not to act in moral manners, and then presenting those actions with consequences via the deeper moral conscience of the video game, reflected in a morality level meter, and/or the exalted or fallen behavior other characters controlled by AI or by humans, video game characters are allowed to evolve in deeper, more meaningful ways. And furthermore, stories are naturally allowed to evolve—epic, classical stories based upon moral premises—both those within the game's AI and within the player's soul." --Dr. E

"Stanley D. Williams goes on to say in Movie Maker Magazine , “On paper, the Moral Premise is a once-sentence description of the physical and psychological arcs of a movie's main characters. The Moral Premise focuses the storytelling in one direction and inextricably links the main characters' motivations with their physical action.” Dr. E

So it is that by adapting an entity that forms the foundation of successful movies, video games may reach a brand new plateau. Within the context provided by morality, and more specifically, within the context provided by a moral meter, and moral premise, the character's physical actions in a game take on a deeper meaning, as the physical actions are really manifesting the internal soul, just as they do in movies. "
--http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

Whether or not you read my patents/prior art, I feel you still need to cite/link to them.

I would be happy to provide more examples as to how and why my work precedes yours, while also taking it further, on towards a new paradigm shift in the realm of gaming and video games.

"Classical storytelling is what has granted the greatest books and movies their profound, enduring meaning, creating vast audiences over distance and time. Classical storytelling can do the same for video games. Realizing the riches of storytelling in video games is considered a Holy Grail by many of the experts searching for that “Citizen Kane” moment. This invention shows a direct path to this Holy Grail.

While some gaming industry experts wish there were a paradigm that could successfully enhance games with storytelling, other experts steadfastly insist that storytelling does not matter in video games. But, as Aristotle said, “When storytelling declines, the result is decadence.” Thus, for video games to rise above decadence, better storytelling capabilities are needed.
"

"The above book, penned by experts, admits, “We do not know what the initial narrative language of games will be like-likely we will not know until all the technology pertinent to games has been developed, and this could take decades or even centuries.” The present invention does know what the narrative language of games will be like—it will be the same as all classical, everlasting literature—if all classical, everlasting books, movies and more—the narrative language will be founded upon morality and a moral premise. Thus this invention delivers the holy grail of the video game industry, and it takes the current video game industry beyond the horizon."

"Furthermore, the Beatrice Game Engine will allow video games to become everlasting art. No classics are buoyed over time without classical story deriving from higher moral principles, and a unifying moral premise. " --http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

Well, I hope that you see it fit to reference my work which can be easily found by googling "moral premise video games." Thanks!

Dr. E :)
http://gold45revolver.com

P.S. another patent of mine also cites the moral premise in the realm of vidoegames: "[0008]The present invention will foster a new era of exalted gaming in multiple formats and forms, including RPGs, FPS, an MMORPGs, and too, it would provide enhanced means for bringing successful films and dramatic art to life in the realm of video games and gaming. Producers have failed time and again to translate movies into games and games into movies, and that is because they do not comprehend nor grasp the secret--the classical ideals which have consequences and the simple moral premise must be woven into the fabric of games at very level. For the classical ideals are the most efficient and natural and simple way to unite the plot and the subplot, the dramatic action and physical action, the love interest and the battle. Most fanboy producers, who came of age in a declining fiatocracy, are used to arrogance, hypes, and doublespeak as methods and means for producing movies, which ultimately suck." --http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886

"[0022]The present invention will allow us to imagine and exalt a game wherein AI that exalted the classical moral premise in Plot and Character--that allowed the first person player to exalt in Honor and Integrity. Imagine an FPS that rendered the archetypal masculine and feminine--the Odysseus and Penelope, the Dante and Beatrice, the Hamlet and Ophelia--and like Zeus, saw to it that only those who treated strangers and beggars with common decency and respect ever prevailed. Imagine a video game that wore black like Johnny Cash:" --http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886

[1062]The Hero's Journey is not something that can be tagged on as an afterthought, but rather it can only truly come to life as a result of observing the unifying Moral Premise.

[1427]Such a game would be superior to spore--I heard the lead designer speak about storytelling in games--and he never once mentioned the moral premise--the moral premise that is at the heart and soul of The Odyssey and the Bible and Dante's Inferno--the most epic of all epics. The present invention would thus allow the values of the classic western to manifest themselves for the very first time in the realm of the video game.

[1780] The simple addition of classical ideals and the moral premise in the realm of games and video-games could have far-ranging consequences.

I hope that you do not find the discussion of the "moral premise" in exalting tomorrow's vidoegames and the industry with billions of dollars of revenue to be off topic in a forum titled, "Infusing Games with a Moral Premise."

I hope that you take a few seconds to cite my research and link to the two patents, which is the fair, just, right, and "moral" thing to do, as the research precedes your work. In the real world does not yet operate entirely like GTA. :)

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886">http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886

Thanks!

Dr. E :)

I apologize for all the strange, repeated links to the "freepatents.com" website above, but it seems to be some mechanism in the gamasutra comment software, as I was very careful to only post the link once.

I would edit it if I could!

Best,

Dr. E :)
http://libertariangames.blogspot.com

I wish I could take my own advice here, alas it just upsets me too much so colour me trolled.
[i]"I would be happy to provide more examples as to how and why my work precedes yours"[/i]

Dr.E:
You accuse people of not paying enough attention to your work, while you seem to completely fail to have done any research of your own at all beyond whatever top 10 games you saw at your local games outlet.
Did you read any of the massive work and discussions over the last 10 years from the ludology field at all before writing your "patent"?
Or did you just assume that because publishers have pushed AAA games in a certain direction, there were nobody out there making and talking about other things?


Your ignorance about games and games studies is just laughable. Even in your patent application from 2007 you state:

[b]Prior to this present invention, players were given attributes such as health, strength, dexterity, intelligence, magic, and sanity. But no video game offered the player an attribute such as morality. Nor did any game in the prior art offer any display of a “moral level meter” on the screen. Nor did any game in the prior art incorporate the player's morality level into the game's AI, so that other characters may interact with the player's character in a manner proportional to the player's moral or immoral choices and moral level.[b]

Whereas games like Knights of the Old republic and it's follow up did all of this back in 2003, and that was even a big budget major title that everybody in the field knows about. Many other games before has done much of what you claim to be "new" in one way or another for a long long time.

What Reid wanted to discuss in this blog is just how do we build on all our old lessons and ideas to incorporate morality in a meaningful way that players can engage with. Nothing in your patent even deals with this, as you have no experience in sorting out player motivation, the different kinds of fun etc etc.
You are a decades behind people doing research about this kind of stuff, and you don't realize it because you only look at a few examples of what's on the shelves now, and don't even realize that what we are trying to discuss is what are the missing pieces for getting everything to work in a way that doesn't break gameplay.

I hope you will not take this as another personal attack and just skim over this text and reply with a massive copy & paste ignoring any of my statements as you usualy do.

Thanks Janne,

Good to see we have progressed beyond your calling me an "internet schizophrenic." In physics and academia you can't deny someone prior art status via ad hominem attacks.

KOTOR falls far, far short of exalting a moral premise in the game, as does Fallout/GTA/etc.

My patent (--http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886) cites a great blog post as to why this is:

"[0582]So it is that good and evil are both "fun" in different ways. Imagine if our Founding Fathers had created a nation wherein they saw "good" and "evil" to be "fun" in different ways. The present invention differentiates itself from the prior art in that the outcome of the world ultimately does depend on classical ideals which must be fought for. Tobold's blog presents some insights into how the fanboy gaming community falls short in delivering games where exalted ideas and have truly exalted consequences; and where there is a good that ultimately makes a difference. The present and prior art of the video game world exalts games where evil is a thin plot device:

[0583]http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html

[0584]Tobold's MMORPG Blog

[0585]Friday, Jun. 30, 2006

[0586]"The end of evil [0587]"

So it is that my innovations and inventions improve upon the prior art.

Tobolds writes, "There is no moral choice, no option to sell the deed to the highest bidder instead of returning it for a lousy reward. Even the undead are "good" undead, fighting the evil scourge undead. [0588]If a game like Black & White, or Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR!), or Fable, gives you the option to play good or evil, that is just a thinly disguised way to enable you to play the game twice. You chose evil or good by what you think is more useful to beat the game, and then if you play it again, you chose the other side, just to see something new. It is not a moral choice, but a tactical one. We don't feel that burning down a virtual village in a game world and killing the inhabitants is an evil act, after all those are just colored pixels that don't feel anything. Advancing in the game is the most important, even that means that in the next mission we have to throw Napalm on that Vietnamese village to continue. . . . GTA won't turn anybody into a mass murderer, but it is hard to believe that hundreds of hours of inconsequential evil and violence should have no effect whatsoever on how you perceive evil and violence in the real world."--http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html
" --http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886

And that's exactly the crux of my novel innovations and inventions! Ideas and ideals have transcendant consequences! This reality needs to be brought to life in games, as it was in The Matrix, Braveheart, Homer's Odyssey, Dante's Inferno, Shakespeare, and the Bible!

That is why KOTOR feels so "hollow," for as Tobolds points out, there is no true "moral choice," and thus no true moral level that impacts the game.

Yes, unlike the real world, the karma/moral level is essentially meaningless, as reported on here @ Gamasutra: "Why not take the route less traveled and try to implement some meaningful consequence, something beyond an essentially meaningless "karma" stat?" --http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908

And that is why the technology presented in my patents could enhance and exalt games such as KOTOR and Fallout, as well as leaidng to a brand new era of games and gaming!

Furthermore, my patents cite dozens of articles/games/blogs/procedings in hundreds of pages, and thus it is grossly unfair of you to write, "you seem to completely fail to have done any research of your own at all beyond whatever top 10 games you saw at your local games outlet."

Obviously, in addition to not citing my work, some folks don't want to take the time to read it and all the references it cites.

You can't completely ignore my research and innovations exalting the moral premise in video games in patents filed over three years ago, launch some mean-spirited ad hominem attacks, and then state "You are a decades behind people doing research about this kind of stuff, and you don't realize it because you only look at a few examples of what's on the shelves now, and don't even realize that what we are trying to discuss is what are the missing pieces for getting everything to work in a way that doesn't break gameplay."

If you can find someone else exalting the moral premise in the realm of videogames before my patents/research, please do link to them/cite them.

This is not GTA, nor KOTOR, nor Fallout 3 here, and thus truth and morality do matter.

And there are a plethora of other novel features in my patents/research, which I will be reading about on future blogs/articles here, without citations. :)

I do look forward to it, as it is great to witness the gaming industry moving beyond the vapid, juvenile, soulless technologies!

Already the Gold 45 Revolver/Ideas Have Consequences technology has solved an epic design problem in Fallout 3!
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908 (read the end of teh comments!)

The major gaming companies are leaving billions on the table! Glad to be of service!

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/03/30/journalist-game-biz-grow

"[Chaplin] reports at NPR among other venues. She says this puts her in the role of a “translator,” trying to tell the mainstream why gaming even matters. This also means explaining a lot of big-name games that feature zombies, and aliens, and girls in metal bikinis wielding axes. And while she’s heard the excuses - it’s “a very new medium” - she’s way past accepting them.

Like Wendy slapping around the lost boys, Chaplin patiently but firmly laid down the line. “It is you guys as game designers who are mired deeply in ‘guy culture,’” Chaplin said. The problem isn’t the medium: “You are a bunch of stunted adolescents.” Games avoid any of the things that separate men from boys: responsibility, introspection, intimacy, and intellectual discovery. And “when you’re talking about culture-makers, this is a problem.”"

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/03/30/journalist-game-biz-grow

Opportunity abounds to exalt the culture by placing the higher ideals over the bottom line! Billions will follow suit, as Socrates notes that all wealth comes from virtue; while virtue never comes from money.

Best,

Dr. E

Dr.E:
You miss the point, I'm not at all disagreeing with the hollowness of the "morality meter" in KOTOR, I'm just citing a part of your patent that exactly describes how KOTOR works.

You completely fail to understand that the problem is not "bad actions doesn't have bad consequences". The problem has never been that, the problem is that developing a game is completely decided by budgetary ramifications. Any part of the game that is designed will have to be used by the player in a meaningfull way, otherwise you can't afford the cost of implementing the features.

You seem to think that the karma-system in fallout 3 functions the way it does because that's thats how the designers thought it would be best to do it. Your head is buried so deep into the ground that every single game-design decision ever made goes swooooosh over it.

I will give you an example of your patent in a game I will assume you have played, "Super Mario Brothers" in as a simple way as possible hoping that you will understand:

Super Mario Brothers:
Every Goomba you step on is a hard working god fearing family man, every brick block you smash belongs to someone else, every coin you take is stolen from freedom loving families, every castle you enter is done so you can rape the mushroom people inside.

This is explained in the introduction to the game, such is the moral premise. Your evilness on the morality scale meter is indicated by a numbered meter at the top of the screen.

Everytime you perform the actions cited here the game gets harder and harder, getting to the castle-rape in the end will be much more difficult than on previous levels, because you are getting more and more evil.


Now, the good things you can do is run into the goombas and they will tell you about the constitution and you will be saved, this is shown by you falling of the screen, you can also choose to do the right thing yourself by jumping of the bottom of the screen if such an opportunity opens itself up in the level.


But, you ask, why is the options on the good side not as worked out as the evil side?
Budgetary reasons I reply, we couldn't afford to build in results to actions that players didn't find enjoyable in the sense of play.

I'm sorry, but this isn't the place to post your ramblings on a game patent that no one cares about. I've seen you on other forums doing the same thing. Not only that, your posts are non-sensical and take up massive space. You hijacked this gamesutra blog post as well as others that have gotten more than 10 comments.

@Louis

Hello Louis,

I likely would not be posting here had my prior art/research been cited either before or after I brought it to the attention of the author. And too, I had to defend my name against the subsequent ad-hominem attacks.

The fact is that people obviously do care about my "Gold 45 Revolver/Ideas Have Consequences/Moral Premise" video game research/patent, as it has been the most talked-about video game research over the past month or so. You will find not one single post by me here:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448 "This is the greatest videogame patent I've ever read"
http://www.eegra.com/pages/show/title/31_05_2009_Sunday_Sundries___quot_NPC1_bec
omes_vampire_communist_quot_/
http://wordsonplay.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/system-and-method-for-creating-exalt
ed-video-games-and-virtual-realities-wherein-ideas-have-consequences/
"All of us who have been struggling to work out how to make meaningful games and interactive narratives can rest easy. The problem has been solved."

Nor did I start this epic thread:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589

It is indeed strange how some people think that 1) they don't need to cite my prior art research, 2) they can talk all they want about my research/patents, and 3) I should refrain from talking about my research/patents; lest I be "hijacking" the forum, as if we are running out of electrons and hard drives because of my exercising the First Amendment. It seems getting rid of the Constitution, morality, the moral premise, epic story, and soul in video games is not enough for some. They want to get rid of these entities in the real world too.

At any rate, I envision a different future a more exalted role for videogames, alongside a Bethesda employee: "This may be the first time in history that, rather than blaming video games as the root of society's problems, they're being blamed for NOT being the solution." --Bethesda employee

And I answered: "Yes! That's what I'm saying! There's a vast opportunity for epic, exalted art which inpsires the soul! And videogames can lead the way with a paradigm shift that both a) leads to deeper storyteling and b) exalts classical ideals and heroic idealism."
--http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589&userid=0&perpag
e=40&pagenumber=12

I hope you join us Louis in this renaissance and revolutionary paradigm shift!

Best,

Dr. E
http://gold45revolver.com

Hello Janne,

The novel Gold 45 Revolver technology solves a glaring design issue in Fallout 3 in a simple, elegant manner:
--http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908
"Self-censorship was the least effective course of action open to Bethesda if they are looking to morally instruct their players. Why not take the route less traveled and try to implement some meaningful consequence, something beyond an essentially meaningless "karma" stat? (YES!! THE KARMA IS MEANINGLESS! WHY NOT INCORPORATE A GOLD 45 REVOLVER WHICH ONLY SHOOTS ZEUS'S LIGHTNING IN THE END IF YOU HAVE BEEN DOING THE RIGHT, MORAL THING THROUGHOUT?)"
read more @ http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908

As you can see, the simple, elegant solution would be worth billions!

You write "You miss the point, I'm not at all disagreeing with the hollowness of the "morality meter" in KOTOR, I'm just citing a part of your patent that exactly describes how KOTOR works."

My patent exalts games and game design beyond KOTOR and the prior art. In KOTOR/Fallout/GTA morality is meaningless, as you can "win" by being good or bad, but in my patent: "Moral choices will lead to overall success, while immoral or amoral choices will lead to overall failure." (ABSTRACT) --freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html This is how it worked in Dante's Inferno, Homer's Odyssey, the Bible, the American Founding, The Matrix, and Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. And that it how it works in the novel game engines proposed in my patents.

Again, this crucial difference differentiates the novel technology from Super Marios Bros., for as you note, "why is the options on the good side not as worked out as the evil side?
Budgetary reasons I reply, we couldn't afford to build in results to actions that players didn't find enjoyable in the sense of play."

Is that why Fallout 3 allows you to murder hookers and kill unarmed women with no real consequences, but not talk to them of the Constitution nor the Immoratl Soul? You state, "Your head is buried so deep into the ground that every single game-design decision ever made goes swooooosh over it."

Yes Janne--way over my head--perhaps you could come down off that fiat mountain and educate me, as I do not understand why videogame companies are leaving billions on the table by focusing on marketing to fanboys interested in killing hookers and unarmed women. Perhaps you were in the corporate MBA meetings where they dictate design policy? Please--could you share with us the "game-design decision" that leads to the following videos, as opposed to talking to hookers about the Constitution and/or receiving a Gold 45 Revolver from them? Were you in the meetings with the corporate brass where they came up with the following, due to "budgetary constraints?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=587vgvDYjYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KQSjeu4710&feature=related

Well, the renaissance is at hand, and fairly soon major companies will be adopting the novel "Gold 45 Revolver/Ideas Have Consequences/Moral Premise" technologies and game-design methods and mechanics disclosed in my patents, and they will be rewarded with billions for doing so. The first movers will benefit in an epic manner.

Best,

Dr. E :)
http://libertariangames.blogspot.com

There is a vast and rising demand to wield the Gold 45 Revolver in the soulless, dumbed-down, boring, morally vapid gameworlds, and shoot Zeus's lightning as the swarms of zombie/vampire/fiatcrat fanboys descend, shrieking their slogans and raging against the universe's moral premise. The nimble, entrepreneurial companies who serve this demand for the Gold 45 shall reap billions, while those who serve the corporate arrogance will fade away, as Fallout becomes like playing Combat on a 1981 Atari system. And I do not mean to slight Combat, as at least it was an even fight, and you couldn't just go around killing unarmed women.

Dr. E:
After reading your "patent" there are some parts from page 1 to 50 that I don't really get.

In your vampire/zombie/lightning-gun example are you saying that you want to force players who want more of a challenge to commit immoral actions instead of using a traditional easy/medium/hard difficulty selector?

@ Joel,

Thanks, but I do not understand your "question." I am happy to tray & answer, but I'm not sure this is the right forum for discussing my patents/works, so I will keep this brief. If you comment @ http://libertariangames.blogspot.com,I'll also answer there! Or @ http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589

The "Ideas Have Consequences" Zombie/Vampire game engine is novel in that the Zombie/Vampire virus/quality is transmitted via ideas in the game--both spoken and written--as opposed to only via physical contact, such as being bitten/attacked/etc.

Imagine the possibilities with that novel game engine/concept in the hands of creative developers!! A thousand, thousand novel Zombie/Vampire games could be created, and epic literature could be brought to life, including 1984/Brave New World/The Road to Serfdom/etc, as well ad the American and Communist Revolutions! This would mean tens of millions of $$$ and an epic renaissance in the now staid vampire/zombie format. And it would be easy to do--just a couple books/words/ideas introduced into L4D, for starters, would be epic! Of course we would still include all the physical gameplay--biting/shooting/baseball bats/etc.--but we would layer it on top of classical, exalted ideas and ideals.

The novelty of the Gold 45 Revolver weapon is that it reaches its peak power in shooting Zeus's lightning in proportion to the moral behavior of the player wielding it. The novel Gold 45 Revolver technology solves a glaring design issue in Fallout 3 in a simple, elegant manner, and the technology could also exalt the gameplay in GTA/Saint's Row/Fallout and practically any FPS/RPG (and would thus be worth tens of millions!):
--http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908

Such a weapon would be worth tens of millions in gameplay enjoyment, and tens of millions more in publicity. *Everyone* is going to want to get their hands on that Gold 45 when it comes out, and *every* game is gonna want to have one.

Rather then quoting huge blocks of text here regarding the Gold 45, please visit:
http://libertariangames.blogspot.com/2009/07/novel-gold-45-revolversystem-and-me
thod.html

Also, my facebook is http://facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

Thanks for your feedback!

Best,

Dr. E

My question was related to player motivation, try to think about it from that perspective, however it's not very important, one more question here though just to make sure I don't get the wrong idea:

You say in the above post that in the vampire/zombie scenario that a "virus" is somehow spread via ideas, and that the enemies can be "converted" to "friendlies" by influencing them with moral ideas.

By performing this moral conversion (and other moral actions) on vampire/zombies you get access to a ultimate weapon which is used to kill all the remaining vampire/zombies and win the game.

That is my understanding of it, is that what you were suggesting as an illustration of the Gold45 morality system that you encourage?

Hey there Joel,

A more appropriate place for discussing my work will probably be the blog I just set up here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

I have run, but will respond to your post later tonight or first thing tomorrow!

Thanks,

Dr. E :)

Alright, let's try and get this discussion back on track again =)

@ Christopher Wragg:

Ah, I guess we've been on the same page the whole time. I didn't mean to imply that players should be rewarded instantly for a "selfless" action. The examples that you mention are more along the lines of what I was thinking.

Thank you Michael for getting us back on track.

@Christopher and Michael
The major issue when it comes to morality in video games is attempting to determine how reward/encourage the making of moral choice without railroading the player. As both of you have so aptly put, this can happen by giving more incentive for one path over the other or by no incentive and therefore losing the point. The reason for this problem appears because we are in a game and therefore players expect that choices have an effect, usually an immediate one. I do like the delayed reward system, especially in regards to moral choices and story choices.

@Reid, Christopher, and Michael
This expands on the above and I pointing this out at Reid as well, because you stated an interest in games that deal with morality. The Witcher is a very good example for a delayed consequence system. Throughout the course of the game you character, Geralt, is confronted with a decision, not always moral in context, where the decision had an obvious immediate effect and then a later consequence that is not obvious at the moment of the decision. This proved to be an effective system for showing consequences for actions but not obviously.

@Louis Varilia
You said, "I don't think we need to be talking about making statements... in my experience, that tends to detract from instead of strengthening stories. Instead, I think we should be putting more thought into making sure we're thematically consistent. It doesn't matter so much if the "lesson" is wrong if it's applied consistently in the story and game mechanics. There's certainly something to say for cohesiveness in that regard."

I do agree with that games should be more focused on creating a thematic cohesiveness before they worry about making a statement. I disagree with the fact that making a statement takes away from the story. Returning to the Bioshock example, there is a very strong statement in the storyline about how progress needs to be tempered with ethics in mind or everything will fall apart and it still made for a very good storyline. Another example would be Ogre Battle 64, whose storyline was laced with statements about morality, social concerns and other concerns and it made for a very good storyline even though the gameplay was lacking.

RE: "Moral Premise" is mentioned over 125 TIMES in my 2005/2006 patent application "Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning "and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video games.
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=ee-jAAAAEBAJ

"Moral Premise" is mentioned over 15 TIMES in my 2007/2008 "Gold 45 Revolver" patent application: "System and method for creating exalted video games and virtual realities wherein ideas have consequences"
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=aAuzAAAAEBAJ

Mr. Kimball. Please do the right thing and cite my prior art/work/research. Thanks in advance!

This is amazing.

I would like to point out the irony of how it seems nobody here, including the author, feels it necessary to do the moral thing and cite the extensive prior art found in both my patents, while discussing the "moral premise" in video games. Real life does not work like GTA/Fallout 3. While I do not feel the author's refusal to cite my work is representative of the morality level of the gaming industry, I do find it troubling, along with the silence on why he refuses to ad any links. Homer states, "Fair dealing leads to greater profit in the end," and the primary rule of all research--the moral premise of the advancement of knowledge--is the diligent, thorough citing of prior art and sources. This is easy to do in this wonderful day and age of Google and blogs.

Although my posts were long (lengthened by the author's lack of will to do the right thing and cite my work), they were by no means off track. In my patent application "Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video games," "Moral Premise" is mentioned twice in the abstract alone, as well is in claim 19 @ freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html, and OVER 125 times throughout the main body. This could have easily been found by anyone who googled "moral premise video game" or anything similar.

Mr. Kimball talks about "infusing games with a moral premise" to enhance the narrative.

Three years ago, I wrote about "weaving" the moral premise into videogame engines.
"A simple moral premise, when woven into the game's AI, would result in deeper storytelling."

The similarities are extensive, although my patent applications do go into far greater depth with regards to prior art, conference procedings, figures, claims, and suggested systems and methods for harnessing the moral premise, ideas which have consequences, and classical ideals--the center and circumference of all great art, as well as the keystone--which the corporate video game behemoths tossed aside--to tomorrow's billion-dollar renaissances in culture and games.

To keep this short, I will be commenting more on all this over here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

And I would like to ask Mr. Kimball, again, to please do the right thing and cite my work and prior art pertaining to weaving the moral premise into game worlds, and thusly exalting new educational and business opportunities, as well as deeper, more profound, and more enjoyable gameplay in a most simple, efficient, and unifying manner.

Thanks in advance!

Dr. E :)
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

@ Dr. E.

I don't know if you've realized this, but continually preaching your "brilliant idea" and talking about how brilliant you are in a fashion completely tangental to the discussion at hand to an audience that isn't receptive and following that up by posting huge walls of irrelevant text that nobody cares about is EXTREMELY annoying. You are taking up a huge amount of space for little benefit to the conversation. If you feel that you must persist in shamelessly plugging yourself, PLEASE try to keep things concise, or at least put the walls of text on a different website and provide a link instead.

Thank you.

@ Parker

Actually, Louis didn't say that, I did! :)

I didn't mean to say that such statements shouldn't be in there (to the contrary, I LOVED how Bioshock presented its story), but I'm skeptical of the wisdom of INTENTIONALLY placing a moral premise or theme into a game. The typical process in, say, a novel isn't to have a theme in mind when you start but to just start writing. Theme is identified after the fact.

I worry that building a story around a theme could be more harmful than helpful. A more reasonable workflow, to me, would be to just write what you wanted to write, and then analyse it after the fact to identify the them, and then ensure on your second pass that your story and gameplay is thematically consistent.

Dr. E, I will not cite any of your work.

I was not writing an academic paper. The main concept of a Moral Premise I present came from reading Stanley D. Williams' book, which I do mention above. I'm sorry you feel left out and wronged but I would greatly prefer you use your own blog considering you cannot stay on topic and instead must claim ownership and credit for these ideas.

@Ian Morrison

There you go again--"huge walls of irrelevant text that nobody cares about." This is grossly misrepresenting reality and my work/research.

1) The text is in no way irrelevant to this discussion pertaining to the Moral Premise in videogames. Rather, the text is taken from two patents, which together mention "Moral Premise" OVER 140 TIMES in the abstracts, main bodies, and claims exalting novel narrative and storytelling techniques leading to deeper, more profound narratives, enhanced gaming experiences, and maverick, unheralded gaming and educational opportunities. The ideas in the patents are worth billions. Why all the hate for the simple truth and novel technologies so eloquently and succinctly expressed?

2) Many, many people care about the research/innovations patents. Over the past two months they have been *the most talked about* novel gaming research throughout the web. Nothing comes close--to keep things short, here is a partial list:

@NEOGAF
THIS IS THE GREATEST VIDEOGAME PATENT I HAVE EVER READ:
www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448
"This is the greatest videogame patent I've ever read." --EmCeeGramr
"I think this guy has golden humour." --Foxspirit
"What’s scary, for me, is that this might be exactly what gamers want." --onelastcontinue.com
http://www.onelastcontinue.com/9136/vampire-zombie-communist-hookers-patent-it/
"What scares me most is I agree with the core pillars of what you are saying." --http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4061/dramatic_play.php
"actually a fallout 3 mod based on this shit would be boss as fuck. you could totally do it, you fight the communist chinese ghouls and use speech trees to save the wasteland from collectivism" --perianwyr http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589&userid=0&perpag
e=40&pagenumber=9
All of us who have been struggling to work out how to make meaningful games and interactive narratives can rest easy. The problem has been solved." --http://wordsonplay.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/system-and-method-for-creating-exalt
ed-video-games-and-virtual-realities-wherein-ideas-have-consequences/

To keep this short, more links to this extensive, global dialogue may be found here: http://libertariangames.blogspot.com


@Reid

Did you google "moral premise video games" or "Stanley D. Williams video games" before/during writing your paper? You would have found my work.

I do not "feel" left out and wronged--it is the system you are wronging, and it is the moral premise that you are leaving out. This is not about my feelings, but rather about an objective reality--about logic and reason, about truth and justice--about the moral premise that the present video game culture lacks; but which will exalt it with billions of dollars when it is embraced not only via name--not only in words--but via *deed.* For our actions speak louder than our words, and ideas and actions have great consequences--a reality GTA/Fallout 3 et al. are yet failing to render; but which my novel technology will allow and exalt; thusly reaping billions for innovative gaming companies while endowing games with deeper meaning, dialogue, and profundity--with *soul*.

It is not I, so much as the hundreds of pages of my patents filed in 2005/2006/2007/2008 that are claiming credit for first stating the ideas you glossed over in your article. It is beyond human power to deny objective truth, nor change one iota of the words set down in various patent applications filed in 2005/2006/2007/2008, which are now forever a part of the public record, which, thankfully to the internet, are accessible in numerous databases throughout the world.

It is for your own benefit that you should be citing the prior art--not mine. It is the proper thing to do, whether one is writing an academic paper or any other type of article.

Inscribed above Carl Jung's door is VOCATUS ATQUE NON VOCATUS DEUS ADERIT. (Called or not, the God will be there.) Or, as Mark Twain noted, "you can't pray a lie," and as we say in poker, "The cards call themselves."

Now, imagine a game engine with the moral premise: VOCATUS ATQUE NON VOCATUS DEUS ADERIT. (Called or not, the God will be there.), whence the protagonist is holding a Gold 45 Revolver at the end. Only if they have done the moral thing/are doing the moral thing will the revolver fire Zeus's lightning. And there is a vast and growing demand for such novel technologies.

I have faith you will do the moral thing and reference my work/research in the future.

Thanks in Advance & Best,

Dr. E :)
More here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

Ian, that could work, writing without a plan and then analyzing it after. But that tends to waste a lot of time. Great works of art I'm sure have been done that way, but I'm only offering another approach. Few people think it's a bad idea to come up with plans and outlines for other works of art. Why can't it be done for infusing cohesive moral messages in games?

@Reid,

If you're going to repeat *both* my language and ideas, you really do need to cite my 2005/2006 work. I think the professional GamaSutra editorial policies would agree on this:

"A way to solve this problem, create a better gaming experience, more meaningful games, deeper emotional, and more profitable gaming franchises is to INFUSE games with a higher MORALITY." (repeated numerous times in response to various conference procedings, articles, and sources citing the problem of the lack of depth, narrative, meaning, story, and soul in games)

"The BGE (Beatrice Game Engine) incorporates a higher morality, weaving it into the characters and environment."

"A way to achieve a revolutionary Citizen Kane Moment, solve the problem of generally meaningless physical action disconnected from dramatic action, create a better gaming experience, more meaningful games, deeper emotional, and more profitable gaming franchises is to INFUSE games with a higher MORALITY."

"A way to solve the above problems of the lack of soul, spirit, and story in video games, create a better gaming experience, more meaningful games, deeper emotional, and more profitable gaming franchises is to INFUSE games with a higher MORALITY as discussed in the present invention."
--freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0087798.html

Thanks in advance!

Dr. E :)
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

@ Dr Elliot
hehe, patenting a system for displaying and representing morals, NEXT: I patent a system for delivering emotions and thoughts, I call it, BOOKS, now all must mention my work whenever they talk about emotions and thoughts.
Amusement aside, irrespective of whether you have done great work in the field I've never heard your name before and your not exacly forming a ringing endorsement for yourself here. Besides, I'm fairly certain that your patents are broad enough that anyone with a half arsed attorney could bypass them.
In addition to this, it would seem that your patent consists of naught but design decisions, as opposed to a concrete schematic/concept for actually implementing this in code, as such your patents are in effect worthless. Design and implement an actual system in code, patent that, and sell it to someone and we'll listen to what you have to say.
In the meantime though, while you attempt to patent an ephemeral concept, as opposed to a concrete design, I don't imagine your work will be overly favoured here. Perhaps if instead of showing us (quite meaningless) patents, you redirected us to a valid set of studies and trials where you and a team of highly skilled individuals have tested and attempted to implement such a system we would be far more open to talking about "your" ideas.

Parker Phend: The Witcher sounds like it implemented all of this pretty well. I should really get around to playing it, because I've heard that the writing is quite good as well.

Dr. Elliot:

“Vigorous writing is concise.” -William Strunk, Jr.

I understand you feel that everything you have said is essential and relevant, but that is not the general consensus of the board. For your reputation's sake I strongly urge you to try and edit each of your comments down to at least half their original length before you hit the "Submit Comment" button. If you are having trouble doing that then cut out all the quotes/links. Most of them have been posted multiple times here, and there is absolutely NO reason to post them more than once. We all read them the first time.

Also, if you really want people to take your idea seriously you need build a demo/mod illustrating how it works. There are many people with industry changing ideas, but no game company I know of hires people based on ideas alone. Even industry veterans need to make mock-ups of their games in order to get the green-light, so it is very illogical to assume your idea will be picked up based on a patent alone.

@Michael Rivera & @Christopher Wragg

You guys are missing the far bigger picture here. This is an exciting moment in video game design! Think big!

I was hoping to talk about my work and the Gold 45 Revolver/Ideas Have Consequences/Moral Premise technologies in video games @ my blog. In the future, please move the discussion over here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

I will try to keep this brief, and I am posting this at my own blog, so please, please respond to it there:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/ Thanks!

You will note that finally somebody penned an article entitled Infusing Games With a Moral Premise in 2009. Well, in 2005/2006/2007/2008, I filed patent applications that mentioned Moral Premise over 140 times in the context of exalting video games and franchises with a unifying soul, exalted narrative, deeper character, and epic story.

"Moral Premise" is mentioned over 125 TIMES in my 2005/2006 patent application "Morality system and method for video game: system and method for creating story, deeper meaning "and emotions, enhanced characters and AI, and dramatic art in video games.
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=ee-jAAAAEBAJ

"Moral Premise" is mentioned over 15 TIMES in my 2007/2008 "Gold 45 Revolver" patent application: "System and method for creating exalted video games and virtual realities wherein ideas have consequences"
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=aAuzAAAAEBAJ

Just because you do not like reading "large walls of text" and have neither read nor comprehend the patents does not mean that they contain great, revolutionary ideas which exalt a sea change and seismic shift in the gaming industry, leading to billions of $$$$$ in new-found revenue for the agile, nimble companies and early-adopters seeking to serve the world with epic, exalted art; and not just yesteryear's hooker-killing tech. In fact, because typical fanboy gamers despise reading the Epic Classics, that became my great advantage, as it is in the classical words and story that the classical, epic moral premise and soul are exalted--not in the hot coffee. Thus, just like in A Fistful of Dollars, I used the MBA/fanboy arrogance against them in this showdown (while they were busy organizing fake protests), by penning eloquent, exalted patents, filled with "walls of text" containg the supreme eloquence Homer/Socrates/Jefferson and Mises, which I knew the corporate MBA brass would a) never read/ignore and b) send its best fanboys forth to try and destroy, before trying to shamelessly take credit for the innovative game design techniques in articles such the one above; and shortly, in novel, billion-dollar games. The corporate MBA machine's major goal is to a) do none of the heroic innovation and b) reap all the creative hero's innovations; countering the spirit of our very Constitution. And that is why I made the Gold 45 Revolver, so the lone rider would have a chance against the corporate-state Matrix and their walls of lockstepping, hooker-killing, spore-growing, money-losing fanboys--so that the lone rider could play a game in which they defended the US Constitution and classic, epic ideals such as love, romance, and honor;and so that the major gaming companies could serve their stock holders with greater profits, rather than losing billions in market cap, shedding jobs and market cap faster than Jeff Gordon and Dale Earndhart Jr. competing for pole position. And now, *everyone* wants a Gold 45. *Everyone* wants to shoot Zeus's lightning in the third act. And there are vast opportunities for major corporations to a) exalt classic, epic art, and b) reap billions in profits. Of course the postmodern MBA prefers to kill classic innovation, morality, and companies, cashing out during epic debauchery of the culture and ucrrency; as we just witnessed the death of Merrill, Lehman, the family, marriage, AIG, and Bear Sterns, and I know it is company/MBA-fnaboy policy that my work is to be ignored, belittled, and mocked; and then pilfered and adopted and profited off of. But, it ain't gonna go down like that, as there's a new sheriff in town.

http://gold45revolver.com (more here)

& you can tell 'em all, that I'm a cowboy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlpzrN8OmhA

I've been around. I have read what you have not read, seen what you close your eyes to, and heard what you are deaf to, and I know how it works: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." --Arthur Schopenhauer

You--and the MBA/fanboy groupthink regime--do not have to like me. But that doesn't mean that others can take credit for my work. For the moral premise of all science and technological innovation works as follows:

"In the sciences, the authority of thousands of opinions is not worth as much as one tiny spark of reason in an individual man." — Galileo Galilei

"The Novel "Gold 45 Revolver/Ideas Have Consequences/ Moral Premise" Game Technologies Will Be Worth Billions of Dollars" to the agile, entrepreneurial companies who first adopt them. These simple innovations and technologies, which can easily be layered atop existing game engines, will have far-ranging ramifications across the industry, exalting games with profundity, soul, meaning, and epic storytelling. --http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/20090709
/2322/The_Novel_quotGold_45_RevolverIdeas_Have_Consequences_
Moral_Premisequot_Game_Technologies_Will_Be_Worth_Billions_of_Dollars.php (more here)

If some videogame company does not see the vast value of these eloquent, exalted ideas, without mashing buttons, then so be it. The idea of putting on dog-and-pony shows for MBA fanboys who detest reading as much as the classic moral premise and epic art just ain't appealing to me. That is why I pen eloquent, exalted patents--I can be as patient as I want, while the corporate MBA fanboys try to force yesterday's soulless, hooker-killing technologies on a rising generation who all want to hold the Gold 45 Revolver in the third act which will rock Zeus's lightning in proportion to their honor being intact; as their companies shed jobs and epic market-cap. The rising generation is longing to play games which exalt the moral premise--games which infuse morality into the center and circumference of the game world, just as it is in our own world--in the *real* world where classic, epic ideas have classic, epic consequences--and my patents disclose systems and methods for doing so. The rising generation is longing to rebel against the stultifying corporate state, and seeing this, I set it down in immutable, eloquent patents, which have become the most talked-about, novel video-game research over the past two months.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448 "This is the greatest videogame patent I've ever read."
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589

Did J.R.R. Tolkien have to build a working demo of Lord of The Rings on the Torque Game Engine before they made the highly-successful game?

You guys just aren't thinking big enough. We were graced with divine reason and imagination, so why not use it? Think like a developer/marketer for a major billion-dollar company here; and come up with some scenes exalted by the new “Gold 45 Revolver” technology!

Think big, like in the ending wherein the Fiatocracy's Vampires/Communists/Feminized MBA Fanboys swarm our lone rider in the mountain town, screaming/shrieking the words of Lenin/Marx/Feminism/Fiatism in Banshee voices, trying to claim his ideas and his soul.

Alone our lone rider stands in the thundering downpour, as the lightning reveals the grotesque swarm--the horror of their collective countenance is only trumped by the screeching words. Alone he stands, with his 45; and if he has done the right thing throughout, legend has it that the 45 will glow gold and shoot Zeus's lighting, slaying the hundreds, if not thousands of rough Vampire/Communist/Zombie beasts who slouch his way, screaming, distorting the words/slogans of the declining fiatocracy in a most demonic manner.

See? There are billions of dollars $$$$ in the novel, emotional, exalting gameplay alone. I know you can feel it deep in your bones. You *want* to hold that Gold 45 Revolver. Or you want to obliterate it and that lone rider. But either way, you know you *have* to play the game. That will be $69.95 for the collector's edition, complete with a metal box. For $179.95, you will also get a life-like Gold 45 Revolver replica, based on the single-action Colt .45--the Peacemaker Smokewagon--the Judge Colt and His Jury of Six.

Who wouldn't want to play that, just to see if their Gold 45 Revolver fires Zeus's lightning in the end, or just a little puff of smoke, like a fanboy who took out his hate for the feminist movement (which debauched his father's classical, epic soul and exiled him in the divorce regime) by killing too many unarmed women and innocent hookers?

More here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/author/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

Please do migrate this conversation over to my blog. Thanks in advance!

Best,

Dr. E :)

Are you seriously claiming that he's showing poor academic work because he mentioned the two words "moral premise" (when talking about systems based off morality, you know, a premise of morality) together and used a source that you also used about the moral premise?

Are you seriously claiming he should cite your work despite the fact he didn't use it, because you happened to write on the same topic and then claim authority over it?

Also... I don't think you really understand how the blogosphere works.

Thanks Meredith,

No--actually Reid is claiming that he is showing poor academic work. Above he writes, "Dr. E, I will not cite any of your work. I was not writing an academic paper."

In science it is not uncommon for different folks to be working on the same problem, and walking down the same, or parallel, roads. But when one party has years of precedence, and politely informs the lagging party about said research, the moral thing for the lagging party is to cite the earlier research (2005/2006/2007/2008). This is done for numerous reasons--both because it is the right thing to do, and generally because the lagging party wishes to maintain their credibility that they indeed were completely ignorant of the prior art.

For when the lagging party, who could have easily found the first party's research/work by googling "moral premise video games" or the very title of their own article, repeatedly refuses to acknowledge the prior art in any way, shape, or form, by and by their own actions begin to call their character into question. And upon seeing the epic similarities in the work--the words, phrases, sources, and ideas--some folks begin to surmise that perhaps that same character would also be reluctant to admit that they had indeed seen the first party's work, before penning their own.

"Fair dealing leads to greater profit in the end," wrote Homer. And by ignoring this moral premise and precept, video game companies, from the makers of Fallout 3, to GTA, to Dante's Inferno, are leaving billions on the table, as well as something of far greater value--a cultural renaissance and the classic, epic, exalted soul, for which there is great demand.

They are shaving market-cap and jobs faster than Jeff Gordon and Dale Earndhart Jr. competing for pole position at Daytona. Such is the tragic nature of the human condition--that MBA-fanboy arrogance and hubris would ratehr see the culture, corporations, and currencies debauched--than exalt the culture with a Gold 45 renaissance the rising generation is yearning for. And my novel technologies could catch and exalt that tragic, epic spirit, finally delivering the third-act's catharsis.

More here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/author/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

Please do migrate this conversation over to my blog. Thanks in advance!

Best,

Dr. E :)

I know he said that. That's why I said you don't understand the blogosphere. And I'm done, so I won't be moving over. :)

Well, the internet was invented by a physicist as a means of sharing information, and to the best of my knowledge, it inherited the physicists'/Galileo's/Western Science's code of honor, or was at least supposed to. I know certain corporate/fanboy interests are trying to debauch this original and exalted spirit, but doing so will be an uphill, futile battle, as long as there are yet cowboys like Sir Tim Berners-Lee out there.

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/ : "A graduate of Oxford University, England, in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. He wrote the first web client and server in 1990. His specifications of URIs, HTTP and HTML were refined as Web technology spread."

Best,

Dr. E
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/author/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/

Well, THATS a romantic view of the internet. Very quaint.

I think a problem with moral premise in games is that games have to care about the game world and its characters. After all, a moral choice is not interesting if it is just about 'this reward' or 'that reward'. A moral choice is interesting if it invokes some kind of feeling.
Bioshock managed to touch it by using children, which are more likely to invoke feelings.

However, I find that moral choices that are 180 degrees opposite not interesting, because they often turn the decision into a black-white thing (again, like bioshock). A lot of games with moral choices use this blunt axe. When a player understands the moral premise he makes up his mind which path to follow (Ill make a good/evil character) and sticks with that choice generally, instead of thinking each time a choice must be made.
The witcher is a good example in that it's decisions are grey, there is not really a 'good' and 'evil'. For example- you have to choose the side of a witch or the mob trying to burn her- both sides have done bad things, both sides have lied to you. But you must choose.

Interesting choices can be when two virtues are pitted against each other, or two vices (try to find out 'the lesser evil').

A word to E; if your stuff is so famous, why didn't I read anything of it in books about story telling and game story telling?

I think it’s great that we’re attempting to include a concept of moral choice in video games. I think it’s fantastic that the actions that I, as the player, do impact the world in which my character lives. However, I don’t at all associate the actions of my character in the game with my own personal ‘moral code’ or belief system.

I don’t consider myself an ‘evil’ person, though I don’t consider myself an especially ‘good’ one either. Then again given the relativity of those terms, the distinction objectively is irrelevant. (but that’s another conversation).

However, as in my days of pencil and paper role playing, I will consciously choose to be one or the other. I will deliberately make a character in Fable, and do random evil things, or entirely evil things, just because that’s how I set out to play the game. Not because it’s a reflection of what I would –actually- do when presented with the same choice in real life.

“Gosh, I feel like being an evil #^% today, I’m going to go and do X”. Or “I wonder what happens if I…” these are far more often my thought processes when presented with a choice in a game.

The other issue with ‘tangible rewards’ based on moral decisions is that the rewards themselves actually negate the premise of the system. If we use the above example, of selflessness resulting in creation, and greed giving power and destruction; If we reward the player for making the ‘right’ choice, do we have any reason to believe that they made that choice for reasons within our moral construct, rather than for the reward itself? In which case, the ‘selfless’ choice was made for selfish reasons, which negates the moral premise entirely.

Let’s face it, it *IS* more fun to do the wrong thing sometimes. It is more exciting. Dealing with the consequences of an ‘evil’ act in video games can be hilariously entertaining. I laughed my arse off when I sniped some random citizen in Megaton (for no reason), and I was chased out of town by the remaining folk (I did load my game afterwards, however). I stole everything I could get my hands on, as long as I didn’t get caught.

I also nuked the place without a second thought, well, I completed all of the side quests that were available there before I destroyed it, but then took up my swank apartment in that tower on the other side of the map.

In my experience, so called ‘moral’ decisions are made on a valuation basis. ‘what’s in it for me?’. To use the oldest cliché in the book, if I found a wallet, in real life, with $10,000 in it, what would I do?

Well, according to the ‘moral’ code of society, I would turn it in somewhere for the owner to claim. In my valuation system, I get… well, I get nothing, save my own personal sense of having done the right thing. (go me)

The downside to the same moral choice is… well, the downside is that I get $10,000; and supposedly I would feel badly for knowing that someone else had lost it.

What am I going to do? – does that make me a good or evil person? – does it matter?

Now, let’s present the player of a video game with the same dilemma.

We’re going to reward the player with 10,000 experience points (whatever that means) for doing the right thing. (let’s just assume for the sake of argument that the player knows this) It ceases to be a moral choice, and now becomes a valuation choice. Do I want 10k experience? Or $10k?

To take the same example a step further, let’s emulate real life, and give the player nothing (absolutely nothing) at all for doing the ‘right’ thing. What do you think the strategy guide is going to say about that particular choice? How often do you think that you’ll be seeing that virtual wallet returned to that virtual police station? – probably about as often as you would in real life.

I don’t disagree with the presence of morality systems in video games. The fact that the narrative or the game play changes based on the decisions I make is often a core reason for me selecting to play/buy that game. I just think it’s a mistake and possibly arrogance, to assume that it actually ‘teaches’ the average player about morality in any way, or that the decisions the players make are going to be based on morality more than game mechanic. I think that the average person sees a firm disconnect between what happens in a movie, book, or game and what happens in real life, and when it comes to the game, they’re going to do whatever is ‘fun’ – however they define ‘fun’, and sometimes fun is being an evil @%#%.