Escapist Podcast: 054: Philsophical Discussions and Mike's Murder Mystery

[The Escapist Staff]

054: Philsophical Discussions and Mike's Murder Mystery

This week, we delve deep into some philosophical conundrums, and also find out that Mike is probably being stalked by a serial killer.

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[DrRockor]

The discussion of what is and isn't ok to put into art made me think of the right to free speech. In America, you have the right to say what you want but it doesn't mean you should say whatever you want. The same can be said for creating art. People should have the right to make art of what they want but it doesn't mean that they should make it

 

[Endocrom]

Five minutes and fifty-six seconds before they start with the introductions? You know this is going to be a good one.

 

[the abyss gazes also]

The discussion of what is and isn't ok to put into art made me think of the right to free speech. In America, you have the right to say what you want but it doesn't mean you should say whatever you want. The same can be said for creating art. People should have the right to make art of what they want but it doesn't mean that they should make it

And if you do say something, people can reply however. Basically anything that can be said because of free speech can be refuted with free speech.

 

[ivc392]

The controversy surrounding "Six Days in Fallujah" was no because the developers decided interview radical Iraqi insurgents for the game (a rumor that is not only unfounded but also frankly ludicrous). But because of the game's plot closely followed the story of a real life platoon that fought in the Second Battle of Fallujah, some people (the FOX News crowd mostly) felt that the game was glorifying violence and trying to make money out of a real life tragedy. They thought that it was "too soon" to make a game out of war, that video games are just a childish waste of time.

"Six Days in Fallujah" was supposed to be a realistic depiction of war, not a moronic CoD/BF clone. Konamy decided to pull the plug just before the games release because they didn't have the balls to step up and defend the game they believed in.

6DF still cant get a publisher and ironically games like CoD and BF that are nothing more than lazy corporate cash grabs that present a glorified, simplistic image of war and violence not only get published on yearly basis are also the core product of the AAA industry.

Video games are not toys. They are a valid form of art and should treated like one. Video games can tackle any subject (sometimes even more successfully than films or literature) and should not be subjects of censorship based only on the facts that they are games.

 

[TAdamson]

Elite and Elite II: Frontier allow you to transport slaves. (Illegal in the Federation, legal in the Empire.)

When your cargo-hold life-support goes down the turn into fertilizer.

At least there were not cannibal worlds where they turned into animal meat. (Live animals turn into animal meat when CHLS goes down.)

 

[Jaded_Muffin]

 

[Jaded_Muffin]

I completely fail at making forum posts at Late O'clock.

Nice podcast guys. Keep the great material coming.

 

[Eri]

Hey guys...That Batman sequence you were talking about with the kid...

 

[Endocrom]

For a lighter (almost Adam Westish) look at Batman look into Batman: The Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network. The series finale even ended by saying that things don't always have to be gritty and dark. Oh, and Jeff Bennett's Joker is a nice alternative to Mark Hamill (not that I don't love his version too)
[hr]Whoa, they made Schrodinger's human? How very Dada [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada] (I'm probably missusing that term)
[hr]Somebody get Mike a taser or something. Or at least set up some kind of dead-man-switch to twitter so people know when to start avenging his death.
[HR]You know why Leonard Nimoy's ears are so big don't you? Because the atmosphere on Vulcan is thinner, and he needs them to magnify the sound waves.

 

[[The]Rock]

I think Mike's dude has a copycat. The mandarins on the tree out the back of my house have been disappearing.

On a more serious note, what's the name of that exhibit with the gun on the timer?

 

[Henriot]

The Deus Ex games I think do a very good job of allowing the possibility of continuing the gameplay without the death of people. The first one was alot harder at times, but with Human Revolution I allowed myself (as Adam Jensen) to kill when it felt right in the context of opponents taking lives in the immediate environment, but if you make the decision to not kill, I felt the mechanics supported such a playthrough.
(For reference, I killed people twice; both times in Hengsha funnily enough. I'll be vague, but the first time during Adam's first time there, when Belltower arrive at the hotel, the second time when you first *land* the second time you go to Hengsha.)

What if Mike's future murderer is listening to these podcasts?

The artworld (or community) can't agree on alot of things, like what makes art art. Personally, I think art should sometimes shock or change perceptions, but that doesn't mean ALL art should do that.

 

[wizzy555]

Got a bit heavy into moral philosophy here. If anyone is interested I'll put a link here to a favourite blog of mine: http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.ch/2011/03/different-kind-of-moral-relativism.html

 

[Scrustle]

Universal agreement is not the same as objective truth.

It's not a restriction of freedom of speech to allow an insensitive product to exist. The existence of the product isn't stopping anyone disagreeing with how it handles its subject matter. In fact allowing something to handle something in a bad way is a way of allowing us to understand what is and isn't acceptable and why. It also helps to break taboos and increase social progressiveness. To deny the product release is a heinous restriction of free speech and only serves to push back society dealing with it's problems. The idea that some topics are untouchable to certain people because they are somehow unworthy is ridiculous. People will never become more educated or more able to deal with these topics if they're denied from talking and learning about them.

 

[Frontastic]

It's slightly painful listening to the Batman conversation having seen 'Rises', so much of what's being talked about turns up in one form or another in 'Rises'.

 

[Steve Butts]

Universal agreement is not the same as objective truth.

It's not a restriction of freedom of speech to allow an insensitive product to exist. The existence of the product isn't stopping anyone disagreeing with how it handles its subject matter. In fact allowing something to handle something in a bad way is a way of allowing us to understand what is and isn't acceptable and why. It also helps to break taboos and increase social progressiveness. To deny the product release is a heinous restriction of free speech and only serves to push back society dealing with it's problems. The idea that some topics are untouchable to certain people because they are somehow unworthy is ridiculous. People will never become more educated or more able to deal with these topics if they're denied from talking and learning about them.

This is fair, up to a point. The place where that justification potentially falls apart is that certain ways of talking actively work against understanding or adjustment. If we just take slavery or the Holocaust as examples again, we have to be willing to accept that the use of either subject as a vehicle for entertainment or education necessarily has to open it up to misuse as well. Since artistic merit is almost entirely subjective, we're not in a position to distinguish between what's worth it and what isn't. I'm speaking, of course, of us as a society; every individual should feel absolutely free to decide whether something is or isn't capital-A Art and to say so as loudly as they like.

Naturally (for me, at least), given the assumption that people can say whatever they want, the next logical question is whether or not they should say what they want to say. There the fundamental question isn't one of rights; it's one of ethics, or at least responsibilty. My purpose in asking the team whether or not truth exists outside of circumstance or perspective was merely to determine what we individually meant by the statement, "This is wrong."

 

[thewanderer41]

Hey, so I was listening and thought I'd help clarify a few things about the not-as-philosophical part of podcast.

Subscription: pay monthly - WoW
Free to Play: free with cash shop - League of Legends
Pay to Play: Buy once play indefinitely - Guild Wars 1&2

I thought it was kinda funny how KotOR is making F2P sound taboo

 

[bunji]

Not being allowed to say something or create a piece of art or write a book because its not politically correct is just a nice way of saying censoring anything the majority doesn't agree with. In Sweden this is rampant, and you can't critize anything that is "generally accepted" without getting beat with the hate-speech bat. Of course you can tell someone they are being offensive and shouldn't do that thing, but you can never say they can't or arent allowed to.


This video is the best I've ever seen on the subject, and Hitchens is an amazing orator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyoOfRog1EM

 

[GasparNolasco]

Gods, I've laughed too much in the Murder Mystery part. Well done gentlemen, well done.
I hope this saga ends well and Clint Eastwood and Buddy Love manage to catch the killer and save Ellen Page.