Manipulation and Perversion

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Written by BuckGB on January 8th, 2008

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Sometimes I even wonder if the developers are sneaky enough to realise we'll see through all their manipulations of the plot and characters, so they deliberately make it obvious - knowing we'll be so annoyed we'll do the opposite of what we think they want us to do, when that was their real goal in the first place. Confused? Me too.

What brought all these thoughts rushing through my head this morning was the ending for Act 1 of The Witcher. I feel manipulated. The Reverend is an obnoxious, arrogant, offensive, hypocrite. He's also old, ugly, male and has a loud, grating voice. There's not much more the developers could have done to make me dislike him either directly, or indirectly.

Abigail, on the other hand, is quiet, soft-spoken, polite, female, attractive, helpful - and she offers to sleep with Geralt. Suddenly, a choice between the two has to be made; which one will it be? Have I really been manipulated deliberately and must I be perverse and go against everything I'm feeling just to avoid their trap? Is this something developers set out to do in a game? Are they trying to direct how we play the game/ Are we being offered real choices, or is it all an illusion?
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But, yes, The Witcher is all about manipulation. The whole basis of the game is to create a fiction where the choices aren't clear - and then turn them around. A good choice has bad consequences down the track. A morally corrupt choice results in unintended good in the future. We're being manipulated so there is an emotional impact when certain events are revealed - and in that sense, I think it's a good thing in this game. Lesser titles don't fully commit to offering real choices and the manipulation becomes transparent and that's the problem I see - attempting to make RPGs without worthwhile choices.

Still don't know about making choices just because I'm not supposed to, though.

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