That anecdote with the boat was touching, but I figure a lot of it is because it is parent and child, the child already trusts and holds great investment in the words of her parent, replicating that feeling in videogames is going to be difficult. How do you make a videogame become as trustworthy as one's own parent?

Still, the rest of the article then goes on into the typical view many folks in gaming hold nowdays, something about emotions and gaming and a brave new horizon to cross, as if it's never been done before or hasn't been done for decades.

Videogames have always had titles where you can become emotionally invested in the characters, what happens to them, and sometimes even cry for them. The only difference today is now we have the makers giving interviews about how emotional their game is gonna be and how innovative it's gonna be and how they're doing something nobody else has. The only difference today is marketing.

They're very different games though, Metal Gear is first and foremost about sneaking and avoiding combat. Modern Warfare is about shooting a chaingun from a helicopter into suburban homes.

Modern Warfare is a celebration of war and killing, you are a soldier who obeys orders without doubt.

Then Smash Bros is the game for you, it sells well and many people who I know play it have your view point too.

Dues Ex or Thief with Square-Enix artists would be a treat, though that's unlikely.

Has any other Japanese company but Nintendo been successful with using western studios? The last time Square-Enix made a "made for America" product they lost $110 million or more.

I figure a lot of the plot decisions was to make interesting multiplayer arenas. You need some reason to be fighting Russians in Northern Virginia suburbs. Shooting up my own backyard is an eerie experience though.

>>we want to believe we’re exceptional, that we play by better rules and that’s why we’ll triumph.

I think you have a higher sense of morals than most people today, heheh. But lately the protagonists to best selling videogames... Kratos slaughters women and children without thought y'know? Well, until he 'accidentally' killed his own, oops. And there's been a slew of grimacing bald men who revel in their amorality in an amoral world in an amoral quest for vengeance against amoral forces. Or you choose to kill/not kill little girls.

It's more like we want to feel like righteous victims, that everything we do is justified because our feelings were hurt by the badguys. If we are to do evil, then "yeah, THATS how righteous I am man, I'm so vengeance right now!!"

>>As well-intentioned citizens of modern democracies, we always look for the moral. But as gamers? We’re so done with it.

I dunno, seems more like people are more obsessed with it than ever. Not that morality is a new thing (even back in Mario Bros, it is your Choice to exterminate all goombas or leave 'em alone. Who struck the first blow y'know?), but it seems things are kinda just more blatant now.

shooting civilians as a terrorist, harvesting the slugs from little girls, a quest of vengeance where you destroy everybody, paying a hooker then running her over with a firetruck to get your money back (without fail that is the official "hey dudes check out what you can do in GTA!" demo friends give friends hahah) these are all very obviously MORAL/NOTMORAL that I don't want to call it a "dilemma".