About the Author

This month’s topic turns the literary focus from the medium, to the author. [...] In literature we frequently “hear” the author’s voice in their work. Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Tom Robbins–these are excellent examples of authors whose voices are quite recognizable. Through reading their works, we feel we come to feel we know them, to understand their philosophies. There are a handful of games where the “author” can clearly be heard through the work. How closely tied is this to the thematic content of the games and how exactly did they communicate these themes to their audience? And should they have, or should video game designer try to remain out of their work, allowing the player to establish their own themes through gameplay?

On reading this month’s topic for Blogs of the Round Table, my thought’s went instantly to Hideo Kojima, who designed the Metal Gear Solid series. The Select Button had already used that example, however. The second name that came to mind was Sid Meier - who has cornered the market in “empire building” strategy games.

I think Sid Meier’s games stand out - aside from the fact his name is on the box - because his games do carry a particular type of game-play. The “expand and conquer” mind-set can be applied to almost all of his more famous titles.

Using the micro-management tools common to RTS games, the Civilization series feeds into a big-picture balance act of diplomacy, resource gathering, war, and exploration. It is possible to win these games via a variety of routes, directly reflected in how the player approaches their tech-tree - as long as that approach is rooted in expansion.

In some respects, the Civilization series reflects a particular view of Western history. Expansion is absolutely crucial to success, as it gives the player more resources, a larger population, and more wealth. Smaller tribes and civilizations are destroyed or assimilated. There is relatively little critique of this history - slavery, religion, democracy, monarchy - all become reduced to purely tactical considerations. Each Civilization develops in much the same way, with very little consideration to the actual history of each culture. All religions act in much the same way, as do all the ‘barbarians’. The series is essentially a very loose and homogenized idea of history. An idea that states that progress in inevitable, and if you don’t keep up then you lose.

Of course, that dumps the ethical dilemma in your own lap. Do you go for slavery or not? The game-play is loose enough that you can still win even by choosing a fairly liberal route of democracy and emancipation. To go back to the original question then, Sid Meier isn’t really handing you a finished construct of history. It’s up to the player to decide how they want to play. Purely from the level of choice you get, I would imagine Sid Meier to have a relatively liberal outlook - but this may simply be a reflection of my own liberal approach to the game. In which case it’s really my voice that is dominating, rather than his.

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2 Responses to “About the Author

Aaron Says:
March 11th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

The Sid Meiers games are definitely good examples. I don’t think any of them offer much commentary, though some is inevitable. They’re very basic models to inspire people to learn more history.

Will Wright also has a signature style. They all reflect his Montesorri upbringing — learning through experimentation.

Peter Molyneux focuses on free will and moral choices.

John Carmack is a techie, focusing on pushing technology.

I’d venture to say that most, if not all, of the best designers have signature styles. Great designers are passionate about what they do, and that passion inevitably spills through.

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September 18th, 2009 at 7:29 am

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