Reid Kimball @ Gamasutra: "My main complaint with morality choices in games is that they seem to be a collection of random situations that the developers hope players will find engaging. But they are unconnected and don't contribute to any sort of analysis of what the whole gaming experience means.
Cultures thousands of years ago first used values to help influence behaviors and decisions among their people. Values have been so fundamental to the evolution of civilizations that they have helped spawn legal and religious systems that continue to this day.
The strength of a society is often derived from how strongly the public defends its core values. If its people do not strongly protect their values, then it is deemed to fall eventually, as those in power subvert their own laws once deemed inconvenient. It's worth considering creating games based on values, since values have served an important purpose for thousands of years and will continue to do so."
From Horse Armor to Mass Layoffs: The Price of Greed in Gaming. Inside the decades-long war on game workers and the players who defend them.
maybe a real enemy is people who use terms like "the real enemy"
there can be more than 1 bad thing, t's not like a kids show with 1 big bad
This is very much a “dummy who volunteers themselves to the middle” comment.
The real enemy is a common phrase, people use it all the time.
Calm down.
You don't seem calm at all. Don't take this so seriously, you seem desperate responding to others defending your opinion that lacks any value or critical thought.
stop projecting
i'm not desperately dong anything, i'm tapping at keys on my keyboard bud
DEI was never the problem and it was an ignorant take to begin with.
DEI is why games like Kena Bridge of Spirits, South of Midnight, and Ghost of Tsushima exist.
DEI is why we have a huge resurgence in Japanese, Chineses, and Korean developers producing games like Stellar Blade, Black Myth, and why Nintendo & Sony exist.
DEI is why more and more games have HUGE accessibility options with both Sony and MS fully behind this.
DEI was never a bad thing, the entire purpose of DEI is representation of all people, genders, disabilities, etc…
The problem was people used DEI as a default derogatory term to describe what they believed was forced representation, which allowed colorist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and xenophobic fools to run away with the negative DEI narrative.
Executives seem to often have an obsession with perpetual revenue growth. There is always a finite amount of consumers for a product regardless of growth. Additionally, over investment is another serious issue in gaming.
The fact that they also rarely have any real expertise in game development compounds things. They'll look at what's been successful elsewhere, lack the knowledge to properly understand why they have been successful and then force a team to 'reproduce' their badly interpreted idea of that success.
We see it so often with sequels to games that were successful too. The team are left well alone, they have a break through hit and all of sudden the money men descend on the IP and completely railroad the dev team's ideas. Usually winds up being 'make the same game but MORE'
This is true throughout all of the corporate and public sector organisations to be honest. CEO's generally move amongst the corporate world without any need to have experience of a particular industry, they simply need to rely on their senior leadership credentials. A CEO of a retail giant will just as easily transition to a CEO role in the energy sector for example.
Not defending CEOs here to be clear, I think it's a huge part of the reason the western world is so fucked up. CEOs don't need to care about the sector they work in, in fact it's better if they don't care if they want to screw everyone to make profits.
Companies don’t hire executives to break even. If the goal is breaking even then why start the company in the first place.
That's understood; it's getting record profits and expecting to always beat those record profits, and seeing anything less as a total failure. Then they lay people off and raise prices to reach those record profit levels again, just to sate shareholders. It's setting expectations way too high just to spike share prices, then inevitably falling short. It's feeling entitled to being more successful than everyone else. It's the CEOs doing all this to boost their own bonuses.
Growth benefits the company’s profits and therefore the company’s stock if publicly traded, which pleases the shareholders making them more and more rich, which is why Growth is always at the forefront of the vast majority of any publicly traded company.
More growth = More Money and the people at the top want all the money they can get. I can’t really blame them anyone would love to see their profits go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to multi-millions it’s almost like a gambling addiction.
But it also goes to show someone how morals can go out the window for a lot of these people, and how amazing some CEOs are when they catch this early and provide a balance solution that takes complete care of their employees across the board while keeping the business sustainable IE: Insomniac Games ALWAYS on the best places to work list. The rest of the industry could learn.
honestly, the "real" enemy of gaming, is ourselves
if nobody bought horse armor, shitty dlc would have died almost overnight
if we stood firm and nobody bought games from companies that were bad with layoffs, it would be solved
we're the idiots supporting awful business practices, we are the ones enouraging it
I think the reality that we don't want to convince ourselves of is that without the rise of "horse armor" and DLC, game budgets would have essentially stagnated (smaller teams/smaller games), or game prices would have risen much more dramatically than they have. There was an incessant drive for bigger worlds, infinite detail, and hundreds of hours of "gameplay" over the last two decades, that while perhaps a natural evolution of things, needed a suitable funding stream to accomplish.
What...CEOs make tens of millions and that doesnt include SLT etc etc...we now have multiple editions of games, in game currency, MT's, battle passes.....and what do we get..worse game than what was coming out 20 years ago....dont drink the cool aid, its this nickel and dime crap that is absolutely leading us to gaming destruction.
This is the worst possible answer to this conundrum. Blaming the masses is blaming the only people who are constantly “told” to buy.
Consumers are the only ones not to blame here. People make their own choices all the time. Disney movies are bombing and DEInis being blamed. Has that been enough to put Disney out of business? No and it never will.
Disagree. Businesses are able to do what they do because people are bad consumers and don't think critically about purchases. Disney got away with doing shit stuff for years and it's just the last year where people got tired of it. It's not like it didn't work for 5 years or so for Disney to do the things they've done. They'll just move onto another way to get people to see movies and it will be just as bad but more profitable until people wake up and realize it.
Consumerism drives business behavior. It's not so much "blaming" as it is observing behavior. The point I'm making is that the direction that games have gone are driven by the spending. Consumers are spending on DLC and they are driving the expectation of more glitz and padded out (lengthier) games. If they continue to pay, they will continue to drive that direction until a threshold is reached that forces a change in behavior.
Corporate advertising is the most powerful force on the planet.
This is N4G for god sake, every day there are arguments between people who are Team Xbox and Team PlayStation because they’ve been convinced that having an identity built on paying money to Sony and Microsoft matters more than having one as individual gamers who can play whatever they want.
And THEN we get to the corporate advertising part: to play whatever you want is to sink MORE into the advertising pits, making it so that you can more than one specific product.
ah you're right
they were told to buy it, it's clearly impossible to avoid that
if enough people stopped supporting, it would stop
disney not stopping would only be because enough people didn't stop
Agreed. I’ve been saying for years, announce you won’t be buying the upcoming game because of the practices of the previous game, then you only have to stick to your guns once, see how quickly things change for the better.
We have to unite in what we shouldn’t purchase.
just imagine a world, fifa came out worse, nobody buys the next one until they see proof it's better and stick to it
or games being forced online for single player and nobody buys it
things would change so fast
Greed and greedy people have and always will be the main issue for everything wrong in the world. Everything is a product to be exploited for monetary gain. Even when there are things that could help progress us along for the sake of making our lives easier that thing must be exploited for monetary gains. Anything that tells you otherwise is propaganda to make you complicit.
I've never thought "DEI" (although the way most people use it doesn't match it's real definition) is the problem with games. Good games have continued to be good when they have a diverse cast, and likewise, bad games have continued to be bad. There isn't a credible example I've seen where a diverse cast has been the direct cause of a game being bad.
Matt Miller: "Every subscription to Game Informer now raises funds for St. Jude. We want you to know what that means."
I subscribed to this not knowing about how some of the proceeds go to St. Judes.
Really cool that some of the money goes there.
Even if people don't subscribe to the mag, it might bring people to the charity.
One of the main charities my wife and I donate to. They help a lot of children and being a parent of 5 children I can’t imagine what those parents go through. I’ll probably get a sub to GI because of St Jude and of course because I love video games.
Though Unearthed Arcana's content primarily consists of subclasses and spells, WOTC's latest UA drop is set to shake up Dungeons and Dragons' future.
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" [url] http://www.google.com/searc... , you will find my work!
[url] http://www.google.com/searc...
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.google.com/paten...
d+for+video+game:+system+and+ method
[url] http://www.google.com/paten...
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" , [url] http://www.freepatentsonlin... (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:
[url] http://www.neogaf.com/forum...
[url] http://forums.somethingawfu...
"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:
[url] http://www.gamasutra.com/vi...
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)
[url] http://forums.somethingawfu...
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
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.freepatentsonlin... [url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
--I also cite that patent in this patent: [url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
[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]
[url] http://libertariangames.blo...
[url] 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.freepatentsonlin... [url] ReplyAgree 0Disagree 0
Exalting The Moral Premise in Video Games and Gaming
The latest & greatest from Gamasutra, regarding the paradignm shift in videogames and gaming:
[url] http://www.gamasutra.com/bl...
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!
[url] http://www.neogaf.com/forum...
[url] http://forums.somethingawfu...
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?
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
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. "
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
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. "
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
"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."
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
"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. "
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
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. " --
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
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 :)
[url] 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." [url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
"[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:" [url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
[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. :)
[url] http://www.freepatentsonlin...
[url] http://www.faqs.org/patents...
Thanks!
Dr. E :)