Exalting Love, Romance, and Women in Video Games
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by Dr. Elliot McGucken on 07/28/09 03:34:00 pm
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Posted 07/28/09 03:34:00 pm
The following excerpt was taken from: System and method for creating
exalted video games and virtual realities wherein ideas have
consequences
--http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886
Opportunities abound for exalted character, depth, romance, and love
in video games; as love alone conquers all.
The Greats’ distant thunder trumps today’s shapeshifting, fiat MBA/
game designers/economists in defining entrepreneurial game design
with, “Omnia vincit amor; et nos cedamus amori. Love conquers all—so
let us surrender to love,” for what postmodern fiatcrat has created
more wealth than Homer, Virgil, and Dante? Mises wrote “(the) heroic
spirit cannot be bought by inflation,” Joseph Schumpeter penned “the
stock exchange is no substitute for the Holy Grail,” and while the
heroic artists, statesmen, and scholars—the creators of untold wealth—
have ridden forth with thousands of faces, they have ever been united
in the unyielding love of truth and honor that drives that ever-
westward journey towards liberty’s exalted idealism; a love which
exalts courage—Aristotle’s primary virtue, as by courage alone are all
other virtues possible; and it is courage that allows one to keep the
higher ideals above the bottom line—to speak truth to power—come hell
or high water. This unyielding love of honor, though oft outnumbered
in its own era, forms a fellowship over millennia; and while
outmatched in their own times, Socrates (sentenced to death), Dante
(penned the Inferno in exile), Aristotle (fled Athens so that Athens
would not sin against philosophy twice), Jefferson (traitor to the
King), and Mises & Hayek (exiled from the academy) ride on towards
eternity in a fellowship which one can join freely by falling in love
with the heroic quest for honor.
It is not the love of our neighbour, it is not the love of mankind,
which upon many occasions prompts us to the practice of those divine
virtues. It is a stronger love, a more powerful affection, which
generally takes place upon such occasions; the love of what is
honourable and noble, of the grandeur, and dignity, and superiority of
our own characters. –Adam Smith, A Theory of Moral Sentiments
But tragically, too many are tempted to forgo the permanent things via
fleeting titles and awards, which can be gained by simply kneeling
before debt for a fiat degree whose worth has declined in proportion
to the fiat dollar; instead of standing like a man. Like Socrates,
the Greats all recognized that honor and virtue do not come from
money, but that wealth and every lasting good of man comes from the
rugged pursuit of virtue—a classic precept Jack Bogle manifested in
the rugged creation of Vanguard—an immutable precept which resounds
throughout Bogle’s books and speeches as sure as it does through the
very character of his soul, letting the students know that Odysseus
can yet make it home, alone string the bow, and rid Wall Street of the
false suitors; should they only go forth like Telemachus and find
their true fathers. In both eloquent word and rugged deed, Jack
irrefutably demonstrates the primal role of classical ideals in our
contemporary lives, and while his Battle for The Soul of Capitalism is
the only text from a living author on the syllabus, it is not the only
text penned by an eighteenth century man.
And the soul’s natural, unyielding quest for virtue—which Socrates
deemed wealth’s wellspring—is captured in a common, epic mythology
which the fiatocracy naturally had to replace with their dumbed-down,
soulless curriculums; as a fiat currency is a jealous god and will
have none others before it. The last thing Wall Street wants is the
priceless catharsis of Aristotle’s third act. And so the free,
classical, and natural heritage every student deserves—the thundering,
foundational, Constitutional context which our universities were
founded to serve, was by and by displaced by fiat dollars and
marketing degrees as bottom-line debt was exalted over the higher
ideals; as small souls—gleefully buoyed by unprecedented debt (student
& national)—rose to the top via consensual decline, believing
themselves rich even as their currency and culture were debauched and
their fellow citizens impoverished, collecting all the greatest paper
degrees and honors a fiat currency could buy on their common
descent.
Facilis descensus Averni:
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras.
hoc opus, hic labor est. It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air -
There's the rub, the task. –Virgil’s Aeneid, Book VI, line 126
And if we are to turn the tide—if we are to truly study and inspire
entrepreneurship and the creation of enduring wealth, freedom, and
prosperity via video games and gaming, we must follow the riders of
the immortal soul and heed Martin Luther King Juniors’ words, “If we
are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values
—that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has
spiritual control.” If we are to learn the secrets of billion-dollar
Hollywood franchises or trillion-dollar Wall Street Titans, let alone
win the “battle for the soul” of classic American Capitalism, we must
study the great mythologist and teacher Joseph Campbell—who inspired
Star Wars and The Matrix—and listen to Jack Bogle who “left twenty
billion on the table” (Economist/WSJ) in forming Vanguard so as to
better serve his clients and crewmembers: “But even as I ask you, as I
did my grandchildren in the dedication to Battle, to enlist in the
mission of building a better world, I remain eager for the excitement
of the chase; the idealism of a cause worth betting one’s life on; and
the joy of honoring the values of the past as the key to a brilliant
future. So dream your own dreams, but act on them, too. Action,
always action, is required on the ever-dangerous odyssey that each of
our lives must follow. Be good human beings. Respect tradition and
study the great thinkers of our heritage.”
4. System and Method for Female Video Game Characters With Soul and
Virtue and Male Characters With Soul and Virtue:
[1622]Imagine video games that presented female characters with the
depth of soul and spirit owned by classical characters such as
Penelope, Beatrice, Mary Magdelane, the Virgin Mary, and The Mona
Lisa.
[1623]Having female characters behave and act morally, while others
don't, would provide a novel form of gameplay. For instance, in the
Odyssey, Agamemnon's wife cheats on him, and the man she takes in ends
up killing Agamemnon. This is contrasted to Penelope, who remains
faithful throughout, thusly ensuring that Odysseus's life and home are
preserved. So it is that in this novel form of video games, women will
be shown on both sides of the moral premise, and not only that, but
their moral choices will be fundamental to the eventual victory or
defeat.
[1624]Opportunities abound for deeper, more profound female
characters, as fanboys such as Cliffyb and Wyckyg are yet focusing on
breasts, as Wired reports: [1625]"Speaking to Wired.com at Microsoft's
recent media event, the designer (above left) says that Epic Games is
trying to make their upcoming Xbox 360 shooter more appealing to the
casual audience. The game's female characters, he said, won't have
"ginormous tits." And the lauded kill-alien-swarms-with-a-buddy
cooperative mode will let you adjust the game's difficulty on the fly
depending on who's playing. How do you make a game girlfriend-
friendly? You do jump-in, jump-out co-op. You have configurable
difficulty settings for the other player. You have very cool and bad-
ass main characters that have a very human side. And you make sure
that the female characters in your game don't have ginormous tits and
aren't bad stereotypes. What are the female characters in Gears 2
like? I've always made sure, working with the art department, that
Anya is strong-willed but also very mother-like to the squad. She has
a very modest chest and doesn't look like some sort of heavy metal
movie fantasy."--http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/cliffy-b-
gears.html
[1626]Well, that is vast and resounding progress. Boobs are mentioned
three times in the above passage, although nobody mentions the vast
importance of the moral woman's character in the realm of classical,
epic storytelling. No gaming expert has yet ever suggested that the
ultimate woman character in a video game ought behave morally, like
Penelope. In our dumbed-down, spectacle-driven society, morality is
seen as a bad thing--the exact antithesis to art. And so the best the
fanboys can do is make the in-game character's breast-size smaller.
There is no mention of making them faithful, nor having them speak
intelligently, nor making them weave and unweave a tapestry, as does
Penelope, to keep the suitors at bay, while waiting faithfully for
Odysseus. So it is that games have yet to achieve higher, classical,
epic art. And so it is that this patent, by instilling deep ideas and
ideals within the game's context and AI, will allow for superior
gameplay.
[1627]Female Characters with Soul and Virtue: Every year Play Magazine
publishes its Girls of Gaming collection which states at
http://playmagazine.com/thegirlsofgaming/index.html, Girls of Gaming
Vol. 5 "is jam packed with hotness from every corner of the gaming
universe and when you sign up to go digital you'll get our 20-page
Best-Of Girls of Gaming absolutely free, along with bonus mature
content too hot for print. The print edition is something special as
well, featuring embossed, spot varnished covers and top quality
materials." Year after year Play Magazine publishes this work, and
year after year the industry creates games; but they are missing soul
on both the masculine and feminine levels. A game that showed a
character being seduced, but resisting, as did Penelope in The
Odyssey, could enhance game play by inspiring and exalting the main
character to make it on home. Imagine cut-scenes that showed women
reading exalted poetry, or lines from Shakespeare' plays, representing
virtues. They could be contrasted to evil women and temptresses
throughout literature. [1628]1. Imagine cut scenes that showed women
acting with virtue to inspire the player to make it on home. For
instance, seeing Penelope behaving virtuously and resisting the
suitors could inspire the player to make it on back to the damsel in
distress. [1629]2. Imagine cut-scenes that showed men acting with
virtue to inspire the female in-game-character to also act virtuous.
For instance imagine a character of Penelope witnessing Odysseus's
resistance of the Sirens, or his other noble actions and refusals of
temptations.
[1630]If a player were playing as Penelope, and they did not act
morally and took on a suitor as Husband, the suitor would kill her
husband when she got home, as happened with Agamemnon. Thus moral
actions would have moral consequences; and immoral actions would have
immoral consequences.
[1631]A game such as GTA could be enhanced by allowing the player to
shoot the pimp and save the women/prostitutes, telling the women to
sin no more.
[1632]Such a patent would allow games to achieve higher art, while
exalting the female character and form.
[1633]Imagine a video game that let one's live, embody, and enact a
Hero's Journey Renaissance: "The stock exchange is a poor substitute
for the Holy Grail"--Joseph Schumpeter. Classical Ideals in Innovation
& The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci.
--http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886
A New Realm of Exalted Gaming
The Autumn Rangers Video Game Engine
[0010]Imagine the Autumn Rangers video game--a game where being in
love was as important as fighting in battle, just as it was in Homer's
Odyssey, Braveheart, and 300. Imagine a game which let you speak out
for liberty's ideals before fighting for the US Constitution, as did
the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and the
countless brave men and women in uniform. Imagine a game which let you
defend the spirit of The Declaration of Independence in word and deed,
and which united the internal dramatic action and external conflict en
route to Aristotle's third act--the thundering, epic showdown.
[0011]Imagine a renaissance in games exalted by classical, epic story
and soul. And as "life imitates art," as Oscar Wilde stated, imagine a
cultural renaissance--imagine a novel form of video games that had a
positive, exalted influence on the culture; as all epic art ever has,
from The Iliad to The Odyssey, from Shakespeare to the Bible. "They
all fall away, one by one," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "until one is left
with Virgil and Homer, and perhaps Homer alone." Imagine a game which
allowed one to fight for Virgil's poetry, Achille's Honor, Odysseus's
Penelope, and Jefferson's Declaration of Independence:
[0012]We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.--The Declaration of Independence
[0013]Imagine the Autumn Rangers video game--a game where one had to
trek through hell to be reunited with Beatrice, as did Dante in The
Inferno; and wherein one's fiance was stolen, as in The Count of Monte
Christo; along with one's technology, as in the 1968 Iron Man. Imagine
a gameworld wherein ideas had consequences, and where although actions
spoke louder than words, the pen was mightier than the sword. Imagine
a game wherein the words--the mere words the player chose to speak--
could exalt peace, avert wars, save lives, end oppression, and win
freedom, as did Gandhi's words.
[0014]A coward is incapable of exhibiting love (like all the fanboys
who are quite content to hire and kill hookers, but never love a real
woman); it is the prerogative of the brave.--Mohandas Gandhi
[0015]Imagine a game which let one fight for the higher ideals and
deliver justice in an epic showdown where the few stood against the
many, as did Socrates in The Apology, Leonidas and his men in 300, and
every lone rider at the end of every Western, be it Clint Eastwood in
A Fistful of Dollars or Eminem in 8 mile. And imagine that after
reuniting the family and facing down a posse of rifles with your .45
revolver, you could ultimately leave the gold behind, as did Clint
Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars--the first film in Sergio Leone's
"The Man With No Name" trilogy which was based on the Japanese Samuri
Film Yojimbo, shot in Spain, directed by an Italian who spoke no
English, and which first launched Eastwood as an international star.
[0016]The present invention will foster video games in which the
player could throw down their golden staff and call out the assembly
for having no honor, as did Achilles in The Iliad, or throw down the
Ten Commandments, as did Moses, when he found his people worshipping
the golden calf, and reasoned that they were not yet ready for the far-
higher value of the Law. Imagine that mere words could incite a people
to fight for their freedom--eloquent, exalting words such as those
penned by Publius in The Federalist, Thomas Paine in The Rights of
Man, and Thomas Jefferson in The Declaration of Independence. Imagine
that after a band of rebels won their freedom in the game, their
leader could turn down the kingship that was offered them, as did
General Washington.
[0017]The present invention will allow us to imagine and render a game
where the soul of the stolen AI technology--APRIL--could only be saved
by the codes on Ranger's ring, and where US Marine Ranger McCoy, after
raising his right hand and swearing on the Bible to protect the
Constitution, was ultimately protected and saved by folksinger Autumn
Wests' faithful love and loyalty--her immortal, pristine soul; just as
Odysseus was ultimately saved by Penelope, Dante by Beatrice, and
Johnny Cash by June Carter.
[0018]The present invention will allow us to imagine and render a game
wherein fighting for moral ideas at the lowest level had resounding
and epic consequences. Imagine a game wherein saving New York and LA
from nuclear devastation came down to the seemingly smallest actions
between Autumn & Ranger--to the romance of their renaissance and the
renaissance of their romance--for without Penelope's faithful
dedication, Odysseus's long journey on home would have all been for
naught; and without Beatrice, Dante would have been robbed of the
exalted reason to walk through hell. Imagine a game wherein fighting
for moral ideas at the lowest level had resounding and epic
consequences.
[0019]The present invention will allow us to imagine and render a game
in which Ranger could create a digital rights management system for
Autumn as they drove cross country to save APRIL and resurrect her
moral OS. [0020]The Congress shall have power to . . . promote the
progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to
authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings
and discoveries;--The United States Constitution
[0021]The present invention will allow us to imagine and exalt a game
wherein if Ranger's DRM software allowed Autumn to "further the
progress of the useful arts" by allowing her to protect and profit
from her art--to realize her Natural Constitutional Rights to own her
creations, thus giving her incentives to create, and enriching all
world with a renaissance, as she performed the classical ideals in the
contemporary context, resurrecting that far higher, forgotten wealth
of poetry mingled with epic idealism. For without classical ideals,
love songs are not possible, and without living music, love can be
read about but never truly known; and so it is that Autumn's music
would remind us of the need for property rights; as much as Odysseus's
actions in reclaiming his home from the false suitors.
[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 . . .
[0031]And imagine a game that wore black like Hamlet, which brought to
life the contrast between "the actions a man might play" and the
reality of the deeper soul: [0032]HAMLET [0033]Seems, madam! nay it
is; I know not `seems.` [0034]'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good
mother, [0035]Nor customary suits of solemn black, [0036]Nor windy
suspiration of forced breath, [0037]No, nor the fruitful river in the
eye, [0038]Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, [0039]Together with
all forms, moods, shapes of grief, [0040]That can denote me truly:
these indeed seem, [0041]For they are actions that a man might play:
[0042]But I have that within which passeth show; [0043]These but the
trappings and the suits of woe.
[0044]The present invention will allow us to imagine and exalt a video
game that followed The Hero's Journey; which called the protagonist to
adventure--which beckoned them with a higher calling, and rewarded
them for risking all to heed it and serve a higher cause. Imagine a
game that inspired the player to venture forth in rendering their
ideals real--to press on regardless--mentoring them in taking the high
road and walking the straight and narrow, always reminding them that
"there is a difference between knowing the path and walking it," just
as there is a difference between night and day, and proposed word and
rendered deed.
[0045]Imagine a game wherein the protagonist was a man of suffering
and pain--carrying a great burden like Sam and Frodo, as the very name
Odysseus implies "man of woe and pain." Imagine a game where one could
fight for the classical economic precepts in word and deed, and
witness them rendered real in the living world. Imagine fighting
Orwellian groupthink and freeing the innovator and inventor from the
bureaucracy's shackles; and imagine that if one did not succeed in
standing for truth and liberty at the game's crossroads, "The Road to
Serfdom" would be taken, accompanied by "The End of Truth," "The Worst
Getting on Top," and the eventual decline of freedom and liberty.
[0046]The present invention could foster a video game which brought
the ideals of classical economists to life; so that we might learn
what happens in a virtual world when we ignore Adam Smith, F. A.
Hayek, and Ludwig Von Mises, as well as when we ignore those far more
fundamental economists--Socrates and the prophets of the Judeo
Christian Heritage. For one cannot serve two masters, and what does it
profit one to gain the world and lose their soul? And with the same
courage that Achilles took to battle, imagine a game which allowed you
to address the Athenian jury as did Socrates, with a basic treatise on
economics that he delivered knowing that it would bring about his
death:
[0047]"For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young
alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but
first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul.
I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue
comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private.
This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the
youth, I am a mischievous person. But if any one says that this is not
my teaching, he is speaking an untruth. Wherefore, O men of Athens, I
say to you, do as Anytus bids or not as Anytus bids, and either acquit
me or not; but whichever you do, understand that I shall never alter
my ways, not even if I have to die many times."--The Apology
[0048]The present invention would afford games that allowed people to
act on Socrates' epic, classic ideals, as well as exalt them, and even
defend Socrates. The present invention would afford games which called
upon the player to match exalted word with exalted deed; and rendered
the consequences--both dire and grand--in gameworlds that diverged
depending on the chosen path, ending definitively with either with
tyranny, oppression, and persecution for those who failed to embody
classical ideals our Founding Fathers adhered to; or with freedom,
liberty, and justice for those who succeeded in serving the higher
cause. Action and dialogue trees could be mapped directly onto
historical events such as the American Revolution or onto epic
literature such as The Odyssey, and by correctly choosing to speak
Odysseus's words, and partake in his exalted, cunning actions, one
would be rewarded with faithful Penelope--with the epic poetry's
exaltation of the home and family--of private property and the triumph
of the hero, owner, and creator over the false managerial suitors
living off Odysseus's estate and Autumn's music. And by diverging from
Odysseus's words and deeds, the player would fail, as so many of our
present-day institutions are--institutions which have chosen to hedge
against the great wisdom of the Great Books and Classics, and which
are reaping the consequences, cashing out on our vast accumulated
cultural wealth built upon words matched by epic deeds--constructed
upon the solid rock of honor and integrity, and founded upon treasures
that moth and rust cannot corrupt, and thieves cannot steal. The
player who gave in to short-term temptations would fail by selling
trust, honor, integrity, civility, and marriage on down the river for
short-term gains, as they bankrupt a nation, both spiritually and
monetarily.
[0049]But too, the players who failed would leave billions of dollars
of long-term wealth on the table for the bold and innovative players
who went against the conventional wisdom, and who yet believed in
exalting the higher ideals over the bottom line; who, like Odysseus,
put off the short-term temptations of the Sirens and Lotus Eaters for
those far greater precepts belonging to Penelope, the home, and
family. So it is that this novel gameworld would be far more realistic
than the supposedly open-ended world of Grand Theft Auto where one can
steal cars, hire and kill prostitutes, shoot innocent cops and
civilians, but never exalt a renaissance. Vast opportunities would
exist in this game world for the rising generation to exalt
renaissances on Wall Street and Main Street; in Hollywood and the
Heartland, in films, books, movies, software, and games endowed with
classic, epic soul; just as vast opportunities exist in real life for
all those Autumns and Rangers--all those Autumn Rangers who venture
boldly into the romance of the fall and autumn's burning leaves. For
spring shall soon follow.
[0050]And so it is that tomorrow's game designers ought begin by
heeding Martin Luther King Jr.'s words: [0051]If we are to go forward,
we must go back and rediscover those precious values--that all reality
hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual
control.--M L K
[0052]There is a rising demand for exalted games that this present
invention would foster; and for technologies that allow artists to
protect and profit from their creations--technology endowed and
infused with the classical soul, just as there is a rising demand for
exalted art, film, literature, classes, and institutions. A fellowship
is forming to deliver such entities, prepared to back words with
deeds, just as Autumn and Ranger heed Leonardo da Vinci's advice in
the Autumn Rangers novel, film, and video game.