Revised entry #2: Meet David Sarif

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a great many secondary non-player characters (NPCs) that the player can and must interact with throughout the course of the game. Some of these secondary characters are minor, only appearing in one place in the game to perform one specific role in the narrative. Other characters have much more impact, appearing at several times in the game and driving the narrative to a large degree.

 

David Sarif is one of these major secondary characters. Sarif is the head of Sarif Industries, a major biotech firm, and Adam Jensen (the game’s main character, who the player controls) works for him. One of the central questions posed by the game is whether cybernetic augmentation of humans is the next step in human evolution, or whether it strips away essential humanity, and Sarif is the game’s strongest voice for the former point of view. Sarif Industries has several military contracts, but a large portion of the company’s work is focused elsewhere, and Sarif believes that his work is improving the lives of everyday people.

Many things serve to further Sarif’s narrative role as advocate for augmentation technology, including his physical appearance. As can be seen in the image, Sarif has a cybernetic arm. The look of the arm—sleek and lifelike—is in contrast to some of the “clunkier” augmentations that other NPCs in the game possess. Also, the décor in his office has elements of the Renaissance; this is an aesthetic choice on the part of the game developers. People who support augmentation (such as Sarif) believe that a kind of “cyber-renaissance” is happening, and this can often be seen in their homes and offices, and even their dress.

There are two conversations in particular that illuminate Sarif’s view of human augmentation. The first takes place about a third of the way into the game, when Sarif and Adam are discussing an attack on Sarif Industries by an unknown group of mercenaries. The relevant portion is quoted below:

Revised entry #1: Scholarly Sources on Video Games

Scholarly sources and commentary on those sources after the jump.

Integrated Analysis

Are video games a legitimate form of literature and/or art? The answer to this question depends both on who is asked, as well as what criteria are used to define literature and art. The definition of literature has evolved over the years to include more and more genres, such as the short story and film. Do video games deserve a place among those genres? Rather than attempt to engage this entire question, I will look at just one important piece of it—do video games have the same potential to influence their audience that other literary genres do?

Methodology

Here is the methodology for my project:

1) Site

There are two “sites” for my research in this project. The first site is the game itself (Deus Ex: Human Revolution); specifically, I am looking at the character of David Sarif and his role as both a mentor for the player and the game’s voice for the benefits of cybernetic augmentation of humans. The second site is the official Steam forum for the game. I chose this site because it contains a wide variety of discussions about the game and the game’s characters; some of these discussions deal with human augmentation in the real world, and it is interesting to examine the interaction between the game and the player’s opinions on this real-world issue.

2) Participants

The participants in the Steam forum for the game are (mostly) people who have played the game and enjoyed it. Some of the participants are also fans of the first Deus Ex game (which was released about ten years ago). Many of these posters also post in other Steam forums for other games. The spelling and grammatical skill of the posters varies widely; some posts are grammatically correct throughout, and others are almost indecipherable due to poor spelling and grammar. This variance is likely evidence of widely varying education levels. Also, not everyone takes the forums seriously; people will often post joking or humorous responses to serious questions. Finally, as a rule, posters do not share much personal information about themselves; discussion is largely confined to the game and the issues raised by it (whether they are gameplay or story-related).

3) Self

I play no role on the Steam forums. As for the game itself, I am a participant, having played it and enjoyed it. I am also a fan of the first Deus Ex game, and have been interested in this prequel for a long time before its release. I am of the opinion that the game’s story, while flawed, does a decent job of bringing greater awareness to an issue (human augmentation) that will continue to have greater significance in the years ahead.

4) Data

The data collected comes from both the game itself and the Steam forums. The data from the game consists of an overview of David Sarif’s character, as well as transcripts of two key conversations between Sarif and Adam Jensen, the game’s main character. As dialogue is the main way that the game’s story is presented, these conversations offer insight into both the type of character that Sarif is, as well as his position in the story. This provides a useful baseline for analyzing players’ reactions to the character.

The data from the Steam forums consists of three different discussions. One of these is a discussion of Sarif’s character and the other two are discussions of real-life human augmentation. In the discussion of Sarif’s character, people offer opinions about whether they believe he is trustworthy, as well as whether they believe he has humanity’s best interests at heart. Looking at this conversation allows us to examine whether Sarif is an effective execution of the mentor archetype, as well as whether he is an effective advocate for the pro-augmentation side of the debate.

In the discussions of real-life human augmentation, people debate whether they believe that cybernetic augmentation is a good thing for humanity, as well as whether they personally would be augmented if they had the choice. The game factors into these discussions in a major way; some of the posts directly reference the game and its characters (Sarif in particular).

5) Analysis

The game and the discussions surrounding it are analyzed together to determine the extent to which the game has influenced the players’ thinking on an issue of real-world significance. In the discussions, I look for the players’ reactions to David Sarif’s character, as well as their opinions about human augmentation. Several players mention Sarif specifically when talking about real-world augmentation, and others reference other aspects of the game. Some players directly echo pro-augmentation sentiments expressed by Sarif in the game; this also reinforces the idea that the game has influenced their thinking.

In the course of my analysis, I look at only the most relevant posts on the topics. Joke posts are ignored, as are those that do not give enough information to be useful. Analysis is confined only to Sarif’s character and/or discussions of real-world augmentation; issues of gameplay or story elements that do not relate to this are not examined.

More data from the forums

More data: Two posts this time, both from the Steam forum for Deus Ex. One is a post about people’s opinions of David Sarif, and the other is another post that deals with attitudes toward cybernetic augmentation of humans.

I shall examine the post about Sarif first. Understanding players’ attitudes toward Sarif as a character is important for this project, because his status as a “mentor” archetype offers a great deal of potential for influence over the players. Mentors obviously have a great deal of influence over people in real life, and if players are “embodied” in the games they play (as suggested by James Gee), it is possible that a virtual mentor could exercise significant influence as well. However, this would be highly dependent upon the way that the players perceive the virtual mentor.

Scholarly Sources on Video Games

Three sources after the jump:

The Influence of Video Games

Video games are often criticized as mindless entertainment. However, video games often deal with serious issues, both topical and timeless, just as other forms of literature do. But can video games make people think? Can they get people to look at issues in a new way? Can they influence the people who play them the way that texts influence the people who read them?

Deus Ex: Human Revolution deals with the issue of cybernetic augmentation of human beings, an issue that carries ever more real-world significance. A large portion of the game’s plot centers around the conflict over this issue; in the game, there are two sides to the debate, and they clash in many different ways. On one side are the people who believe that mechanical augmentation is bad for humans and should be banned, or at least heavily regulated (these people are derisively referred to as “purists” by the pro-augmentation side). And on the other side are people who support augmentation and believe it will lead to the betterment of humanity; one of these people is David Sarif, who was discussed in the last post.

So, given that so much of the game’s plot centers around the conflict between the opposing sides of the augmentation debate, did the game cause its players to think about this issue and the debate surrounding it? A look at the official Steam forum for the game suggests that it did, at least for some. Shortly after the game came out, a user on the forum wrote a post titled “Would you be willing to have a chip in your head?” This is a reference to the fact that the game’s main character, Adam Jensen, has a computer chip connected to his brain that allows him to control his cybernetic augmentations, allows him to communicate with his employers, and performs various other functions. The poster, who goes by the handle “esperanzo,” framed his question in such a way as to suggest that he wanted to know if the game influenced people’s attitudes toward cybernetic augmentation: