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:

Meet David Sarif

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a great many secondary characters 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.

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:

Introduction to the project

For this project, I have chosen to study a video game—Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The game was recently released for the PC, the Xbox 360, and the Playstation 3. The version that I will be playing for the project is the PC version, though all the versions are identical save for technical specifications. I will be supplementing my analysis of the game’s story elements with other opinions from the Steam forum for the game (found at http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=233), but my primary focus will be the game itself.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the prequel to Deus Ex, a game that came out in 2000. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is set in the year 2027, at a time when cybernetic enhancements of humans (or “human augmentation,” as it is termed in the game) is becoming increasingly commonplace. Gameplay is from a first-person perspective; the player controls Adam Jensen, the game’s protagonist, and sees the world through his eyes. The game could best be described as an action RPG (role-playing game), where the player is faced with obstacles that must be overcome in order to accomplish goals. The player usually has the choice as to how to achieve a particular objective; the player could choose to fight the guards blocking the way, find a way to sneak past them, or hack the security systems to distract the guards, for example.

The goal of this project is to examine the potential for video games as a literary genre. And so my research for this project will consist of playing the game and analyzing its story elements. Specifically, I plan to focus on two things: First, what are the game’s thematic elements and how are they conveyed through the medium? The overall theme of the game is humanity, and what makes a person human; does a person cease to be human when a certain percentage of their body has been replaced with cybernetic implants? Or is there more to being human than just biological characteristics? The theme of humanity is present throughout the game, and is featured heavily in some of the advertising for it, such as here:


Deus Ex: Human Revolution "I Never Asked For This" from Jaclyn Yuan on Vimeo.

This is a serious question that is becoming more relevant by the day, and so I feel that a game that deals with it is a good choice for analysis. The question I will ask is: What are the advantages (and disadvantages) that the video game medium offers with respect to storytelling? How does storytelling differ thanks to the interactive format?

The second object of focus will be the way that gameplay elements impact story elements, such as characterization. Specifically, I will be looking at the way that the developers influence these story elements through the options they give to the player. While the video game genre offers more choices to the player in experiencing the story than other genres (such as films, novels, etc.), choices are not unlimited, and game developers may offer a lot of choices in one area while restricting choice to almost nothing in other areas. Also, even when the player does have choices, the developers can influence the choices made through the rewards offered to the player. Since this effects the overall experience of the story, this practice also warrants analysis.

Again, I chose this game not because it has what I feel is the best story ever in a video game, but because it has good potential for analysis of both these areas. I hope to develop this area of study and advance the potential for video games to be seen as legitimate vehicles for storytelling through this project.

Examining Story in Video Games

For this project, I seriously considered three games: Planescape: Torment, Bioshock, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I feel that all three of these games would be good choices for the purposes of examining story in video games. All three games have detailed, well-developed stories, all three have strong thematic elements, and all three are personal favorites of mine. So, as to the pros and cons of each game:

Planescape: Torment is a traditional RPG (role-playing game) with tactical combat played from a top-down perspective. This game, in my opinion, has the best story out of the three. The story is relatively unique in that it does not deal with grand events or saving the world (a common theme in RPGs), but rather is only concerned with the story of the game’s main character, The Nameless One. The Nameless One is immortal and has no memory of his past, and the entire purpose of the game is to discover who he is and why he can’t die. The story is well-written and deals with complex issues and problems that don’t have easy answers—issues of life and death, of forgiveness and redemption. The game features over a million words of dialogue, so the level of detail in the story is unparalleled,

Ultimately, I chose not to analyze this game for one simple reason: It’s old. It was released in December of 1999 and while it was well-received at the time (critically if not commercially), it’s not talked about much today. Also, the presentation of the story is an artifact of the technical limitations of the time—there’s a small amount of voice acting, but most of the story is communicated via text. Most modern video games have moved on from text presentations into scripts that are fully voice-acted, and there is a significant difference in the presentation styles. If I am to analyze the literary potential of video games, I feel it would be better to analyze the medium as it currently stands.

Bioshock is an action-RPG hybrid played from a first-person perspective. It involves one person’s exploration of Rapture, an underwater city constructed by a billionaire so that he could escape from government regulation. It was released in December of 2007, so it is still relatively modern, and this can be seen in the presentation of the story—the story is communicated through fully voice-acted “audio diaries” that the player finds at various points in the game. There are strong thematic elements in this game, as well—what does it mean to have true freedom? Also, it has one of the most memorable plot twists I’ve ever experienced in a video game.

I chose not to analyze this game for two reasons. First, I don’t feel that the thematic elements were as well-realized as they could have been. The first two-thirds of the game is excellent, but in my opinion, the last third represents a missed opportunity from both a story and a thematic point of view. And second, the level of engagement with other characters is minimal. Rapture is an isolated and depopulated place, and there are only a handful of characters that the player has any interaction with. Character is an important part of story, and this game would not give me as much of an opportunity to examine it as other games would.

Finally, there is the game I chose to analyze: Deus Ex: Human Revolution. This is also an action-RPG hybrid played from a first-person perspective. This game was just released in August, so it is an excellent vehicle to analyze contemporary storytelling in video games. The story involves a global conspiracy surrounding the use of “augmentations”—cybernetic replacements for limbs and organs. The game is centered around the player’s attempts to unravel the conspiracy. Like Bioshock, the story is presented through dialogue that is fully voice-acted, but unlike Bioshock, there is a significant amount of interaction with other characters; the player has conversations with other people that include dialogue options for what to say.

I chose this game not because I believe it has the best story of any game I’ve ever played (that honor goes to Planescape: Torment), but because it offers a contemporary example of storytelling in video games that is ripe for analysis. There are many elements of the story that can be analyzed, both interactive and non-interactive, and I believe that the game will be a useful illustration of the current state of video game storytelling, as well as the merits of video games as a literary genre.

Introduction

My name is Matt Doogan. I'm a graduate student pursuing an MA in English. The focus of my study can be broadly defined as looking at the ways in which people influence others through writing. In the course of my graduate education, I've become more and more interested in the differences in genre and how those differences affect the ability for authors to influence their audience. A poem is different from a novel which is different from a film which is different from a video game, and they will all influence their audience in different ways.

The focus of this blog will be on the genre of video games. I've been a PC gamer for quite some time, with occasional side trips into console gaming, and the medium has always fascinated me. It is my belief that video games qualify as a literary genre, and this genre offers unique options to writers for telling stories. Further, while texts are always experienced differently by different audiences, the interactive nature of video games allows for an even greater variety of experience on the part of people playing them. One person's straightforward adventure game is another person's subtle social commentary. One person's arch-villain is another person's noble antihero. Many video games offer the player the ability to create the story as he or she plays the game, and everyone will create something slightly different.

Because stories in video games are created through the player's actions, this allows writers to force players to look at those actions and what they mean. Planescape: Torment asks us to look at issues of life and death, sin and forgiveness. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic asks us to examine what redemption truly means. Bioshock asks us to examine the true nature of freedom and free will. None of these stories could have been told in the same way in any other medium; the interactivity brings the questions into sharper focus.

The focus of this blog will primarily be on the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution, though other games may be discussed at certain points. I will primarily be looking at two things: The game's thematic elements, and the way that the rewards associated with the choices offered to the player constitute an attempt (intended or not) to influence the player. The game deals with complex issues that are increasingly relevant today, so an examination of the way that the game presents these issues should prove interesting.