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Inspiration for EP: Video Games

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ssfsx17 ssfsx17's picture
Inspiration for EP: Video Games
To go with the topics about music and art: a more interactive medium. Deus Ex - obviously. In addition, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is explicitly about transhumanism and has the H+ logo in its trailers. Iron Seed - this ancient MS-DOS game turned me on to the idea of transhumanism before I even knew what that word was. The plot of the game is that some great calamity happened on Earth, leading to an exodus to Mars. Many years later, a brutal crackdown drove out many religious individuals. Six of them were uploaded into a (slightly-customizable) ship named the Iron Seed and set off to find new worlds to colonize. One of the six positions, responsible for keeping the crew sane, is named "Psychometrist" instead of psychosurgeon. They meet aliens who feel truly alien and incomprehensible, although the final part of the game is a basic save-the-galaxy quest. One wonders if perhaps the developers of this game and the founders of Posthuman Studios once travelled in the same circles back in the early 90's... Metal Gear - despite starting out as a tactical espionage action game with occasional science-fiction elements, it eventually started tackling nanotechnology, memetic attacks, methods by which AIs can control the whole world, etc. DoDonPachi DaiOuJou - the three protagonists, referred to as Element Dolls, are AIs who were originally designed to serve humankind, assist the elderly, and interface with complex information systems. When a robotic threat roars its head, the Element Dolls are forced into prototype fighter planes and sent to fight the enemy. In the end, one of them falls in love with a human operator, while another one of them is affected by the enemy program and goes berserk. The gameplay itself is not very related to H+ or horror, but it is pretty fun. Syndicate - this was an old tactical/strategy game about corporations who fight for world domination via violent operations carried out by drug-filled cyborgs. The population at large is kept sedated thanks to implanted chips and drug delivery systems, and they can be mind-controlled to form a sort of tactical network that will eventually overwhelm the anti-hacking defenses of enemy cyborgs. Opera Omnia - this is a small independent game that can be found at http://www.increpare.com/2009/02/opera-omnia/ for free. Although the game is mostly about rewriting history in order to suit political goals, it also shows a lot of different possibilities for memetic attacks and culture-hacking for the purpose of warfare.


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Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Re: Inspiration for EP: Video Games
My own favourite game is the by now ancient Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Basically Civilization in space, it starts with the breakup of a United Nations colony mission into a number of fractions who then start colonizing the alien planet. I think it as a great feel of imminent singularity when you go for the transcendence win option. But the best part is the various quotes from the different leaders - many sound like historic quotes by historic people in EP. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Alpha_Centauri "What do I care for your suffering? Pain, even agony, is no more than information before the senses, data fed to the computer of the mind. The lesson is simple: you have received the information, now act on it. Take control of the input and you shall become master of the output." - Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Essays on Mind and Matter"
Extropian
Quincey Forder Quincey Forder's picture
Re: Inspiration for EP: Video Games
About a decade ago, there was a game based on P.K? Dick's story Ubik? It would be a nice reference to Firewall and Asyncs the tandoori was similar to Syndicate. Much more recent, Dead Space and Dead Sptace 2. It inspired me a lot, actually. Two cults, several NPC (Isaac, Nolan, Kendra, Ellie...) and a few locations?.. Fear trilogy is a great inspiration for the Lost, but also for syncs in general. Several PCs and NPCs could be made based on that game. Killzone 2 is a goldmine for ideas too! NPCs, gear, a new faction... A bit old, too, .Hack/SIGN, and more for younger console gamers, would provide good pointer for introductions to Simspace and digital vector Exsurgent strains. The OAV sold with the game was quite well done and took place in the real world, compared to the game and amine series. The French dub was atrocious, too Crysis 2. The Fall? Nuff said
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Decivre Decivre's picture
Re: Inspiration for EP: Video Games
Space Empires IV is a great game in my opinion. A 4x turn-based game, it deals with concepts very similar to the singularity. You have to balance defense and aggression with other races, while simultaneously diverting resources to research. Doing enough of the latter results in technological capabilities one might attribute to the TITANs... destroying and creating stars, dyson spheres, and even building up one's population through clones and synthmorphs. This one is an absolute blast. Endgame: Singularity is a freeware game you can get on the net where you play as a Seed AI that tries a more benevolent approach to achieving singularity. Rather than battle the human race a la SkyNet, the player is forced to use stealth and trickery to stay out of the public eye, and balance the need for more computational power with the need for discretion. A very fun, if very short, game. Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in North America) is a story-based game by the creators of Omikron: Nomad Soul (another good game with transhuman themes). You are caught in an apocalyptic conspiracy by both a super-advanced AI network and an ancient Illuminati-esque cabal both trying to conquer all that exists. Has some mysticism, so it isn't fully sci-fi. Portal has rogue AI, reality-warping and philosophical questions about the sense of self all wrapped up in a neat little, albeit short, package. Cortex Command is a game where you are an AI that remote-controls robots to do it's bidding. Still in beta, wouldn't recommend buying it yet. Thief: The Dark Project. This is an awesome game that basically defined the stealth genre. While it does have many fantasy elements, it also deals a bit with transhumanism (especially in its sequel), and is rife with conspiracies. Probably my favorite game of all time. Shadowrun for the Super Nintendo and Genesis. Really old, really awesome. I just had to throw it out there. Bioshock. Deals heavily with transhumanist themes, and feels like something straight out of Eclipse Phase (but perhaps taking place a few centuries prior). I'll think of more eventually.
Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
Lord of Insanity Lord of Insanity's picture
Re: Inspiration for EP: Video Games
The Dead Space series seems to be a good inspiration for an exsurgent infection.