About Video Games and Philosophy... and puppies.

(Yes, you read that correctly.)

Determinism noun {philosophy}

The belief that people are not free to choose what they are like or how they behave, because these things are decided by their surroundings and other things over which they have no control. (Oxford Dictionary)

Determinism noun {social sciences}

The theory that everything that happens must happen as it does and could not have happened any other way. (Cambridge Dictionary)

And for all those of you who still have no clue: it may for our sake be summed up to the simple question whether any individual is free in their will to do as they please… or not.

The Beginning

You might find yourself asking: what does a computer game have in common with a philosophical doctrine? The simple answer to that would be: depends on how closely you are willing to look. 

The next, inevitable question would then be: how closely am I going to look? And the answer to that would be: just as closely as I have to. And if you’re asking yourself anything else right now, I feel inclined to tell you that you are the reader and I am the author, so you will kindly have to refrain from questioning me and just enjoy the ride.

This by no means has the ambition to be neither complete, nor scientific. It is meant but as a glimpse into the vast study of games for more than their mere value of entertainment, but self-ironically, this glimpse is supposed to be but mere entertainment to you. A pebble of humor in the sea of science, if you will. So if you’re here for the fun only, feel free to skip this next part. If you don’t want to die stupid however, you may just want to bear with me for a moment longer.

About Philosophy and Video Games

Propositional Logic

So there’s quite a few things connecting video games to philosophy, first of all, on a very general basis. For once, they both work with surprisingly similar methods at times: I don’t have to tell you that video games need to be programmed, or coded by people who know way more about it than I do. The fundamentals of computer science work on a very simple principle of logic that can also be found in mathematics (which you might be more familiar with than computer science). Propositional calculus (that’s the name of this field, even though it doesn’t have much to do with calculus in the common understanding of the word) deals with propositions (duh…), which can be true or false, and argument flow. Compound propositions are formed by connecting propositions by logical connectives, which are a little more complicated to explain, so let’s not make it more complicated than it needs to be.

See this example:


Premise A: If you are reading this article right now, you’re pretty cool.
Premise B: You are, in fact, reading this article right now.
Conclusion: You are pretty cool indeed. 

This could also be expressed as: A → B,  A ⊦ B  or  ¬A ⋁ B

While this seems fairly simple now, it could also look something like this: 
{P ⋁ Q, ¬Q ⋀ R, (P ⋁ Q) → R}
Now, I’m not here to explain to you exactly how this works, and neither are you here to learn about computer science, so let’s agree on the fact that this way of expressing premises and results exists, and that one can connect assumptions through odd looking symbols. That’s really all you need to know for now. It is an important part to understanding coding, and thus to understanding how the overall functionalities of a video game are expressed in a language.

And now comes the fun part about this whole explanation: philosophy works with the very same way of expressing cause and effect relationships, which are rather common when talking about doctrines such as free will. It’s a form of ‘formal logic’, that is common and used in almost the exact same way as in mathematics, and thus in computer science. Let’s try this for free will (just because I can):

For any event e, there will be some antecedent state of nature N, and a law of nature L, such that given L, N will be followed by e. This could also be expressed as L = N → e. 

See, we basically expressed determinism (through natural law in this case) in propositional logic! Congrats if you’re still with me, I’m well aware that this isn’t too easy to understand.

Now that there’s a basic connection, we may continue to delve into just this connection (without math, thank the gods). 

God, Nature or Programming?

According to Spinoza (who was a Dutch philosopher and one of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment, but that’s not the point), determinism through god equals determinism through the laws of nature (roughly, but let’s keep it at that or it will get really confusing really fast). So we’ve got determinism through god and through nature in philosophy, for now (there’s more... later). How does this transfer to video games? In a broader sense, we can say that the natural law of a video game is its programming, right? So in video games, determinism exists in terms of the game’s general means to even exist, and function. It’s programmed in a certain way that already limits the players’ freedom, and thus their free will to act (within the game, that is) as they please. Except for the rare case in which the player is a modder, for in that case there’s literally no rules for anything anymore. (I’m not going too much into that, because I’m a modding noob and literally everyone would be able to tell.)

Once we introduce another philosopher to our little programming problem, namely Kant (pretty cool guy, in terms of his theories), we face another problem. For Kant, acting consciously and out of choice according to moral laws (which we will leave undefined here and just roll with society’s conventions) means the freedom of action, and thus free will. The problem we face with the Sims however is that (unlike games like GTA, which is a whole different problem) it doesn’t allow the player to even choose to make truly immoral decisions. There’s no option to murder someone when they get annoying, or to commit suicide when life itself gets annoying. The decision is taken from the player, which would likely lead Kant to say that the Sims player is not free in their will. As this is a flaw, again, of the game’s structure (its ‘natural law’), Spinoza would probably agree with Kant.

And now the god comes in. A puny god, admittedly, as we will see soon. Determinism through any kind of deity is a rather common belief, and while we could be led to the assumption that the ‘god’ equals the law of nature, and thus the coding (or is it the programmer?), it is not what the game wants you to think. 

The entire concept of the Sims, a literal life simulation game, is based on enabling the player to act as (a) god. It’s not only conveyed by the intention of the game being to literally make people do stuff and thus taking their free will from them, but also by the visual perspective. When you look at the game, you look down. Boom, you're in an instant position of power. So telling people what to do, shaping the world to one’s own wishes and having the (seemingly) utter control about the ongoings in the world does make the players feel like they are the one in power, like they are the god of this virtual reality. 

That’s actually quite funny, does one consider what was previously stated. The player is given the illusion of free will, while really, they are determined by the game’s programming and the moral values of the programmers (or their bosses), which also went into the code, prohibiting certain actions and forcing others. 

Let’s illustrate this with an example: (this is where the puppies come in)

Imagine a puppy in a playpen. Said puppy has a lot of space, some toys, and the freedom to act within the given reality and with the given items as he pleases. Now, this freedom to act within a given reality will keep the puppy content and happy, and distract him from the fences of the pen. He will believe (yes, let’s assume that puppies do think logically) that he is free in his will, as he is not hindered to interact, and act, as he pleases. He won’t develop a wish to leave the pen if he does not know that the possibility to leave exists, or that he is, in fact, caught in a pen in the first place. The pen is his world, and he doesn’t see the fence as a fence. Neither does he realize that while he is free to play with his toys as he pleases, the toys he gets to play with in the first place were picked by his human. So the puppy will still believe he is free in will, while the human is setting up the reality within which the puppy is free indeed. Did this make things clearer? No? The puppy is obviously the player, and the pen is the world of the Sims. The human is the code, or the programmer. Yet, we could go on to ask if the human (either in the puppy example or the programmer, both is fine) isn’t also stuck within a playpen he is unable to see the fences of.

And right at this point, we’re back to the original debate about determinism. The circle is complete, if you will. 

So, to sum it up, we could agree that while the players themselves are determined by the technical making-up of the game (as are the Sims, but we would need to look into the code to say more about that), they are able to function as the determining factor within the given possibilities of the game.

What's this even good for?

Since we as players are at least able to control some of the game (or refuse to do so), we shall look into that a little bit closer! Here comes the fun part (if you didn’t already consider the theory fun, which I certainly did) where we test what happens if we refuse to act upon the power the game is giving us. (Because, technically, the refusal to act upon the power given to us is part of free will too.)

The Story of Sky Monroe: Prologue

The Ways of Life

Now, let’s take a closer look at the ways of this admittedly odd project: I played the Sims 4 basic game on PC, with no mods, expansions or custom content for the duration of a short Sim-lifespan (about 60 in-game days) from adulthood to death. This I did twice, with the very same Character: Sky Monroe. 

This is the beauty that is Sky Monroe, your average Sim.

Sky Monroe is your average adult. She's a little sporty, a little creative and just generally normal through and through. Admittedly, she has absolutely no inkling about throwing a household by herself, but what can one expect of someone who came into existence as a grown adult five minutes ago? Not much. You will likely ask yourself something along the lines of "but if she's so normal, why does she have green hair?". And let me answer that with: because she can. She's easier to find and recognize on the screen this way, and that is already enough of a reason, really. 


Now the interesting part, the putting to action of all this nonsense… One run through Sky's life, I let her do whatever she wanted to and didn’t interfere at all in the game (which was hell. Literally. You’ll see why in a bit.). The other time I played the game normally, using the control given to me like the game wants me to, with the very same character, house and possibilities available. But with me meddling in everything. Now, (enough of the rather dull facts) let’s see how this went… Here’s the mixed blessing that is the story of Sky Monroe.

The Story of Sky Monroe: The First

The Uncontrolled One.

It started as a normal day of moving in. A new house, a new neighborhood, a new start. A new beginning to a life of possibilities. She was happy, she was content… she had everything she could ever wish for.

But it didn’t last, it never does… At first she did make an effort, really, and tried to hold her life together on her own, but how could she succeed had she though never known a life like this before. A life in solitude.

Oh, but she did find company in herself and her own head, her imagination and the fictional worlds others had written for her to delve into. And in sports, if anyone wants to consider that of any entertainment value.

Yet, it came the time none of herself would suffice for herself indeed, and she grew lonely in her own head, bored in her never ending but self inflicted solitude. Loneliness was her only companion, a constant one that wouldn’t let her out of its’ cold grasp… unless she would have simply walked out of her open front door, which she rather stubbornly refused to do. And just like that, she grew more miserable by the hour. It had been about two days, at this point.

In her despair, she turned to the only comfort she could find: watching others being even more miserable on the tele.

And just then she knew that the end was nigh, it was the starting point of her inevitable downfall. Her physical health started echoing her mental one, and the will to life shrunk with every threat of will anchoring her to reality. Which was literally just outside her door, but that’s not the point.

A last attempt to keep her sanity, to keep her mind from slipping into darkness… or she just really liked reading her one book over and over again. And over yet another time (who wouldn’t?).

All that sorrow of her life (of three days, by now) downward spiraled until not even sleep would visit her, and she was but a shell of an empty woman, desperately awaiting change. Or the end. Who knows what free creatures think, after all. 

And may it be for her wish to end her own suffering, or for the insanity driven attempt to find company in the grim reaper himself, she at last chose her own ending, like she had been free to choose her life.

The shock, the turmoil, the pain… (Honestly, it’s fire, what did she expect? A sunburn? Not that she would know what that would even feel like, on her skin, since she never left her darn house...) And she dwelt in the fires of her own personal hell, unwilling to back away from the brim of a scorching death. Her kitchen, a self inflicted furnace… oh, tyger tyger. (Props to you if you get the reference. Little bit of innocence and experience there...)

One last time she prayed to her merciless gods (me, I guess, as if I would’ve helped her… I enjoyed watching her burn.) in seek of guidance, a savior maybe, but she was alone as she had always been. And she burned in solitude, until at last her dying wish was granted to her, a savior coming for her tortured, four-days-old soul. Death wore a nice cloak that day. And an even nicer tablet, I assume… gosh, the need for modernization (digitalization?) gets everyone these days.

And upon that, Sky died. Alone, burnt and in her pajamas.

We are just going to pretend that this is not a story about how media consumption drove a girl with free will and every opportunity to better her life and care for her own needs into commiting suicide instead of being a responsible and well balanced adult...

To be continued...

The Story of Sky Monroe: The second

The Controlled One.

It started as a normal day of moving in. A new house, a new neighborhood, a new start. A new beginning to a life of possibilities. She was happy, she was content… she had everything she could ever wish for. Everything but a free will.

And like every reasonable being, she completely ignored the beauty life around her had to offer and dug right into the one book she found closest to her. Was this another start to a tragic story of isolation, of devastation beyond reason? No, fate shall not repeat itself at the hands of this creator (who finally was allowed to play the game like a normal person).

Sky found the door to an anchored life, to reality outside her own perception (the door to leave her own darn house) at last, and socialized like a decent person should. With a bunch of strangers randomly showing up on her patio.

Friendships budded, sanity blossomed and romance rooted deep into the soil of this newly discovered thing called “neighborhood”. She couldn’t have been happier to connect right on the first day (she could have been happier… she needed the bathroom), and soon her life was all but in the right tracks leading to a fulfilled Sim-existence.

And while not every friendship is meant to last, some are meant for more indeed... More than the brief encounter forced by chance, the exchange of smalltalk over mere minutes of shared existence. No, some friendships lead to a connecting of spirits, of fates, to intertwine like theirs did. And despite the (admitted) shock at the sudden intensity of her feelings (yeah, the poor guy was completely lost right there), he reciprocated them nonetheless.

But as a modern woman of world, she would not let a relationship dominate her own existence (really, he was even more dull than she was), and her wish for a peacefully dominated life was already met by her very creator. Now that she was definitely not lonely in any way anymore, Sky decided (was forced to) focus on leading a balanced life with fresh air, hobbies and a good dose of fun.

And success of course, because why else should she keep trying if not for the rewarding feeling of accomplishing something her predecessors, her fellows cannot do? Yup, Sims need to do some things solemnly for their ego, too.

She was happy, truly content in her day to day life that started to fill with more and more activities, big and small joys of any kind that she learned to appreciate beyond measure. And chores. Because you don’t even get around those in the Sims.

Life was ordinary as it could be (and boring as it could be), until the fateful day when Sky discovered she had a tree in her garden! (What!? No way!) And that marked the starting point to her very descent into madness, a swirling storm of blurred lines between reality and illusion. (Nevermind my comment about the creations being reflective of the creator's mind...)

Down, down, down… Down the rabbit hole. How long is forever again?

After this very day, life was not the same anymore. Strange things started to happen, odd more than reason could argue to file into the depth of a sane mind. Oh, and random they were at the least, regular despite order's eerie absence.

A stranger crying at her feet at night, maybe a dream only, or maybe not? Did another twist the sinews of reality, another creator working against the very creation of the determining force (me, duh)? Sky’s life derailed, and the creator lost the reins of creation.

A floating sink became a normal occurrence on Sky’s journey down the rabbit hole, and yet she had no inkling that her reality was slowly slipping. She was content in her oblivion to the forced at work around her, content in her own version of reality. Her laws of nature as undisturbed as invisible to her eye, yet not to the nature of the creator's law.

She started giving herself a hand when doing chores, and soon her best friend was but a shadow of a past self, of a reality unlived but not unknown to her. (Yup, I screwed up at this point… but so what? My project, my rules.)

The only constant in her life…

...the random dude who became her boyfriend ten minutes after moving in.

They lived a happy life together, keeping each other sane to the rules of their own perception, as they led a life of madness but happiness nonetheless. Because despite everything, there were the perks of being mad after all…

Sky never had to eat dinner alone when her husband came home late from work! She had the best company in herself, never ought to worry about being social outside her own existence. But with the time passing came along the passing of health (uh, that back pain), and the passing of creatures in creation.

Her husband died, tragically, suddenly, and as the lights of life left his physical form behind to pass on to a better place, Sky wept for the first time in her life. And for the first time, she was glad to live in a different reality than normal people, for to her, the rules of two creators determined her reality. (Oh darn... the game working around me as if ON PURPOSE is a pain, seriously.)

For this reality, this creator beyond the influence of her very own one, allowed her to beg for mercy indeed, to beg not for her own sake but for another soul at the rim of realms. And her call met gracious ears. (Not mine...)

He lived, to Sky's greatest joy, to tell tales of the grim reaper’ mercy.

And Sky lived to tell tales of the grim reaper’s favorite books and his good humor. Death couldn’t be cheated, maybe, but definitely bribed with a good conversation and the promise of dinner. On, on, on went the descent down the rabbit hole. The grim reaper became Sky's third friend, that day.

But every journey has to end, at the hands of forces greater than the creator, and every venture has to find its destiny. A goodbye had to be said, as Sky had to say goodbye to her husband at last…

… and also to her average-length life. She died happily, contently, of old age as she moved on to greet the grim reaper like the old friend he was. 

Sky died in the same spot as her predecessor, unknowingly, unbothered by the truths of a reality that had long left her for good. But this time, in this reality, she died happy.

The end.

Conclusion... and more puppies.

So, what does this entire thing tell us now? We witnessed two different lives, two different fates, both very distinct in the amount of freedom they possessed and foremost, both very entertaining in their own way. But looking back at it in all seriousness for a moment, we have to ask ourselves: did the Sky with the free will REALLY have a free will after all? Or wasn't she rather determined by forces even higher than me? Looking back at what we stated in the theoretical part, there is still another determining factor: the programming. And while the themselves controlled, but still controlling factor (the puppy/me) refuses to act, the higher or superior controlling factor (the puppy's owner/the programming) still has the overall control and the overall say in the given reality (the playpen/the world of the Sims). In easier: even if I don't control Sky, she's still not free of her world's natural law, which is the programming. For example, she may have not been able to leave her home, simply because the programming didn't leave her that option. Maybe it prohibited her from seeing the fences of her own playpen, and it would have been my task to show her a life beyond this very first set of boundaries. She never tried to break free, because she never knew she could. So... does this mean that we need a determining force in our life? Maybe. Is it my fault that she ended up dead? Maybe. Do I feel guilty? Not at all.