Project Proposal.
I would like to do an RPG that uses Marcuse and comments
primarily on the domination of nature, and the quantification of science, and
how greatly this impacts our nature of conservation.
1.
Bibliography: Marcuse is going to be on there
(of course), and this research http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/358/1439/1863.short
- I also need to find some more indirect research to shape how the science is going to work out in refrences.
This idea can work well in this format because I have an
entire mini-world and towns to play with. By altering what a forest looks like,
I can make it more into a maze, by creating events and cut scenes, I can
manipulate almost everything. There are already a lot of plant based enemies in
the game database itself, and that would work well to counter-argue the issue
of us dominating the ecosystem. We just do not know everything yet, and can heavily
alter (or in this case have mutant flesh eating plants) ecosystems by pesticides
and other manipulators including GMOs (genetically modified organisms). And
then this alteration soon becomes detrimental for us.
I want to make this world in the transition of this quote:
Surely, the world of their predecessors was a backward.
pre-technological world, a world with the good conscience of inequality and
toil, in which labor was still a fated misfortune; but a world in which man and
nature were not yet organized as things and instrumentalities. With its code of
forms and manners. with the style and vocabulary of its literature and
philosophy. this past culture expressed the rhythm and content of a universe in
which valleys and forests, villages and inns, nobles and villains, salons and
courts were a part of the experienced reality. In the verse and prose of this
pre-technological culture is the rhythm of those who wander or ride in
carriages. who have the time and the pleasure to think, contemplate, feel and
narrate.
The art style reflects this idea very well. There are still
swords and archery and ‘magic’ – which I need to change into ‘biosynthesis’ –
to keep with the nature theme. I like that. That’s staying in there. So its
going to look like that world, but it is going to be altered. Science is going
to be there, all of the shops are going to be corporations (Brother in Arms
Inc, etc.) Yet all of the people can still freely talk to a stranger and not
have too much thought into it.
I can also go onto fun side-quest/regular quest tangents
that would seem more haphazard in an essay, but absolutely fine in an RPG, like
for instance: I can have quick break-off into another subject which has a
limited field of discussion, but could work well (I’m still fleshing out the
story-line).
So a bullet list of Goals and quotes!
1.
Ability to conflict and confirm with Marcuse’s
ideas on our empowerment over nature
2.
Talking about the quantification of science, and
possibly into a tangent of the religious aspect of this world as well (just a
small quip). Think chapter six such as
“The quantification of nature, which led to
its explication in terms of mathematical structures, separated reality from all
inherent ends and, consequently, separated the true from the good, science from
ethics. No matter how science may now define the objectivity of nature and the
interrelations among its parts, it cannot scientifically conceive it in terms
of "final causes."” - Marcuse
3.
Also want to talk about a quote that I loved “this
nation of the essential neutrality of science is also ex- tended to
technics. The machine is indifferent toward the social uses to which it is put.
provided those uses remain within its technical capabilities.” Having enemies
have the same magical attacks as the character, having ‘good’ and ‘evil’
fighting with the same weapons. Oh, and still having Marcuse as a dragon.
Trust me, at this point, this is a lot more ambitious. My
world is going to be a pre-tech Marcuse that is transitioning into regular
technology and having effects on both the enemies and just everything about
that world. Its going to be awesome!
1 comment:
This is a fun project, for me as well as you, which is a great goal. It has technological ambition, and you are displaying a sophisticated and ambitious - but also selective, which is actually a good thing - interest in Marcuse. So far, so good.
Now, let us think in terms if argument. Are you trying to argue (more artistically than normally) that Marcuse is correct in his understanding of how we relate to nature? If so, are you extending or emphasizing or developing certain aspects if hat argument (which is probably what you should be doing) or simply illustrating it (which is less ambitious)?
Or are you conducting an analysis of RPGs as a genre? That is, illustrating and making a point about their peculiar fixation on pre-technological worlds?
So your task here - not now but as you do the project - is to clarify your agenda.
I see a lot of potential here - the greatest risk is getting trapped in the technological challenges if the project rather than really articulating the argument.
Post a Comment