The Values of Phenomena Gaming Part 2

For Part 1 of my values, please see this entry: https://www.phenomenagaming.com/blog/the-values-of-phenomena-gaming

I was surprised by how thorough my first entry was with its first two values and realized as I was writing that I needed to split up my entries to avoid a lengthy post. For part 2, I want to continue to develop the values of Phenomena Gaming utilizing more video game themes. The three themes today all have to do with community relationships.

I am Anti-Racist and Anti-Classist

Phenomena Gaming is an anti-racist and anti-classist organization because a large percentage of video games in the genres I play promote solidarity. Party members are often taken from a variety of social classes and races as a means of counteracting evil in the world. The most recent prominent example of a game being anti-classist is Xenoblade Chronicles 3. In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you control a party of 6, 3 from Keves, and 3 from Agnus. These two societies are at war, controlled by Moebius leaders. They have been fighting for so long no one remembers why the fighting began. As your party forms, they have to fight to trust each other because they were fighting in what amounts to be a civil war since Agnus and Keves have the same origins from when Zed froze the world to prevent universal collapse. Civil wars happen because one class of people thinks they are better than the other. Civil wars are also only to the advantage of a few certain people who profit off of war for their industries. In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, only the Moebius are truly happy with the constant state of war.

Racism in many role playing games is not as much about skin color as it is about human races versus “demi-human” races. Lines like “Khajit are thieves” in Elder Scrolls Skyrim, is an example of disdain because of one’s physical characteristics and stereotypical behavior. Prejudices are common because we do not have all of the information and patterns of behavior for every individual and pattern recognition is a key survival skill. However, when prejudices are embraced by people in power they become racist. Seeing Captain Fargo allow for the destruction of Marbule in Chrono Cross by not sharing the song of renewal with his son Nikki, show examples of what happens when people who have disdain for others based on physical characteristics gain power to implement policies to harm others. With the destruction of their home, the demi-humans are forced to work on a casino ship led by Captain Fargo in order to survive. The demi-humans are not allowed to leave until they pay off their debts. The debts keep piling for the demi-humans and performers until the main party catches Captain Fargo cheating using a magnet on a roulette wheel. Captain Fargo has the power to treat demi-humans fairly and he chooses not to, instead actively making their suffering worse and preventing the demi-humans from having a home so others can extract minerals from Marbule.

I am anti-racist and anti-classist because video games have taught me that systemic enforcement of distinctions leads to great harm for a large amount of people. As an organization, Phenomena Gaming will train leaders to respond to social issues with sensitivity and tenacity when the common good is being harmed.

We need friends to share moments of beauty and grace in order to have a break from the more difficult moments.

Deep Friendship is Essential to Life

Video games have so many positive examples of best friends and significant others that it is hard for me to see how so many human relationships fall short of anything remotely close to the friendships I see develop in video games. The boys of Final Fantasy XV: Ignis, Prompto, Noctis, and Gladiolus have a great relationship for how they support and challenge Noctis in his role to defeat Ardyn. Noctis is a young leader who flees his hometown as it is attacked by a rival empire, his three friends flee with him and they travel the countryside to find a way to counteract the Niflheim empire and try to get Noctis prepared for marrying Lunafreya. They journey with Noctis in difficult dungeons to recover weapons from previous kings. They support Noctis after he watches Lunafreya get stabbed by Ardyn. They laugh around campfires as their chocobos chirp, and they practice cooking meals. Each member goes on their own journey for a while and comes back to the group changed but embraced upon their return. In the end, this group of friends is truly present to each other in good and bad times.

Final Fantasy X has the best romance because their romance is not just about them but rather their shared reflection and hopes for a world without Sin. Whether it is Tidus saying, “this is our story” before fighting Yunalescka and diving into battle, or Yuna strengthening her resolve by saying she won’t sacrifice any of her friends for the Final Aeon, their interplay gives the others the strength to defeat Sin and bring an eternal Calm. Their romance takes the party on a challenging journey into the origins of FInal Fantasy X’s world by rebelling against the religious authority of the world. The best of romances empowers each partner to have their dreams come true. In this scenario, both of their dreams converge to end a tyrannical monster and an abusive religion’s reign which is an added bonus.

Deep friendship gives life because people can be authentically themselves and free to explore, make mistakes, and occasionally succeed with major accomplishments. Any good social movement requires deep friendship in order to sustain the energy needed to overcome evil and abusive systems.

I Embrace Multi-Polar Thinking

Communities are destroyed because conflict arises between series of dualisms and interpretations of events. Gaming communities can become toxic when revolving around particular personalities and those communities mobilize to do harm to others who don’t share their opinions. This has happened on everything from character ships (examples are Cloti and Clerith in Final Fantasy VII) to communities mobilized on games to foster racist and homophobic behavior (Call of Duty lobbies). Games have broken people in many ways and Phenomena Gaming will be a community where people are built up and supported so we can focus on what is important; companionship and leaving the world better than we found it.

Multi-polar thinking is seeing decision making from more than two lenses. Bad examples of multi-polar thinking are Triangle Strategy. Every major decision in Triangle Strategy has only two options, and you have to whip votes to one or the other choice. A fun system but not one which draws out the multi-polar imagery which would invite a unique reflection, increase creativity, and reduce harm. Shin Megami Tensei III is a better dialogue based option to unlock endings through its dialogue flags, even though the reflection is based on binary questions. Shin Megami Tensei III has multiple conversations and based on your responses determine the ending you get. All binary questions but multiple paths to get to one of five different endings. The DLC ending does do an override of the decision trees but the dialogues still occur. Shin Megami Tensei III is not perfect but better than Triangle Strategy’s decision trees.

Having this reflection leads to a question to all my readers? Are there any games where decisions are made from more than two perspectives? If so, please let me know via my email (adam@phenomenagaming.com or @whatcouldbeingb on Twitter). If not, is it a coding complexity issue to allow for multiple exigencies which are not mutually exclusive?

Multi-polar thinking allows for creativity and learning of a variety of opinions before making up one’s mind. Phenomena Gaming will train leaders in multi-polar thinking to help people think of creative solutions and compromises when leading in the world.

My next post will take these values and transform them into actions I hope to build in my leadership training and that I do in my own life. I’m looking forward to the conversation.