Here is my final paper from my Global Game Studies class. I would include some other papers, but the topics get repeated for the class and that could lead to plagiarism temptations.
The Mass Effect 2 Genocide
The message Mass Effect 2 conveys is that genocide is a necessary act of survival. “Acts of genocide have been recognized by the United Nations nine times [in the 20th] century. These examples include the purge of Armenians by the Turks beginning in 1915, Jews killed in the Ukraine in the late 1910's as well as during the Nazi regime, Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's, Bosnian Muslims in the former Yugoslavia early this decade, and the slaughter of the Tutsi minority by the Hutu majority in Rwanda in 1994.[1] While genocide is globally recognized as a crime against humanity, ethnic cleansing is not.” Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.[2]
Mass Effect 2 is the second installment to Bioware’s Mass Effect series. It is an Adventure/Role Playing Game set in the year 2185. Mass effect has people confront the issue of genocide by presenting the issue in a science fiction setting which makes it easier for the player to digest through the rich environments and characters. The nemesis of the main story is the race of the Collectors. They are abducting entire human colonies. This is the player’s initiation to the topic of genocide. Within the game, the player may also play a series of side quests, some of which revolve around the team members Shepard recruits. There is Mordin Solus, the Salarian and Legion, a machine that uses logic to weigh the variables and gives the player the opportunity to make his own decision.
The Collectors are a species who have been genetically repurposed by the Reapers to collect specimens of other species. In a cut scene it is revealed Reapers view all life unlike their own as inferior and are intent on eliminating them. They do this to maintain the purity of the galaxy. As a result they care little for the lives they are destroying. The Collectors lack an identity of their own and are an extension of the Reapers. Whenever the Collectors are encountered in the game, they tell Shepard that his species is inferior. The Collectors abduct human colonists and convert them into genetic material in order to create a new Reaper.
Mordin Solus, a member of Shepard’s team, is directly linked to a later modification of the Genophage, a biological weapon used to cull Krogan numbers. It introduced a genetic mutation in the Krogan genome that reduced the probability of viable pregnancies. It was created as a response to Krogan military expansion. After centuries of the affliction, the Krogan are doomed to extinction. If the player chooses to have a conversation with Mordin while on the Normandy, Mordin presents the argument that the ends justify the means. The Krogan could not be allowed to expand their territories because it would lead to a massive galactic war.
Late in the game another character is encountered. It is a Geth unit, which is later named Legion. The Geth are a collective of machines with Virtual Intelligence created by the Quarians. The Geth were present in Mass Effect as enemies of humanity. However, this Geth seems different and if the player chooses, Shepard may take it onboard the Normandy.
If the player decides to keep Legion as a potential team member, the player learns from him through conversation that not all Geth are the same. There is another faction of Geth labeled the Heretics which worship the Reapers. Those are the Geth that fought humanity in the first Mass Effect. The Geth and Heretics have different philosophies and are not able to coexist. The Heretics view the “old machines” (the Reapers) as gods, where the Geth do not. In response to this schism, the Geth allowed the Heretics to leave their society and go out on their own. But it is discovered that the Heretics are creating a virus to force the rest of the Geth to join them. This assimilation could be construed as a form of genocide. The Heretics are imposing their own beliefs upon the Geth, thus destroying their philosophy and way of existence.
If Shepard recruits Legion, they have the option of going on a side mission to stop the Heretics from launching the virus. During that mission Legion discovers that the virus can instead be repurposed and the heretics can either be destroyed or can be reintegrated into the Geth collective. The player is presented with a choice. Should Shepard destroy the Heretics or should the Heretics be peacefully reintegrated back into the Geth collective. Both options would destroy the heretics as a race, but is necessary to ensure the survival of both the human race and the Geth. The outcome of the decision will not be immediately apparent, and probably won’t be until Mass Effect 3.
At a DC conference in 2009, Will Wright, the creator of Sim City, stated that he felt “designers are actually more responsible for furthering the medium than pleasing the players when creating games.” “Wright summed up the argument best, stating that showcasing the worst in games is actually the best way to affect change in people. He noted that, historically, social change through media almost always comes from cautionary tales. Moby Dick, written in 1851, can be seen as a warning against Nazi Germany (many good men following a charismatic, but obsessed mad man). People want their books, movies and games to "represent states we want society to avoid."”[3] As such, Mass Effect 2, in an attempt to further evolve the video game medium, brings the delicate subject of genocide to light in a creative way. In order to preserve one’s own species, the genocide of another may be necessary. The Reapers want to cleanse the galaxy of organics, the Salarians want to prevent a war with the Krogans and both the Geth and humans want to prevent the heretics from destroying them.
Bibliography
Becker, K. (n.d.). MUNFW.org. Retrieved Jun 19, 2011, from Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: http://www.munfw.org/archive/50th/4th1.htm
Dictionary.com Unabridged. (n.d.). Retrieved Jun 21, 2011, from genocide: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/genocide
Frost, R. (2010, Jan). The Ethics of Role-Playing Games. Retrieved Jun 19, 2011, from Philosophy Department Faculty Speeches and Presentations. Paper 3: http://digitalcommons.concoll.edu/philfacsp/3
Huizinga, J. (2006). Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon. In K. S. Zimmerman, The Game Design Reader (pp. 97 - 103). Cambridge, MA: the MIT Press.
IGN. (2009, Mar 27). Retrieved Jun 20, 2011, from GDC 09: Do Games Shape Society?: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/967/967424p1.html
ary.reference.com/browse/role%20playing%20game
Sam. (2010). IMDB.com. Retrieved Jun 19, 2011, from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1540125/plotsummary
[1] Becker, K. (n.d.). MUNFW.org. Retrieved Jun 19, 2011, from Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: http://www.munfw.org/archive/50th/4th1.htm
[2] Dictionary.com Unabridged. (n.d.). Retrieved Jun 21, 2011, from genocide: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/genocide
[3] IGN. (2009, Mar 27). Retrieved Jun 20, 2011, from GDC 09: Do Games Shape Society?: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/967/967424p1.html
