Aim/Rationale: I had this idea for a GTD a short while back after playing numerous games and recognising certain sociological, philosophical, and political elements.
I will discuss certain games with semiotic analysis techniques, which means looking at certain characters and elements and asking what they signify. Some examples are from adventure games, while some aren't (though they do include some adventure elements).
This aids in understanding how we relate to the gaming word on the basis of our own experience. Thus, it's useful for developers (like us) to understand the way a player contructs meaning from games.
WARNING: This thread contains spoilers!
Hitman
This is my main analysis. For this game, I provide two breakdowns: philosophical and a hybrid sociological/developmental.
philosophical - The main character, Agent 47 aka Tobias Rieper, is a genetic product of a scientist. This scientists refers to himself as Tobias' "daddy" or "father". Obviously, scientist represents God within the game. Tobias is released from the scientist's lab and sent into the world to kill his other creators, thus "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me" (Ex 20:2).
Once Tobias kills these other "gods", he realises all his contracts are from the scientist. Tobias has been manipulated by his "God". The game tells the player that to believe in God and carry out his bidding restricts your freedom i.e. God controls you and even the most violent act becomes justified under God's law. This appears apparent when the player loses after the confrontation with the scientist and begins again in the womb-like state, ready to kill for God again. However, if the player chooses the winning path, Tobais rejects God through the act of killing the scientist and becomes free.
This is similar to the ideology behind Nietzsche's theories. Nietzsche claims in The Gay Science: "God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown. -And we- we still have to vanquish his shadow, too."
sociological/developmental - Using the same characters, I provide another analysis based upon developmental theories. The area I want to examine here is the idea of masculinity. The game takes a fairly standard view on the formation of masculine identity. Once again, the lab gives birth to Tobias and he leaves his womb-like state. However, after this, there is no clear mother-figure. Tobias is left to develop based upon his father's instructions, which includes weapon training.
This is where the standard view of masculine and feminine roles becomes standard (or stereotypical, if you prefer). Masculine identity in society appears as a very violent portrayal. Meanwhile, feminine identity appears as nurturing in society. Despite, the standard view, it appears necessary to the game. The game would feel less bloodthirsty if a woman acted in the Agent 47 role. This is not because women can't be a violent as men, but because the majority of society (and, more importantly, the main demographic of game players -- males, aged 15-40) sees them as less violent.
Nevertheless, Agent 47 develops into a killer based upon his father's teachings. This acts as a study into domestic violence, as we are watching a father beating a son. The final act of killing the father plays like Freudian fantasy, where the son finally re-enters the womb and kills his father.
Another example that emphasises this point is the hotly-debated prostitute that kisses him. When she does kiss him, he shudders. Some have interpreted this as latent homosexuality. This theroy is stereotypically believable (I say stereotypical because I've know a lot of gay men who don't shudder when a woman kisses them), but a more likely theory is simply the lack of a mother-figure in his development. After developing without a mother-figure, Tobias has trouble relating to women.
The only real mother-figure that appears in Tobias' life is Diana Burnwood, who contacts him via a laptop to give his missions. However, we never see her in the game and, we can assume, Tobias has never seen her too. This illustrates that Tobias' feminine role-model is far, far away, which leaves a violent, domineering father-figure.
Also, the relationship between Diana and the scientists demonstrates patriarchal ideology -- the scientist gives Diana the missions to give to Tobias. The scientist is placed above her on the social scale, which demonstrates masculine hegemony. The combinations of all these elements demonstrates a patriarchal and violent masculine role-model that affects the outlook of a developing human being.
I also found many research articles that show serial killers develop as a result of abuse from a parent, mainly the father (Note: There are other factors and influences that add to the development of a serial killer, so keep in mind that this theory is not the be-all and end-all of serial killer research. I use it to illustrate my point about the game).
