The Guilt of Being Evil in Video Games

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  • Опубліковано 28 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 87

  • @clarkelieson
    @clarkelieson  15 годин тому +9

    Remove your personal information from the web at joindeleteme.com/CLARK20 and use code CLARK20 for 20% off DeleteMe international Plans: international.joindeleteme.com/

  • @golan11005
    @golan11005 15 годин тому +114

    The guilt of being evil in video games happens when you craft a sword in Minecraft on the left or on the right side of the grid instead of on the middle

    • @jongyon7192p
      @jongyon7192p 13 годин тому +2

      I played mc since 2013... that's a thing?? No, it's when you break blocks with the wrong tool!

    • @TheStengah
      @TheStengah 8 годин тому

      MC. Not good.

  • @NebulaEclipse_
    @NebulaEclipse_ 7 годин тому +17

    When I think about guilt in video games, I think of the original Postal all the way back in 1997. A game that ironically is about shooting as many people as possible in a sort of misanthropic rage. That is until the game makes a fool out of you by not only confronting you in the "ending", but also when you realize that you could've beaten the entire game without killing a single person.

  • @n2jaiye
    @n2jaiye 13 годин тому +33

    big honor to be one of those who suggested spec ops the line to you mr clark

  • @Jo-uh4cb
    @Jo-uh4cb 11 годин тому +14

    I remember once when I was 6-8 maybe 2013- 2015, I was playing Minecraft creative mode, during which I killed the ender dragon, the end credits of Minecraft role and I asked a family member, I don't remember which, one what it meant. I don't know exactly what they told me, but I remember crying and feeling guilty for the ender dragon the next day during school. I especially remember being upset that It was a mother with its egg. The funny thing is that I am 90% sure that the end text has nothing to do with the dragon.

  • @mootnt2505
    @mootnt2505 15 годин тому +18

    Hope UA-cam stops giving you a hard time on your videos, always good to see an upload!

  • @abokoblin2156
    @abokoblin2156 15 годин тому +31

    fitting sponsor for clark

  • @Ice-yp4wg
    @Ice-yp4wg 8 годин тому +6

    Guess it's now a rule that video game essayists just love Spec Ops: The Line.

  • @Brian2986
    @Brian2986 15 годин тому +13

    I felt the same way with that mission in GTA. I tried everything I could to somehow squirm my way out of it.

  • @Gobinator232
    @Gobinator232 14 годин тому +18

    This video is severily underrated for the amount of effort you put in it

    • @Lada333
      @Lada333 6 годин тому +1

      What do you mean lmao, it's just been posted

  • @mandyjustmandy1164
    @mandyjustmandy1164 15 годин тому +8

    Welcome back, Clark, cant wait to watch this video! I can already tell it's going to be good!

  • @catdownthestreet
    @catdownthestreet 15 годин тому +9

    Welcome back! Glad you got sponsored, great video as usual :)

  • @Snoopdogg123G
    @Snoopdogg123G 15 годин тому +6

    HELL YEA THATS GO BRO CLARK I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

  • @Be_hopeless
    @Be_hopeless 15 годин тому +7

    My man is back

  • @khaitus1809
    @khaitus1809 15 годин тому +7

    Clark my friend thank you for your videos it means a lot to me. And im certain im not the only one.

  • @hair2506
    @hair2506 15 годин тому +6

    So glad you were able to get your channel back. So scared when I saw the channel being a crypto scam.

  • @ItsBillyTripp
    @ItsBillyTripp 15 годин тому +3

    I like the vibe to this, as I’ve seen photos of what was to come, especially the Red Dead Redemption Wild West concept, it’s well explained. Also hope you had a good 2024 and have a great new year! 🤠🙏

  • @satanm8c40
    @satanm8c40 14 годин тому +3

    The torture scene from GTAV is one of few scenes I remember vividly
    And my memory is usually deplorable

  • @thoughtengine
    @thoughtengine 13 годин тому +2

    The old Police Quest games would stop when you did the least justifiable thing and explain how you screwed up.

  • @HeathcliffeMcHarris
    @HeathcliffeMcHarris 15 годин тому +2

    the intro mission is when I stopped playing gta as well, just as much from boredom as distaste. No reason to feel guilty when the scene is forced on you.

  • @the_jjabberwock
    @the_jjabberwock 8 годин тому +1

    THANK YOU SO MUCH. I’ve been struggling with naming this feeling I have, the guilt associated with fictional wrongs.

  • @iluvxtc0
    @iluvxtc0 4 години тому

    this video seriously deserves way more views. i had no idea other people also could feel guilty being evil in video games!i thought i was broken

  • @idontlikethis980
    @idontlikethis980 14 годин тому +2

    Feelz weird being this early to a new clark video

  • @SanValentin199
    @SanValentin199 14 годин тому +2

    The power of videogames, ladies and gentlemen

  • @subyob
    @subyob 15 годин тому +4

    always bangers

  • @EnderbelleRocks
    @EnderbelleRocks Годину тому

    Always a great day when there's a new Clark Elieson video

  • @ak2431
    @ak2431 Годину тому +1

    THATS MY HORSE!! PARKER IS FAMOUS!!
    Great video as usual my friend ❤️🤠

  • @millylovesyou
    @millylovesyou 14 годин тому +2

    good morning to you too mr elieson

  • @telem0nthegreat
    @telem0nthegreat 14 годин тому +2

    Another fantastic video!

  • @TheImpishFrog
    @TheImpishFrog 14 годин тому +2

    I love Your analysis of these topics, especially how enthusiastic you are about Emil Cioran's work and the psychology of understanding others there were 3 games that had a big impact on me And I really would like to know your perspective on the unique depth that is the dread of Soma. The Fear in the largely unknown environment of observation. The enigma of signalis affected me in a way I can't express. I really hope you take a look at these games and make a video on them it would mean the world to me! Signalis, Soma And Observation (the games are on a steam sale until Jan 2nd im sorry if this is a bother but just knowing you paid the time of day just to look at them would be awesome Thank you for your videos and your unique perspective)

  • @44rav
    @44rav 15 годин тому +4

    fallout does this perfectly

  • @NinnyVids
    @NinnyVids 12 годин тому

    Another thought provoking and amazingly insightful BANGER!! Keep up the amazing work man 🔥✨

  • @hotdinnerplate3114
    @hotdinnerplate3114 7 годин тому

    It’s crazy the rolllercoaster of emotions I went through during that one debt mission in RDR2. I had made a bunch of assumptions about the character before even getting to the location. It was like I was preempting myself to not feel guilty about shaking down an innocent man. I assumed he was a drunk or a thief or idk. But going through the house and beating his ass made meI realized I made those assumptions out of thin air and that I was the bad guy in that mission. First time I felt truly guilty while playing a video game. Shit was incredible lol.

  • @privateholt464
    @privateholt464 11 годин тому

    i love watching videos from you and jacob geller. always thought provoking

  • @alexthespacetraveler
    @alexthespacetraveler 13 годин тому

    this deserves so much more attention and love

  • @catdownthestreet
    @catdownthestreet 15 годин тому +7

    I take it Undertale was too obvious for this video?

  • @whiterunguard1434
    @whiterunguard1434 11 годин тому

    I felt the strongest amount of Guilt in Infamous Second Son. When you finally catch the fire guy, I opted to kill him because I was mad about what he had done. When I saw his daughter just after the scene though I stopped playing and had an existential crisis about how bad I felt. If I remember correctly he really didn't want to die because he just got his daughter back, and I remember the feeling that I was the one who took that away from him.

  • @lipeeefl
    @lipeeefl 15 годин тому +2

    Banger video

  • @ScannerOfficial
    @ScannerOfficial 12 годин тому

    RDR2 SPOILERS
    Hi Clark, thanks for bringing up this topic, especially in the context of RDR2. When I saw him die at the end with low honor-and I let Micah shoot him because I hadn’t collected enough honor-it was heartbreaking. I started crying a bit, repeating, "Why didn’t I let you die like a decent man? Why did I do this to my favorite character?" It was such a strange feeling, one I’d never experienced before. It was guilt in its purest form.

  • @gar-vg3ns
    @gar-vg3ns 11 годин тому

    I die almost every time i try to "not be an asshole" in dayz, but i just can't help it

  • @KitterF
    @KitterF 15 годин тому +3

    I came at 18 secs and theres alr comments 😞

  • @Khannea
    @Khannea 8 годин тому

    Thank you. I have been struggling with these ideas for a long time. Not that it matters - I was aquitted for self-defense. No charges.

  • @lionelgene33
    @lionelgene33 15 годин тому +2

    Is this why I can't Finish anyone in DeadbyDaylight? :(

  • @sebastiannilsson1208
    @sebastiannilsson1208 10 годин тому

    Thanks for another vid!

  • @lool8421
    @lool8421 5 годин тому

    i guess it's a part of our psychology - we just assume that moral acting leads to long-term benefits

  • @Bigbagofgamer
    @Bigbagofgamer 4 години тому

    I skipped for by accident and saw a pic of Kant, so I stayed.

  • @TheArchaos
    @TheArchaos 12 годин тому

    The human mind is not a chest of drawers, its not compartmentalized into strict sections. One part can and will bleed into another, maybe not at first but slowly over time it will.

  • @ccpenthusiast4683
    @ccpenthusiast4683 13 годин тому

    welcome back

  • @alxjn555
    @alxjn555 Годину тому

    from what I can recall, most of the examples you used in the essay are played from third person point of views. do you think the philosophy of responsibility changes for first person games? I only ask this because it calls into question personal responsibility and duty, since the third person point of view allows for some gap in feeling that empathetic guilt since the decision isn't made by the player directly but by the person they make the decision for. that also may change the moral binary enacted by some games since they can't judge a character but the customer, rather.

  • @ruinenlust_
    @ruinenlust_ 7 годин тому

    This video is life changing

  • @Idkosu
    @Idkosu 15 годин тому +2

    new video!!!!!

  • @Kahmalwastaken
    @Kahmalwastaken 14 годин тому +1

    Ayyyeeee

  • @satanm8c40
    @satanm8c40 13 годин тому

    Baldur's gate is such an incredible game

  • @confusedwhale
    @confusedwhale 9 годин тому

    Yeah, I don't think I would follow through with this. He wants to talk. Let him. I don't know what I'd do if I was railroaded into this.

  • @666lianne666
    @666lianne666 10 годин тому

    I'll promise to engage in an intellectually honest way with the essay, but yeah like you said in the beginning. They're not real people. Their experience doesn't exist, it's a facsimile.

  • @rwilson1197
    @rwilson1197 12 годин тому

    Spec Ops is one of my favorites games

  • @shawnsolo316
    @shawnsolo316 4 години тому

    I was 100% fine with the gta torture mission

  • @KatanaDenson
    @KatanaDenson 15 годин тому +2

    My shayla

  • @Lummox874
    @Lummox874 8 годин тому

    To be fair with the GTA 5 mission, GTA is a dark, comedic comedy where unnecessary actions and pure evil litter Los Santos. There are blatant racists, sexists and homophobes, all over, it’s bad.

  • @rubikfan1
    @rubikfan1 14 годин тому

    What about undertale? They give plenty of guild if you go for the evil route.

  • @de-ment
    @de-ment 14 годин тому

    I've done much worse at my own volition as not only, obviously, Trevor but the other chars too, even running over a random pedestrian has implications that can be catastrophic but the series goes out of his way to convey its civillians to be subhuman in every way possible.
    Though that doesn't discredit the essay obviously.
    I would rather talk about more narratively non-linear games, seems like you already do though. Bringing up games like GTA where player expression through story decisions has the complexity of a stop sign make no sense.
    Anyway, this whole thing is something a Legion-sided melee build New Vegas player has never felt in their lives.

  • @Karthik-pn2yj
    @Karthik-pn2yj 10 годин тому

    its feasting time

  • @zak1935
    @zak1935 Годину тому

    Amazing

  • @ufoghos7
    @ufoghos7 7 годин тому

    r/remindme to watch tonight at 9pm CST

  • @gwagabogo
    @gwagabogo 14 годин тому

    Evil is FUN RAH RAH

  • @nikofungi
    @nikofungi 40 хвилин тому

    being mean feels bad :(

  • @JosephG33
    @JosephG33 13 годин тому

    As an 11th grader with autism spectrum disorder in 2012 I had a very severe psychotic episode during a history class Trail of Tears simulation that eventually resulted in a week-long stay in a mental health clinic and eventually me transitioning to purely online classes when combined with fears from Sandy Hook later than year. The teacher knew from my IEP that I disliked competition and was very sensitive to historical suffering so he gave me the option of not participating, but I still decided to say yes to participating since I interpreted my decision to participate in the simulation as within the simulation itself and saying no would be like pretending those forced onto it had a choice too. The students in general were not told in advance that the simulation was specifically of the Trail of Tears but it was fairly obvious from the entire rest of the class session revolving around the Jackson era that it was and I had asked the teacher prior if the simulation was going to be of the Trail of Tears and he confirmed yes with me.
    The homework from the previous class session was to research what you would bring on a long trip through the wilderness, determine what it would weigh, and then have your backpack weigh that much when you came to next history class. The simulation itself was going to the high school's track and one student would be unencumbered and would chase the other students with their weighted backpacks around the track. The students with backpacks (one of which was me) had a half-track head start and the goal was for them to complete 4 laps before the chasing student caught up to them, you would get 1 extra credit point in the history class for every lap around the track completed prior to being caught.
    My immediate interpretation of the activity, and one that is generally shared by basically everyone else I've ever presented it to (including ChatGPT more recently), was that the 4 laps around the track represents the complete Trail of Tears from Georgia to Oklahoma, the students with backpacks are Cherokee forced on the march, and when the chasing student catches up to you, the Cherokee you represent dies that far into the Trail of Tears. Those who complete all 4 laps represent the survivors. So, there's numerous immediate problems here, even ignoring the fact that having a history class do a simulation of a historical tragedy leads to controversy and that it is so metaphorical as to be entirely irrelevant to the learning of history. First off, even outside of considering the corresponding metaphors the chasing student doesn't have to actually chase anyone. They can just sit there or go extremely slowly. If they do, the entire rest of the class gets maximum extra credit. It may not be a dramatic amount of extra credit but the fact that they have personal agency over other student's extra credit with no personal gain raises questions of bullying and unhealthy academic competition. Second, your level of success running on the high school's track with a backpack has nothing to do with your academic understanding of the Trail of Tears or history in general so having extra credit depend on that is questionable. But worse yet in my teenage mind, based on my interpretation, and what I assumed was also what the teacher and the chasing student assumed, the chasing student willingness to run as fast and as effectively as possible essentially implies that she is willing to cause as much death on the Trail of Tears as possible (assuming she knows it's the Trail of Tears, which I believed she did since she was seated right behind me in class and thus probably overheard my teacher saying to me it was the Trail of Tears), and the teacher designed this whole activity knowing a student would be willing to do that. When we were out on the track and were told the rules but still before the simulation began the chasing student told me "I'm going to be chasing you Joseph" with a grin, it deeply disturbed me since I interpreted her grin as her essentially being happy imagining me starving to death.
    So as the simulation begins I'm completely unable to comprehend why the chasing student is so fine with doing this, while also imagining everything happening as having a correspondent element on the implied Trail of Tears like some twisted dual world video game, this was just how my teenage mind was naturally processing this, it wasn't something I could turn on or off. When the chase itself began one of the students in backpacks yelled "EVERY MAN FOR THEMSELVES!" and I then translated that into the Trail of Tears as a Cherokee saying that and being unquestioned, giving an extremely warped impression that this was now a Trail of Tears without Tears: those at risk will not be helped by their fellows, and those who die shall not be mourned, and the lack of a cooperative component in the simulation and the association of level of success with extra credit (and therefore worthiness, as if the ones who survived had "won") immediately enforced this viewpoint upon the implied Trail of Tears reality. With all of this thought processing both in reality and the implied corresponding events on the Trail of Tears happening rapidly in my autistic teenage mind while running with a heavy backpack across just half the track I completely lost it, with its emotional heaviness the implied Trail of Tears (which while merely in my mind at least somewhat corresponds to a real historical event with real suffering) was now the true reality from my emotional perspective and the bizarre metaphorical track was now the dream.
    Within seconds I had lost all executive control out of all the emotions and pushed my history teacher towards the bleachers in a moment of extreme anger for making all of this happen. As that happened I imagined the Cherokee I represented charging at a US Soldier watching the march and getting shot to death. I was now dead in the metaphorical but most emotionally relevant reality but remained alive and existing in literal reality. I was able to stop myself from hurting others more but I was now screaming and unable to be reached psychologically by the teacher or my aide. The simulation continues to go on normally, everyone pretends like they didn't just see that happen. Cotard's Delusion begins and stays for weeks. I'm now the "person who can't tell fantasy from reality" I never thought I would be who all the 1980s moral guardians claimed would exist due to Dungeons & Dragons warping their minds and am deeply ashamed that I just quasi-justified their concerns. Emergency call home. Mom picks me up early. Angry parents. Psychiatrist visits scheduled. Eventually voluntary commitment for a week. Complete details too heavy for UA-cam comment. I tell them of my anger at the extra credit issue to explain my outburst but I can't bring myself, even as I take off my belt and wear the wool socks, to admit the deepest level of stress comes from being unable to detach myself from the metaphorical reality, feeling like I am now dead and also that I had got a symbolic Cherokee (who both is and isn't me) killed out who might otherwise have survived out of my anger. My anger literally justified claims of autistic people being violent (which would escalate my stress and guilt after Sandy Hook just a few months later) and figuratively justified Native Americans as being violent as well in the metaphorical reality. Massive guilt. I couldn't admit the metaphorical-death part since I felt talking about it and putting it into other people's mind would give it an extra level of reality to it and I was trying to avoid allowing it from doing so. With how bizarre and arbitrary the simulation was I now in a PTSD sort of sense started seeing everything as a Trail of Tears simulation, passing other players in a board game is a Trail of Tears simulation, walking outside normally is a Trail of Tears simulation with a chosen arbitrary failure state as representing death. I eventually was able to build up the courage to email my teacher admitting my feelings and it turned out I was completely wrong about the activity's meaning (I never got the intended debriefing since I didn't return to the classroom after that meltdown), it was supposed to be a "sample mile" of what the 1000 mile long Trail of Tears was and not a direct correspondence to the events, being chased is just to make it feel "harder" in correspondence to harsh weather and lack of food and disease and all that and there's no death component associated with whether you were caught or completed all 4 laps. Learning this was his intention helped me somewhat but not fully, I eventually recovered more out of just maturing but it's still the definitive disaster of my entire academic career and one of the biggest "What if?" scenarios I imagine of my personal life was if that simulation was never done (the teacher regretted all of it deeply and the high school never did it ever again).
    I've generally thought this incident is too niche and too bizarre for other people to ever really empathize with or understand, I would have a lot more psychological control now than I did as a teenager, but many of things that were said in this video about feeling empathy and guilt within fictional realities, seeing yourself in video game characters, and about the nature of player agency in that regard (both with the chasing student's behavior and apparent willingness to cause metaphorical historical evil as well as the knowledge that my level of success or failure would have effects on a fictional representation of a real ethnic cleansing event) connected with the specifics of my teenage experience in a way that I've never seen happen elsewhere in the 12 years since it has happened, resulting in me leaving this extremely long and emotionally open comment.

  • @OzkarGlez
    @OzkarGlez 11 годин тому

    Did someone tell Levinas that he just invented Catholicism again?

  • @tenta9876
    @tenta9876 Годину тому

    spec ops the line claims another video essayist - we go another day without a spec ops the line free video discography
    Jk I love the vid man

  • @djason338
    @djason338 8 годин тому

    Sorry Clark

  • @keronstjean1049
    @keronstjean1049 6 годин тому

    You should check out undertale

  • @bigboi3534
    @bigboi3534 15 годин тому +2

    not first

  • @NOOB-ps8km
    @NOOB-ps8km 8 годин тому

    Let's goo.

  • @chrisrosenkreuz23
    @chrisrosenkreuz23 7 годин тому

    Kant was dead before he was dead. Peak hipster hooah.

  • @alexelieson7202
    @alexelieson7202 7 годин тому

    Lets goooooooooooooo

  • @arstotzkanplaguedoctor
    @arstotzkanplaguedoctor 5 годин тому

    🎠

  • @THIZA-x2m
    @THIZA-x2m 15 годин тому +2

    Here first 🎉😂😂

  • @yuvalamor6668
    @yuvalamor6668 15 годин тому +3

    First

  • @information3084
    @information3084 7 годин тому

    "Um, you didn't have to use the white phosphorus there's always a choice. Why didn't you just stop playing the game at that moment?" Maybe because I paid money for it? I never understood that part of Black Ops. That's a cool story and a cute 4th wall break but that's all it is. I'm not going to feel guilty.

  • @Pyromancer_
    @Pyromancer_ 9 годин тому

    You guys feel guilty? lol

  • @AnprimGang
    @AnprimGang 10 годин тому

    Most soy video of December 2024?