R P G A M E R . C O M   -   E D I T O R I A L S

Games and the Philosophy of Love - Part 1

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Gabriel Ang
FAN EDITORIALIST

I.

What is it with love that drives people to do the most difficult, incomprehensible things? Watching TV, reading books, and in this case playing video games, the large influence of the concepts of love as a major driving force for the functions of the plot and the characters are present in so far with the different forms of love. Be it eros, brotherly love, sisterly love, love of a neighbor, among others, love in its many forms is a major driving force of stories and tales, from the greatest epics to the simplest of romances.

What is, of course, shocking for most people, probably most of all for those who do not possess enough experiences of love, is how love seems to have the ability to turn people into completely different versions of themselves. What was once a shy, innocent youth that has been pushed to the extreme, became a brave soldier willing to die for the love he has encountered with the minimum passage of time and logic. What was that love that pushed him beyond all realistic scope that he may not even understand his own transformation? What is it with love that causes one to justify one's own actions almost independent of ethics, to cause one to go beyond oneself, in order to answer the call to love another human being in spite of yourself?

Understanding this is already difficult by any standards, and most likely requires logic in its most abstract form. Our actions as a result of what we feel are often classified by the resulting effects of our doing: doing wrong, doing right etc. It goes through the logic of acting a certain way, but for the concepts of love and life, it becomes a question of being rather than simple doing. Specifically, they become states of "loving" and "living" rather than simply doing love and doing life. We are loving and we are living. We need to try and see life and love in the states of being rather than doing if we are to understand the previously raised questions of love.

II.

Video games have become a popular medium of not only entertainment, but of storytelling as well. With the progression and development of actual technology comes the mental development of gamers seeking constant innovation and improvement of games as a whole. In the past 20 years of gaming we have specifically seen the evolution of gaming storylines and characters becoming stories and creatures with greater depth, backgrounds and complexities mimicking actual events and actual people.

And as stories and characters develop, the many issues and concepts found in real life become more complex and utilized in the gaming setting. In this case, of course, love has become a major concept found in many games. In its early incarnation, love was seen in its simplest forms. Early forms of such would be the simple desire to save a damsel in distress ala Mario and Zelda. Over the years the intricacies of love slowly develop to cover many ideas such as lost loves, angst, death of loved ones etc. The history of love in gaming, however, is not the focus of this editorial. Briefly mentioning it here is for the sake of familiarizing ourselves with love and how it has become normal plot and character occurrence in gaming as a whole.

III.

The post-apocalyptic world of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter has driven man into the very depths of the earth, seeking survival from the wastelands that has become the surface of the planet. Here young Ryu meets a sickly girl named Nina, a victim of vicious scientific experiments as evidenced by the wings on her back. She obviously has difficulty breathing, and though the wings on her back somehow allow a sort of air purification ability, it comes at the expense of her own health. It doesn't take long for Ryu to realize that she will indeed die unless she can reach clean air, something that cannot be found underground. After literally hundreds of years, the only place that may hold any sort liberation for Nina is the surface world, which has hopefully healed by their time. With little or no time to waste, Ryu decides to take Nina to the surface.

It is a decision on his part to save her. It is obvious that he feels a certain love for Nina, not necessarily eros, but we cannot question the fact that he has made the decision to save her, and love her as a result. Love then is not a simple "falling for someone", but a decision to do so. Ryu decides to love Nina enough to reject his subterranean world and seek the world above.

You could also imagine in Final Fantasy X where Tidus, after much secrecy by the rest of the cast, finally realizes the truth to the pilgrimage of Yuna and the end result it would have on her: her death. To defeat Sin would be to summon the final aeon, one who would kill her as a result, but in the end give Spira the little respite it sorely needs. This Tidus cannot agree to, angrily so, and has set his mind to finding a way defeat Sin without sacrificing Yuna's life.

Yet another character makes a decision that would ultimately affect not only the life of the person but the life of the loved as well. It is simply clear that, while a certain "falling in love" is called into order to somehow kick things off, real love only comes into being once the decision is made to do so and the admission is made. Tidus symbolically admits it in the spring not long after the aforementioned scene. The futures of both Ryu and Tidus are unclear: one cannot really know if their choices to love will indeed help those to whom their love is directed to. It is simply a mystery, but they decide to love regardless. They realize the existence of their love at the present time, and also realize that the present state of things is not one that would facilitate the love they have for each other, and so decide to change it so their love may exist.

Love, then, also becomes an act of defiance after the decision is made. After the decision comes the realization that should their love become true, they must object to the current state of the world that would not allow their love to exist. Ryu objects to the subterranean world and seeks the world above. Tidus rejects the centuries-old pilgrimage and seeks to defeat Sin without a constant sacrifice. It is a suggestion that the world is indeed unsure, but their love is something already there, and it is indeed the only thing they are sure of, and the thing that must be maintained.

This love, then, seeks something beyond the present state: it seeks the transcendent. Love in itself seeks something better and beyond the now. The characters, with the experience of love, no longer become content to their subterranean world or their world ravaged by an unstoppable creature. They seek a world where their love may ultimately thrive. They will change the world as they see fit.