Do We Have Free Will In Video Games? - A Video Essay 

If you're new to my channel, go check out my most recent project: The Proclaimed Legend of Clayton Rider! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uZYiCB9ex_4.htmlsi=-vHpJg4NHBXrIOCM

i think the argument between determinism and free will is moot. in a video game, you have free will within the boundaries of the game's coding. in life, you have free will within the boundaries of your material conditions. the options you have in each will also necessarily derive from the same conditions.

It's like the choice of being good or evil in games, most people choose to be good because we don't feel good by doing evil things and being an asshole without a reason.

free will has layers. it doesnt exist on the deepest layer (where the laws of physics/code of the game truly constrain possibilities), but it feels like it exists on the surface layers (where you can choose what to have for breakfast or whether or not a character dies in the game). its when the deeper layers overshadow the surface layers that these "no choice" scenarios become a problem. where you present a scene that is supposed to feel like a choice can be made but the end result is the same regardless, like a fork in the road that converges to a single road again just past your field of view, or a character dies later anyways regardless of what choices you make beforehand. choice is, and always has been, an illusion, but you choose how much you believe in that illusion. or maybe not, since it would open a whole can of worms if you were to dig too deep into the idea that all beliefs are choices, especially if you think that religion or sexuality or entertainment preferences are "beliefs" rather than "true knowledge", assuming theres an actual difference.. (this topic is annoyingly complex) morals also play a huge part of how i play games. outside of specific games that heavily cater to being the bad guy, or obviously dont let you play as a good enough guy to bother RPing as one (like Prototype or GTA). in Fallout/Elder Scrolls game,s i basically never steal, even when ive done enough good to balance out the "morality meter" in my favor. it just feels wrong. the exceptions would be when stealing is the only way to complete a quest in the way i think is best, or its an item i really want and cant get by other means. even in GTA style games i try not to kill civilians for reasons beyond having to fight off the cops as a result. it just feels needlessly cruel to do it, even to fake characters. ofcourse if someone else wants to mow down as many pedestrians as they can manage or steal everything that isnt nailed down and kill anyone who tries to stop them, in a videosgame, then more power to them, its not a multiplayer game so they are no real risk to me.

Does free will exist in video games? Call me Kevin: Hold my whiskey

best video about video games so far!

This is a pretty good video.

Good work. Use timestamps going forward. Subbed

soooooo beyond underrated hello

Even if the initial scene is slightly different if the ending is the same you've only made the illusion of a choice, you've gone down one of two corridors that look slightly different and reach the same end, and as such both choices are equivalent and there is no choice actually being made. It doesn't matter that you did make that decision and the scene went by slightly different, its as if you open the door with your right or left hand, it makes no difference and as such its not a real choice.

only if the developers let us. most of the time? no.

I feel like im here early

Not really

4th; great vid; this is probably gonna blow up

First