Eve Online: Politics in Video Games
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Continually, society has deemed video games to be of no real value. Video games are viewed as an artifact of yesteryear, remnants of immaturity and the desire to embrace imagination in the form of child's play. In households across the world the incessant nagging of mothers regarding the needless expenditure of time on video games can be heard. The question is: are they right?
I disagree. The video game, Eve Online is an exemplar of the value of video games, both as a creative outlet, but more importantly, as an exercise in politics and economics. While this one game does not refute the assertions that I previously mentioned, it does show that the universality of such assertions is limited. Eve Online was designed as a game with one concept in mind: give control over the universe to the players. Keeping this in mind, CCP, the developers of Eve Online, created a malleable universe where large groups of players can undertake vast projects in the sandbox universe they created.
The difficult learning curve associated with the game is connected to the core concept of Eve Online; regardless of their starting positions, players can pursue different paths within the game ranging from the piracy of other players' wealth to controlling vast conglomerates consisting of thousands of other players. In addition, because of the way in-game currency and real life currency interact, the value of goods and services in Eve Online are comparable and understandable in real life currency. This is where the fun begins.
Without the concept of money, any actions within a video game are meaningless and undermines the rationality of the players and their actions. In Eve Online, the concept of value in real currency forces players to emerge from their initial situations (i.e. the violent state of nature) and to form groups together, requiring the consent of the individual and the collective (i.e. a social contract). But why? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to maintain distance from those who may also take advantage of you for their own furthering?
Once again, it comes down to the concept of human nature and the concept of property. The state of nature of Eve Online is far different than the state of nature outlined by John Locke and closer to the state of nature outlined by Hobbes (brutish, violent, and anarchistic). In the initial state of nature, that is fending for oneself, the universe is fraught with violence and underhanded tactics to separate you from your valuable property, and this in turn results in more violence to protect oneself and their property (Locke would be certainly happy about that).
To rise above this chaotic state, social contracts among players are made. They agree to work together and to protect each other as well as their collective and individual property (either material property such as ships and equipment or property as in real estate and control over transportation of property). However, in agreeing to the social contact, they give up some individual rights--individuals are afforded the ability to do whatever they please with profits as well as targeting any other player maliciously. As the size of the collective groups working together grows, greater issues that mimic real life social problems arise. Who holds the positions of power within the organizations, who controls the wealth, and most importantly, who decides the morality of their actions as a whole.
Because of the freedom allocated to players, it is not uncommon to see political upheaval of massive player organizations (i.e. political institutions). In recent history, the largest player alliance consisting of many more organizations under the same banner was disbanded internally by a rogue character created by a player belonging to a rival alliance. As this rogue player ascended the ranks within the alliance, he gained greater and greater amounts of power, eventually reaching the position of CEO and obtaining absolute power over the alliance. Once attaining absolute power, he systematically dismantled the organization from the inside, breaking up the alliance into is constituent organizations, and thus reducing their collective power to protect their property which was soon taken by other competing alliances.
In most video games, this would seem to be an inconsequential event, but because of the real life value embedded in the game, the event can be analyzed to a much greater degree. Was his actions an example of the "dirty hands" problem from the perspective of his actual alliance? Theoretically no; while his actions may been seen as morally wrong, his actions are not taken to maintain his rule or for the better of those he ruled. Does this demonstrate the fallibility of absolute power as conceived by Hobbes? It may not even be applicable as the absolute power was held by an individual who did not care for the state of the political institution he controlled. Is the concept of social contracts deficient in describing the interactions and agreements made by individuals in virtual environments? Yes and no; the fear associated with mortality is lost in a virtual environment while the concept of valuable property is still present. In complex environments such as Eve Online, political theory can be demonstrated and utilized in a manner similar to real life. It would not be a huge stretch to consider the universe of Eve Online and the organizations contained within to be indifferent to sociopolitical environments and political institutions that exist in the real world.
Sources:
- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/EVEOnline?from=Main.EveOnline
- http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/04/goonswarm-alliance-disbanded-in-eve-online-political-drama/
- All videos are linked to the youtube sources.
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