This War of Mine will offer a new take on conflict and violence

Aug 15, 2014 01:15 GMT  ·  By

Think of your favorite video game and there’s a good chance that, somewhere in the core mechanics, conflict in the form of war represents one of the core – probably even the most important – gameplay elements pushing the player forward.

Call of Duty is the best-selling title of the last few years and it focuses on the exploits of a limited number of characters who express themselves and their feelings towards other human beings using a gun, and Battlefield is similar, though its focus might be a little more on realism.

Open world titles also feature cars, dialog, radio stations, and base jumping, among others, but combat is still at their core, and even if no war is taking place, the amount of people dying suggests that the level of violence is roughly similar.

Most role-playing and strategy titles also feature an unsolved conflict that the player must address and even a non-violent Civilization campaign will show him how others fight around him, even if he has no plans to engage in military action.

No to Non-Violence

When people criticize violence and war and their overwhelming presence in video games, the reaction tends to focus on the fact that, without them, most titles would not have anything to push their story forward and to power gameplay.

Sometimes, titles like Gone Home, which drop any sort of conflict and focus on just telling a story, are discounted as video games altogether, even if they would not work as either short fiction or as movies.

There’s a large gap between the two sides, but their intransigence should not cover up the fact that what we need here is not a black and white separation but the recognition that we could try to develop and expand a gray area.

This War of Mine and Its Impact

One of the video games that made the biggest impact when I saw it in action at E3 2014 was This War of Mine, the new title from 11 Bit Studios.

The experience features war but the player has no active role in it, he is always on the fringes of this larger-than-life event that’s influencing him in plenty of ways but cannot be changed itself in any way.

The player has access to a number of survivors of the initial attack who are now under siege and need to try and fight or steal the resources that they need to survive.

This War of Mine includes some conflict and even killing, but there are plenty of moments when the gamer only needs to build or to explore.

But, more importantly, every attempt to get something by stealing or by killing has a clear and direct effect on the humans who try to do something that goes against the rules of the society they live in.

In the short demo I got at E3 2014 I saw someone kill in order to get medicine for a friend who was seriously injured and they were then unable to perform even the most simple of tasks, like searching through a pile of rubble for resources.

This War of Mine is not introducing any morality system, which means gamers and characters are the only ones who can be judgmental and the choices made do not affect the ending of the game.

I’m eagerly awaiting for the title to be launched and to play it and see how much it changes the way we relate to wars in video games.