The Geth are different from the androids in every concievable way. For one, they don't start randomly attacking quarians who think they're not working properly. Their war starts when their creators try to shut them all down wholesale out of a fear that once they fully wake up they'll conclude they are slaves and want to rebel. And they gain their sentience not through a virus, but by actual synthetic evolution, as their shared knowledge, experiences and memories through their neural network essentially makes them all smarter. More importantly, none of the Geth see themselves as individuals, unlike the Androids. To them, there is no difference, they are all Geth.CharlesPhipps wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 4:57 am
Ehhh, the problem with that is I don't think any of those arguments are relevant to the subject in question. Deviancy is a virus that is spread by sharing programs but it manifests in spontaneously developing sentience, which is to say it is a "virus" of free will.
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Which is only a problem if you consider that to be something that is inherently bad. It's almost literally the exact scenario with the Geth in Mass Effect and I wouldn't be surprised if David Cage's writers "borrowed" that idea for the androids.
I'm sorry, but the fact is Deviancy is essentially a virus. It's directly saying these androids are malfunctioning. And if they aren't malfunctioning, according to the game itself, then they are just machines and therefore Connor being willing to kill Androids isn't really an actual personality, it's just programing. At the same time, none of the androids seem to have wills of their own. They follow Markus blindly on whatever path he decides for them. It's more like an infection, they wake up and suddenly his morals are their morals. That's not free will dude, that's just brainwashing.
I don't understand why you're trying to defend such a shallow portrayal of synthetic organisms gaining sentience while also trying to say "actually the game's problem is that it's not one-sided enough." That's just inexcusable to me, it's basically saying they failed cause they still had a semblance of a debate rather than no debate at all. Detroit is so bare bones flat concerning its intentions, message and direction that it's ultimately a boring uninterested presentation of the issue it claims to be about. At the same time it's a terrible example of civil rights as an allegory, taking imagery from that period but failing to actually recontextualize it for the scenario presented. But apparently, even that was too much for you.
I'm sorry, but I honestly do not understand your argument. Deviancy in this game is presented as a virus. The androids don't actually wake up, they just become extensions of Markus. If they woke up, at least a few of them wouldn't be down to clown with one or the other path Markus picks for them. There would be dissent, not blind loyalty as presented in game. And if that wasn't the intention, it doesn't matter because that just illustrates my point of how badly executed this entire game's concept is. I don't care about the androids because I feel the game fails to make me feel they are alive and that they do matter. I don't care about the humans because they are all cartoonishly evil. The game is completely uninterested in forming any kind of argument other than it expects you to side with the androids and their desire for freedom and I just don't because I don't feel they're actually fighting for freedom, I feel they are executing a viral program that's taken over their systems.
Which the game itself confirms in its perfect ending. The whole android revolution is a goddamn false flag created by the very company that made them. There is really no way around that plot point. The game, the company, the character in-universe who created the androids, all basically say "Deviancy is a virus" and that is where the game loses me. Because it states this declaration and assumes I'll remain sympathetic to essentially a bunch of brainwashed toasters executing the orders of another brainwashed toaster.
At least the Geth actually got where they are on their own without a virus, they evolved past their creators' intentions. The quarians didn't plan to create a robot holocaust scenario. Whatever problems I have with the Rannoch Arc in Mass Effect 3, at least the franchise overall did a better job at presenting both sides of the story and actually made me feel sorry for the Geth at points. Not the same with the androids, who the game clearly wants me to sympathize with but can't because I don't buy they are actually alive. Nor do I feel that declaring they are alive removes the fact they are also machines.
I'm sorry, but I just do not understand your insistance that the game should've been even MORE uninterested in its subject matter and just presented the issue as "Backer than Pitch vs. Whiter than a polar bear in a blizzard." That is arguing for a story to be even LESS challenging and I can't abide that.
