I really enjoyedTales From The Borderlands, but one bit, especially, struck me. As Fiona, cold-hearted con artist extraordinaire, I had to lie. But I had to do it artfully, or else I was in deep trouble. It was one of the tensest video game moments Iâve played in ages.
I donât like lying. Iâm really bad at it, and it triggers this weird mixture of guilt and sadness in me. It feels wrong, like Iâve disturbed the natural order of things. As a kid, I was always worried that bad lies about awful things would come true. Like, I remember being afraid to lie about my age to get past website age gates. Iâd say I was born in 1955 and then nervously clutch my mouse as I imagined the decrepit future Iâd just willed into being.
So for the longest time, I never chose â[lie]â options in BioWare-style RPGs (Star Wars: KOTOR, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc) or anything like that. Some intrinsic part of me detested the idea. But these days Iâm singing a slightly different tune thanks in large part to a number of non-video games.
Deceptionâwhether in single or multiplayer gamesâcan be incredibly tense. Youâre essentially playing two roles: the person or lie youâre acting out and your real character, your true motive. Keeping all of the straight, doing it in a convincing fashion, thatâs equal parts nerve-wracking and thrilling. Itâs a really neat internal (and external) tug-of-war, but I havenât seen it done all that much in video games, and thatâs a shame.
Board and tabletop games like Werewolf and Bang require people to sit face-to-face in the same room and act like nothingâs amiss, like everybodyâs playing for the same team. But in Werewolf, there are heaps of other roles secretly in playâwitches, seers, priests, hunters, the werewolves themselvesâall with their own goals and objectives. Nobody really knows who anybody else isâonly who they claim to be. Bang is really similar, except cowboys.
In either case, everyoneâs constantly thinking ahead, obsessively putting every scrap of perceived evidence under the microscope. Thinking, rethinking, overthinking. And all the while, they have to pretend like theyâre in total control, like everythingâs a-okay, like theyâre BFFs with their worst enemy, even as they slip a noose around their neck.
Iâve also been reading a book Kirk recommended a while back called The Lies of Locke Lamora, which stars characters who are part-thieves/deceivers, part theater troupe. They plan their elaborate grifts down to the finest detail, then they dress up and improv their âcharactersâ to steal from wealthy people. The book opens with Locke and his gang fooling a wealthy nobleman into believing theyâre from a nigh-legendary merchant family thatâs in dire peril, all with basic costume props and a few expensive bottles of booze. Also they pretend to be part of this beggar priesthood in their off-time, and itâs just great. Oh to play a game of that.
A few video games have explicitly focused on deception, though I canât think of many off the top of my head. Letâs use Tales from the Borderlands as an example of how it can work well, albeit in a fairly scripted way:
(Minor Tales from the Borderlands spoilers ahead.)
The scene involves Fiona trying to convince a, shall we say, man of ill repute, August, that she got her hands on a real key to one of Pandoraâs mythical Vaults. Her sister has spent weeks setting all of this into motion, getting in close with August and crafting a story in which Fiona is an archaeologist who grew up on one planet but found the key on another with a really similar name and there are all these details and he absolutely CANNOT TOUCH the freshly painted fake key, and you have to internalize all of this in, like, ten seconds to keep up your confident facade.
âNo problem,â I made Fiona tell her sister before beginning negotiations to sell off the definitely fake Vault key. âThis isnât my first rodeo.â
It was so my first rodeo.
Then August walked into his ramshackle bar and killed a man for reasons significantly less pressing than suckering him into the scam of a lifetime, and thatâs when I knew I was walking on eggshells. I was so nervous, I hardly even remembered my fake name. From there, things went a little better. I played it coolâstraight-to-the-point but not too eagerâand talked archaeology. I didnât even mix up the planet names.
But then he reached to touch the key. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.
I had two options: snatch his hand in a way that was sure to raise suspicions or just, well, let him do it. I swallowed hard and kept my hands off his. He touched the glowing hunk of magical space rock and was⌠sold! Except, oh shit, he got paint on his hand and absent mindedly rubbed his face. If he wouldâve so much as looked in a mirror, I wouldâve been toast.
The next couple minutes, in which we miraculously sealed the deal, were almost painfully tense. He was just about to fall for my lie hook, line, and sinker, but the pointy part of that equation was in plain sight. Had I blown it? Was this just a long preamble to me getting found out?
What Iâm saying is, it was fantastic. And sure, it was a Telltale adventure game so in reality there were only a few ways that scene couldâve actually played out. But it felt crazy intense, and I really dug it. Thereâs something to be said for acting, real role-playing, as more than an optional thingâas an actual game mechanic.
There are a few other video games that include heavy components of acting/deception, and theyâre thankfully more freeform about it. On one end of the spectrum you have massively multiplayer games like EVE Online and DayZ, in which itâs to playersâ advantage to frequently mislead one another, to earn trust and then put a knife between somebodyâs ribs. In DayZ itâs a way to get supplies or, if youâre a total bastard (which is kinda the point of DayZ), giggles.
In EVE people have spent actual human months pretending to be in the employ of one major in-game company, only to obliterate it in the name of another once they finally reach the topâcosting countless rivals years of hard work. While itâs something I would never have the time or patience to do, that is crazy cool. And also a little bit mean. But damn. As far as video game accomplishments go, Iâm not sure if that can be topped. And just think of how many times people like that were probably almost caught red-handed. It makes my heart beat a little faster, just the idea of it.
Bluffing and misleading can be major factors in strategy games like StarCraft, although they arenât always. I never played it, but I know that generally well-received real-time strategy game RUSE was about bluffing and manipulating the flow of information en route to victory. Iâd love to see more RTSes make that a core mechanical focus.
The game with the most potential for endless not-entirely-honest shenanigans is easily Spy Party. Chris Heckerâs long-in-development partners dance of deception pits one spy against one sniper. The spy mingles in a giant crowd of computer-controlled characters, trying to blend in well enoughâpretending to be an NPC, by all appearancesâthat the sniper wonât notice them accomplishing objectives. The sniper can take a shotâbut only one shot for the whole matchâwhenever they please. The oppressively tense atmosphere this dynamic creates is something else. Thereâs no other game like it. The few times Iâve played it, I almost immediately felt sweat trickling down the small of my back as I clenched damn near every muscle in my entire body. Itâs wild.
Thatâs an example of the interesting, ever-changing experience a game can provide if deception is the main focus of gameplay. While I appreciate that games like EVE, DayZ, and a whole host of strategy games allow for lies and artful dishonesty, I very much like the idea of a game where thatâs the main thing you do. I think thereâs still a lot of untapped potential in that concept, and I hope we see more people explore it soon.
I still donât like lying, but in gamesâof the video variety and otherwiseâthereâs definitely a rush to it. The art of deceit is multifaceted, tense, and requires people to both contemplate and think on their toes. Sounds like a great video game if Iâve ever heard of one.
Oh, and you never know: I couldâve been lying when I said I donât like to lie.
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