How Red Dead Manages to Both Break and Support Ethics

Unpublished work Copyright 2018 David Xia, some rights reserved.

 

 

Transcript

 

How Red Dead Redemption 2 adheres to ethics and manages to break them at the same time. RDR2 is an action role playing game released by Rockstar Entertainment in 2018. Recently it won accolades for best narrative, performance, Score and Audio design at the 2018 Game Awards.

The most impressive part of the game is how photo-realistic the game is. The trees move in the breeze, characters look lifelike, and there is so much general content that the world feels like it is alive and constantly changing.

The game shines at its best in this area. Not only does the game feel real, the historical accuracy perfectly balances early 1900’s social issues with a modern outlook. One of the most memorable moments I had during my play through was during a Suffrage mission.

The Suffrage was a social movement that began in 1848, with the mission of bringing the right to vote to women in the United States. The game presents us with a scenario where we accompany a group of women in a suffrage protest. The scene explores different reactions to the situation and because of the great narrative writing, the scene gives insight on how different characters and personalities viewed the moment. This allowed a moment for true reflection and I realized how unethical the world may have been during those times.

On the other hand, the online component of the game is having some problems. The primary concern are microtransactions. Using real life money to purchase in-game add-ons. The developers have created an economy online in Red Dead that forces players to spend money if they want the full experience. Recently, the easiest way to earn money through the game (fishing and hunting) was severely nerfed in the latest update.

 

This video will also include a transcript for accessibility, please check the bottom of the page for more information.

 

 

Works Cited

 

Agarwal, P. (2017, December 20). The Economics of Microtransactions in Video Games. Retrieved from https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/economics-of-microtransactions/

McWhertor, M. (2018, December 06). The Game Awards 2018 nominees led by God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/2018/11/13/18092186/game-awards- 2018-nominees-show-date-start-time

The Woman Suffrage Movement. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2018, from https://www.womenshistory.org/resources/general/woman-suffrage-movement