In video games, I've watched the world end up countless times. And I've seen what's coming after.
Right now, I feel like I'm going to die all the time. It's not just sadness: when I look at the news, I feel like death is near. This week, the United States killed General Iranian General Qassam Suleimani in a move that many thought was likely to trigger World War III. Not so, or Iran has dropped arrows on the ground where the Americans were stationed in Iraq. We are currently sitting on the edge of a knife, waiting to see if the world will enter another relentless war.
Even if political turmoil does not lead to war, I cannot help but react to the 2001 uprising and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conflicts that we no longer participate in, or continue to host in both countries. Since the age of eleven, when the Twin Towers launched a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, I knew three things: that most other countries really hate the US, that most of us should, and that all that keeps the world from going to war is the knowledge that if we can all fire our weapons at the same time, that would be the end of the world.
It's not like this is a new fear. My mother is old enough to sit in “Duck and Cover” films at school, where the children were taught to pull under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack, to at least die in a calm and orderly manner. This is not only a transgenerational trauma that continues to decline, but also a fear that the world's greatest powers inspire and develop. And why? War economies make a lot of money, and fear is a great way to end labor power and engage the voter base.
Fear of a nuclear apocalypse has been featured in popular media for decades, from 80s-era movies with Cold War themes (Red Dawn, War Games, Rocky IV), all the way to today's media, including today's video games. I've played a few modern games that deal with what happens after the end of civilization. Hideo Kojima & # 39; s A Wonderful Death, which debuted in 2019, shows America on its last legs, putting you in the shoes of the man behind post-apocalyptic Sam Porter Bridges who embarks on a last-ditch effort to save the country. In 2018 & # 39; s Frostpunk, has been tasked with building a sustainable city in a cold climate after climate change has made the world unpopular. Even the first one Fall A game back in 2007 used a nuclear war that ends the world as its backdrop.
The video game apocalypse that I keep coming back to, however, is the highlight Horizon Zero Dawn. They keep me up at night. I'm about to reveal the twists in this game, so if you choose to play it you know nothing about it – and you should play it – then stop reading here.
In the apocalypse shown in Horizon Zero Dawn
It is a man-made conclusion, which I find to be very effective. What I consider to be one of the biggest shortcomings of human modernity – the idea of technology impartiality, the taking of machine learning and artificial intelligence, a combination of industrial warfare and capitalism – are the game's achievements that will lead to the end of the world. The latter two, namely the military and capitalist industries, are seen as the driving force behind many US military conflicts.
It's hard for me to play Horizon Zero Dawn because I see so much wrong in our world that has manifested back to me. And in the wake of that game, those mistakes completely destroyed us, and people who knew they had problems weren't listened to until it was too late. In the world of Horizon Zero Dawn, forces lead one last attempt to reduce, not stop, the killing. Everyone capable of holding a firearm was sent to fight the machines. They all died.
The day after Soleimani's assassination, I looked at TikTok's popular app, among all the young comics who had written about it in World War III. We need not look at unimaginable wars knowing that the conflicts delivered by political power will require the proliferation of bodies to use. While the US did not yet have a draft since the Vietnam War, a twenty-year battle with a total estimated 4 million casualties, US troops attack the poor for re-employment with the promise of a strong income or ability to go to college. It's not like they are hiding it. During the War on Terror called War on Terror, we had a military recruiter at my high-end restaurant every day.
I was talking all this with my colleague, Joshua Rivera, in our office the other day. I asked him if there was any objection to all my superstition. He looked at me and said, "Well, Rome fell." I laughed. He was right – Rome fell, but that is not the end of all human civilization. Many, many lives were lost, as well as art and art history, but humans and other civilizations elsewhere continue to exist.
Unlike factionalism introduced in similar games Fall and Horizon Zero Dawn, times of great stress and constant development have led people in the real world down the same path. A 2008 study analyzing disaster myths as they followed the cut-off from Hurricane Katrina of New Orleans they found that while there were instances of robbery and violence, there were many examples of people working together.
"While there have been documented incidents of brutal arrest, violence and robbery in New Orleans following the devastating flood caused by this storm, there are numerous reports of commitment, cooperation, and fighting among the affected people," the authors of the document read. "Responsiveness, prosocial, and individual and community confidence following Hurricane Katrina were similarly observed following the Asian tsunami in December 2004, and July 7, 2005, by terrorist bombings in London, and are likely to be shown in the 40 to 60 percent period. % decrease in New York City massacre after September 11, 2001. ”
The answer I needed to hear, which was very calming, came from the last video games. All the games I've played that showed me the end of the world also showed me life moving on in the background. Sam Porter Bridges connects America, the citizens of your city Frostpunk you can survive, and even though the United States of Fall it is hot, crowded and very effective. Even inside Horizon Zero Dawn, one game in all of these that makes me feel a bit of fear, this story presents what ultimately is a successful attempt to save society and human history. Everything will end. The end is inevitable. But that does not mean the end of it all.