{"id":7896,"date":"2013-09-04T14:05:57","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T18:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=7896"},"modified":"2013-09-04T14:05:57","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T18:05:57","slug":"video-game-as-preparation-for-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html","title":{"rendered":"Video Game as Preparation for Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher<\/a><\/em>, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers. \u00a0(That\u2019s Thomas Hobbes being rebutted by the protagonist above). \u00a0You, Socrates Jones, are trapped in a kind of limbo for philosophers, and you can only escape if you give the Arbiter an answer to the question of Morality.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of room to be frustrated with nuances of the philosophies being left out, or with philosophers being omitted (Euthyphro\u2019s is the only theistic argument), but on the whole it\u2019s a fun game. \u00a0I\u2019ll admit to not quite being over my deontologic past and cheering Kant on against my character when they came to blows. \u00a0If you get stalled out somewhere, you can cheat off of this walkthough<\/a>, to see how the game intends you to play.<\/p>\n

The four tools you-as-player have are \u201cAsk for Clarification\u201d \u201cQuestion Relevance\u201d \u201cPress for Backing\u201d and \u201cChallenge!\u201d (which involves bringing up a counterpoint \u2014 usually a premise that has already shown up in the philosopher\u2019s argument. \u00a0And this was particularly fun for me to discover, since I\u2019ve been engaged in debate design over at my day job<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We wanted to make the debate participatory, but we didn\u2019t want the audience in an antagonistic frame of mind, so we didn\u2019t want them to just play \u201cSpot the Fallacy.\u201d \u00a0We wanted to give people the opportunity practicing directing a disagreement in useful directions, not just sniping an opponent, so we came up for ways for them to signal things like \u201cGive an Example\/Be Specific!\u201d \u201cRelevance\/Tangent?\u201d and \u201cParaphrase your Opponent\u201d and I was pleased to see the overlap in the game. \u00a0(Our debate is this Thurday, if you\u2019re in the Bay Area<\/a>).<\/p>\n

What I liked best about the Socrates Jones<\/em> game (and it sure wasn\u2019t the answer) was the assumption that the philosophers answers\u00a0ought<\/em> to be intelligible to the accountant protagonist. \u00a0You couldn\u2019t lose points asking for clarifications, and the player-character several times emphasized that, especially as the question was about morality, he\u00a0had<\/em> to be able to understand it, to be able to live it out. \u00a0(Which I think indicated that he should have listened more to Kant, who would have agreed it was necessary he be able to will the good to be good, not just be directed by some arcane rule to good consequences).<\/p>\n

Oh, and the game was fun for me for one probably-unique reason. \u00a0On my last visit to DC, my role as Big Bad in my boyfriend\u2019s DnD game (this one<\/a>) came to a close. \u00a0I had been playing the last true disciple of the interrogator-god, described as follows:<\/p>\n

Astermeid\u2019s followers believe in rhetorical confrontation as almost the highest good, and also subscribe to a very Darwinist outlook with respect to others. Those who lose arguments or cannot give satisfactory answers to questions are, according to the Church of Astermeid, the most pathetic of all life and do not deserve to even have the dignity of justice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My character had been trying to prepare an apologia for existence for her god, but unlike Socrates Jones, who got to answer questions in peace, she had to deal with pesky adventures who found a Talisman of Pure Good and managed to cast her\/me into a fiery rift. \u00a0Alas. \u00a0We did at least get a picture of the death scene (which followed a Hannibal Lecture<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I couldn\u2019t help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers. \u00a0(That\u2019s Thomas Hobbes being rebutted by the protagonist above). \u00a0You, Socrates Jones, are trapped in a kind of limbo for philosophers, and you can only escape if you give the Arbiter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":7897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nVideo Game as Preparation for Death<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I couldn't help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Video Game as Preparation for Death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I couldn't help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-04T18:05:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2013\/09\/Socrates-Jones.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"654\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"402\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html\",\"name\":\"Video Game as Preparation for Death\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-04T18:05:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-04T18:05:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"I couldn't help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Video Game as Preparation for Death\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Video Game as Preparation for Death","description":"I couldn't help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Video Game as Preparation for Death","og_description":"I couldn't help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html","og_site_name":"Unequally Yoked","article_published_time":"2013-09-04T18:05:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"654","height":"402","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2013\/09\/Socrates-Jones.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Leah Libresco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Libresco","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html","name":"Video Game as Preparation for Death","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-09-04T18:05:57+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-04T18:05:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464"},"description":"I couldn't help but be charmed by\u00a0Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, an in-browser game where you argue philosophy with a hit parade of great thinkers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/video-game-as-preparation-for-death.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Video Game as Preparation for Death"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/","name":"Unequally Yoked","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464","name":"Leah Libresco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Leah Libresco"},"description":"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}