Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved (Popular Culture and Philosophy Book 59)

"To the uninitiated--and even some initiates--First Person Shooter (FPS) games are sordid exercises in mindless violence, destroying the sensibilities of teenage videogame addicts. But there's more to Halo than this superficial stereotype. For many former youthful devotees, Halo has been the cosmic bridge to understanding and even wisdom."-- Abstract: "To the uninitiated--and even some initiates--First Person Shooter (FPS) games are sordid exercises in mindless violence, destroying the sensibilities of teenage videogame addicts. But there's more to Halo than this superficial stereotype. For many former youthful devotees, Halo has been the cosmic bridge to understanding and even wisdom." Since the Doom series, First Person Shooter (FPS) videogames have ricocheted through the gaming community, often reaching outside that community to the wider public. While critics primarily lampoon FPSs for their aggressiveness and on-screen violence, gamers see something else. Halo is one of the greatest, most successful FPSs ever to grace the world of gaming. Although Halo is a FPS, it has a science-fiction storyline that draws from previous award-winning science fiction literature. It employs a game mechanic that limits the amount of weapons a player can carry to two, and a multiplayer element that has spawned websites like Red vs. Blue and games within the game created by players themselves. Halo 's unique and extraordinary features raise serious questions. Are campers really doing anything wrong? Does Halo 's music match the experience of the gamer? Would Plato have used Halo to train citizens to live an ethical life? What sort of Artificial Intelligence exists in Halo and how is it used? Can the player's experience of war tell us anything about actual war? Is there meaning to Master Chief's rough existence? How does it affect the player's ego if she identifies too strongly with an aggressive character like Master Chief? Is Halo really science fiction? Can Halo be used for enlightenment-oriented thinking in the Buddhist sense? Does Halo 's weapon limitation actually contribute to the depth of the gameplay? When we willingly play Halo only to die again and again, are we engaging in some sort of self-injurious behavior? What is expansive gameplay and how can it be informed by the philosophy of Michel Foucault? In what way does Halo 's post-apocalyptic paradigm force gamers to see themselves as agents of divine deliverance? What can Red vs. Blue teach us about personal identity? These questions are tackled by writers who are both Halo cognoscenti and active philosophers, with a foreword by renowned Halo fiction author Fred Van Lente and an afterword by leading games scholar and artist Roger Ngim. Content: UNSC briefing / Fred Van Lente -- Eliminate hostile anti-intellectual units / Luke Cuddy -- Who is master chief? / Joyce C. Havstad -- Master chief and the meaning of life / Jeff Sharpless -- Why Plato wants you to play Halo / Roger Travis -- Does Cortana dream of electric sheep? / Monica Evans -- The initiatory journey to legendary play / Sébastien Hock-Koon -- Halo and music / Ben Abraham -- Personal identity in Blood Gulch / Peter Ludlow and Chiara Repetti-Ludlow -- Enlightment through Halo's possible worlds / Luke Cuddy -- Apocalypse Halo / Rachel Wagner, Tyler DeHaven, and Chris Hendrickson -- The plasma grenade is the new razor blade / Michael Jenkins -- Playing with fantasies in the spartan (sub)consciousness / Patrick Tiernan -- What's wrong with camping? / Galen Foresman -- Sandbox confrontations / Shane Fliger -- What would Foucault think about speed runs, jeep jumps, and Zombie? / Felan Parker -- Would Cortana pass the Turing test? / Sherol Chen -- UNSC debriefing : don't look now, the boogeyman's behind you-- or is it the flood? / Roger Ngim.