Orange County, Calif. has always been a place with special meanings to me. I still remember the tall peach tree my parents planted in the backyard of our house, the turtle shaped sandbox my cousin and I used to play in and the community swimming pool where my grandma often practiced the freestyle stroke. 14 years later, I have returned to the neighborhood I lived in as a child. This time via Google Earth.

Typing the address of our old house in the search bar, I see the screen zoom in on the deep blue sphere that represents Earth. The screen continues to zoom in, and soon I can no longer see the entirety of the globe. When I arrive at my old home address, everything appears two-D, so flat and deformed that I barely recognize the place. If not because of the high contrast in lighting caused by the sun, I would not even know my current location is California. Thankfully, a few seconds later the street scene and buildings become three-D, and during their two-D to three-D transformation process, memories stream through my mind.

The neighborhood my parents and I lived in is called Granada Park, located in a small, quiet community and with gates in the front and back. Starting from the back side of our old house, I moved along the brick walls that separate Granada Park from the rest of the community. The walls are in slightly different shades of yellowish brown, which reflect the neighborhood’s age. After all, it’s been 14 years since I left here, and Google Earth indicates that these pictures of Granada Park were taken in 2009. But even after such a long time, Granada Park’s beauty is still perceivable. Following the brown walls, I come to the entrance gates. The thin tree on the right of the gates catches my attention with the purple blossoms on its swirly twigs right away. It is not the most breathtaking beauty, yet it sure is something a person would appreciate. The tree stood next to the wooden sign saying “Granada Park,” as if it is greeting anyone who visits.

Google Earth shows a blue mid-size sedan entering Grenada Park through the front gates. It reminds me of a familiar scene. Back when I was six or seven years old, I saw my parent wave at the security guard from our car many times per day, asking for permission to enter or leave the neighborhood. Security is highly prioritized, so there are watchmen on both sides of the neighborhood. I try to take a look inside Granada Park by clicking on one of the houses. However, Google Earth wouldn’t zoom in, perhaps because it did not have access to the interior view of the neighborhood.

Since Google Earth lacks information about the actual houses, I used Google Images to complement the information I’ve already gathered via the software. Among the countless pictures, a photo of a house in Granada Park looks fairly similar to my old home, with a huge garage and a small wrought iron fence gate on its left. This discovery makes me believe that I have arrived at the last stop of my journey. This was my house, my home. If viewable in Google Earth, there would be a marker placed on the red brick roof indicating my old home address.

Digital media have allowed me to complete this traveling in a short span of time. The experience is positive for sure. I don’t need to spend any money, just some clicking and typing, to get to a place on the other side of the country. Like what Amber Case said, the shortest distance between two points in today’s world is not a straight line, but the overlap of the two points made possible by advanced technology. Digital media have finally transformed us all into cyborgs.

I am digitally standing in the summit of Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, and one Japan’s “Three Holy Mountains.” The view is breathtaking. I am on the edge of a massive crater in the surface of the top of mountain. It looks like the bottom of an enormous lake, drained of all water. The steep, jagged edges in the earth are smooth brown, growing increasingly darker as they grow deeper into the mountain’s core. Patches of melting snow are dispersed throughout the tremendous pit, leaving wet shadows of past hydration. The sun is hitting one side of the crater so that the brown slate is illuminated, like an opening in the heavens casting light down on a patch of the earth. I am standing in the shadow of a cloud.

I look around the edge. The ground is lithic and uneven. It is covered in small rocks, pebbles, and dirt. The surface of the mountain around the huge crater is hilly and undulating, but flat enough to walk on. It stretches on for miles.

And then I look beyond. The view of the ground from the summit is sublime. I am at the highest point in Japan. The snow-covered edges of the rigged mountain side glisten with solitude. I am high up in the clouds but can see patches of the earth where there are breaks in the billowing white vapor. The earth’s surface is miles and miles away and goes on for as far as my eyes can see. I am too high up to make out details, but I see stretches of land and foliage. Everything is covered in a white, hazy blanket of mist, generating an angelic feeling of immaculacy and transcendence.

It is a celestial but humbling place. The world is virtually at my feet yet I feel nothing but small, miniscule, insignificant. I feel like one of many, but at the same time, alone and afraid. The world is so much more than me, too much to take in, too much to comprehend. Atop this mountain, with a view it feels like only a god should know, I feel like I am being questioned, challenged. Anywhere I look, I can see for miles and miles; I imagine I am in the sky, surrounded by the heavens, but the cool ground below beckons to stay in place. I am attached to the earth, yet miles above it. I am overwhelmed with contrasting feelings of of power and impotency. Where do I belong? What is my purpose? How can my life affect this world of which I can see so much? I humble myself to the simple power that lies within me and the pressure exerted on me by the sky, nature, and all that is holy.

I experienced this view using Google Earth, videos on YouTube, and pictures from Google Images. Viewing Mt. Fuji digitally, as opposed to real life, creates a different affect on the sensations aroused from the scenery. I am basing my entire sensual experience on imagery, yet I can see only what is available online. I am limited by the range of the photographer and the resolution of the camera. I cannot feel the crunch of the earth under my feet. I cannot feel the suffocating air pressure nor the excruciating cold. All of these would be factors in threatening the physical effect on my perception of the summit. And I cannot traverse freely though the space, though I pretend to by changing the view and or moving through different images. Another limitation is in the size; I can only see what is on the computer 15-inch screen. I have no use for peripheral vision.

However, there are several advantages to virtually experiencing this place. I doubt I will ever actually have the ability to travel to the top of Mt. Fji, therefore the mere fact that I am able to see this from here in my dorm at College Park is astounding. Even though the screen is small and there are several limitations, I am still able to see exactly what the summit of the mountain looks like. The most powerful facet of this mountain, however, is the view–and I think the digital capturing of the mountain and surroundings is exceptional, enough to take my breath away just by looking at a computer screen.

I hunkered down during Hurricane Sandy and played an awful lot of this game. Luckily, it’s chock full of interesting morality!

Harm/Care

In many ways, this distinction is at the heart of the game, and manifests itself in a number of ways. The game, as implied by the name “total war,” is very much centered around harm. This is first and foremost in display during the sophisticated 3D battles controlled by the player. You command your men to fight others, with casualties routinely reaching into the thousands. Only by inflicting massive harm and violence can you grow your economy, expand your kingdom, and ultimately satisfy the win conditions of the came, which require the player to take and hold a set number of regions. The “taking” is impossible absent an ecnomy powerful enough to buy out the map, and enemies willing to sell it. In other words, attempting to care in M2TW is counterproductive.

Fairness/Reciprocity

This isn’t featured particularly heavily in M2TW. The tax system allows the player to increase or lower the rate paid by civilizations in the empire, but it’s done on the basis of economic and strategic considerations, rather than the concerns of the civilians. When the player enters into an alliance with other states, there is an expectation of gift-giving in order to keep the relationship strong. Usually, however  this deters betrayal so that the ally can serve a strategic purpose, generally more war-mongering, later down the line. In other words, the fairness/reciprocity in M2TW only in order to serve a greater, geopolitical purpose. It certainly has no inherent in-game value.

Ingroup/Loyalty

This is incredibly important to the M2TW experience. Every facet of your empire, from individual generals to entire regions is affected by loyalty. Loyalty breeds happiness, as well as battlefield supremacy, and can serve every function from keeping an overpopulated city from rebelling to willing troops on the ground to hold their formation. As foreign territory is incorporated into the player’s empire, maintaining a sense of loyalty is essential to holding onto captured land — itself essential to winning the game. Loyalty is definitely elevated in M2TW, but it is worth noting that this role could serve as meta commentary on the Medieval time period depicted in the game.

Authority/Respect

This value goes hand in hand with loyalty/ingroup. Characters have an authority and respect value which affects both their battlefield performance and management of settlements. While less significant overall than loyalty, authority/respect still holds weight when dealing with other nations in the game. The military supremacy at the player’s command directly translates to the amount of authority — “diplomatic leverage” in the games terms — he is able to exert over his opponents. This doesn’t strictly translate into respect, aside from in the Machiavellian sense. Again, in-game it’s just another political tool in the player’s box.

Purity/Sanctity

Religion is a major factor in expansion. However, the game’s relationship with sanctity mirrors that of its fictional inhabitants. The people’s relationship with religion can spawn both crusades and defensive Jihad, meaning that religious commitment can be used as another means of military expansion. The whole thing really reads straight out of The Prince, with the player’s absolute authority and moral judgement (or lack therof) being the only really significant question at hand. All other ethical considerations are woven into the game to be manipulated and used to expand power, retinue and wealth. In fact, crusading armies, like any other in game, have the option of sacking cities and massacring their inhabitants. Purity is certainly, objectively devoid from this game world.

Really, this game is about harm/care (by which, I mean harm). Every other value is present in some senes, but only so that it can be used as a means of exerting further harm on the player’s opponents. The morality is logical and consistant but exists to be understood and utilized rather than respected. It’s an interesting, philosophical and, dare I say, realistic simulation of power.

I don’t play many video or computer games, but my friends often have game nights involving card and board games. Settlers of Catan is one of my favorite board games. It is a strategy game in which four players or teams play to get the most resources, roads, settlements/cities and ports.

Harm/Care:

In the game, there aren’t many ways you can harm another player or team. The robber may be placed on a tile that prevents any surrounding settlements from obtaining the resources and is moved when a player rolls a seven or uses a knight card. The best way to harm someone in the game is to take away their resources or cut off a road.

Fairness/Reciprocity

If a player is to place the robber on another’s tile, he accepts the vengeance of the other player in future turns. Basically, the person losing the resources will refuse to trade or bargain with the robber-placer until some sort of truce is made. Also, if one refuses to trade for a certain resource, he can expect the other players to refuse his trade offers for the foreseeable future.

Ingroup/Loyalty

Sometimes, two players team up against another (usually the best or most arrogant player) to prevent that player from gaining points. These two players will work together to assure the failure of the other by refusing trades and sabotaging resources with the robber piece. If one player is to break this truce, he may be subjected to similar treatment by the other player of the truce.

Authority/Respect

Although there are no authority figures, players gain authority by earning points and cards such as Largest Army. These cards are often hard won by players competing to gain the resources to build these achievements. Respect is determined by the individual players themselves rather than any game construct. The more competitive the group, the less respect is apparent in gameplay.

Purity/Sanctity

There is little to no emphasis on purity in this game. Some players pride themselves in being kind to each player and not targeting one, but most tend to gang up on people and do everything they can to win.

For this week’s blog post I decided to study the morality of one of my favorite games, Kingdom Hearts. It is a classic good-vs.-evil game by Square Enix that involves Square Enix and Disney characters in a vast multiverse, and focuses on friendship.

1. Harm/Care:  In the game, your weapon is a large “Keyblade,” and you use it to defeat shadow creatures called “Heartless” that attempt to steal the hearts of characters. Those who try to harm others are classified as “bad guys,” and the designated “good guys” are allowed to harm the bad guys in order to protect or care for others. Teammates, or fellow good guys in your party, often care for you by replenishing your health.
2.  Fairness/Reciprocity: Fairness and forthright conduct are emphasized in the game; deceit is something practiced by the “bad guys.” Reciprocity frequently comes into to play. As you travel from world to world around the multiverse, you aid the native characters in each world and they in return help you on your journey, giving you items and occasionally joining your party temporarily.
3. Ingroup/Loyalty: This aspect is extremely important in the games. The game frequently emphasizes that friendship is the most important thing in life and that you have to take care of your friends. Most of your journey in the game is in fact in pursuit of a friend that has been swayed by the forces of darkness. Even though this person technically works with the “bad guys,” they are classified as a friend and must therefore be saved.
4. Authority/Respect:  a respect for authority figures is built into the game even though few appear. There are no parents shown for the young human protagonists, but Mickey Mouse appears as “King Mickey,” a royal authority figure that everyone seems to respect despite the fact that different worlds have different governments.
5. Purity/Sanctity: This is one of the main themes of the games. The enemies in the games are made when “darkness” overtakes someone’s “heart” (which seems to function like a soul or spirit). These corrupted hearts then become the puppets of the ultimate villain, who turned to darkness in order to gain power. The purity of the main character’s heart is supposedly what makes him such an effective hero.

This is a game for explorers (with multiple worlds and hidden areas) and achievers. Even though there are no actual social components with other human players, the game does promote social behavior and morality.

The only computer game I have ever really played was Neopets when I was in elementary school, so I may have a fuzzy memory when it comes to some aspects of it. Neopets is an online game that was popular when I was a kid. Each person can get new neopets, which they have to take care of and train. They can play other games to earn neopoints and buy or sell things or add to their neohomes.

1. Harm/Care: A huge part of the game when I was still playing was taking care of your neopet. If you did not feed it regularly, it’s hunger points would go down and it would display and image of a sad, crying pet which would automatically cause the viewer to feel terrible and guilty. You could also go to a fountain and heal your pet. There was also a battling arena called the Battledome, but I never played it. However, neopets would battle each other using different attacks and weapons. They could gain skill levels and become stronger when they beat the other pet.

2. Fairness/Reciprocity: One of the main goals for players in the game was to earn neopoints. This could be earned by selling items in a store, or playing games. There was a huge selection of different games you could play, and your score would total to a ratio of neopoints you earn. This was a very fair method of gaining money. However, every so often random events could happen, for instance, a ghost could come steal your items or money, or you would simply stumble upon a great item to use or sell. The unfortunate random events often angered people, which somehow made them want to play more since they wanted to get it all back.

3.Loyalty/In-group: When I played, there were no groups within the game.  Your loyalty was towards your pet, keeping it happy (by playing games, reading books, giving new toys) and fed well. There was also a feature of the game that allowed you to go on quests for faeries, and you would have to stay loyal to faeries who had enemy faeries or they would not give you anymore quests.

4. Authority/Respect: In neopets, the player has to respect the rules of the game. If the players do something wrong, the moderators/admins who would email the players and either give a warning or cancel their account.

5.Purity/Sanctity: This game is all about taking care of pets so it is mostly pure. However, as always there are overzealous players create accounts just to aid their other accounts somehow or try to earn neopoints in whatever way possible. This was the only time the game was corrupt, which was due to the players themselves.

The gaming franchise that both jump started my love for video games and left the most lasting impression on me is definitely the Halo series. It is a first person based shooter that  allows you to step into the armor of the perfect soldier, Master Chief, as he fights for humanity’s survival against the apocalyptic religious sect known as the Covenant. Halo has a rich history, deep characters as well as an intricately woven plot. The series really challenges the user to consider the scope of their actions as they play the game. When applying the five aspects of gaming to the series, one can see how morality plays a central role to the game:

1.) Authority/Respect

There is an immense amount of authority and respect in this series. For one, Master Chief himself is a Spartan, the highest rank of soldier present on the battlefield. He is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence (A.I.) hologram in the form of a female; Cortana has access to all the data available to the human race. On the enemy’s side, there are the Prophets, who direct the soldiers of the Covenant in the corrupt ways of their “religion”. In addition, there are two alien races that play a crucial role in the series, the Elites and the Brutes. The Elites are commands by the Arbiter, which is a sacred position in the religion, while the Brutes are led by Tartarus.

2.) Sanctity/Purity

Due to the Covenant being a religious sect, albeit a corrupt one, Halo proves to be a solid example of sanctity and purity in gaming. The Prophets constantly have their soldiers searching for artifacts central to the religion (e.g. the Halos) and are greatly disturbed when said artifacts have been “contaminated” by mankind’s presence. The Covenant also holds that the Prophets are beyond reproach, which is why it is a powerful scene when the Arbiter sees through the lies of the Prophets and allies the Elites with the humans.

3.) Care/Harm

As with any game that depicts war, Halo relies on a careful balance of care and harm both in and out of the narrative. Outside, there is your basic health. In Halo, your character has an overshield over the health bar, which will start flashing red after you take enough damage, indicating that the shield needs to recharge, and the player is now vulnerable; if the player continues to take damage without the overshield, they will die and need to either respawn or restart the mission depending on the game mode and settings. Inside the narrative, Master Chief’s relationship with Cortana is a prominent source of care in the game. He carries her physical computer chip in his helmet and works diligently to ensure both of their safety, even coming to rescue her from the Flood Gravemind in the heart of a Covenant battle cruiser. On the converse, Cortana takes care of Chief, helping him navigate through complex environments and hectic situations.

4.)Fairness/Reciprocity

Fairness is one of the most prominent aspects of Halo, especially in mutliplayer modes, as the developers elected to give the player the choice of who to damage (i.e. friendly fire: [ON] off). If you shoot the enemy players and focus on the objectives, your have a great shot at being successful and progressing relatively quickly through even the toughest circumstances. However, if you shoot your teammates, they can shoot back, and the A.I. will as well. When you fight alongside the Arbiter and shoot him enough times, he will pull out an energy sword and stab you (this outcome is very difficult to achieve, as you have to be the only one damaging him and he will not do it if accidentally hit while engaged by the enemy). In addition, if you betray your teammates in multiplayer, after killing the same teammate twice in a row, the teammate will have the option to boot you from the game. In terms of level design, the weapons are spread out evenly, with light, assault based weapons evenly distributed in both spawn areas while power weapons are center of the maps, encouraging teams to work together in order to acquire them. Finally, the player has the option to leave the game at any time by simply pressing the start button and selecting the option. This is not encouraged however, and players who leave to many games in a short period of time receive a ten minute timeout from multiplayer matchmaking.

5.) Loyalty/In-Group

Similar to fairness and reciprocity, loyalty plays a strong role in Halo. For example, the Arbiter choosing to lead his race away from the Covenant was a huge swing and demonstration in loyalty, because while the Elites broke their ties with the Covenant, they did so because the Prophets had ordered the Aribter to be secretly executed, an attempt which he thwarted with the help of his loyal companions. In addition, Master Chief provides a great example of loyalty when he accepts the truce between the Elites and humans, despite his many prior combat instances with the former.

In summation, Halo has something for everyone, the explorers would be enthralled by the intricate designs of every level, the Killers would love the thrill presented in the multiplayer modes. Socializers would revel in the ability to converse with other players over Xbox live. Achievers would enjoy pursuing the long list of Xbox achievements and attempt the new, daring challenges that the platform releases over Xbox Live daily. This franchise truly has something for everyone.

I am a competitive achiever and explorer who enjoys discovering new ways to excel in games while adhering to my own sense of style. Along these lines some games I would enjoy that are similar and different from Halo are games from the Call of Duty, Madden, and Pokemon series.

The pokemon game system/paradigm is highly unique among the world of games. The main character (you), lives in a world where humans called trainers collect animal-like creatures, called pokemon, and use them to help in their travels and exploration. This primarily involves using pokemon as combatants and defenders, against other wild pokemon, or in organized battles with other trainers.

Care/Harm: As can be expected, care/harm is a controversial issue for the pokemon franchise, which has, in fact, recently been targeted by PETA for espousing animal cruelty and such. Though it is oft repeated in game that humans and pokemon live together in peace, it is at times difficult to imagine pokemon voluntarily submitting to a life of servitude and forced combat.

Fairness/Reciprocity: The game does not in and of itself implement fairness enforcing systems, explicitly, though it can be said that work and effort are rewarded by improved performance, and that with the capacity for trading implemented in later game editions (which must be approved by all sides), there are implicit fairness rules built into the interactions.

Loyalty/Ingroup: The player does not have the opportunity to join groups, and is in fact often countered by antagonists who are members of specific recurring gangs or groups. This in a way showcases the negative aspects of the group or mob dynamic, focusing instead on the power of the individual player as the moral agent.

Authority/Respect: The game heavily incorporates ideas of authority and respect, a common theme in level based games. Nearly everything revolves around power hierarchies. The player leads his party of pokemon. Various trainers work at gyms and are subservient to the gym leaders, who are themselves under the Elite 4, who fall below the regional champion. As the player increases in strength, they can challenge these different levels of authority/skill, and rise in the ranks

Sanctity/Purity: Ideas of sanctity/purity are, unlike in many games, fairly important. As a pokemon trainer, taking care of and training your pokemon well involves carefully monitoring their actions, their foods, what kind of creatures they fight against, etc. all of these things can lead to drastic changes in the pokemon’s development.

The game has aspects which can easily appeal to any kind of player. For socializers, there are the options for communications, trading, and battling over wifi. For killers, there is the entire battle system itself. For achievers, there is an entire hierarchy to climb, and hundreds of different pokemon to discover and capture, and for Explorers, a whole world to discover, which continually expands with the addition of new games.

As far as the games other people have discussed, I would probably enjoy just about all of them, except perhaps Angry Birds, League of Legends, or Kid Down the Stairs. I tend to prefer either more complicated or role-playing games which allow for character growth, development and exploration, or short games which can be played directly with friends, preferably in person (head to head). I am not a fan of single player killer focused games like first person shooters, but I do enjoy multiplayer fps’ for the socialization/game aspects.

For this week’s blog post, I decided to analyze a game which I have put more hours into than I would care to think about, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Skyrim is a first-person open-world role-playing game wherein you play as a character known as the Dragonborn, gifted with special powers. The game features a main quest and side quests which both feature the opportunity to make choices regarding your character’s allegiance and storyline ending. I analyzed the game’s morality in terms of the five aspects described in Jonathan Haidt’s TED Talk

Harm/Care

In Skyrim, the player is obliged to take care of their Dragonborn character as well as the Dragonborn’s followers.Often, the player has to choose to kill enemies before their character is harmed. Additionally, the Dragonborn is tasked to save the realm of Skyrim from a dragon threat, which is an additional example of the care morality aspect featured in the game.

Fairness/Reciprocity

Like most RPGs featuring quests, fairness and reciprocity features greatly in Skyrim. The Dragonborn must help other characters in return for their aid or rewards. In order to benefit from others, the Dragonborn must reciprocate and provide benefit to them first. In this way, Skyrim features the fairness/reciprocity morality aspect as well.

Ingroup/Loyalty

In the course of the Skyrim main quests, the Dragonborn has the option to join two factions – the Stormcloaks or the Imperials – or neither. In this way, the player can choose to join a large group and align themselves to the group’s ideals and services, or to continue acting out of self-interest.

Authority/Respect

Skyrim also features a simplified hierarchy of authority. At the beginning, the Skyrim is an escaped prisoner, but by choosing to help the Jarls (lords) of various cities, the Dragonborn can move up in society, becoming a Thane, which carries perks, such as immunity from crimes and different conversation options when conversing with characters of lower classes. In this way, Skyrim also features Authority and Respect aspects of morality.

Purity/Sanctity

The only way that I could connect Skyrim to Purity/Sanctity was in the game’s marriage mechanic, wherein a player can choose a computer-controlled character of the opposite sex to marry. This gives the player a home and income from their spouse’s work, but also forces the player to commit to their chosen other and prevents them from marrying anyone else, thus keeping the sanctity of marriage (in a way). This may be a bit of a stretch, but it was the only way that I could find a connection.

One of the few video games I play these days is the video game LEGO Harry Potter.  I find this game extremely entertaining, and I will often say up long past midnight playing it with my brother over winter break.  I think LEGO Harry Potter is a great game to use as an example for morality in games, and I think a large part of it has to do with the fact that the story of Harry Potter says a lot about morality on its own.

Harm/Care:  In the game, your wand is your weapon.  This game isn’t about killing, but you are still armed.  Most of the time, your wand is used to open doors, levitate things, and get past obstacles.  The obstacles are usually the things that can hurt you, for example, walking into a harmful plant, getting attacked by magical creatures, or falling off course. In the later years, sometimes you’ll have to jinx or duel someone, and use your wand as protection against bad people.  Care is present in the game by collecting hearts.  If your damage is high or your life is low, you can collect hearts that will reduce your damage and increase your life.

Fairness/reciprocity:  Because Harry Potter is a student, much of the video game is also centered around learning.  The process of learning in this game is very fair.  You have the learn certain spells before you can use them.  And to learn spells, you have to pass the lesson by overcoming a certain obstacle.  Likewise, you can’t buy certain items without having enough coins, or move onto the next stage until you’ve completely finished the one you are on.  You can’t just start the game as a powerful wizard and to whatever you’d like.  You have to earn everything and work your way up.

Ingroup/loyalty:  Loyalty plays a large part in this game as well.  This is seen by automatically protecting people who are on your side.  It is impossible for you to kill or harm your friends.  You can throw as many spells at them at you want–you can levitate them, turn them into animals, and play harmless pranks on them, but nothing you do will harm them or make them die.  Because the game protects them from you, it’s automatically forcing loyalty on you so that you can concentrate on the things that are actually real threats.

Authority/respect:  Authority and respect is very similar to loyalty in this game.  It is seen by protecting authority figures in the game.  It is impossible for you to kill or harm your teachers, prefects, parents, or other authority figures such as shopkeepers.  You can attempt to throw spells their way, but they won’t harm them.  Also, depending on who you try to jinx, they may throw a spell back at you, and this CAN harm you.  This teaches you respect.  It shows you that the authority figures are more powerful than you, and so you should respect them and stay on their good side.  They aren’t their to hurt you, but they will put you in your place.

Purity/Sanctity:  Purity is probably the biggest underlying moral theme in the game, and it is also a huge theme in the book series.  This is because the whole premise of the game is to learn spells and become a good enough wizard to defeat Lord Voldemort in the end.  This represents the common theme of good vs. evil.  Even throughout the story before you encounter Voldemort, there are constantly good vs. bad scenarios.  There are friends and enemies, good creatures and bad creatures, good people and bad people, and good spells and bad spells.  All of this ties into the theme that in the end, good always wins.

So with that said…

If you are a person who loves killing in video games, then this game definitely is not for you.  Harm probably plays the smallest part in the story.  There really is no actual killing in the game, and when you “die” you just blow up into little LEGO bits. You don’t get rewarded on the amount of lives you take, or how much damage you do to someone.  In this game, you only harm/attack out of necessity and protection.

Also, if you are a person of likes the social aspect in video games, this game also is not for you.  There really is no talking between characters at all, in fact, they characters don’t even speak a real language.  They just make mumbles and murmurs–LEGO speak, if you will.  Gathering friends and building relationships isn’t really an aspect either.  It’s basically programmed who will be your friend and when they become your friend.  There’s nothing you can do to make them like you more or hate you.

But if you are a person who likes achievements and exploring in video games, then this game is definitely for you!  Throughout the game, you are constantly learning spells and collecting coins and other items, and you are rewarded for these achievements.  There are also other achievements separate from the plot, such as collecting cards, getting golden bricks, and helping students in peril.  These achievements are accomplished by exploring every corner of the stage you’re in.  There are even bonus stages you can unlock!

To sum up… LEGO Harry Potter is definitely a game for achievers and explorers who believe in the notion of good conquering evil.