Context Sensitive

This Game Is Torture

Interestingly, the game's lack of context is part of what concerns Melissa Henson, director of public education for the Parents Television Council. The way she sees it, by not filling in the blanks, the game immediately devolves into something sick and twisted that would likely render the player numb to actual torture. She sees it not as a mindless way to pass the time but as an instruction manual of sorts, a virtual training ground for depravity. For her, the game's impact is binary: You are either repulsed by it (and therefore OK) or excited by it (and therefore a sicko). Those are certainly two perfectly valid reactions, but they are just as certainly not the only two.

I was horrified by my time with The Torture Game, but comments left both on Newgrounds, where the game is hosted, and at MSNBC, indicate that at least a few folks came away with an entirely different experience. Some found it to be hilarious, others boring. Still others used the flesh and blood of the character as an artistic medium. Some players see it as a diatribe against U.S. interrogation techniques. Bizarrely, a few critics seem to feel the game would be less offensive if the victim screamed and protested more. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one.

I'm not going to beat the "it's just a game" drum, because I consider that to be a big fat cop-out. You can make kicking kittens into a game, too, if you keep score or go for distance, but that doesn't make you any less of a reprehensible asshat. I am merely going to point out that everything that takes place during a Torture Game session is up to the individual playing. You can hack the poor guy to ribbons or you can simply paint him green; you can cut off his head or just push him around a bit. You're not rewarded for inflicting pain or punished for being kind - in fact, you're not prompted to do anything at all. Whatever horrors, fears, or joys you experience while playing the game are ones you had with you before you made your first move.

That's what makes The Torture Game so fascinating to me. Not the game itself, but rather what it reveals about those who play it. It's a digital Rorschach test, a not-so-subtle poke at our psyches, turning over the rocks in our heads to see what squiggly things come crawling out into the sunshine. I have no idea what a "normal" or "healthy" response to The Torture Game 2 is, though I suspect several people - mostly politicians - would be happy to tell me.

At the end of the day, what is The Torture Game 2? A tech demo? A torture simulator? A harmless and meaningless plaything? A tool for sparking conversation and thought? Is it a yardstick to measure our empathy, or a mirror to reflect our darker selves? Maybe it's all of these, maybe it's none of them. The only one who knows for sure is you.

Susan Arendt knows that for a game to truly be torture, it must include escort missions. Timed escort missions.