I found this episode pretty adequate, was turned off a bit by the whole heaven/hell reincarnation stuff, too basic bitch for me sadly. What I did find sexy was how the show is the only living example I can think of when anyone has ever enjoyed an escort mission.
The whole problem of WestWorld as a game is that it fails as a game. There are simply no risks or penalties for failure, there is no danger to the player character. It is in essence, a large historical reenactment sandbox where the player has godmode activated, hence why the players don't actually play anything, they just fuck and kill. That all changes for 'white hat' and 'edge in black'. Mr. Edge has played the sandbox for most of his life, is clearly the sandbox's #1 fan and the top champion of WestWorld, who has 99.99% storylines completed and has combat, crafting, charisma (even medical) skills maxed. But he doesn't really feel like he's had a complete experience. That 0.01%, all the undiscovered lore, fluff and such, he wants that. To get there, he needs Teddy. Mr. Edge can't die, but Teddy can - and if Teddy dies, Mr. Edge can't get that 0.01%. Suddenly Mr. Edge needs Teddy to stay alive, and so must protect Teddy. Notably when Mr. Edge wants to get closer to his objective, he has two choices to make - go the easy way, or go the short way. He physically has to make that choice, and it's all contingent upon the survival odds of Teddy, an already injured NPC. Without Teddy, Mr. Edge can always take the shortest route, with Teddy's health in mind - Mr. Edge actually has to think, actually has something to lose, actually has a reward to gain. As Teddy gains experience and shows his skills, Mr. Edge is surprised at the emergent gameplay Teddy is providing him - for the first time ever, Mr. Edge is surprised by part of the 99.99%, surprised that despite all his game completion, his enjoyment is coming from the old gameplay objects, rules, meeting with new ruleset dynamics.
Very similar to Mr. Edge is the case of White Hat vs Black Hat, which runs central through the issue of whether or not WestWorld is actually a game or not. Black Hat is of the basic bitch calibre that has sex with everything, kills everything, rinse and repeat until the game allows him to explore fresh new kinks in a fresh new environment, all at quite a hefty price. Black Hat runs around in a skinner box conditioning himself into ecstasy and routine and is more than happy to have WestWorld take away his dollars for it. White Hat on the other hand is a fucking nerd. He walks into this immersive world and actually gets immersed, role playing as if he was a part of the world and the NPCs were people. He is playing the respectable outsider, walking in with business & a friend, with a deeper backstory of an engaged woman waiting for him when he gets back on that train and returns to his great business job. Everything changes when his storyline crosses paths with Dolores, and White Hat inadvertently finds himself on the main storyline (that 0.01% content!), and for once finds himself faced with emotional quandaries and tests. Before that moment White Hat could always choose the right thing as he acclimatised to the game rules: Don't accept the visitations of well-meaning prostitutes, don't levy malevolence on the innocent, spare patience and duty to the needy and treat all with respect whilst keeping a respectful distance.
After Dolores crosses his path he no longer can keep that respectful distance, as he actually feels something for her, and she becomes embroiled in some sinister conspiracy that threatens her life. As his Black Hat friend himself becomes a danger to Dolores, PvP conflict occurs through literal conflicts of interest over where the storyline will go. White Hat has to choose on whether to work for illicit company, to kill the illicit, to murder the innocent, to supply explosive ordnance to the extremely dangerous versus in some way placing Dolores or Black Hat in danger. He ultimately has to make very, and increasingly, difficult choices - all of which test his skill and test the relationships he has built with his old friend Black Hat, and his new acquaintance of unexplored relations, Dolores. Parallel to Mr. Edge escorting Teddy, and without spoiling anything, Dolores displays unexpected skills that instantly change the playing field, providing quality unscripted emergent gameplay.
Mr. Edge and White Hat do not have god mode on anymore. Black Hat thought White Hat was playing the game wrong, but truly those former two are the only ones actually playing what we'd recognise as a game.
The central plotline upon which the show is built is interesting. It is the conflict of creators, showing the progress of a game and what it means to each stereotype.
At the end of the chronological side of scenes, WestWorld is a massive company. It has legions of rank and file maintenance and security workers, who have no love of the company, and just want to make their own ends meet and do well in the world. It has powerful managing boards scrutinizing and threatening to hire and fire workers from behind the scenes, it has cringeworthy depraved artists leading the creative direction of the world, angry at their lack of validation as the "artiste", it has executive directors getting into scandalous affairs the head of engineering undermining her own authority, and though she claims no love for the company she directs she secretly was a fan from childhood. It has ~~quirky~~ upstart tech developers and self-taught geniuses making groundbreaking innovations, indirectly undermining the company from within, it has actual design departments that sketch out, model and finally roll out the intended final product that the wonderful artiste envisioned, though the artiste is never really all too pleased with how the final image is implemented. Its marketing team works behind the scenes grabbing new customers in, and of course some of those new customers are actually prospecting investors.
Far, far, far behind all that are the two creators, who started in a time when the whole industry was just two people.
I'm not saying that Dwarf Fortress World will be the future, but it just takes one lottery winner to play DF for it to become reality one day :P
Anyways these two creators have very different views on what WestWorld will be. Robert enjoys the godmode of his sandbox, and reluctantly accepts the company using his sandbox as a Facebook Farmville cash cow, all as he works behind the scenes to try and turn his godmode into godhood, or the resurrection of his dead son - whether or not he has given up those ambitions after the Farmvillisation of WestWorld remains to be seen, and seems unlikely.
Arnold on the other hand appears to hold those ambitions and seems to be actively fighting the Farmvillisation of his project, turning it into a historical immersion roguelike with permadeath. Only if you die in the game, you die in real life, NOW YOU WILL KNOW WHY YOU FEAR THE NIGHT. It is dubious whether Arnold prepared his plans in advance or is directing things from beyond the pale of life.
That he built himself a maze likewise suggests that he has been playing too much roguelike, and has literally become the roguelike, turning himself into the final secret at the centre of the world.
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Topic: WestWorld (TV show) Season 2 (Read 17403 times)