Yes, that Inception. Get out your mammoth horns and spinning
tops, because we've got to go deeper. Toss in thinking with portals, and we've
got today's topic.
As any Internet cynic will tell you, the term
"inception" actually has nothing to do with dreams, much less the act
of entering one. In fact, the movie dedicates a whole scene to establishing the
true definition of the word. Simply put, inception just refers to the point in
which something begins. In the case of the film Inception, this thing is an idea. The
goal of the movie is to change a person by planting an idea in their head by
going into his dream. The inception of this personality change is the point in
which he sees this planted idea.
Are you following me so far? If not, that's okay. All you
need to know is that in the movie Inception, the characters manipulated a
person by planting an idea in his head without him knowing. When this idea came
to his attention, he felt like he came to this idea all on his own. As a
result, the idea feels like his own and he has no instinct to resist it. He
doesn't feel like he's being told what to do. As I watched this movie and heard
these concepts explained, I wondered why this felt so familiar. Naturally, my
answer ended up being the same old: video games.
In particular, I thought of Valve's mega-popular and
memetic Portal. You see, the goal in a typical game is to present challenges to
the player and lead them to overcome those challenges. Therefore, the inception
of victory will occur while the game is being played. Portal is a great example
because the very structure of the game is to undergo this process of challenge,
discovery, execution, and victory over and over and over and over again.
Really, I could use any game that involves puzzles or strategy. Portal is just
easier to talk about and more well-known.
Your first experience with portals may be disorienting, but you'll get over it quickly.
In Portal, you play the role of a human "test subject"
who must solve puzzles. The puzzles are solved when you manage to reach an
elevator somewhere in a given room. This elevator is often placed out of reach
and locked behind some door. You are armed only with a portal gun and knowledge of how to use
physics to your advantage. This portal gun literally shoots portals that you
can set into walls, floor, and ceilings. You can only have two portals out at a
time, colored orange and blue, and they only lead to each other. Thus, if you
want to go somewhere far away, you can just shoot one portal ahead and one
nearby. Walk through the nearby portal and you'll be wherever your further
portal ended up.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg for Portal's complexity.
However, it's enough information to pursue my topic. You can probably already
see how Portal can be clever, even devious, with its puzzle designs. In any
given puzzle, you already know all the information you need in order to solve
it. Say, for instance, you need to place a block on a button in order to keep a
door open. However, the block cannot reach the button. Then you may wonder:
Since you can pass through portals, can you carry the block through with you?
You can! You drop the block on the button and you're free to the elevator.
These moments of epiphany and triumph are common in
Portal. You'll find yourself often saying, "Maybe I can... aha!" All
it takes is for you to remember one little thing, try that little thing, and
you come off with a great and revitalizing victory. Jane McGonigal refers to
that feeling as a "fiero moment." "Fiero" is an Italian
word loosely translating to "Pride." I suppose there's a cultural
wiggle room there that allows us to define fiero also as a realization of one's
own potential. The closest we have in the English language is the concept of
not knowing one's own strength. But let's combine this with what we already
talked about. You only came to this feeling because the game herded you to that
victory by handing you everything you needed to succeed.
So, do we feel "played" by the game and its
manipulation of our feelings? Or do we consider that our effort and
problem-solving are still worth something? It doesn't help that the tests are
overseen by a snarky AI who tries to mess with our head the entire way through.
Well, it wouldn't be me if I didn't take the rosier approach. You still had to
figure out your situation, you still had to make the most of your abilities,
and you still had to execute the problem-solving. Sure, it's a video game, and
problem-solving in a video game isn't exactly like real life, but that goes
both ways. In real life, you might end up not prepared enough to solve a
puzzle. On the other hand, a problem in real life might have several solutions,
some of which easier and better for all involved. And to be honest, I'd rather
feel prepared and wrong than in over my head and wrong. For all we know,
"being prepared" can translate to one's ability to improvise. And you
will be shocked at how well anyone can improvise.
Now I'll turn it over to all of you. What stories do you
have of great success and realization of your potential? This applies for in
games and off. Successes outside of games, more importantly. If a success in a
game can remind you of a success in real life, well, chalk that up as a game
learning experience.
I really do hope that this discussion can help you
rediscover something awesome about yourself. There needs to be more awesomeness
going around the world. And if it does so happen that this post leads to some
great revelation, you can thank inception for that. If you can't tell, I want
to make the world a better place, one person at a time, starting with fans of
games. If and when I accomplish this positive change, the inception of that
change will be you reading these posts and being prompted to think on them.
I've probably harmed my chances by admitting to it, but it's all for the sake
of another point.
"Performing inception" is a real thing. It
might not be as direct as in the film, but it happens any time anyone tries to
be persuasive. The key is to be discreet, agreeable, and not have the other
party feel like they're being told what to do. Think of one standout time that
a game performed inception on you. Further, one time you may have performed
inception on someone else. It's more common than you think.
I do apologize for the brevity of this particular post. I
really did intend on just talking about Portal and Inception. My mind just goes
wherever a deeper topic may present itself. In this case, talking about fiero
moments. Look on the bright side, you got two posts today.
A discussion within a discussion.
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