Had to be Me

Okay, so I want to start off by saying this one is a bit meta. I recently was at a conference and had a lot of random thoughts on my drive. This probably won’t connect with everyone so if your new here check these out instead: Strong Enough to Be Kind: The Balance and Some People Just Have It. I Never Have. I have got a lot of good feedback on them.

One with the show, every time a new technology comes along, we fight with it. We question it, doubt it, but eventually we normalize it. Right now, I am thinking about AI because it is everywhere. Some people are all for it while others feel like it's the worst thing ever created. What is surprising to me is that several people I know who are always first to adopt new technology absolutely hate it while on the opposite end, I know 80 year olds who use it every day.

I think to break it down in its simplest form, AI feels different to us because it talks back. It’s not just a tool; it’s something that listens, answers, learns, and adapts. It can copy our tone, writing, and even our sense of awe. And that can be very unsettling.

So I keep wondering how do most people treat AI? Do you say “please” when you ask it to do something? Do you type “thank you” when it gives you what you want?Do you get frustrated when it misunderstands you, or even insult it?

Because here’s the thing, gamers have been here before. We’ve been negotiating morality with machines for decades.

We’ve Always Talked to the Machine

I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of hours in virtual worlds. Actually, I’m not embarrassed, it’s what I enjoy. From The Legend of Zelda to Mass Effect, and through all those years, I’ve realized that virtual worlds and forms of AI are not new.

Way before ChatGPT, we (gamers) built connections to virtual lives. We talked to characters who were programmed, and yet we cared what they thought. We formed attachments to companions that were not real, hell I still think about some of their deaths and how it impacted me and the story. One of the most dramatic scenes in a video game I ever played was Mass Effect when a character sacrificed himself to save his team and me. When we tried to think of different options he simply said his catchphrase, “It has to be me, someone else might get it wrong.” Then he sacrificed himself and saved the world. 

Gamers are okay with suspending disbelief, well to a certain extent. We’ve learned to treat digital worlds as moral playgrounds and honestly as experiments at times. 

Virtual Worlds Don’t Forget

I’ll go back to Mass Effect. If you’ve ever played it, you already know the pain I’m about to mention. That moment in the first game where one squad mate must die so the other can live. The player has to make that decision. What was crazy is it echoes across three entire games, over five real world years. Every time you play a sequel, it looks up your past save file and reminds you of the decisions you made. The dead character is mentioned from time to time in the game world and characters look at you because you made the decision to let them die. Their world does not forget.

That choice lingers. And that’s the genius of the design, it forces you to live with your digital morality.

That’s the power of how we treat digital characters. When a binary decision makes you sit in silence, staring at the screen, realizing that you just felt something for a collection of scripted programming responses, that’s god damn humanity. 

The Rude Player 

Here is where it gets interesting, not every game rewards kindness. Sometimes you can rob a shopkeeper, ignore a villager’s plea, or talk down to your party members, and nothing bad happens. You can treat all the onscreen characters like shit and there are no consequences. You still progress forward and save the world.

And yet, when I’ve done it (usually just to see what happens), I feel off. Like I broke some unspoken rule.

It’s like stepping out of character in a story you actually care about. There’s a strange hollowness to it. The world doesn’t punish you, but your conscience does. You might even try to rationalize it, “It’s just a game”, but the guilt still lingers because you disrespected this fake game world. It’s fucking weird.

This is what makes video games little morality labs. They show us what we’ll do when we think no one’s judging or what we do just because we can.   

Why This Matters (I think)

Just like these video game worlds, AI doesn’t have feelings. We can be kind or rude to it and there really aren’t any consequences or rewards to either. But the habits we form around it can spill into how we treat real people. Courtesy, patience, tone, I honestly believe these are muscles we train.

If I spend all day barking orders at a device, how long before I start talking that way to everyone else?

If I take the time to say “thank you,” even when I don’t have to, doesn’t it just make sense that I would do that in every aspect of my life.

There’s a scene in Mass Effect 3 where a synthetic being tells you it doesn’t hate humans, it just doesn’t understand them. Honestly guys, it may be Mass Effect 2, I honestly can’t remember but I wanted to point it out because fans will come hard at me if I get it wrong.

Harbinger

As with everything in society, people talk about AI in extremes. It will create a utopia or be the Harbinger. Okay, I just need to also point out Harbinger is the final boss in Mass Effect so honestly I am just proud I was able to connect it.

I hear people say AI will take our jobs, think for us, and take our creativity. Yet, if you continue that conversation, people hate their jobs, consider society dumber than ever, and pretty much are professional critics of all media. So maybe it is good that AI is going to change things and push us to create and think differently? Isn't that what we want? Do we just want to keep things the way they are now? I don’t know but I do know that AI is going to force us to change.

Maybe saying “please” to AI doesn’t change the outcome. Maybe “thank you” doesn’t improve its accuracy. But it builds a habit of grace. It reminds you to play the game well.

Thanks for Reading

So okay, I know this one was out there. It was fun and different. I actually voice-recorded most of this while driving which explains some of the thoughts jumping around. I tried to keep it as true to what I was thinking as I could. I have been told people enjoy my blog because it's real, honest, and not curated for perfection. These are my random thoughts and they seem to be connecting with you all. Next week’s blog will be on the heavier side. I will probably have to issue another public apology. 

If this made you think or you're impressed by Mass Effect knowledge, share this. Send it to someone who thinks ChatGPT is plotting world domination and monitors their every action. 

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