[TonyBase]

Have you finally played the game? I have messages for those who played the game.


If You Viewed the Discussion Forum Before Playing

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You lose. Worst of all. Even the impulsive ones. Not only did you go against the quick and simple instructions before playing the game ("DON'T READ THE FORUMS!"), but you obtained the "cheat code" before playing. You will not know what this game was trying to teach you as much as the third group. Dishonesty is important. When you play a game, do not look up the cheats, or this here will happen to you forever.

If You Just Played the Game, Pressed "Escape" (or clicked the X).

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For those who pressed escape, the message should've popped up ("YOU WIN"). If you clicked the "X" in the corner, it counts. You win. Carry on.

Feel free to read the next question; I recommend that you learn a thing or too from it. Congradulations.

If You Shot the Man

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Alright. This is where the most concentration will go to. For this is the target audience.

As you can see in these forums, this message will be long because it will go to a majority of people who had this result. You read the instructions, followed them, played the game, but still lost. You are reading this post to recieve comfort in your decision, or at least of your personality. I apologize, but I will initially tell you that you were wrong. For those that just went right up and shot him, please see the top group.

For those who hesitated, or looked for some specific graphic, waited to be scared, etc: This message is for you. Allow me to start with how you came into this position. You started the game, saw the man, then looked around. Here's the thing. You were already treating this as if it were a real-life case. The first thing humans do when making a decision is find information. You looked around to find nothing. Then, you looked back at the man and reviewed what little information you have. The words say "YOUR ACTIONS WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES." That is all you have, besides the option to shoot him. In a real life case, you will ALWAYS have the option of looking for new information. There's always a resource, a person to talk to, etc. But in this game, there is nothing. You have the option to shoot a defenseless man. The next feeling you have is stress. The alarm in your head is ringing; you are now experiencing a situation in which a life is in your hands. What do you do?

Unfortunately, this is where your doing-everything-right streak comes to a screeching halt. The game says "Execution," therefore, you assume that there is somebody to kill. You have looked around for something to tell you that this wasn't right. When nobody was there, you ignored your conscious, disregarded doubt and blew that sucka down like it was nobody. In this game, it pretty much was, I assure you. This person was not real, so it still does not matter. Regardless, you lose at this game; it PUNISHES you for KILLING someone.

Let me ask you this; if you were in this situation in real life, and life was oddly called "EXECUTION," instead of "Life," would you kill the man that is being held prisoner? No? Then, in this game called "Execution," why did you infer that the name gave you permission to shoot this man? That's totally unrealistic and illogical. You acted without reason or thought! Now, this man is dead. There's nothing that you can change about it (well, you can change the registry, but that's not the point). Why don't I just go ahead and say that this man was captured by bad guys, and you just killed a nice person? That's exactly how you feel, right?

Fortunately, this is where the pain ends. First off, the fact that you read the rules defines your personality, or at least the good traits versus ONE bad trait. For one thing, you are patient. You will wait until you recieve the message. You're better than the first group, already. Second, you are observant. You looked for possible situations behind the game. Third, you are judgmental. You made, although hasty, a decision. Most games need you to make hasty decisions, especially First-Person-Shooters. Not only that, but the decision involves killing people. This game defies that concept, like a revolutionary idea triumphing over some Aristotle concept of Earth's flatness.

Is it not ridiculous that you take a gun and go around the world shooting as you please? You're not free to do that in real life, but isn't it morally the same in video games? Sure, they provide some venting outlet, and it's healthy to relieve stress, but the moral concept is ridiculous. In games, it should also be wrong to kill people. Games like Grand Theft Auto depict this kind of situation, but pretty much to the same effect as any other FPS, even Half-Life. This is where your reasoning comes in; "It's just a game. There are no consequences."

That's perfectly correct. You will not hurt any living creature by killing a digital being. There are no consequences. This game is specifically designed to target people who are patient, observant and judgmental and point out that they are impulsive decision-makers in video games. In this category, you fall between the non-shooters and the cheaters. You are not "bad" on this scale. Simply "normal."

If we eliminate this bad trait by the reason being that it was just a harmless video game lacking consequences, and that you have enough reasoning to know better in the real world, this game actually says something nice about society. Because the majority of this game's players were the people I described here, in this category, then it is pretty much proven that most people are good at heart; the only wrong traits are that they are somewhat impulsive, make decisions too quickly and are a little fickle in their reasoning.


This game is, by far, one of the most controversial games I have ever played. This game uses the concepts of Punishment and Fear in all of the right ways. When you get scared by a game that just wanted to be scary, like a creepy zombie game, that's just some good old fun. When you get suddenly surprised by a game in some stupid flash maze, then it is terrible. Why do we feel differently about these different situations?

If you want a game to use fear correctly, the creation of a frightful situation or the ability to cause fear must be there for a meaningful reason. There is no purpose in the flash maze example. The zombie game was to provide atmosphere, and this game used fear to teach you a lesson. There are games that give you hints, or notions. The music in the zombie game gave the sense that there was danger, thus creating anxiety, fear, and a creepy feeling. In the maze, there's no real reason, or a warning. It just happens. There's no goal; it's not even a game. It's just some guy trying to be funny for himself. As for this game, however, there are no warnings besides "YOUR CHOICE WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES," which is a good warning, and your target is there, complete with creepy music. Since you've experienced this in a zombie game, you possibly associated this game with a murderfest type of gameplay that you're accustomed to. You shoot the guy.

So, it is also a bad idea to associate games with others. The wrong pair could make the difference between winning and losing.

Finally, punishment. In the maze, you recieve punishment for playing the game. You should have known better. I'm sorry, but that sucks. The zombie game only punishes you if you fail to defend yourself. This game, however, is more complicated than that. You can easily replay both of the first two games, but this game won't let you play again. That is your punishment. The game focuses on taking things from you; information and logic (in a video game), leaving you with two roads: Act based on inferrence or reasoning.

The real lesson this guy tried to provide was that people should not act irrationally. We must look before we leap, think before we act, and consider the consequences of any important action. Killing someone, whether in a game or not, is important. So in the end, what should you have reasoned? If you chose to reason like the second group, you would've stopped and thought about your situation one more time. Do you really have command over this man's life? Is it your right to decide the fate of a man's life? Every one of these questions would've led you to press Escape, thus winning the game.

As far as reasoning goes, it goes without saying that the number one thing that you must have before playing this game is that you must be able to stop and think. No impulsive actions will control me, any longer. This punishment was the perfect lesson for me, at the cost of a digital life.

[3d Bricks]

what happens?

[mr: X]

Only way to win this game is to press Esc and stop the game if you already kill him one time and want to reset the game you can do a system restore. that work for me

[ninjutsu63]

Nice post TonyBase. I admit I lost, although I tried to shoot the ropes holding his legs. It really plays your mind, because I knew that there was probably something besides shooting the guy, but I didn't know what it was. I was fairly sure that shooting the ropes would kill him anyway, but it was the only thing I could think of.
Now to find another computer and play it again
This really has changed how I've thought of video games. Great job.

This post has been edited by ninjutsu63: 13 January 2009 - 01:08 AM

[Mikkelet]

I won, but do not get it.. is it about humanity? moral? :S

anyway... Superb ^^

[PetzI]

Mikkelet, on Jan 14 2009, 07:01 PM, said:

I won, but do not get it.. is it about humanity? moral? :S

anyway... Superb ^^

It's just about winning the game.

[GloryAndBen]

thebogeyman, on May 12 2008, 07:38 AM, said:

A great idea...

I used to think it would be interesting if you could buy little game devices at stores (very cheap) that if you lost the game it would stop working. This is the closest I've seen to that idea.

I lost. But I realize now how to do it, and it sort of seems almost like something you would find on accident.

Cool, though.

I would love to see something like this turned into a more lengthy, full game. Maybe not so much that if you made the wrong decision you can't play, but something that tracks your decisions so you can't go back and do things differently.

Portable Ops on the PSP is even closer actually. When your character dies, s/he dies.

[samalamma 708]

Hartless, on May 11 2008, 11:16 AM, said:

i think 2d has lost his marbles XD
just kidding,i deleted the file then redownloaded, i think i won..

I did that too, but it didn't work XD

I also shot him in the leg after I was shooting everything else, and he died

So, is there any way to try again?

[carterv]

I got it first try. It's a good idea. But it doesn't look like it took long.
It's not supposed to, though, I suppose.

[FallenMaster]

Am I a bad person if I shot the man between his eyes ?

[Gropwel]

I don't know much about this forum but I took the time to register just to tell you how clever that game is. And reading most of the reactions here I can say it is correct. Games have inhibited a great part of the absolute free will judgment over one's life. It means that for some people, somehow, having them being asked if they would kill if the notions of social awareness, fear and consequences were inexistent, most of them would do it.

So they come here to their pairs, seeking normalness, which they find of course.

But outside of these virtual world we are all afraid living beings, and hopefully after spending 10 years of your gamer's life shooting brains out everyone you see, in more and more juicy realistic graphics, one would grow tired and seek other, different, probably more pleasant human interactions (wink).

I think you have put the finger on a great trend of the game industry which is the bearing of consequences. Overall it's at least more intellectually challenging so most probably unappealing to the mass.


EDIT: My girlfriend: This game forces you to take a look at yourself and you don't always like what you see. It's up to you to fire that sparkle or not.

[TGOC]

Boy, this game is condescending to the player, ein't it folks? *crowd laughs* Seriously though. Is this a game, or a message? Who gives a rat's ass!

TonyBase, let me get this straight, you are generalizing me and hundreds to thousands of other people based on actions on a video game? How do you sleep at night? I wonder....

"Let me ask you this; if you were in this situation in real life, and life was oddly called "EXECUTION," instead of "Life," would you kill the man that is being held prisoner? No? Then, in this game called "Execution," why did you infer that the name gave you permission to shoot this man? That's totally unrealistic and illogical."

Silly midget! That is totally unrealistic and illogical. Life could never be called EXECUTION. Where did you get that idea? Loony Tunes on Saturday mornings? Why did you infer that this game could give you permission to talk foul about video game players?

This game is not testing my patience, you're testing my patience. I have half a mind to flip right on out at you right now. But I am not going to. Because it would be a waste of my time.

Edit: I went back and read some of the earlier post of the game's creator. Supposedly the game is all about not having second chances, but if that was the case, why not have the player die in some sort of platform game instead of you executing some guy and being told to do the right thing?

Edit 2: I am all about games with a message, but I do not think this message was presented to my liking and I do not like being belittled. It's just this thing I have.

This post has been edited by TGOC: 17 February 2009 - 07:03 AM

[daman123125]

Dang it, I accidentally shot the guy! I re-downloaded, but it was still too late.

[IQbrew]

I 'won' the first time alone.
Now how do I get this gunk out of my registry?

[whitemsv]

Sorry don't like it, the graphics where ok, but:

This should be some kind of interactive art(game?) and it should make a statement since u claim it should but since i really believe it does not

let me explain:
When you don't kill him the game says you win but there wasn't any goal to begin with so it proves nothing more then patience of a person.

The only thing one could find out about themselves if your someone who acts or waits.
I don't believe that shooting a cartoon proves anything more.

The real test would be to make it realistic and then see peoples reactions and then still is doesn't really depict a real life situation and a real life result.

Nice try but it doesn't do what you think it does.


People don't flame or argue, its an opinion nothing more.

[IQbrew]

whitemsv, on Feb 18 2009, 11:04 PM, said:

People don't flame or argue, its an opinion nothing more.

You don't say your opinion on a public forum and then tell people not to argue. You just don't.

[whitemsv]

I just did, and I mostly meant flame.

[omgitsblake]

I disagree with what some people said about putting it into a different scenario.

The minamalism in this game is one of the wonderful things, you're only told all you need to know to make a decision.

[Overman]

Yep, you can make a game in an hour and call it "minimalism."

Stop fooling yourself, this is garbage.

[Obilink]

Overman, on Mar 20 2009, 12:12 AM, said:

Yep, you can make a game in an hour and call it "minimalism."

Stop fooling yourself, this is garbage.

So, you are saying that any game that was made in a short time frame is instantly garbage and you will make fun of it just because of the fact that it was made in that short time frame...that is terrible. You don't judge a book by its cover, you don't judge a member by his post count, AND YOU DON'T JUDGE A GAME BY HOW LONG IT TOOK TO MAKE IT!

Now, for the review. 2Dcube, you have created a truly unique and wonderful piece of artwork with Execution. You have truly mastered what many designers only dream of doing: making a psychological connection with their audience. You have affected people by the way you have presented murder for what it truly is. You have shown how video games (and other forms of entertainment) have taken a lighter tone on things normally considered evil and tragic. You have truly shown where many video games are going. Congratulations.

~ Obilink

This post has been edited by Obilink: 20 March 2009 - 04:53 AM