Cognitive Dissonance as an Ethical Instrument of Metamodern Aesthetic in Spec Ops: The Line

Felix Schniz

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Cognitive Dissonance as an Ethical Instrument of Metamodern Aesthetic in Spec Ops: The Line

In: Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames

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Felix Schniz

Felix Schniz
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 49–61

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848884380_007

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Leisure time entertainment and moral education are often regarded as incompatible. The third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line makes use of this opposition to create a psychologically uncomfortable player experience: it generates an erratic oscillation between supposed gaming for entertainment and constant reminders about the unethical behaviour it imposes on player agency. To illustrate this phenomenon, the following chapter discusses three instances which provoke mental tension – referred to as cognitive dissonance in accordance to Leon Festinger – in Spec Ops: The Line: the gameplay, the loading screens and an exemplary moral dilemma the player faces during the eighth chapter of the game. I portray how these samples consecutively raise cognitive dissonance from a level of foundational tension to extreme peaks which are capable of convincing the player that quitting is the most moral option left. Ultimately, I critically analyse these instances in Spec Ops: The Line under the consideration of metamodern aesthetics as proposed by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker, who describe contemporary social, cultural and artistic developments as oscillating between the modern and the postmodern. Thereby, I seek to demonstrate that the strong reliance on cognitive dissonance in this game represents a metamodern state of mind.

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Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848884380

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2016

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- Philosophy
  - General
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

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Cognitive Dissonance as an Ethical Instrument of Metamodern Aesthetic in Spec Ops: The Line

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Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames

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