Comments on: Moral Philosophy: The Flash Game

Moral Philosophy: The Flash Game

narain — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:28:35 -0800

Can you defeat some of history's greatest philosophers, discover the true nature of morality, and escape the afterlife armed with only the Socratic method? You can if you are Socrates Jones: ~~Ace Accountant~~ Pro Philosopher!

By: aught

aught — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:43:25 -0800

I played for a few minutes but it still wasn't clear how many cookies I needed to buy a time portal.

By: unSane

unSane — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:48:56 -0800

So. Slow.

By: reverend cuttle

reverend cuttle — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:52:12 -0800

Based on the first 5 minutes I could stand, this has negative utility wrt student engagement.

By: corb

corb — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:03:37 -0800

THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER once you get past the initial 5 minutes.

By: kariebookish

kariebookish — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:08:01 -0800

Socrates Jones would probably gain cred points for arguing this with me - but grammatical mistakes in the text really ticked me off.

By: koolkat

koolkat — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:08:32 -0800

I made it to when the salesman guy was taling and not finding anything to speed up the text I quit. I hate scrolling text it should pop up in pages immediately and not scroll by letter by letter.

By: corb

corb — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:15:40 -0800

For those who have having problems with the text, clicking next will speed the text up and have it all print, rather than just moving on to the next one, if you do it while it's coming out.

By: Foci for Analysis

Foci for Analysis — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:17:07 -0800

I'm getting a JRPG vibe here. Should I be expecting panty-shots of blushing philosophers or is this more like encountering random interlocutors in the cities of antiquity, ultimately being killed off for corrupting the youth?

By: corb

corb — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:42:00 -0800

Most of it takes place just debating philosophers. I have seen no panty shots thus far.

By: Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:43:17 -0800

You get the platonic ideal of naughty tentacles later.

By: Beardman

Beardman — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 07:10:28 -0800

I think my students would get more out of a gif dance party set in Raphael's School of Athens.

By: Blue_Villain

Blue_Villain — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 07:13:55 -0800

Back to the top. Clearly, I'm missing something here! This can't be a game because I don't think you can lose, you just keep going back to the beginning of the argument. And it's not a training exercise because it's not telling me what I'm doing wrong. This is less a let's play like you're a philosopher game and more like let's reiterate the very specific arguments that were made thousands of years ago, in a manner that was not made by said philosophers ... thing? It'd be fine if it didn't require a very specific word track to get to the argument you want, not just the one that you have an available button for.

By: brokkr

brokkr — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 07:30:39 -0800

I'm very much missing a "begging the question" button. Also, I'm stuck on Kant. Annoying little man.

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 07:44:43 -0800

It's sort of fun so far, even though it seems a lot like "guess exactly what path the designer wants you to take and then take it" early in the game. They should make a version where you're arguing with Internet trolls and half the game is jut typing all upper-case epithets at your opponent.

By: corb

corb — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 07:47:47 -0800

Kant took a while. Are you past the first argument? If so, then remember the first argument when you are choosing the second.

By: LogicalDash

LogicalDash — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 07:50:26 -0800

The game uses the same mechanics as the Ace Attorneys, yeah. Like those games they end up very much like old school "rub every item on every item" adventure games, but with a credibility meter to encourage you to guess correctly. By the end it almost parodied itself by repurposing arguments from earlier so they triggered dialog that kind of sounded similar.

By: ook

ook — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 08:04:19 -0800

This game appears to mostly be a "how often can we get the user to exasperatedly click the 'next' button" game

By: ook

ook — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 08:08:34 -0800

Chapter 1: NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT

By: Strange Interlude

Strange Interlude — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 08:26:23 -0800

Speaking on the basis of historical authenticity, shouldn't this be Socrates Johnson, not Socrates Jones?

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 08:28:33 -0800

I'm just past the first person (who has a Greek name I'm not going to bother attempting to spell) and I don't think I can put up with the scrolling text and constant next-clicking any more. If this was laid out in a menu that I could browse at will, then I think it'd be a great game, but the current format just isn't for me. It's a cool idea though.

By: mary8nne

mary8nne — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 08:35:01 -0800

what the hell was that? horrible "game"

By: painquale

painquale — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:18:41 -0800

Phoenix Wright clones don't often understand what makes the Phoenix Wright games great.

By: cyberscythe

cyberscythe — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:23:17 -0800

When I discovered the space bar advanced text, the game became a lot more tolerable.

By: painquale

painquale — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 10:48:04 -0800

The philosophy in here is a lot better than I had thought it would be! It's still very clunky in many places, and a lot of the terminology is not used quite correctly, but it's mostly competent. I've thought about whether it would be possible to make a philosophy-themed version of Phoenix Wright, and this is not a half-bad attempt. Still, the move you use to finally take down Kant is not at all a legitimate criticism of Kant. And I really hate the skepticism of the conclusion.

By: brokkr

brokkr — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 11:19:48 -0800

Finally defeated Kant and then breezed through to completion. Love the skepticism of the conclusion.

By: straight

straight — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:12:06 -0800

A philosopher said, "Video games are a pointless waste of time!" I said, "Objection! You haven't played Socrates Jones, Pro Philosopher!" The philosopher's assertion was not refuted.

By: yoHighness

yoHighness — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:17:22 -0800

If this was laid out in a menu that I could browse at will, then I think it'd be a great game I seem to remember a philosophy forum with an unusual interface which forced users to tag individual components of their statements (such as premise 1, premise 2, x therefore y, and you could specifically click to argue on those)? I fail at Google. Damn. This is no Katawa Shuio but what a great idea.

By: stenseng

stenseng — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:24:30 -0800

Yeah, Euthyphro - I get the circular logic problem, but I don't get the right order to pick from these stupid menu options problem...

By: Drexen

Drexen — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 14:38:17 -0800

It's a bit cheesy but there are no negative consequences for asking questions, only for posing incorrect challenges. (And if you want to be *really* cheesy, you can just rub challenges on statements, resetting as necessary, until you get ahead..) You can click the 'next' button or push space to flick through the dialog. I got to the end after a little frustration and really liked it (as a non-Philisophy student). Thanks!

By: stenseng

stenseng — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 14:54:24 -0800

Yeah, I got the mechanics sorted out after a bit. I just handed Hobbes' ass to him... on to the Pursuit of Happiness!

By: stenseng

stenseng — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:43:33 -0800

Aww, just beat it - that was fun! Spacebar is a lifesaver, as others have said.

By: ersatz

ersatz — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 05:35:55 -0800

You can click on the cog and set text speed to 5.

By: rebent

rebent — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 05:59:42 -0800

this was very good. I finished it way past my bedtime, which meant I had to cheat on the last argument. I liked it!

By: Sleeper

Sleeper — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 09:17:17 -0800

That was fun. yoHighness, I know the web site you're talking about, but I can't remember the name of it.