The video game I am analyzing is Detroit: Become Human. This game comments on class and more specifically what role artificial intelligence will play in the near future. The player experiences the world through three androids: Connor, Kara, and Markus. The game has the player consider whether or not machines can have personhood.
Connor uses his free will for the good of others to guide the player to believe machine sentience is a positive evolution. Connor is a police officer android that helps solves cases while obeying his orders. However, he is given the option of his life to protect a child. This choice of deviance shows that, impulsively, an android is capable of making good moral choices even when his life is in on the line. Morality is a trait usually attributed to humans. Giving this trait to an android helps build the case that androids can be considered people. The relationship between Kara and her owner, Todd, is used to give a sense of empathy with the android. Todd represents the everyman who has lost his job to the rising popularity of automated industries. He takes this anger out on both Kara and his own daughter Alice. Kara deviates to protect Alice from this abuse. This scene presents a very relatable scenario that is more and more common in this age of automation. However, it is set up to lead the player to build an affinity to the android and to despise the fairly more relatable human. These different stories are written in a way to allow the player to come to a conclusion on their own about if AI deserves to be treated as an equal.
