Ethics in Rocketry Redux

[Jonfliesgoats]

Big ideas are tied to little rockets.  This was true in human history and it's true regarding Kerbal Space Program.  Compared to other games, like Elite: Dangerous, KSP is light hearted and fun.  Ironically, we are more invested in the fates of our Kerbals, their lives, their fiery deaths and their combined efforts to fly than we ever are in games like Elite: Dangerous.  

 

It's true that in those games we can warp around with our frame shift drives (Albecurrie drives for those who haven't played the game) hauling slaves, blasting innocent merchants to smithereens around Barnard's Star.  Those games are fun, but fundamentally they don't involve the emotional connection that one gets with plucky, little green astronauts desperately trying to rocket themselves into cosmos.  A ten year old version of myself or my daughter could dryly check the commodity prices of Imperial slaves in one game, but would be deeply frustrated when Valentina burns to a crisp with a poorly planned re-entry.

 

This is why KSP is a great vehicle to introduce kids and adults to ethics of technology.  Compared to other games, the thought involved by the player to get their craft flying along with the characters of the Kerbals leads to an investment that simply doesn't exist in other games.

 

Back in the 90s, when I was budding psychopath, I got the idea to grab my pet hamster, put him in a plastic bottle, strap him to my big styrofoam glider and see what happened.  Luckily, the thought of killing my pet compelled me to place hamster-like rocks in the plastic bottle and engage in a styrofoam glider test program.  I could never get myself to put my hamster on my rockets, radio control planes, etc.  The desire not to murder my pet combined with the desire to fly those same creatures got me into learning about aerodynamics, force coupling, aviation and space history, math, engineering, etc.  I was going to fly my pets, but I was going to do it right. That experience was just from masking tape, Estes rockets and foam.  Eventually, I wound up doing the flying myself and getting degrees in a bunch of unimportant fields. 

 

KSP is unique in that it gives kids and adults alike the chance to experience those same feelings and have similar epiphanies without actually murdering hamsters.  

 

I would suggest that we make the tech tree an order of magnitude more expensive to progress through and offer a great many more opportunities for science, especially early in the game.  A cute, fluffy Kerbunny Kapsule could be mounted on rockets allowing players to choose whether they want to blast their lovable Kerbunnies into suborbital trajectories for science or try to preserve the cute bunnies and simply air drop from them from planes into ocean for science.  More science could be gained by recovering Kerbunnies alive.  Having a live creature that is somewhat more disposable than a Kerbonaut, requires less mass to fly but is several times more cute opens up a whole range of new experiences and decisions to players.  This also allows for much more variety in how you progress through career mode, especially early in the game.  It's also a nod to the early years of the Space Race.

 

 

(note to the moderators: I am making a sincere effort to be apolitical in this post.  I am not sure if my reference to another company's game is okay or not.  If I run afoul of some regulation, I apologize.  As usual, my taste remains poor and my humor remains juvenile.)

 

 

Edited September 16, 2016 by Jonfliesgoats
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[ZooNamedGames]

Only issue is; we need to spend time with Kerbunnies in order to be invested. You spent time with your hamster and you knew and obviously cared for him. If you just put one into a part you have no connection, no care or any reason to put emotional ties to that animal. To be fair humans did this early in the space race, trainers of Liaka knew that she would not return but the scientists who did not have an emotional connection to the dog had the dog go anyway.

In order for this to be in any way beneficial you need to actually bond with the animal. This isn't impossible, just a lot of effort for a small part.

[Vanamonde]

There was some discussion of animal testing earlier in the game's development. Squad decided to keep things light and gave us the goo pod instead, so this isn't likely to happen. It's intended to be the equivalent of Laika and chimps. Personally, I prefer things this way.  

[Jonfliesgoats]

Good point!  What if you can level up the Kerbunny test subjects like you do with Kerbonauts?  Perhaps a mini-game where you condition your Kerbunnies for science by outfitting them with a hodgepodge of antique space suits and put them in little centrifuges?  A trained or conditioned Kerbunny would yield more science.  They'd have to squeak adorably, etc.

[tater]

I tend to think of probes fulfilling that role. I honestly almost never have any fatalities in my programs. Perhaps my kids are atypical, but they think the kerbals are cute, and are almost paralyzed with fear that they might kill them.

[ZooNamedGames]

5 minutes ago, tater said:

I tend to think of probes fulfilling that role. I honestly almost never have any fatalities in my programs. Perhaps my kids are atypical, but they think the kerbals are cute, and are almost paralyzed with fear that they might kill them.

I got a Jeb plushy, and he is cute and huggable.

[tater]

I should add that I almost always play in scaled up solar systems with life support on, and set to kill, into the bargain. I even test stuff in orbit, Apollo style, just to make sure I don't start a Duna EDL, only to discover that my lander has some fatal flaw.

[Wjolcz]

What the hell

It would be better to just let us pick the path we want to follow. I don't need any animals in this game. What I need is choice of how I want to progress throughout the "tree".

[Jonfliesgoats]

Veetch,

Would you like lots more science opportunities and more expensive progression?

 

Tater,

Adorable about the kids and characters.  I wean myself off of quick saves, which leads to many more unmanned missions and, sadly, Kerbal fatalities.

Vanamonde:

So the goo pod is a light hearted animal program?  That makes a lot more sense regarding how Kerbals immediately have access to mysterious, advanced material that prefers some environments to others.  Thanks for the background info!

[Jonfliesgoats]

 

Deleted since my chicken photos wouldn't load.

Can I get my daughter a Kerbal plushy?  

Edited September 17, 2016 by Jonfliesgoats
Photo did not loa

[tater]

I don't actually use quicksaves, except when I have some bug or kraken... I don't have many such saves as a result, I always forget to save.

[Wabbit]

This kind of reasoning has driven me to create dedicated launch-escape systems, or at least effective safety features, in nearly all of my air and spacecraft. I do love to have certain kerbals that I go back to, with "reputations" and whatnot. After all, role-playing is the best playing.

[ZooNamedGames]

38 minutes ago, Wabbit said:

After all, role-playing is the best playing.

My advice to that statement:

As long as it isn't here.

Edited September 17, 2016 by ZooNamedGames