# the mechanical apartheid of deus ex mankind divided to consider a new definition: "mechanical apartheid: an automatic cursory emotionless habitual monotonous perfunctory stereotyped machine (video garmes industry) driven culturally programmed / trademarked misunderstanding of ideas which divide humanity" regarding player agency / power systems and the resulting dissonance rock paper shotgun's series fail forward seems instructive // video here deus ex 'apartheid' playthrough notes **+** perhaps no picking apart of anything seems possible; that the only context is the world(s) **+** the continued mis-use of the term "controversy" among (/the awkward concept of) video garme journalists(tm). as though controversy is something always merely slapped on by nitpicking over-sensitives after the fact of the (apparently) inherently-innocent birth of garmes (franchises) tarnishing ir holy and irreproachable capitalist purity. rather controversy seems built in from the (/groundless) ground up existing in/as each twisted fibre of its cultural construction **+** the problematic natures of anyone posting about human segregation on sections of sites with laughable claims of being remotely about (eg.) 'ethics in garming journalism' **+** famous gravelly voice actor elias toufexis tweets about m.a: ir very (vague) idea that video garmes - at the very least the ones ey acts in - are exploring or even can explore 'serious socio-political issues' itself seems un-serious (indeed consider video garmes often seriously 'un-seriously socio-political') (caption id="attachment_39176" align="aligncenter" width="656") a mechanical apartheid tweet by deus ex voice actor elias toufexis(/caption) **+** consider adam jensen just another chisel chinned asshat / oh-so sensitive murderer for hire: who could take ir seriously as a way to explore any 'social issues' whatsoever (caption id="attachment_38651" align="aligncenter" width="620") another arts hat for the collection(/caption) **update patch**: confirmed - adam jensen a tool the mere idea that future augmented humans would be victims of social prejudice and face 'mechanical apartheid' seems laughably implausible. indeed jensen's (highly advertised) ability to effortlessly bully and kill whoever crosses ir path precisely indicates the reverse situation - that future augs would far more likely and able to impose ir violent will-to-dominance and (apparently innate) egotistic superiority over non-augmented humans deus ex: mankind divided is a (pinkywhite manly) action rpg with deep choices and consequences wrapped in a heavy narrative where are these so-called deep choices(tm)? more like just another mindless power fantasy stuffed with low-brow options / standard garmey industry mechanics. as for the story - one imagines vr pr0n movies will feature heavier narrative than this indeed the true message / narrative of deus ex - killing = cool! - is clearly cynically and coldly mechanically expressed by executive audio director steve szczepkowski in the world premiere garmeplay demo when ey yokes- maybe this npc needs to 'stick around' for a while..! on the ideology of choice in deus ex the ideology of choice in deus ex: "you can finish teh garme without killing anyone if you choose." a quick comparative test: provide the cute friendly creatures from animal crossing with deadly augmented weapon hands - and then inform players they can 'choose' not to use them conceptually the violence lies not in not using these weapons but that such a decidedly visceral choice and such deadly abilities are available at all. ("duh but then it just wouldn't be the same garme.." no - but it might be a more intellectually engaging one) the mere fact such weapons exist and are indeed a core feature of teh garme do not make them simply a set of neural tools but indicate a violent set of social relationships already exists as ir twisted society this seems clearly expressed by adam jensen himself when ey states: "i can only fight enemies i can see." exactly; how can fight a set of (aggressive technological) social relationships with a bunch of nano blades to the face? what can someone (something) like adam do except fight - a desperately sad lonely blind sociopath on a never ending warpath towards righteousness? that's all ir's really good for after all - taking orders and dishing out holy punishment and all the while understanding very little of what ir's about 'non-leathal' is one of those terms like 'collateral damage' and does in no way mean that violence is still not involved at every level. from the tip of ir startled parrot hair to ir heavy black boots adam jensen seems an inhuman killing machine - a 'stupid-type clever' man of violence and extreme augmented aggression. in this regard ir's profoundly obsolete this seems to be confirmed during an ironically accurate @deusex interview at rock paper shotgun > (..) i ask about adam specifically. dugas referred to ir as a tool > ~ phillipa warr rps **update patch** 2: solid garmeplay teh garme should get good reviews - at least the garmeplay looks solid(tm) // republic of bob