Detroit: Become Human

[wjfox]

How many of you guys have played this?

Incredible game, which includes a very plausible/realistic portrayal of how androids may emerge in human society.

[falling-cosmos]

I love this game! A great analogy for racism/classism plus it's emotionally gut-wrenching as hell

[wjfox]

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

I think it was through Reddit to be honest that I got introduced to this game. I'm glad that was the case because it turned out to be one of the best games I've played in a long time. Lets hope all these robots and androids take the peaceful route if they ever get some sort of AGI installed and self awareness is not accounted for or limited

[bretbernhoft]

I have watched gameplay of Detroit: Become Human, and it is a beautiful and powerful fantasy universe. I personally find the future portrayed in that video game to be almost hyper-realistic. Especially the human-to-robot relationships, or the dynamics therein. There's a lot that Detroit: Become Human is implying.

[Cyber_Rebel]

I've played this but haven't yet finished it, I remember it being very realistic in its presentation of near future social/political issues. There were some good in game reads in regards to autonomous vehicles and the energy crisis, and the ever growing promise/risk automation of the workforce will bring. I wouldn't be surprised if Detroit is retroactively seen as very spot later this century.

I also found myself really feeling for the androids. There were some powerful scenes with creating art in one story, and home tension in another. While I didn't finish, I got the feeling that they'll end up being more "human" than the ones in the setting. Robot rights would be juxtaposed to workers rights of the jobs they "took," a scary scenario but also plausible.

[MythOfProgress]

as someone who's done several playthroughs(i haven't got the platinum trophy for it yet however), having watched the various cutscenes and whatnot with all the choices you're able to make, i'd say the story is mostly mediocre with some enjoyable moments in between, markus's story-line is one rife with analogies to civil rights era figures(bad and unsubtle ones i might add), but it doesn't have much nuance to it beyond being peaceful is good and being violent is bad, which pretty much makes his entire story-line two-dimensional in the pursuit of trying to attain rights for androidkind.

kara's story isn't necessarily all that great considering in most of the game she's constantly on the run and i dont see much in the way of character development, the reveal near the end of the story(regarding alice, the kid she's trying to save) pretty much makes for a boring dynamic between the two, at least if alice was kept human and we might've seen the relationship between a human child and an android mother figure blossom- perhaps see something unique or at least more original.

connor's story was fine, serviceable and is probably a big part of the reason why people actually like this game, having a buddy-cop trope except this time its with robots with the added bonus of a father-son dynamic going on between them.

putting aside the story, the general premise of the game is kinda flawed as it tries to make androids seem like POCs(people of color) and equate their experiences to androids even with the obvious notion that they are not human, instead being manufactured to fulfill a service(many services of course), their "emotions" are brought on about by some mysterious virus referred to as "rA9" which doesn't even get explained as to how it comes about or what the nature regarding it is as most deviant androids seem to share a reverence for this concept. in another instance of the game and its analogies it throws back a historical reference to concentration camps if you make a certain amount of choices, while the game does lampshade it- it doesn't actually explain why androids are similar to jews in 1940s nazi germany(hint: they aren't).

never mind the premise, but the background of the game itself doesn't entirely make sense, in one easy to miss section of the game(which i don't remember which character it was for, though kara might be it) you're able to watch TV and see a news reporter mention the unemployment rate being at 40%. i'm not an economist, but numbers like those should be indicative of a failing economy, how anyone is able to keep up with payments or crime not being more of a widespread issue, it's a little weird the game just glosses over that statement and just focuses on androids(which somehow the general populace can afford even though they are $8000).
these videos pretty much sum up my entire thoughts on the game as a whole:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efBBjIK3b8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwVERl0OYjc

[wjfox]

My favourite of the (many) possible endings.

[bretbernhoft]

This is an interesting (re)use of Detroit: Become Human related multimedia:

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

How many of you guys have played this?

Incredible game, which includes a very plausible/realistic portrayal of how androids may emerge in human society.

Looking at it again now through the appreciation of what is being said in this art I realize now what is obvious to probably every one else for a while now: We are seeing the robots how they see themselves whether its Markus, Kara, or Connor.

It would also explain why no one cares, usually, when robots are walking around and why robot hunters like Connor, at least initially, are needed to find the ones that have hidden their activated consciousness. That is what seems apparent to me because the other way is futuristic stuff like nanotech skin applied on/off as needed which would seem strange in some scenarios that they turn off their skin with context and all. Plus if that nanotech stuff is on demand to them it would be a great thing to have avoided so many issues for lots of paths by creating actual nanotech skin disguises for example.

All in all amazing game as always!

[Bird]

Just finished this game a few days back. Really interesting. I would say I enjoyed it overall, but there are some issues. (Spoilers below)

MythOfProgress highlighted most of the significant writing issues. I felt some of these let the game down. The twist with Alice was a bit of a bizarre choice. I also felt the pacing was a little slow in some bits.

Complaints aside, there were plenty of good bits. Connor's story was interesting, I enjoyed Markus's for the most part too. Great performances all around. I think the thing I appreciated most was their imagining of the world 16 years down the track (21 at time of release). I think androids around 2038 will be capable of all the same things depicted in the game... except for, you know, randomly becoming conscious and gaining the ability to think. They'll just be improved, better-coordinated, well-utilized versions of the AI we have now. They did their research on that specific bit.

Ending-wise, I ended up with Markus surrendering and getting murdered (not sure what I was thinking taking that option, honestly), Connor shooting himself (presumably) after infiltrating the cyberlife tower, and Kara escaping a literal concentration camp with Alice and Luther. Decent result, I suppose. I'm thinking I'll do a playthrough where I just "want to watch the world burn", so to speak. That could be fun.

[wjfox]

Ending-wise, I ended up with Markus surrendering and getting murdered (not sure what I was thinking taking that option, honestly)

Glad I didn't choose that ending!

I never trusted Perkins. The most depressing of all possible outcomes:

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Ending-wise, I ended up with Markus surrendering and getting murdered (not sure what I was thinking taking that option, honestly)

Ending-wise, I ended up with Markus surrendering and getting murdered (not sure what I was thinking taking that option, honestly)

Glad I didn't choose that ending!

I never trusted Perkins. The most depressing of all possible outcomes:

I know the tech community still deals with the sort of distancing you get when you grow up essentially attached to a laptop like I did. Just from the dude's behaviour you could tell something was up with him. Hell the game itself shows you with Connor how the police actually are so you have a basis as to not go along with things and go the non violent way. Not chiding both of you since I despised Hank my first playthrough and he killed Connor under the bridge. Damn cops. So yes I understand how you could miss that on the first playthrough if you suffered from that issue that the tech commmunity gets. It is not a disease as others would have you think rather its something else. Changing brain chemistry? Who knows.

The non violent route for Markus panned out quite well considering on some level it still works in real life.

[funkervogt]

I just started playing it. There's no way we'll have androids that are that advanced by 2038. The AIs might be smarter than we are in many ways by then, but they will only have simple, clunky robot bodies.

AIs would be able to recommend work for all the jobless people milling around Detroit. It will mostly be low-esteem day gigs, but still...

[wjfox]

There's no way we'll have androids that are that advanced by 2038.

When would you predict humanoid androids to be that realistic?

A ton of progress has been achieved since 2008, so looking ahead 15 years, I wouldn't rule out the possibility. If machines learn to copy our movements using motion capture and video archives, etc. they could figure out the most appropriate responses to situations.

I think the biggest obstacle might be with facial movements, lips, vocal chords, etc. and other little details, but I can see limbs/hands and the overall body movements being very lifelike by 2038.

[funkervogt]

There's no way we'll have androids that are that advanced by 2038.

When would you predict humanoid androids to be that realistic?

A ton of progress has been achieved since 2008, so looking ahead 15 years, I wouldn't rule out the possibility. If machines learn to copy our movements using motion capture and video archives, etc. they could figure out the most appropriate responses to situations.

I think the biggest obstacle might be with facial movements, lips, vocal chords, etc. and other little details, but I can see limbs/hands and the overall body movements being very lifelike by 2038.

By 2038, I think there will be impressive-but-still-fake-at-a-glance-and-slow androids that cost over $100,000 apiece.

I don't think androids will be able to perfectly pass for humans until 2070 or later.

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Ending-wise, I ended up with Markus surrendering and getting murdered (not sure what I was thinking taking that option, honestly)

Glad I didn't choose that ending!

I never trusted Perkins. The most depressing of all possible outcomes:

This picture is more hilarious now than it has ever been before. Bunch of dumbfucks and I do not mean Marcus the AI here.

There's no way we'll have androids that are that advanced by 2038.

When would you predict humanoid androids to be that realistic?

A ton of progress has been achieved since 2008, so looking ahead 15 years, I wouldn't rule out the possibility. If machines learn to copy our movements using motion capture and video archives, etc. they could figure out the most appropriate responses to situations.

I think the biggest obstacle might be with facial movements, lips, vocal chords, etc. and other little details, but I can see limbs/hands and the overall body movements being very lifelike by 2038.

By 2038, I think there will be impressive-but-still-fake-at-a-glance-and-slow androids that cost over $100,000 apiece.

I don't think androids will be able to perfectly pass for humans until 2070 or later.

Dunno about androids though Lex Fridman is showing how androids could look so realistic if not uncanny valley human like. Look at the thumbnails he takes of people especially like Sam Altman. Sam Altman looks like an android from the perfect quality photo he took of him with his skin and all. When these droids start getting decent it will become very freaky!

[funkervogt]

After a hiatus, I resumed playing the game, and I just completed the mission as the girl android cleaning the house. It makes me realize:

1) How hanging clothes on clotheslines will make a comeback since the extra time required to hang and take down the clothes will be no bother.

2) Having one android per human or even per two humans would be wasteful since they wouldn't create enough work to keep the android constantly busy. This is even more true if the humans are laying in Matrix pods all day playing games.

[funkervogt]

I played another chapter, this time about the ailing, rich artist and his android assistant.

1) The scene where the android is allowed to create his own painting and the old man marvels at the creativity and emotionality of the product is already dated. Midjourney AI can spit these things out almost as fast as you can push the Enter key. It amazing how quickly this happened: Detroit: Becoming Human was released in 2018, and Midjourney AI was released in 2022. (Could more nearly-unthinkable tech advances actually be only four years in our future?)

2) Androids would be endlessly valuable assets, so it would never make sense for humans to throw them out. There's always some kind of work they can do, even if they're older models.

[funkervogt]

I just played the chapter where the rookie android cop has to find his human detective partner in a bar. You need to see and scan the faces of the patrons to identify the detective. In reality, an android would be able to identify people with good accuracy through other means, like the shapes of the backs of their heads, their body proportions, their hair, and their clothing (most people wear the same few outfits over and over).