Greek Theatre, and my understanding of the world

When I was 13 or 14, maby 15, I can't really remember, I went to France with a friend and his parents. We had a long road ahead, so my friend, who had a playstation, brought some PlayStation 2 magazines to keep us busy. I took one of the magazines, opened it on a random page and saw an article called "Deus Ex". I recognized it within seconds. I hadn't played the game, but I read somewhere on a Macintosh site that Aspyr was busy porting Deus Ex to the Mac. Knowing the internet article was quite intresting I started reading the magazine article and it didn't take long for me to realise I wanted to play this game. I started to read the article on a daily bases and when I got home I rushed to my computer and started to look for a Mac demo version.

We didn't have a fast internet connection at the time, so I grabbed an empty CD, jumped on my bike and I drove of to one of my friends. He was so kind to download it for me and burn it on the CD. When I got home I installed the demo and started playing. The demo was the first level of the game. You had to arrest a terrorist who had recently blown up the Statue of Liberty. I remember running around for hours on Liberty Island, not because I didn't know what to do, but because the level was so big and you could do a million things.

I played the demo for weeks and weeks and weeks. It was time for the game itself. I asked my dad to order it online, he did, and the waiting started. Everyday i got home from school asking my parents "Is it here? Is it here? ". I had exams at that time, so my mom was planning on giving it after the exams, but she's a terrible lair. When, one day, I asked if it had arrived, my mom said no, but she had this smile on her face, so I knew it had. She gave it to me, I installed it and got sucked into the game. Mission after mission I played, wanting more and more.

Being a young kid back then I was also exploring things. I was at an age where I realised there is somethind called politics, something called leaders. I started to learn about how the world works, about poverty, corruption, etc. Everything you hear around you has an influence on you, everything you hear and see helps you decide what you like and dislike about polictics, the world, leaders and other things that help create, destroy and shape this world.

Deus Ex is a term from Greek theatre. It's a God who comes on stage and gives a solution to a problem not even the writers were able to solve. Somehow, Deus Ex The Game was my little God, my little problem solver, who helped me create my visions and ideas about the world, it's leaders, etc.

In Deus Ex The Game you constantly have to make descissions, you have to choose between sides, non of them are good, non of them are bad. Your choices help shape and change the world of Deus Ex. It never sais "do this, do that", it gives you options and you, as a player, have to look at these options and decide for yourself what you think is the best choice. It makes sure you look at the pro's and contra's of everything it even lets you decide how the game ends.

Being a young kid back then, Deus Ex really helped me create my visions and thoughs about the real world. The world of Deus Ex is so realistic, not because it shows the world how it is today, but because everything that happens within the world of Deus Ex, could easily happen in the real world. Deus Ex told me "Kid, it's a messed up world and yet you have to create your own ideas, visions and thoughts. Never let someone decide for you. Look at what you think is the best and go for it." It made me help set the first steps in the real world. It gave me a little push to go out, speak my mind and create my view on the world of today.

Take care and see you next time.