Power can take a number of different forms including but not limited to socio-political, purely political, purely physical, psychological, or a physical manifestation of power.
Power as a concept is a fairly abstract one, but becomes less abstract when applied to Games. In a game context, power is something that esstially boils down to one word: Choice.
In any game, the player has the power to make a choice. What choice? Any choice. Literally. Power in games is the ability to cause something to happen, to prevent something to happen, to act or NOT to act. Ultimately, within the confines of the game, the player has the power to do or not do something and then deal with the outcomes of that choice. Of course in most games, exercising power is essentially utilizing the tools, resources (weapons, blades, guns, bullets, bombs, vehicles, starships etc), and units to defeat your opponent(s) through a myriad of tactics and strategies.
What comes to mind immediately is Star Wars and its use of The Force in games, in live action combat choreography, and so forth. The effects can range from the subtle, to the obvious (push, pull, catch, throw stuff) to the awesome and powerful (force lightning and blaster shot deflection), or the somewhat understated yet still terrifying. In terms of a more physical manifestation of power: This is an example from Star Wars the Force Unleashed: The Force Lightning used here is just incredibly powerful - i'd go so far as to say its IMBA. The Force is Star Wars is of course best demonstrated when you see it in action, like right here and here as part of a intro movie or cut scene or something to that effect. But if you watch both of those movies that I linked above, you'll see that there are multiple examples of power in both a physical, military, and also in the use of Force as a weapon and a demonstration of power.
Now... if you take a step back from "The Force" and look at it as power in a somewhat more abstract concept, you'll find that it has a lot in common with something else: Magic. I mean magic in all the myraid of forms that appears in digital games from the Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age II, or even the more traditional/classic styles of magic with witches and wizards. Magic as a form of power has been done quite literally to death in both movies and games of all kinds ranging from the LOTR series to Harry Potter.
But if you use magic as a "base" of power, then you have to consider that technology is also a form of power: Some classic examples of technology as power can be seen in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe which is almost a contradictory blend of genetically enhanced super soldiers with awesome futuristic weaponry together with magic and sorcery.
Of course, power can be whole lot simpler than that: It can be as simple as an army like this one or this one. That said sometimes you don't need armies of any kind: You just need one man/machine to take out a police station, some really big dude with a sword or perhaps two Champions to settle a dispute...
Movies do this particular showcase of power on a regular basis: The whole "Gearing up to war" routine to demonstrate the sheer power and bad-assery of the supposed good guys or perhaps the pseudo good guys or even the straight up bad guys ready to do what they do best...
I believe the quote, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" (Mao Zedong, "The Little Red Book," 1964) has a great deal of truth to it. But if you are looking at political power or social influence, you are looking at something else. Power here tends to be (generally) speaking, more subtle and indirect. one of the classic examples of this is unfortunately from a book by Anthony Bourdain entitled "Kitchen Confidential" (amazon link here) is when he writes (I paraphrase here), about how he could nod his head a certain way to his Sous-Chef and that thing, whatever that thing was, would be done. Bourdain himself, would never have to follow up or ask about it again. The political power and social influence demonstrated in those few simple lines of text is simply amazing to me. I only wish I could somehow get a copy of that half a page to upload here.
Update on 27/1:
well.... it occured to me last night I've overlooked one form of power completely: The power of speech. What I mean is the power of oratory. Some of the greatest leaders (statesmen, politicians, military commanders and so forth) have been some of the greatest speakers the world has ever seen. These speeches range from the inspiring, to the motivational, to those that are a call to arms or even revolution. These great speakers tended to have three things in common:
Style: the speaker is a master of the written and spoken forms of language, and are capable to craft something that is beautiful to be heard and read.
Substance: It has to be moving by appealing and inspiring the audience with its theme, values and ideals.
Impact: It must change both the hearts and minds of the readers and listeners, standing the test of time so that whatever it says or mean is as relevant today as it is 10, 50 or 100 years from now.
Among these great speakers (I'll keep my focus to the last 100 years to narrow things down a little) are the likes of Winston Churchill's addresses to the Houses of Parliament during the second world war are immortalized in literature and in film alike: "This was their Finest Hour" and "We shall fight on the Beaches" both were given during Britain's darkest days during the WW2 just before and after the dunkirk evacuation respectively. Others that fit the bill include President Kennedy's innaugural address in 1961: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." A few more just to round out the list:
"I have a dream" - Martin Luther King Jr made August 28th, 1963, Washington DC
"40th Anniversary of D-Day" - Former President ROnald Reagan, made June 6th, 1984, Pointe Du Hoc, France.
"Duty, Honor, Country" - General Douglas MacArthur, May 12th, 1962, West Point Military Academy, New York.
"Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation," Former President Fraklin Delano Roosevelt, made december 8th, 1941, Washington DC
Now the problem: Does such fine oratory exist in Fiction? Ok... too general: let's narrow this down to two specific questions: Does such fine oratory exist in movies? Does it exist in games? In movies, following the three criteria I outline above, I would say yes! A couple of examples:
Braveheart, William Wallace's Speech on Freedom.
The Lord of the Rings provides a number of these awesome speeches, but two I remember well:The ride of the Rohirrim before the walls of Minas Tirith and Aragon at the Black Gates of Mordor.
All Quiet on the Western Front's "Glory to the Fatherland" speech... I can't find a good quality video or audio of it unfortunately, but I've managed to track a copy of the speech to here:
now in games... that's a slightly tougher call.... but a few do come to mind. One that chilled the blood in my veins was by Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4. then there is Mass Effect 3's "Hold the Line" speech by Captain Kirrahe. One of my all time favourites is from Warhammer 40,000 Dark Crusade when assaulting the Space Marine Stronghold.
So power takes numerous different forms. The question is... just how the heck do I do this for a multimedia assignment?
Now... if you take a step back from "The Force" and look at it as power in a somewhat more abstract concept, you'll find that it has a lot in common with something else: Magic. I mean magic in all the myraid of forms that appears in digital games from the Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age II, or even the more traditional/classic styles of magic with witches and wizards. Magic as a form of power has been done quite literally to death in both movies and games of all kinds ranging from the LOTR series to Harry Potter.
But if you use magic as a "base" of power, then you have to consider that technology is also a form of power: Some classic examples of technology as power can be seen in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe which is almost a contradictory blend of genetically enhanced super soldiers with awesome futuristic weaponry together with magic and sorcery.
Movies do this particular showcase of power on a regular basis: The whole "Gearing up to war" routine to demonstrate the sheer power and bad-assery of the supposed good guys or perhaps the pseudo good guys or even the straight up bad guys ready to do what they do best...
I believe the quote, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" (Mao Zedong, "The Little Red Book," 1964) has a great deal of truth to it. But if you are looking at political power or social influence, you are looking at something else. Power here tends to be (generally) speaking, more subtle and indirect. one of the classic examples of this is unfortunately from a book by Anthony Bourdain entitled "Kitchen Confidential" (amazon link here) is when he writes (I paraphrase here), about how he could nod his head a certain way to his Sous-Chef and that thing, whatever that thing was, would be done. Bourdain himself, would never have to follow up or ask about it again. The political power and social influence demonstrated in those few simple lines of text is simply amazing to me. I only wish I could somehow get a copy of that half a page to upload here.
Update on 27/1:
well.... it occured to me last night I've overlooked one form of power completely: The power of speech. What I mean is the power of oratory. Some of the greatest leaders (statesmen, politicians, military commanders and so forth) have been some of the greatest speakers the world has ever seen. These speeches range from the inspiring, to the motivational, to those that are a call to arms or even revolution. These great speakers tended to have three things in common:
Style: the speaker is a master of the written and spoken forms of language, and are capable to craft something that is beautiful to be heard and read.
Substance: It has to be moving by appealing and inspiring the audience with its theme, values and ideals.
Impact: It must change both the hearts and minds of the readers and listeners, standing the test of time so that whatever it says or mean is as relevant today as it is 10, 50 or 100 years from now.
Among these great speakers (I'll keep my focus to the last 100 years to narrow things down a little) are the likes of Winston Churchill's addresses to the Houses of Parliament during the second world war are immortalized in literature and in film alike: "This was their Finest Hour" and "We shall fight on the Beaches" both were given during Britain's darkest days during the WW2 just before and after the dunkirk evacuation respectively. Others that fit the bill include President Kennedy's innaugural address in 1961: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." A few more just to round out the list:
"I have a dream" - Martin Luther King Jr made August 28th, 1963, Washington DC
"40th Anniversary of D-Day" - Former President ROnald Reagan, made June 6th, 1984, Pointe Du Hoc, France.
"Duty, Honor, Country" - General Douglas MacArthur, May 12th, 1962, West Point Military Academy, New York.
"Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation," Former President Fraklin Delano Roosevelt, made december 8th, 1941, Washington DC
Now the problem: Does such fine oratory exist in Fiction? Ok... too general: let's narrow this down to two specific questions: Does such fine oratory exist in movies? Does it exist in games? In movies, following the three criteria I outline above, I would say yes! A couple of examples:
Braveheart, William Wallace's Speech on Freedom.
The Lord of the Rings provides a number of these awesome speeches, but two I remember well:The ride of the Rohirrim before the walls of Minas Tirith and Aragon at the Black Gates of Mordor.
now in games... that's a slightly tougher call.... but a few do come to mind. One that chilled the blood in my veins was by Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4. then there is Mass Effect 3's "Hold the Line" speech by Captain Kirrahe. One of my all time favourites is from Warhammer 40,000 Dark Crusade when assaulting the Space Marine Stronghold.
So power takes numerous different forms. The question is... just how the heck do I do this for a multimedia assignment?
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