Entity versus Invention conflict

Other (objects, etc.) theme

A narrative concept and key to the plot of the game. It is the conflict that the protagonist of the game must face, and in many cases, the player also

25
games
7
platforms

Alternate names: Man versus Machine, Man versus Idea

Said by many to stem from man's fear of the machine's superior ability and simultaneous lack of empathy and human frailties. Those that oppose the idea of literary acceptance of the Man verses Machine conflict claim that the conflict is simply an externalized man vs. self where the self resides in a surrogate machine, invention, or idea. Or inotherwords, the metaphysical self is manifested as a physical other. Indeed, the popular fiction style know as the cooperation is a surrogate that allows the human members to exert their mortal, frail, limited selves through the immortal, durable, unlimited cooperation. The reasoning is sound, but as this conflict is more and more leaving the annals of fiction and intruding on reality at an ever increasing rate, it further distributes and obscures its origin in the selfs of its creators (which happens to be the essence of cyberpunk).
Man vs. Machine is the last conflict in many different ways. Often a story of this conflict sets the stage of man having eliminated all other conflicts through invention, ideas, and machines, only to have these very creations turn on him. It happens to be the newest conflict to be recognized by many literary types, thus last on the official list. Many eschatologies name man's own invention has the enemy in the last battle that eliminates us. There's even scientists that believe that biological consciousness will gladly surrender to a conquering mechanical consciousness. Often credit is given to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein as the first literary example of this conflict. Yet she credits a much older story herself by the original title for the book, "Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus" The story of Prometheus however, was not one of Man vs. Invention, it did however, predict the coming conflict. Later tales of the Golum of Jewish folklore where possibly the first occurrences of the conflict in print. But getting back to Mary Shelly, she had an incite that half the worlds population is ineligible to experience first hand, and additionally experienced both the worst outcomes of which. Not only had she given birth to a still born baby a year before writing a book but her own mother had died from complications after giving birth to her. She knew that women have been creating monsters ever since Eve game birth to Cain. The book can be seen as a woman passing on hard won lessons to potentially irresponsible men birthing the industrial revolution at the time, to treat their inventions carefully least they be sent out into the world uncontrolled and used without the benefits of love and empathy for unintended purposes
On the other hand, this could be as simple as a conflict between the player and an AI player that the game's story insists is a simulation rather than an actual character.

Related tags:
The classic conflicts:
[[gametag:entityventity Entity Verses Entity conflict (Man verses Man)]]
[[gametag:entityvnatural Entity Verses Natural Order conflict (Man verses Nature / Man verses Physics / Man verses Logic / Man verses Emotion / Man verses Addiction)]]
[[gametag:entityvsupernatural Entity Verses Supernatural Entity conflict (Man verses supernatural / Man verses Fanciful / Man verses Alien]]
[[gametag:entityvself Entity verses Self conflict (man vs self / man verses his own limits)]]
[[gametag:entityvinvention Entity Verses Invention conflict(Man verses Machine / Man verses Idea)]]
Less usual conflicts:
[[gametag:naturalvinvention Natural verses Invention conflict (Nature vs Machine)]]
[[gametag:naturalvnatural Natural verses Natural conflict (Nature vs Nature)]]
[[gametag:inventionvinvention Invention verses Invention conflict (Machine vs Machine)]]
[[gametag:supernatualvsupernatual Supernatural Entity Verses Supernatural Entity conflict (Fanciful verses Fanciful)]]
[[gametag:supernatualvnatural Supernatural Entity Verses Natural conflict (Supernatural vs Nature / Fanciful vs Nature)]]

Popular tags

alieninvasion arenashooter berzerklike darkspace defensegame entityventity entityvnatural entityvsupernatural femaleauthor fixedshooter inventory langinsignificant license-proprietary missilecommandlike naturalistic

Parent group

The Classic Conflicts

Games by year

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The first Entity versus Invention conflict video game was released in 1982.

Atari, Activision and Parker Brothers published most of these games.

Platforms

Atari 5200 17
Linux 3
SNES 1
Atari 400/800 1
VIC-20 1
Mac OS Classic 1
Apple II E 1