A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed.
Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a game that showcases how people can influence your goals both positively & negatively, “Mafia III”.
There’s A Devil & An Angel On Your Shoulders
The year is 1968. Gas is thirty-four cents a gallon. Intel Corporation is created. Alec Rose completes his single-handed trip around the world in 354 days. And a young Lincoln Clay returns to his home of New Bordeaux – a state situated on America’s southern coastline featuring booze, guns & laughter for all willing to pay the price – after serving in the Vietnam War. It doesn’t take long for Clay to end up working for his father and his father’s boss performing illegal activities and potentially setting the stage for Lincoln himself to run his father’s ship as the leader of the “Black Mob” syndicate. Unfortunately for Lincoln and his family, Sal Marcano of the “Marcano Family, decides that working alongside the likes of the Black Mob and the Irish just wasn’t feasible; killing Lincoln’s father and leaving the youngest Clay to die in a fire.
But as fate would have it, Lincoln survives thanks to help of a criminal-turned-priest James Ballard. With revenge in his heart & eyes, Lincoln seeks vengeance on all those who betrayed him even though his physical savior thought otherwise. Enter former CIA handler and old friend of Lincoln’s, John Donovan. Suave, manipulative & highly intelligent, Donovan is gung-ho about assisting Clay behind the scenes while Lincoln cuts, shoots & literally dismembers his way throughout New Bordeaux while forming alliances with other crime families & mobsters Sal did wrong including “Mafia II” protagonist Vito Scaletta.
During Lincoln’s assault on the Marcano Family and the people of New Bordeaux in general, Father Ballard does his best to help the man he considers the son he never had by patching him up physical while dropping pearls of wisdom mentally & spiritually. While Donovan is fine with Lincoln entering the figurative belly of the beast with the intent of unraveling an entire crime-based ecosystem, Father Ballard is there for Lincoln to remind him of how easy it is to just step away before one’s soul is too burdened with potential regret.
By the game’s end both characters present Lincoln with a choice. Donovan looks to help Lincoln embrace his newfound power in New Bordeaux. Father Ballard begs for Lincoln to step away from what corrupted him and people like him including Sal Marcano. It’s up to the player to decide how Lincoln’s life should play out. When it comes to choices in life, especially in regards to treating someone else, there are usually at least two options: one dictated by a positive force trying to guide you in the direction that will leave you potentially free of regret, and the other ordering for possible instant short-term gratification without the long-standing relief & satisfaction.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Mafia III” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
