Autism in Mass Effect 2

Post Reply New Topic

I am pretty sure Legion even mentions that, especially with the biggest difference between any Geth unit just being a difference of perspective and as a species are more of software then hardware. actually here is a piece from Mass Effect wikia:

"As all geth are networked to each other, they may communicate their exact thoughts and ideas at the speed of light. They find organic methods of communication, such as body language and spoken word, to be largely inefficient; the geth are able to communicate their thoughts flawlessly without any fear of misinterpretation. Because of this they have no true form of government and no system of rank. When a matter must be decided upon, the geth communicate all viewpoints of a situation and a consensus is made, the decision being whatever benefits the geth as a whole the greatest."

I do wonder how even a savant could keep up.

With respect to the Mass Effect universe, if you read the Book "Ascension," the young girl in it is autistic, and biotic to boot (not a math fan though, but more socially awkward like HFA/AS/PDD).

I get the point about it being stereotyped the character with the Autism. But at the same time when I had finished the whole thing and he was finally freed from his demons I did the paragon conversation and my Shep who is female did put his scientist brother down for the treatment of David. I felt quite strongly they did do a good job at that point of making Shepard pretty much lay into David's brother for his treatment of him and I think that was the point where my anger at the stereotyping turned to thoughtfulness.

I think it's tricky for any games company to think outside the box when dealing with things the whole production team may have not come across in real life. I am sure when they do they must think hard about how they deal with the subject matter. I suspect Bioware have not had the experience of meeting some Aspies to get a broader picture on how we think and interact. I can assure you now I would never in a million years want to be connected or control a race of machines like the geth.

This was a story and the bits of dialog quoted at the beginning of this thread were uttered by the evil scientist character. We were all offended by David's enslavement at the hands of science. And we DID get a chance to lay that guy out (verbally) once we'd rescued David. It was a satisfying end to a horrible story.

I must say that I have never felt a video game tug at my heart the way this story did. It was heart-wrenching to see David as we see him at the end of the mission, with those mechanical tears streaming down his face... It's unbearable to think what he'd been through. This was good storytelling.

enthusied statement. i actually want to buy this

I love the advertisement for 'Elcor Hamlet'

I loved mass effect 2, and I really enjoyed this add on, Just Can "Kinda" relate ...... haven't met any geth .... yet!

One hopes that if you ever do, they're True Geth, not heretics, else the meeting is going to be very short, and rather sad on your end...

Excuse me for the necropost...

I can see that they seem to have done this on purpose as the afforementioned and quoted scientist is indeed "evil".

But that's not my problem. My problem overall is the media use of savant autists. I mean, yes, it's a brilliant plot device and it can make an interesting albeit predictable character, but why does autism need to be specifically mentioned? Can't they just have a quirky character these days without attempting to attach some sort of label?

That sort of labelling and grouping together people that modern media is so fond of is really causing much more harm than good.

I mean, if NTs were talking about themselves, they would say "everyone is different and unique", right? Then why is it when a disability comes into the scene, suddenly it's as if we are all the same?

I don't know, maybe I'm looking too much into this, I see Bioware meant no real harm, but I disagree with any sort of reinforcing of media stereotypes. I know this can be hard to avoid in games and eventually it could go to be political correctness gone mad.

But this is different - it would be like in a grand theft auto game, specifically making referrences to the skin colour and class background of the player, and making the stereotype seem very clear and obvious. Or it would be like a fighting game without any female characters except for those scantily clad (oh, wait...).

I was a little disappointed with the perception of Autism in the Overlord DLC as well. But what do you expect? Most people think Autistics are like Rain Man. My brother is Autistic and has albonism. People asked me all the time growing up if he had magical powers like the guy in the movie Powder. They also assumed he could count a box of toothpicks in less than a second. People are idiots.

I actually thought the character Mordin was kinda Aspie-ish. Mostly I think he's just very eccentric........but I love him Especially when he sings....

That's exactly why it's used. Why would you bother with a character you see all the time. Autistic savants are used in fiction because the condition is so mysterious. What's so hard to believe about this?

All Salarians are like him. They're accelerated metabolism allows them to think fast and talk fast. That's why so many of them are researchers and engineers.

That, and there was also the element that he was exploited by his own brother...someone who was supposed to be looking out for him but rationalized that strapping him into a machine was better overall since it could save millions of lives.

....Why are we always good at math?

I didn't expect better at the time, but I have critiques. Ignorance isn't really an excuse, nor a reason to not do any research before creating something like this. It could have have been handled much better.

And I mean, I like ME2, I've played it through more than once and played this DLC twice so far.

I don't have a problem with the occasional savant, but I do have a problem with the fact that every time an autistic (or gay, or overweight, or _______) person is involved, they're the center of attention. Usually the thing that makes them stand out is a crucial plot element.

How about a crime drama where the detectives interview a witness who speaks and acts like an Aspie? No need to keep pointing out that they have Asperger's Syndrome. Or there just happens to be an autistic daughter in the background? Why don't we meet detective X's two dads and not act like it's a big deal!

In Dead Space, there was an audio log made by a dying man who decided to cut off his limbs to avoid turning into one of those things. He said: "tell Gary and the kids I love them". Not sure if I heard it right, but I thought he was leaving a message to his partner and their children. I'm sure it's been done other times too, it's just very rare in mainstream entertainment.