Detroit: Become Human

About The Game

Detroit: Become Human is an adventure game developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2008. It is an interactive film with action-adventure elements, in which the game narrative development is based on the choices players have made.

Story

The story takes place in the year 2038. Detroit has become a metropolis and its largest industry is technology. In 2022, a young man named Elijah Kamski managed to build the first android that successfully passed the Turing test. They are powered by the new mineral called "thirium" and serve humans by taking on unpopular or dangerous tasks. After this revolutionary breakthrough, Elijah Kamski founded CyberLife, which became the most influential company in the world.

Nowadays the company produces various android models. Androids are designed to look and behave like humans. Only their lack of autonomy and a LED display on their temples make them distinguishable from humans. They are owned by humans and do jobs in all kinds of work sectors hence they have become an indispensable part of humans’ everyday lives. They work as civil servants, nurses, domestic helpers, soldiers and prostitutes. Regardless the fact that they support humans there are also negative side effects.

Due to the use of androids as workers the US (human) unemployment rate is thirty-seven percent which causes tension between androids and humans. This manifests itself in the form of protests against androids, active abuse and scrapping of androids. Not only humans but also androids face issues and conflicts. As they live among humans they may develop deviant behaviors that differ from their preset behavior patterns making them potentially dangerous for people.

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The plot contains three storylines. All protagonists have different life stories but they cross each other's ways in many chapters. Players take control over the following three characters in alternating order: Connor, an android who works as an investigator for the Detroit Police Department, Kara, an android that does house keeping and Markus who is an android that does house keeping and takes care of his owner .

Players exclusively experience the plot from the androids’ perspectives. They will be confronted by many arising questions about humanity, agency and morality. Throughout the game, the existing social and political structures within the game world are increasingly scrutinized.

Their choices and their subsequent consequences determine not only the protagonists’ fates but also the future of Detroit and its human and non-human inhabitants.

Characters

Player Characters

Connor

Connor

Connor is also known as RK 800 # 313 248 317 -51, The Negiator and The Deviant Hunter. He is a prototype of the RK800 android model specialized in assisting law enforcement workers with the investigation of cases involving deviant androids. He works as an investigator alongside Lieutenant Hank Anderson.

His personality evolves as the game progresses. Based on the players' choices player there are two directions of development: Either he remains a machine being loyal to CyberLife and follows orders blindly or his software instability increases over time which leads to Connor becoming a deviant himself and fighting alongside Markus for the establishment of a new social order.

Kara

Kara

Kara is an AX400 android and works as a housemaid. She is owned by Todd Williams, a single father who has a daughter named Alice. They live together but it turns out that Todd acts violent towards them. These incidents in combination with her relationship to the little girl may cause her to deviate from the preprogrammed behavior. This might lead to her fighting back and escaping with Alice in order to start a better, autonomous life somewhere else.

Markus

Markus

Markus is a RK200 android. Elijah Kamski has gifted Markus to Carl Manfred who is a famous painter. As he sits in a wheel-chair Carl needs a lot of assistance. Markus does domestic work and can be considered as Carl's companion. Due to stressful events Markus becomes a deviant and his goal is to start a resistance movement against the oppression of androids. Throughout the game he may become the leader of a resistance group full of deviants and depending on the players' decisions the deviants will riot peacefully or violently.

Research-relevant Topics Of The Game

Core Game Mechanics

Gameplay

PS 4 Wireless Dualshock Controls in Detroit: Become Human

Players experience the game world and narrative from a third-person view which is set but controllable. The following controls only apply to the Sony PlayStation 4 Wireless Dualshock Gamepad.

By pressing the options-button players access the pause menu. The left analog stick of the Dualshock controller is used for the character’s movement while the right one is needed for interaction of objects and environments. In need of a different camera angle players can always switch the camera perspective by using the R1 button.

Contextual Controls in Detroit: Become Human

For performing actions they have to follow on-screen instructions such as holding or pressing certain buttons multiple times, pushing the right analog stick into a specific direction, swiping the touchpad or shaking the controller.

Quick time events and countdowns might occur during decision-making processes. Under the time pressure players have to act quickly. These elements, as well as dialog option decisions, influence the further game narrative's development. In case a choice will not be made within a certain time frame a default option will be chosen by the game. At the end of each chapter the decision-making channel is displayed in a flowchart.

The R2 button needs to be used to access the android’s mind palace. All of the characters have the skill to scan the environment in order to identify options for possible interaction. For example there are objects, such as magazines, with which players can optionally act and thereby obtain information on certain issues.

Each of the android characters have abilities. Connor is the only player character with unique skills that can be used to influence the game narrative’s development.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction in The Hostage

The protagonist Connor is able to use his augmented vision to discover and analyze clues at a crime scene in order to recreate the events that took place.

For reconstructing a sequence of events Connor has to analyze the subjects and objects at the crime first. The analysis will provide essential information for example about the type of murder weapon, its speed and trajectory or the damages that have been caused during a crime.

In the process the evidences are marked and players can get access by following on-screen instructions. The finding of evidence leads to more until the reconstruction process will be completed.

During the reconstruction it is possible to switch the camera perspective as desired. This camera function ensures that Connor is able to examine the entire crime scene from different angles.

Unlocked Weapon in The Hostage

The reconstruction can be reviewed as often as needed. The sequence of events is displayed as a timeline and it can be reviewed by pressing the L2 and R2 keys. Players can pause at any point in time in order to examine specific events further.

In each chapter there are always several places to reconstruct and objects to examine. Besides his ability to reconstruct Connor is also able to analyze sample, such as blood samples in real-time. Many evidences are story-related items and their discoveries unlock new dialogue options and narrative paths. The more information is collected, the higher the chance that the chapter will be completed successfully.

When all information has been gathered the chance of success is at its highest. Though it is not necessary to find all evidences in order to get a positive ending and the players can end the reconstruction any time.

Game Narrative Design Elements

Detroit: Become Human features an interactive narrative meaning that the player participates in the creation process of the story. The embedded narrative design elements have the purpose of increasing the players' emotional and ethical involvement. They are used to visualize development processes in particular regarding autonomy, morality and agency.

Deviancy

Kara becomes a deviant in Stormy Night

When an android starts to deviate from its programmed behavior the phenomenon of deviancy takes place. The android gains the ability to develop opinions and desires that are not included in the software. The deviant can identify itself as a human being.

In the chapters Stormy Night and Broken Kara and Markus become deviant due to them being in extreme situations. Their decision-making processes to elevate themselves to beings with a sense of freedom and agency are visualized with the help of narrative design elements.

Markus becomes a deviant in Broken

In Stormy Night Kara’s deviancy is induced by her violent owner Todd. After he demands Kara not to move he goes to the first floor and wants to take out his anger on his daughter Alice. The android has to decide whether she stays obedient and will be destroyed again by her owner or she defies her preprogrammed behavior and will run away with Alice.

As she decides to resist she develops a sense of consciousness and autonomy. The resistance process is visualized by her breaking through a wall which is a powerful visual metaphor. The wall represents the preprogrammed obedient behavior pattern. That detail and in combination with the written commands “Don’t Move” highlight the meaning of this particular decision.

When breaking through the wall, a certain sequence of keys is required. The wall cannot be broken easily and the players are instructed to accumulate physical force in order to break through. They must smash the X button very fast until the wall will show signs of damage. At this point the decision is still reversible but if they decide to proceed Kara will become a deviant. The damages and warnings indicate that becoming deviant is an irreversible decision with high significance for the story development.

In the chapter Broken Marcus and his owner Carl are visited by his son Leo who is addicted to drugs. During the encounter Leo acts violent but Carl demands Markus not to fight back. When Markus realizes that Leo is also a danger for Carl he has to decide whether he obeys or defies Carl’s order, so he can protect himself and his owner.

It is clear that there are similarities in terms of the challenges Kara and Markus are facing. But the significant difference between the two situations is that now players are confronted with a one-explicit-choice situation. Markus' development as a deviant is therefore an unavoidable decision that has been defaulted by the game developers.

Software Instability

Software InstabilityBox (showing a large increase)

The software instability is a gameplay stat that is exclusive to Connor. This feature gives details about how much Connor's current behavior deviates from the programmed one. The software status depends on players' choices. The software will remain stable if they tend to make choices resulting in completing the missions. Connor's death also contributes to his fate of staying a machine. But if they decide to make empathetic choices this will cause Connor's software instability to increase. Every time players makes a relevant choice the software instability stat box will appear showing the choice's impact on the current state.

For example in the chapter The Nest Connor and Hank are chasing a deviant android called Rupert but due to Hank's human physique he is not able to keep up with them. As Hank is in danger Connor has the options to continue the chase or save his colleague instead. If he acts mission-oriented, his software instability will have a large decrease but if Connor saves him, it will increase a lot . In conclusion, whenever players choose Connor to act in a way that is perceived as morally correct by humans such as Hank, it will cause Connor's behavior to deviate more from his programmed manner.

Players' Agency and Decisions

The story of Detroit: Become Human is non-unilinear and the decision-making channel in each storyline has an influence on the development. Sometimes players' choices are not always made conciously and the levels of impact are often unclear. Accordingly the consequences might do not only have an impact on the storyline’s character but on the other ones too. In the later course of the game the characters’ paths will overlap. Instead of each one having a separate ending, the final game ending affects all player and non-player characters. Even though the player characters may possible die at an earlier point in time, their deaths will influence the final outcome.

In fact the decision-making process has always been a key element in order to play a game. In terms of game studies it is a topic that many scientists do research about. Due to the game's interactive nature there are many kinds of choices and levels of impact which makes it an interesting research object. In the following, the different decision-making situations are analyzed based on the concept of the decision scale, future narrative and substructural decision logic.

Tracy Fullerton's Decision Scale

Tracy Fullerton's Decision Scale

One of the most important aspects of choice is consequence. For a game to engage a player’s mind, each choice must alter the course of the game.

According to Tracy Fullerton a game has to offer a multitude of different types of choices and levels of impact in order to be considered interesting for players. It is required that it contains many kinds of consequences that vary regarding the significance.

In the following different decision-making situations from the game Detroit: Become Human are classified in the context of Tracy Fullerton's Decision Scale.

Tracy Fullerton differentiates between five types of decision based on the different impacts : Critical, important, necessary, minor and inconsequential decision.

Throughout the game all the mentioned decision-making situations will happen multiple times. For the sake of simplicity the analysis focuses on the decision-making situations that are in the first two chapters of Kara's storyline.

Decisions in the first chapters of Kara's storyline

In Stormy Night many situations of decision-making are based on the previous choices players have made in the first chapter called A New Home. There are also inconsequential decisions that have no impact on the outcome such as reading magazines, watching TV or cleaning the bathroom. The finding of Todd's gun is considered to be a necessary decision because it will have a delayed impact on the following chapter. After Kara has found it the decision will unlock the options to use the gun. In Stormy Night players can decide whether Kara breaks the programming or not. This can be classified as an important decision because breaking the programming leads to Kara becoming a deviant immediately. During the fight between Kara and Todd some decision-making situations occur. When Kara and Alice try to escape minor decisions such as locking the door, grabbing a lamp or open the window only have small impacts on the outcome. The chapter also includes many critical decisions. Players can decide whether Kara or Alice will shoot Todd and if the characters do not escape sucessfully it will result in one of the many endings where Kara or Alice being dead.

Future Narrative

[T]his new kind of narrative […] does not only thematise openness, indeterminacy, virtuality, and the idea that every ‚now‘ contains a multitude of possible continuations. No, it goes beyond this by actually staging the fact that the future is a space of yet unrealised potentiality – and by allowing the reader/player to enter situations that fork into different branches.

Future narrative combines the aspects agency and narrative. The smallest unit of the concept is called the nodal situation, also known as the node. It is characterized by the fact that at the node there are several possible continuations available. The choices made by players lead to a specific, exclusive state that is different from every other possible one. Instead of being a recipient, players are involved as participants having the agency to make a wide range of various decisions and therefore influence the future narration. Many aspects condition the decision-making processes for example the amount of information or experience they have but also the awareness of their agency. Since Detroit: Become Human is an interactive film with playable action-adventure elements, it corresponds to the idea of ​​story-playing. In every playthrough there are repeatedly moments of decision-making players cannot avoid. For example they have always to decide whether Connor gains autonomy by becoming a deviant or not in order to maintain a status quo.

Flowchart

Completed Flowchart of the chapter The Hostage

A gameworld is the state of the game system and the storyworld throughout a specific run of that game as perceived by the player.

Based on the quote, it can be concluded that all decisions made by players during a playthrough contribute to the creation of one possible continuation. The exclusive states that are created after each decision build on one another and lead to the design of a specific game world. Detroit: Become Human has the unique fuction that the game will generate a flow chart after each completed chapter.

The flowchart is a diagram that shows all the players' decision-making channels. All types of decisions, whether linear one-explicit choices, binary or multiple decisions with direct or indirect effects, or decisions with long-term consequences are listed. The nodes of the decision-making channels are highlighted by the fact that possible continuations are represented as branches that emerge from them. Each continuation can lead to further nodes that have different levels of impact or lead to (sudden) endings. The flowchart visualizes that seemingly meaningless choices or making no choices may have unpredictable, long-term consequences. Especially in the end game it becomes clear that seemingly small decisions have long-term effects on the future narrative. For example if players decide to help the wounded Officer Wilson in the first chapter called The Hostage he will reappear in the later chapter Public Enemy and thank Connor for rescuing him.

With the help of the flowchart players can reflect their decisions and become more aware of their agency. They derive what alternative choices must be made in order to get a different ending from looking at the flowchart. With each playthrough where players choose different options the flowchart will contain more information, To complete the flowchart they must take every possible decision-making path.

Substructural Decision Logic

Die sogenannte "Effektstruktur" beschreibt Effekte prolongierter Kausalität und damit den Kern substruktureller Entscheidungslogik: Die an einer beliebigen Stelle getätigten Einzel-Handlungen der Spielenden ziehen auch ohne explizite Markierung kausale Konsequenzen auf mikro- und makrostrukturelle nach sich - Spielende entscheiden, ohne es vielleicht zu wissen, allein durch ihr Handeln.

According to this concept there are in-game moments where decisions can be made without being explicitedly marked as nodal situations. If players set their minds to perform optional actions they will not be informed about the consequences. This means that there are decisions on a substructural level and while some single actions may appear not meaningful for the story development the players will face the long-term consequences later.

In relation to this concept it is important to discuss Connor and his storyline because he is the only player character who will always reappear after every death. Throughout the game Connor can die up to eight times and considering the lack of permadeath it may cause players to believe that his deaths do not influence the narrative. This illusion of security may lead to them playing the game in an incautious, nonreflective way and as a result they might get the bad ending. Actually Connor's deaths have an impact especially on his relationship to his colleague Lieutnant Hank Anderson. Given the fact that androids are human-like, Hank is disgusted by the thought of Connor being replaced whenever he dies. Each time the relationship status will get worse and players do not receive any feedback or hints concerning the consequences. They are likely to be surprised when they realize that Connor's deaths have a retroactive effect on the narrative's development.

Related Research Approaches

Player and Avatar

When playing games relationships between players and digital avatars will always be developed. Regarding the fact that the avatars in Detroit: Become Human are not humans but look and sometimes behave very human-like the topic of players binding to their non-human avatars is a very interesting for further research in the field of Game Studies.

Character Attachment to Android Avatars in Detroit: Become Human

In March 2020 there has been a study examining players' behaviors during the gameplay. Players' choices were analyzed in order to find out the significance of the character attachment during the decision-making processes. The study participants had the task to play one of the first chapters which has been randomly assigned to them and after the playthrough they were interviewed. In these chapters they have to face different kinds of decisions. They have also been critical decisions such as sacrificing their android characters and rescuing a human or protecting their avatars and risking a human's death.

After the data evaluation the scientists have categorized two kinds of analytic codes: the emotional robot and strategizing.

The players falling under the category of emotional robot perceived their android characters as robots but depending on their specialties for example domestic work, care-taking participants explained that the robots were assiged to have emotions. Based on what chapters they haved played, some of them said that their android characters were not capable of feeling emotions while others marked that theirs were gracious to help others due to their personalities. The participants who fell under the category of strategizing stated that they made the decisions based on how they would behave as if the events have taken in reality or their assumptions about how to continue the game's plot successfully.

The scientists that conducted the study came to the conclusion that participants' decisions were based on either emotional or strategizing aspects. Although the study only examined the relationship between players and android avatars, the result leads to potential conclusions about human-relationships in reality. Based on that it may be assumed that humans will develop feelings when they are in human-robot relationships. That research approach is future-orientated and should be looked into further.