Introduction
Firewatch is a video game where the player, as a man named Henry, explores the forest after taking a job as a fire lookout in 1989. The only human connection is a handheld radio used to speak with the supervisor Delilah. As the character gets familiar with the job, he notices someone is keeping an eye on him. The deeper he goes, the stranger thing happened to him. Following the clues, Henry finds a boy's body in a hidden cave. From Delilah's talk, we know that his name is Brian Goodwin. He came to the forest with his forest ranger dad, Ned, three years before. Although bringing the child out there violates the regulation, Delilah did not report it but covered up this thing. Then one day, a tragedy happened. Brian fell due to an unproperly pined anchor. The dad is teaching his boy to climb. Cannot get over Brian's death, he absconds and tries to hide everything until Henry comes. With deep desperation, he threatens Henry to keep away and finally burn the forest down with everything. This mystery story tapped into the human psyche with many dilemmas.
Panopticon
Story setting in an unusual place — a forest. Where you cannot see any human for months. For this reason, most of them come to escape from trouble. Delilah said at the first meeting, "People take this job to get away from something."
As Michel Foucault said, the system outside is a kind of panopticon (Foucault, 1977, p.154). People are observed, judged, and examined all the time. There is always a light, leaving us a shadow to live within. For Henry, his loved wife declined in health into dementia. He has done his best for her. Why does he need to go to the forest to chill himself? I think the reason is they want to escape from this prison. Since fire watchers live with themselves, it's natural to presume they succeed.
More, as they become the supervisor in the forest, working on the highest tower in the area, showing the power and privilege to the arsonist and fire, which makes them like the king. They guard the land in their way without being watched. Delilah said, "I'm not a stickler for rules." She gives Ned free reign to bring the child in, lies when other reports they saw a child in the wood, and help the player get fishing equipment. For those aspects, they traveled through time and space to ancient times.
That is why Henry and Delilah panic when they notice someone unknown is tracking everything about them. Their garden of Eden is fake. And they cannot get rid of the sin, the trial, and the rest of the world.
Tragedy and Mystery
Brian's death is an accident. His misoperation killed himself after Ned brought him into the wood illegally. If this happened in eighteen century, the dad may be judged guilty cause he broke the rule first. But as the punishment start to follow the rule of optimal specification (Foucault, 1977, p.59). Ned is more likely to be treated as manslaughter at worst. In other words, there is no need to hide from judgment. Although a father has reason cannot face it and get a mental breakdown for a while. But after three years? Also, Ned does not think that he killed his son. From the recount by himself, "But you gotta know I didn't kill him, alright? We were climbing. I was teaching him." So why did an innocent dad hide for years and not stint to burn everything?
Before answering that, let us move the focus to Delilah. After the player told her that Brain is dead, the emotion of fear and regret fill her words: "And I know it's my fault. I'll never forget that it's on me." Delilah was always afraid to be investigated, even though two teens were reported missing in her area, "Yeah. I'll keep it vague. I really don't want to talk to the cops." Those reactions do not fit a supervisor with more than ten years of work experience. Then, why does she act like a young girl and do anything to make her co-workers happy?
Now we have a clearer vision of those characters. They all like the freedom in the forest. They coincided try to hide things from anyone else. They always want to escape from trouble. And they cannot judge things well.
Virtue
In this part, I try to use the virtue theory by MacIntyre to explain. He defines the virtues in terms of practices: "A virtue is an acquired human quality the possession and the exercise of which tends to enable us to achieve those goods which are internal to practices and the lack of which effectively prevents us from achieving any such goods" (MacIntyre, 1981, p.191). By MacIntyre, the practices of most modern people do not lead to internal goods. He thinks the birth of modernity was when production came out of the home and service for impersonal capital.
For the Firewatch, the job itself came from the government's need. Decades before 1988, a policy was adopted allowing natural fires to burn under controlled conditions. Then, the Yellowstone fires of 1988 became the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park. In the story, "Thanks to last summer, we got a bump in Forest Service budget and can actually afford to have you."
Another example made by MacIntyre is also helpful. Assume I wish to teach chess to a child, who has no desire to learn. So, I promise to give the child candy if he plays chess with me once a week. And more candy if he or she wins the game. At first, he has no reason not to cheat. But, so we may hope. There will come a time when the child will find new goods to chess, achievement of analytical skills, strategic imagination, and more. Now the child cheats, he or she will be defeating himself or herself. (MacIntyre, 1981, p.188)
Ned and Delilah do not practice and get internal goods. Ned stole the resources and equipment from the science team for his individual living. Delilah just seating upon the tower, chats or delivers tasks to staff through radio, and still gets well paid. They are just like the child cheating for the candy. Which I think is influenced by individualism. "For liberal individualism, a community is simply an arena in which individuals each pursue their own self-chosen conception of the good life" (MacIntyre, 1981, p.195). Although they think the forest is a paradise, themself is the defective part. I believe they lack virtue. Selfishness was the first thing for them when some trouble occurred. So, Ned cannot comprehensively deal with his son's death and face others. Delilah cannot manage the team well and abandon Henry at last.
Summary
Firewatch shows how normal people deal with accidents and tragedy, who was affected by panopticon and individualism in 1989. Not only to escape, but they also get selfish and lose their mind, because they are short of practice and virtue. However, the best part of the game is that it leaves us choices for Henry. The player can make a little but meaningful choice with almost every narrative point. At least there is some thought-provoking in this sad forest, which makes a different ending for Henry.
References List
Foucault, Michel (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, New York: Random House.
MacIntyre, Alasdair (1984). After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (3rd ed.). Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.