Deus Ex: MD - Transhumanism @ Kotaku

Kotaku has interviewed Jean-Francois Dugas, game director of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, about the topics transhumanism, racism and prejudice:

Racism and Prejudice in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

There's an apartment in Deus Ex: Human Revolution where you can break in and read the occupant's emails. The messages tell a story of someone who wasn't able to compete as a trader without getting an implant that would hasten their thoughts, allowing them to buy and sell at the same speed as their augmented colleagues. They had to go to a loan shark to afford the implant. Yet, they couldn't keep up with the repayments, and the shark came looking for his money. In lieu of cash, the shark takes the implant, killing its owner. It's a simple, sad story, one of many that weave the political and philosophical ideas of transhumanism into a real-seeming world.

In Russia last month, when I spoke to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's game director Jean-Francois Dugas, it was that side of the game I wanted to know more about: what everyday stories would it be telling to flesh out the politics of the world?

"It's called 'Mankind Divided' for a reason," Dugas tells me. "It's set after the events of Human Revolution, [where] augmented people went into a killing frenzy. It was like a 9/11 kind of moment. Now in this world augmented people are feared. They're looked at as dangerous and the normal people, the naturals, they want to shield themselves, protect themselves."

This fear drives some countries to take a hardline stance on the augmented. "All over the world it's an issue, but some places are faster than others to take action on it," says Dugas. Prague is one of those places. When you visit it in Mankind Divided, its government has carved the city in two: the 'normals' can stay in their homes, the augmented must move into a ghetto called Golem.

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