Alright bois, I have a genius strat:
1. Move forwards, then
2. Move back (play around with the timing, I personally press back the moment that the goose (duck?) touches the white pieces.
3. Allow the goose (duck??) to settle, the end goal is to get the goose (duck???) on its side, with the gun side facing downwards.
(Play around with the timing of 1 and 2 to get 3 as fast as possible)
4. Spam shoot, the recoil will cause the goose (duck????) to spin around in a circle, slowly taking out all the pieces.
5. Readjust as necessary.
Ahem.
I like this game, but not because of the gameplay, nor the story, nor the girls. No. I like this game because of its deeper philosophical ideas about morality, scientific research and humanity.
Initially, the player is thrown into this absurd and almost comical situation, where the headmaster’s techniques seem absurd and quite insane. However, as the game progresses, the player gains further insight into his techniques and begins to wonder if, in reality, it is really as insane as we first thought. Although the headmaster’s punishments—pleasure, pain and humiliation—are quite morally questionable, they seem to exhibit quite remarkable results when applied properly (in the universe of the game at least), which makes the player question the contrast of morality versus necessity. In urgent times, is it permissible to disregard moral principles and resort to extreme measures to avert a crisis? When is it acceptable to set aside ethical considerations for the greater good? At what point does something which we consider to be torture become justified if it promises to prevent a greater harm?
Later in the game, the headmaster seems to realize the immorality of his actions and begins to rethink his actions. However, there is a dialogue option here which the player can choose to reassert his belief that his actions are the only way to prevent the imminent disaster of a malformed education system. This shows that, at this point, the headmaster does not consciously feel remorse for his actions, although he realizes the unethical nature of his practices. He feels that this is for the good of the girls, that he is creating a short term problem, to solve a long term crisis. In fact, here, the headmaster has done nothing wrong, he is merely following the steps of the scientific process (Observation: The education system is failing. Research: Testing various forms of punishment. Hypothesis: Balancing pain, humiliation, and pleasure causes the best results. Test: Testing at previous schools. Analysis and conclusion: The hypothesis holds.). The real immoral party who is acting solely for their own gain is the owners of the school. This underscores that some individuals often fund and promote scientific research not for the advancement of humanity or the pursuit of knowledge, but for their own vested interests. In the real world, these vested interests and the potential for affluent individuals to manipulate and be the sole supporter of some very important fields causes a dilemma for the researcher: Do they carry on their research knowing that it is being abused by these individuals, or forgo the wishes of these immoral funders and be unable to continue their research?
Last, there is Ruth, a character which embodies the headmaster’s unconscious self, reminding him of the immoral nature of his research. He promptly chooses to ignore these ideas, as he himself is even blinded by the pursuit of the end goal, and not the immediate moral ramifications of his actions. Perchance the existence of Ruth as a character completes this contrast between morality and necessity. The headmaster directly represents scientific research which disregards moral and ethical boundaries, Ruth is juxtaposed against this idea and is an antithesis of the character of the headmaster, promoting excessive morality while sacrificing scientific progression, and possibly causing a major problem in the future. Thus the parallelism of the two highlights the two extremes of the moral spectrum, from the utilitarian ideal, to the overly self righteous.
Through the comedy of the game, exaggerated nature, and by hiding deep philosophical ideas under a highly unlikely premise and backstory, “The Headmaster” is a well crafted masterpiece which delves into the ideas and contrasts of ethics versus rationality, and the very real abuse of scientific research by selfish individuals. The creators, by highlighting both extremes, excessive morality, and a complete disregard for morality, demonstrate that both are unsustainable long term solutions to real world problems, and that a balance needs to be struck in order to address the urgency of societal problems, whilst ensuring moral guidelines are adhered to.
Written with love at 3am by a high mofo. (I could go on and on, but me tired)
