Mimicry in Unmanned

In Unmanned the player assumes the role of a UAV drone pilot living his life as a solider and feeling the effects of war from hundreds of miles away. Mimicry is found throughout the game, the player steps into the illusion of a male pilot living his life with his coworkers, family and his inner torments associated with his job.  Stepping into the shoes of this man, I discovered that I did not just assume the role of my avatar, but of the in game roles of a husband, a pilot, and a father. In my play through of the game, I decided to take assume these roles to the best of my ability. As a husband, I did not smoke the cigarette and answered dialogue positively to appease “my” wife; as a father I spent time with “my” son, shielding him from the violence of drone strikes, instead asking questions about school and the doctor’s office and impressing him my videogame performance. While being a pilot, I struggled to ‘see’ the right choices when faced with killing the terrorist. To earn the medal, I knew I had to shoot, and my eagerness caused me to fire without following military procedure, losing the medal at the end of the level. I also failed to get the heart shaped medal for cultivating a relationship with the female pilot, largely because I distanced myself in order to stay loyal to “my” wife. When assuming many roles, they seem to overlap into other roles,  as made clear by the game.