RK800 and the Reason He Stole Our Hearts
RK800 and The
Reason He Stole Our Hearts
Who is
RK800?
Why, he’s
Connor, the Android sent by Cyberlife, of course!
He is one of
the main protagonists in a game called Detroit: Become Human, which was
released on the 25th of May 2018. He is a highly advanced prototype
created to hunt the deviants- which are the androids that deviate from their
programming and begin to show emotions, developing from an obedient servant to
something with life and wants. His main mission is to assist the local law
enforcement alongside Android-hating Lieutenant Hank Anderson, but as the story
progresses, so too does he.
Although the
storyline is decided upon the player’s decisions, it cannot be denied that the
entire story revolves around the idea of androids gaining sentience and
becoming human.
Why else
would Connor’s story (SPOILER ALERT) be filled with decisions such as:
In the game,
Connor and Hank go to Kamski to see if he has any information about what could
be turning Androids deviant and other relevant things to their investigation on
the topic. Kamski exits his lavish pool (with androids swimming in it) and puts
on a glamorous robe before he begins to talk about what he calls the Kamski
Test, which is to see how human (or deviant) an Android is by testing its
empathy.
A snippet of
this conversation goes like this:
Kamski: What about you, Connor? Whose side
are you on?
Connor: I have no side, I was programmed to
stop deviants and that’s what I intend to do.
Kamski: Well that’s what you’re programmed
to say, but you- what do you really want?
He gestures
for Chloe (the first Android) to kneel before he forces a gun in Connor’s hand.
If Connor shoots, then he can ask one question, whereas if he refuses to shoot,
he and Hank must leave without having learned anything.
Kamski: Decide
who you are. An obedient machine or a living being endowed with free will?
If you
refuse to shoot (press X), then Kamski will comment on how fascinating the
choice is.
Kamski: Cyberlife’s last chance to save humanity… is itself a deviant.
But of
course, that doesn’t explain why he’s a fan-favorite among the gamers.
Some say
it’s because the choices he had to make were not difficult in the same way that
Kara and Markus’ were, but they were difficult because they appealed to a more
human side of ourselves.
Kara’s
choices involve questions like: do you run or do your kill Todd? Do you steal
money from the cashier to survive or find another way? Do you protect Alice
first or go to the gun first?
Markus’
choices are hard as well, with questions like: do you push back, or do you stay
silent and endure? Do you lead a violent or peaceful protest? Do you take the
androids with you or do you leave them?
But what
about Connor’s choices?
Do you shoot
an innocent android to further your investigation or do you refuse to and end
up at a dead end? Do you save your partner from falling off a building or do
you continue running after a suspect? Do you shoot two sex-bots in love who
only want to be free or do you let them go?
Do you
choose to be a human or a machine?
Perhaps that
is what makes him interesting to the public: he must overcome his coding and
programming in order to be human but his choices all boil down to human or machine over and over.
This arc, of
course, has been done in other films and games before, but there is something
about watching Connor go through it that satisfies a part of ourselves we
didn’t know about before.
Hank plays a
rather large role in that as well, though, because he’s the one that Connor has
to get along with to push forward his character development. He also acts as a
sense of reason and a sharp contrast to Amanda’s “reason”.
Connor must
adapt to him, which makes Connor feel more flexible than the other characters
because although they also have relationships with other characters, Kara and
Markus don’t really need to work on
them to push them forward like Connor does. Kara and Markus are both thrust into
a situation and people simply recognize them as equals or superiors.
Connor isn’t
recognized as a superior and he must actively work to make Hank his friend,
which makes people feel like it’s more realistic and human. His character
development is also the largest arc out of the three of them, and he shows
signs of deviancy long before he actually becomes a deviant save the fish or
let it die?
Do you lick the blood or do you-
Oh, wait. You don’t have much of a choice for that one, actually. Connor
just really likes licking things.
Hank, of course, is reasonably appalled by Connor’s unsanitary way of
dealing with a crimescene. How would you feel if you rolled up to a crime scene
in complete Detective Mode and your partner just
They had
an untreated blood sickness, Hank!
No matter
the reason why Connor is a fan-favorite though, it cannot be denied that he is
one of the most-liked characters. He’s interesting and funny and likes dogs and
licking blood from crime scenes. What about that isn’t relatable?
