"Deus Ex's interpretation of an Augmented society is the equivalent of going to the Paralympics and yelling "HOW DARE YOU BE PHYSICALLY CAPABLE OF DOING THINGS YOU WOULDN'T OTHERWISE DO? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
For those who aren't familiar, Deus Ex is a FPS role-playing game set in a cyberpunk-themed universe that highlights a segregated society; those who are augmented and those who are not. The game employs a full RPG game style, with multiple choice in dialogue trees and play styles. Each game within the series has a distinctly different story, but ultimately follows the presence and consequences of a world-changing crisis caused by a nano-virus.
Regardless of mechanics and plotlines, one consistent underlying theme of all the games within the series is the social commentary of racism, classism and general inequality. This is illustrated by the prejudice against augmented individuals, particularly in Deus Ex Human Revolution and later. Now, to me, this feels really absurd. I find the game adequate, the stories are generally well written and the mechanical aspects of the game are pretty decent, but the way they present the prejudice to me is really out of place.
I am entirely for a piece of media that highlights inequality in real life - whether it be gender, racial, class, economic, etc. I feel that mainstream media still does not fairly represent this. However, Deus Ex's version is backwards to me. The purpose of the cybernetics on the Augmented is supposed to be that of a health benefit. To me, Deus Ex's interpretation of an Augmented society is the equivalent of going to the Paralympics and yelling "HOW DARE YOU BE PHYSICALLY CAPABLE OF DOING THINGS YOU WOULDN'T OTHERWISE DO? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
And where do you draw the line? Do you admit an elderly lady to your hospital, be nice and friendly and...er...hospitable, give her the prescribed pacemaker, then boot her out with as much hatred as you can muster? You break your shin in a horrific car accident, the lovely doctor's put your steel splints inside your leg before quickly bringing out the attack dogs.
It's a very bizarre way to illustrate a prejudice. And by no means is it the only game guilty of a weird spin. Overwatch does a similar weird thing. Yes, you read right, Overwatch.
I adore Overwatch. It's currently my favourite multiplayer game. It's chaotic nature and quick gameplay make it fun. It doesn't have a foreground story, but it does have lore, and that lore does have a pretty big plot hole.
The major story event within Overwatch is the Omnic Crisis, where Omnics - robots built to assist humans and have become self-aware AI - rose up and rebelled against human society. The cause for this is supposedly Omnica Corporation, however prejudice against the Omnics themselves happens throughout the world. Riots and brawls are caused, simply because they are a robot.
Again, this seems like a strange reaction: to blame the robots, not the people that programmed and/or commanded them. Although, it reminds me of when you're at Tesco and that impatient middle-aged man can't work out the "do you want a receipt?" option on the self-service machine, so starts to yell at it. So maybe it is justified after all...
Perhaps I'm being nitpicky, but I think it deserves picking. I'm not a hardcore Deus Ex fan, so I've not read any lore or whatnot that may explain it. Either way, I think it's really odd to equate physically enhanced people - for the reasons of health - to a lower class race.