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by Zseni 08/03/2004, 12:26am PDT |
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What I could never get past is the alignment business, the RPGs' abstraction of good and evil into a checkbox: Click Evil, your clothes and motives darken, next question. The designers miss the purpose of evil -- that is, to galvanize "good" into existence -- and that to have one eradicating the other is not just nonsensical but paradoxical. Self-consistency in these franchises would have each installment cannibalizing some fringe element of the previous good into a lesser evil, destined to be fought by a lesser good until, by episode Ten, the two great, opposing forces are separated only by the hemlines of their kimonos.
Yeah, that's probably why (escapist, unrealistic) games don't do things that way. It would be super if Good didn't need Evil, wouldn't it! Mormons are very upfront with me about the Duality Of The Universe, a trait they share with Zoroastrians and Maoists, but everyone else would much rather believe what the video game designers believe, which is that Good and Evil are sort of like The Traveller and The Borg except sort of universally prevalent.
If the really smart philosophers and theologians made games, they would all be like Earthbound or, alternately, Solitaire. But Earthbound and Solitaire have already been made, so the big thinkers are moving into the publishing field.
Orson Scott Card, whose "Ender" series followed a diminished hero and his dead enemy, said that readers will believe the impossible, but never the improbable. In a genre whose titular purpose is role-playing, I can't accept a role so improbable as what they offer.
What a queer thing to pick out as the key RPG oversimplification. What about the part where every single RPG hero decides to go after the big guy personally instead of becoming rich and hiring someone more qualified? I think the idea that every time you boot up a game you manage to inherit the body of the Chosen One at least as preposterous as the notion that there can be Good without Evil.
You're Agent Smith, Ray. You think people need to be a little unhappy. You're willing to define their truth - thoughtfully, compassionately - as something that will satisfy their needs as you perceive them. I'm not like Neo, I'm the Hand Of God, telling everyone that they can take what I give them. And if that's Nothing But Good, they are just going to have to deal with the internal conflict that causes in them.
And that's why I play Quake, role-playing an angry man with a gun.
Ray!
That's reassuring in a control freak. |
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Morrowind by Monty Cantsin 07/24/2004, 3:23pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by jeep 07/27/2004, 7:30pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by skippy 07/28/2004, 3:39pm PDT
Wheelchairs are only necessary if you want to move. by Funkula 07/28/2004, 4:20pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by jeep 07/28/2004, 9:02pm PDT
I alternate between sitting cross-legged and slouching the fuck out NT by Entropy Stew 07/28/2004, 9:41pm PDT
I need a new chair. by skippy 07/28/2004, 10:48pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Mischief Maker 07/28/2004, 11:15pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by skippy 07/28/2004, 11:41pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Worm 07/29/2004, 8:23am PDT
Re: Morrowind by skippy 07/29/2004, 6:20pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by |bomb 07/28/2004, 9:40pm PDT
Selling things by William H. Hayt, Jr. 07/28/2004, 9:49pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Entropy Stew 07/28/2004, 10:08pm PDT
I interrupt my posting in order to cancel my dialup account and BAM! SNOOPED NT by Entropy Stew 07/28/2004, 10:09pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Bill Dungsroman 07/28/2004, 10:53pm PDT
NOCD crack by jeep 07/29/2004, 4:03pm PDT
I use megagames.com, it's under "GAME FIXES" *WINK* ;) NT by Worm 07/29/2004, 4:40pm PDT
GameCopyWorld. NT by |bomb 07/29/2004, 5:58pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by |bomb 07/29/2004, 5:45am PDT
Re: Morrowind by Bill Dungsroman 07/29/2004, 7:17pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by William H. Hayt, Jr. 07/29/2004, 7:23pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Mr. Kool 08/01/2004, 10:14pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Ice Cream Jonsey 08/01/2004, 10:46pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Zseni 08/01/2004, 11:01pm PDT
IT'S A TRAP! NT by Admiral Ackbar 08/02/2004, 12:28am PDT
Re: Morrowind by Ray of Light 08/02/2004, 1:42pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Zseni 08/03/2004, 12:26am PDT
Re: Morrowind by Ray of Light 08/03/2004, 3:42am PDT
Re: Morrowind by Zseni 08/03/2004, 3:32pm PDT
I was missing not reading wordy Zseni/Kabuke Seme arguments. Thanks Ray! NT by Worm 08/03/2004, 3:57pm PDT
Ha ha! Your weltanshauung is the bomb, man! NT by Zseni 08/03/2004, 4:08pm PDT
If I'm going to have to put a word in dictionary.com, could it be spelled right? NT by Worm 08/03/2004, 9:41pm PDT
I think it means "well hung" NT by Entropy Stew 08/03/2004, 9:48pm PDT
Come on, this thread deserves a front page mention NT by Lurker Shoomoser 08/10/2004, 8:02am PDT
My warning: unheeded NT by Admiral Ackbar 08/03/2004, 5:28pm PDT
This mob makes a good point. THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME NT by Ray of Light 08/03/2004, 9:30pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Ice Cream Jonsey 08/03/2004, 4:15pm PDT
BG2 tank - beginners howto by Gubbi 08/10/2004, 10:02am PDT
Re: Morrowind by |bomb 08/01/2004, 10:14pm PDT
Re: Morrowind by Poop. 08/03/2004, 10:03pm PDT
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