Entry tags:
The Hoard Potato: Heroic Head-Bashing Harp Seal Hunters
I announced today, to my FurryMUCK clique, that I didn't want to see any more trailers for Monster Hunter 3. The game doesn't just annoy me: it actively pisses me off, and worse, it makes me think badly not only of gamers in general but of Japanese culture, in wide, bigoted swaths.
The game is beautifully animated, and the eponymous monsters of the title are magnificently designed. Every trailer looks like a wonderful Discovery Channel nature documentary of a world that never was, full of dinosaurs and dragons and even more exotic creatures -- right up until you get to the gameplay, which involves killing things and dismembering them for their body parts to makecheesy, tawdry consumer goods kewl weapons and armor and magic items.
It's jarring.
The generation that grew up on Cute And Fuzzy Cockfighting Seizure Monsters has graduated to Heroic Head-Bashing Harp Seal Hunters. Look at these marvelous creatures! The loving detail that went into their creation! The magnificent, balletic fluidity of their motion! LET'S HIT THEM WITH CLUBS!
This is a game that comes from one of the last whaling nations on Earth. I'm sorry -- this is that "wide, bigoted swath" I mentioned -- but I can't help but see a connection.
This doesn't piss me off as a guy who pretends to be a dragon online. This pisses me off as an Environmental Scientist, and a human being raised with some semblance of decency and empathy toward the natural world.
I don't put much credence into combat games as "murder simulators", but I do think the prevalent attitude these games have that animals serve no purpose other than to exploit, enslave or slaughter provides a bad example.
I wish I could believe that this was meant ironically, or as a commentary on the exploitation of the natural world. The unambitious modeling and jerky animation of the player avatars certainly suggests that; they're raw, brutish intrusions on the elegantly savage ballet of the "monsters". A decade of Happy Cartoony Cockfighting Games For Little Children makes that hard, though.
And after all that self-righteous ranting to my homies about how terrible it is to brainwash kiddies into seeing the slaughter and exploitation of magnificent animals as something fun and exciting, I announced that I was gonna go grab a burger before work.
And then, at work, I was chatting with two of my regular customers, and one of them said, "you really need to get a PSP. Do you have any consoles at all? There's this game..."
"Funny thing, that", said I...
The game is beautifully animated, and the eponymous monsters of the title are magnificently designed. Every trailer looks like a wonderful Discovery Channel nature documentary of a world that never was, full of dinosaurs and dragons and even more exotic creatures -- right up until you get to the gameplay, which involves killing things and dismembering them for their body parts to make
It's jarring.
The generation that grew up on Cute And Fuzzy Cockfighting Seizure Monsters has graduated to Heroic Head-Bashing Harp Seal Hunters. Look at these marvelous creatures! The loving detail that went into their creation! The magnificent, balletic fluidity of their motion! LET'S HIT THEM WITH CLUBS!
This is a game that comes from one of the last whaling nations on Earth. I'm sorry -- this is that "wide, bigoted swath" I mentioned -- but I can't help but see a connection.
This doesn't piss me off as a guy who pretends to be a dragon online. This pisses me off as an Environmental Scientist, and a human being raised with some semblance of decency and empathy toward the natural world.
I don't put much credence into combat games as "murder simulators", but I do think the prevalent attitude these games have that animals serve no purpose other than to exploit, enslave or slaughter provides a bad example.
I wish I could believe that this was meant ironically, or as a commentary on the exploitation of the natural world. The unambitious modeling and jerky animation of the player avatars certainly suggests that; they're raw, brutish intrusions on the elegantly savage ballet of the "monsters". A decade of Happy Cartoony Cockfighting Games For Little Children makes that hard, though.
And after all that self-righteous ranting to my homies about how terrible it is to brainwash kiddies into seeing the slaughter and exploitation of magnificent animals as something fun and exciting, I announced that I was gonna go grab a burger before work.
And then, at work, I was chatting with two of my regular customers, and one of them said, "you really need to get a PSP. Do you have any consoles at all? There's this game..."
"Funny thing, that", said I...
no subject
no subject
no subject
However, you brought up the burger you were eating as a joke, but like any animal product that we deal with every day, it's not in essence much different then what whalers might be doing. A cow is slaughtered, then divided up and it's pieces used. Much of it for some low quality fast-food meal. I have to wonder if the seas were brimming with whales, would people see slaughtering them be any different then a cow? Indeed, they didn't in any way until their numbers started becoming scarce. I'm not a vegan, mind you, I don't object to meat or meat eaters. I just think that there is a huge lack of moderation, and a big disconnect between what's behind that brown circular food between the bun and the lettuce.
So my personal disdain of the idea of butchering dragons aside, I think at the core the idea of the game is less disturbing to me then what is really going on behind the slick fast-food marketing where meat is breakfast, lunch and dinner.
no subject
no subject
As for whales....at one time they were, and they did. Then they got rare and expensive...and they found alternatives.
The same will probably happen with meat one day; the entire world can't eat like the US does now. The ecosystem simply won't support it sustainably.
Apologies; I appear to have gotten onto a rant which was not intended.
no subject
But, uh, no, having to slaughter your own animals does not, in fact, reduce meat consumption. I say this with considerable historical perspective. Farmsteads, manor houses, colonia - people who lived close enough to the land to raise and slaughter their own animals - as well as hunter-gatherer societies were not detracted by either the mess or pain suffered by the animal in slaughter or hunt.
no subject
Economically, I suspect meat has the "virtue" of a lot of externalized costs (costs which are not paid by the product, but by others). It certainly does have some success in using almost every bit of the animal; that may subsidize the cost of the meat somewhat.
As for farmsteads and such, if I'm not mistaken, meat was a rarity on the table; it's expensive to raise, relative to vegetables, fruit, and the like. But they certainly knew where it came from; most people, I suspect, would answer "the supermarket" if they were asked where their hamburger came from.
no subject
no subject
I mean, you know this one; the designer ideally wants to give the player characters this amazing experience. A DM spends hours making props and writing out detailed, often beautifully imaginative worlds, or a company will hire amazing concept artists, skilled animators, talented composers all to make sure the player has this immersive experience. Then the players will show up.
In a tabletop game, players can and will go anywhere. But options are more limited with computer games, and killing stuff to get boss gear is the straightforward option to set up. It's like having Tolkien set up all of Middle Earth for the sole purpose of having the Fellowship wade through orcs in Moria.
no subject
no subject
While it's true that playing with human beings makes your options theoretically more limiting, for many games, most RPGs are, basically, "Walk down this corridor and kill this beast." And a fair number of computer RPGs nowadays, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, games of that ilk, are actually more open-ended than most tabletop games.
Even in a lot of action or shooter games, the stories generally are more open than many tabletop games. They have "morality" systems that change some of the story events in the games. Oh, you end up fighting pretty much all the same people and all, but the games usually have several significant stories to choose between. Which is more than many RPGs where the players don't. They can't choose to save the Republic or destroy it. They don't get to decide if the galaxy will be a democracy or a brutal tyranny.
A few thoughts, hehe.
no subject
Hell, the very first adventure supplement effectively puts the PCs in the position of deciding who sits on the high throne of the land. One of the fun parts about sitting down with IC players from different campaigns is that everyone has a different answer for "how did Rinaldi play out in your campaign?"
The second adventure includes a section about "What Happens if the PCs Fail?" -- which includes options up to and including Zombie Apocalypse Survival Horror Anthropomorphic Fantasy.
On the flip side, that's why the guys GMing the Star Wars Saga games I'm currently playing in have picked Big, Empty, Untouched Chunks of the canon timeline. One's set in the Legacy era, 140 years after the movies (and based on comics written by John "GrimJack" Ostrander); the other's in the Old Republic, in one of those centuries that the KotOR games haven't touched yet. That's expressly so we can decide if the Galaxy will be a democracy or a brutal tyranny, at least for a generation or two.
Both my Star Wars GMs were exposed to Ironclaw relatively early in their gaming careers. As I said in the OP, "I can't help but see a connection." =D
no subject
Which I think is fascinating. In video games, I'm not really interested in cut scenes. I'm there to play the game. I kind of like them, but they don't make or break a game for me. I have friends - in the Final Fantasy crowd - who live for those cut scenes, that the cut scenes define the game for them, these triggered events over which they have absolutely no control. I asked them why, and they said that it was like watching a movie except you got to play the action scenes. I suspect that a large number of table-top players are after the same experience. They really like bein' on that railroad. ;)
As you know, I don't like it. I'm all about the sandbox. And as a GM, I flatly tell my players, "Ideally, I want YOU to come with the adventures. You will come to me and say, 'I'm interested in those bandits, let's go and kick their asses' or whatever." Hehe.
no subject
As long as the harvest of baby seals is done in a sustainable manner, and care is taken to ensure that there are no population effects, I don't have a problem with clubbing the little beasties upside the head. it's a bit more sustainable than bullets, after all. I don't buy into this charismatic megafauna squee. They're cute, sure, but they're even cuter when I know that the harvest is being done sustainably, and that the entire critter is being used. Baby seal shampoo, anyone?
I'm an omnivore. And a dragon. Look. Critters are food. Sometimes we kill them ourselves. The best you can do is to do it in a manner that is sustainable, so that we will have cute, tasty noms in the future, and treat it in a manner consistent with your own internal morals prior to doing so. Oh, and enjoy every tasty last bit, hopefully prepared with the greatest of care.
Frankly, I'm slightly dissapointed that y'all don't see this.
no subject
no subject
And heck, if two sentients want to, willingly, get at fisticuffs no-holds barred, be my guest as long as the are not imposing a social cost to others (health care, etc)
no subject
(Anonymous) 2009-08-08 09:05 am (UTC)(link)no subject
I do not know the accuracy of the pair of arguments, which is one reason I tend to avoid that particular subject; I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to make an informed judgement.
no subject
Keep beating an idea around until it gets tougher and grows into something more powerful that you can beat around all over again?
no subject
The answer would be likely observing and wanting to pet the wonderfully detailed critters, not add their gall bladders to my collection.
no subject
And all the while, you constantly get this feeling in your gut that this is all so very, very wrong and you're violating something sacred by just being there.
Some folks felt the game needed "normal enemies so it didn't feel so empty" but that's sorta the point. They're not enemies, and the only hostile thing in the game is you.
no subject
Road to hell being paved with good intentions is kind of the theme of the game.
no subject
...so I guess that's the only video game that I can actually say I've BEATEN.
no subject
What I played after that was Bioshock, which was the other 'this game will make you question the guiding voice' I've done. Very interesting back to back.
no subject
no subject
Most games in a fantasy setting do have the 'find this monster, kill it, and bring me stuff'. I'm not just talking about WoW here, but even DnD. I mean, what is a dungeon crawl besides an intrusion into an environment free of man, killing everything inside, and taking the choice bits home? Sure, the dragon is 'evil', but you're still going in there to fuck up his shit and later take his blood to an alchemist for eleventy billion gold.
Monster Hunter basically is a hyper-streamlined version of this. Find a monster, kill it, take its stuff, repeat.
Someone else mentioned Shadow of the Collosus elsewhere on this thread and it's an awesome treatment of ye olde treasure hunter meme. You go around killing these amazing and inspiring monsters because some shadowy dude made a deal to bring back a dead chick for you.
In the end it's revealed what a stupendous fuck up this is, and the girl is more offended that you killed the gaurdians than she is happy you brought her back.
It makes you feel fucking awful and question the sort of 'kill quests' you get in just about every fantasy game ever.
no subject
This had occurred to me, actually.
You will note that, whenever the subject matter comes up, I complain that the "dungeon fantasy" genre lost most of its appeal for me decades ago. I think you just hit on a big part of the reason why.
Perfect icon for "playing Devil's Advocate", BTW.
no subject
I'm absurdly happy with the sporadic dnd game I'm in just because of that - there are monsters and dungeoncrawls, but they definitely take a backseat to what magnificent bastards all the humanoid characters are. Pretty much everyone, pc and npc, are such huge assholes that monsters are really more like scenery and plot-driving than the point. Sure, there are monsters, but the real drive is the jerk who keeps sending them to screw with us. The only real 'kill those things/take stuff' we had I mostly dealt with off camera all sneaky rogue-guy style.
And yes, I love this icon. You know I am an arrogant bastard, so you know why it worksm
no subject
no subject
no subject
...
But then, since I do work in the game industry, I guess my opinion is bound to be a bit skewed from yours. :)
no subject
It's just not the one that leaps out and SMACKS me when I watch these trailers.
*And yeah, I know that not all computer games suffer from it. But most adventure games are either Grinds or, as [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] puts it above, "ridin' the railroad" -- if not both.