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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
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