ScuzzBlog: Diaries May 2018
Entry 21st May 2018: Post: 2
Killing Stuff
Since the dawn of gaming on the computer there seems to have been
a preoccupation with death and killing stuff. From the simplest
of games, say PacMan, we avoid death. In truth 'game over' has
pretty much been synonymous with death. What is even more common
is the action of killing stuff. In games its OK to strap on the
worst firepower and go on a killing spree. With modern gaming this
has become even more elaborate and realistic.
So what is it with mans/womans primeval preoccupation with death.
Is it some subliminal fear of life or death itself and the fact
that given this must reside in others we are most powerful when we
take that from another being, albeit a pixel one? Both in films
and video games the concept of taking life is the simplest of
mechanic to use to demonstrate power or evil or even good. Give
our masked superhero a cape and right on his side and the villains
become cannon fodder and we cheer at their demise. Why is that ?
Of all the actions prevalent to mankind in terms of achieving and
succeeding, killing is the least socially acceptable, and yet it
is the one that features most in pretty much everything these days
in popular games. I swear if I went to 50 news conferences involving
the launch of new games and stood up and asked the simple question
' Does this involve killing stuff ' I bet the answer nine times
out of ten would be yes.
In games like Warcraft the skills that you develop throughout the
game are designed to better enable you to kill stuff. In all the
quests that you do you are challenged with killing stuff. Yet out
in the wilds there are bear style creatures happily going about
their daily lives and fish like creatures living on river banks but
its OK for you to go and wipe them all out. It is applauded. In other
games that I have played you are encouraged to kill everything and
the game permits it. Good or evil... anything that moves. In one
particularly sick game you are faced by beautiful women and can
watch as their bodies explode with bullet shot.
I am not trying to make social comment other than to ask why are we
fascinated with the taking of life. It really is the one theme that
flows through all our entertainment genres from film to books to
games. In the Lord of the Rings film the elves literally killed
everything with endless flights of arrows, not stopping once, and
are revered as heroes. The good fight the bad and the few fight
the many and we cheer as the bodies of those seen as evil fall to
the ground. And yet in Lord of the Rings we see this as the most
human of behaviour to protect that which we hold most dear. But
the action of killing is the one that is most forcibly and vividly
described in all its violent of actions.
Interestingly, for me, I gave up killing stuff in Archeage and chose
to farm as a way of enjoying the game until they changed the rules
to make it almost impossible to continue. In Warcraft it was possible
to level to cap by undertaking archaeology and dig and craft your
way through the game. Sadly they changed the rules of scaling making
it impossible to avoid the mobs. When you question the reasoning in
each case the makers openly confess that they want you to kill stuff.
And so as the world moves on and we struggle with some of the real
life atrocities that are propagated with almost common place regularity
why are we surprised, when in truth, almost all the major games and
film titles in some way, involve the sanctioned approval of killing
as long as you have right on your side. Interestingly this is not
the case in music where the platform has embraced the love between
man and woman as the major driving focus.
We are an odd race of peoples where we have strict rules regarding
the slightest physical action against another human and yet are most
happy to lock and load the most fierce weapon and blow someone's
head clean off in a game. Any other race looking in would question
why we enjoy so much the simple action of ' killing stuff '.
Not a social comment, just a simple truth about human behaviour. I
tell you what.... next year let's have a kill free gaming period and
a kill free film period and see how many minutes society survives
without the desire to want to ' kill stuff '. I think its called
Tetris.
Anyway, gotta go, got some serious Call of Duty to get on with.
Tonight I've been challenged with invading this country with the task
of painting the inside of this laboratory with a beautiful hint of
brain. As you do. Actually I'm playing Sensible Soccer but hey...
I guess I could always fire up Sensible Massacre and invade the pitch.
By the way there is this scene in Austin Powers where you go to the
house of a 'henchman' that just got killed in the film and meet his
wife and child now without father. It was a satirical comment about
the trivialisation of death to villains in games showing that they
too have lives. But hey...
'Cause hate is all the world has ever seen lately… '
That's a bit of Bizkit
Did you know that Kevin and Ian Maxwell were
sent to ease open the iron curtain and build
a bridge to probably the most popular none
violent game ever made.
Into the Mirror and the Tetris Effect by Dan Ackerman
It actually was a little more tricky than
you think but the result was the same.
~o~
Deep breath
Just to clarify, Robert Stein [ Andromeda ] had secured
the rights to Tetris with the Soviets, specifically ELORG
for use on computers and interestingly 'other computers'.
However there was some issue over the handheld rights
and before MirrorSoft dispatched Kevin Maxwell to meet
with the Soviets, Henk Rogers of Bullet Proof Software
responsible for Tetris on the Famicom, met with ELORG
and more specifically Nikoli Belikov [USSR] to secure the
hand held rights. During the meeting he was introduced
to Alexey Pajitnov [Creator] and became a good friend.
Although the Soviets believed there was no legal right
to use the game on the consoles and hand helds Rogers
explained the complex chain that linked through to
Nintendo... Elorg-Andromeda-MirrorSoft-Tengen
and finally BPS and Nintendo.....
Glad I cleared that up.
There is quite a plethora of none violent games
but I had to show a picture of something ....
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