synthesis of surrealist mechanism
Brandon Van Every
1) imagine a scenario in a game. Any scenario. Could be a scene in an
adventure game, could be a play mechanic in a video game, doesn't matter.
2) make a list of various things that could happen next. Don't limit yourself
to all the things that usually happen, feel free to be creative.
3) pick the thing on the list that is "odd," generates an artistic effect that
violates expectations. and isn't simply a contrarian reversal.
4) use that thing as the next scenario. Repeat ad naseum.
I was using it in the context of an adventure game, trying to generate something
of significance other than the standard tomb crawl stuff. I had a bizzare image
in my head and I was trying to take it somewhere further. Here was my thought
process:
It starts with an anthropologist opening a tomb that has obviously been sealed
for a long long long time. Light streaks into darkness. The atmosphere is
offensive in smell. Is it
1) dusty with preservation
2) mildewed with life
In Egypt choice (2) would be very odd. But I didn't feel like pursuing that
branch. I thought it would be better to establish normalcy before going to the
abnormal. So, amidst the tomb interior nothing is unexpected. It is illuminated
by
1) torchlight
2) battery lamp
3) sunlight
Aside from slightly different atmospheric emphases on lighting technology, I
didn't see that it mattered much. So, onwards without concern. A low stone
table gives the floor some structure. The chamber exemplifies tomblike
simplicity with embedded furniture. The tomb now presents the anthropologist
with
1) a surprise, such as a quick moving shadow
2) a mystery, such as a religious glyph
3) an obvious second chamber, waiting to be opened
4) a dead end, no treasure, no significance, nothing
5) danger, either perceived or real. Spooky music etc.
6) a reward. Big pile of loot.
7) a text, such as pictures or hieroglyphs
I chose (3). The stone door is a
1) mighty slab, requiring tremendous manual labor to activate
2) mighty slab, with ingenious ancient engineering mechanisms to open it
3) not-so-mighty slab, movable by 2 humans
4) plaster wall, to be pickaxed
5) simple door, easily opened
6) hidden door, requiring astute observation
7) just another passageway
I chose (5). When the door opens, an orange robed lama is standing on the other
side and greets the anthropologist. The anthropologist
1) freezes
2) slams the door
3) yells comically in surprise
4) returns the greeting
5) lunges for a kill
6) introduces someone else as though the situation was expected
7) simply closes the door
I liked both (6) and (7), but chose (7). When the door is closed, the
anthropologist
1) smokes a cigarette
2) acts like he's thinking through his options
3) breaks for lunch
4) pauses for but a few seconds
I liked (1) and (3) because they both disregard the lama and take awhile to do
it. Both would be equally absurd, knowing full well that a living human being
is on the other side of a doorway that has been sealed for a few thousand years.
The choice would probably be a matter of whatever fit better as glue to the
story that followed. For sake of argument we'll say the anthropologist ate
brie, french bread, and a bit of canteen water. When the door opens, the lama
speaks in greeting again, repeating what was said the first time. The
anthropologist
?????????????
At this point I decided I'd either have to perform a gag to keep things rolling
on this "local" storytelling level, or else I'd have to start developing the
characters of the anthropologist and/or lama somehow. As the story was
moment-by-moment rather than having some strategic, overarching point that I was
trying to develop, I ran out of juice. There would need to be some bigger story
of anthropologists, lamas, and tombs to keep going. Hmm, maybe jumping from the
local to the global level is, in fact, the next scenario - the exercise can be
applied again at a more abstract layer. But I was too tired, as I am right
now.....
--
Cheers, 3d graphics optimization jock
Brandon Van Every Seattle, WA
Experts eliminate the simpler mistakes in favor of the more
complex ones, thereby achieving a higher degree of stupidity. :-)
chris palu
Brandon Van Every wrote:
> When the door opens, the lama
> speaks in greeting again, repeating what was said the first time. The
> anthropologist
... still takes no notice.
He takes his time finishing his lunch, visibly relishing the simple but
delicious fare. It's been a long day and this empty room is another
reminder of the frequent disappointment of the archeological pursuit.
Of course, he wasn't expecting much and he's learned not to get too
excited anymore. Thanks to the ancient fashion for looting looting and
the original architects' prediliction for dead ends and convoluted
corridors, he's come to accept disappointment... to almost welcome it.
He takes a final swig from the canteen, packs up his lunch, dusts the
crumbs off his lap and stands up. As he pulls out a large red
hankerchief and mops his brow, he idly glances toward the second room,
seemingly looking right through the lama.
He takes a few steps over to the door. Did he leave it open before?
His face is now just a few centimetres from the lama, but there's not a
sign of recognition that he sees anything but the bare room.
The anthropologist stands there for a moment, breathing coarsely in the
thick, dusty air. He's looking glum and kind of tired. The lama is
still standing silently and stoically, with a calm, almost serene look
about him (but don't all lamas?)
Something has piqued the anthropologist's (just why isn't he an
archeologist?) senses now, but it looks like he doesn't know what.
After staring for a few more seconds right through the bridge of the
lama's nose, he starts to turn away, then quickly turns back. He begins
to take a step foward and as he does so the lama calmly steps to the
side to allow him to pass.
The portly belgian (yes, I've deigned him so, all of a sudden) is still
looking around the room. It's like he's trying to locate some subtle
but entrancing scent. He turns to face the lama again, and we see he's
beginning to sweat now.
He squints. It's almost as if he can see something just where the lama
is. Something like realisation begins to dawn on his face, and begins
to turn to shock and terror just as the lama steps puposefully, but
gracefully towards him, and lays an index finger to his forehead.
At the touch, the anthropologist:
1. disappears
2. blinks, shakes his head, looks a little disorientated, and leaves.
3. screams and belts the lama across the head with his canteen. The
lama falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes, bleeding profusely.
4. licks his lips, and plants a big wet one square on the lama's lips,
bugs bunny style
5. begins talking rapidly in tongues, as his eyes roll up so just white
is showing
6. spontaneously combusts
7. starts moving backward through all that has happened, including
regurgitating his unmasticated lunch.
8. delivers Churchil's famous "We will fight them on the beaches..."
speech.
9. starts tapdancing like a madman
10. begins pitching his great game idea.
maybe not...?
chris
Brandon Van Every
chris palu <synd...@metaphorcity.com> wrote in message
news:37FE1BFC...@metaphorcity.com...
>
> 1. disappears
> 2. blinks, shakes his head, looks a little disorientated, and leaves.
> 3. screams and belts the lama across the head with his canteen. The
> lama falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes, bleeding profusely.
> 4. licks his lips, and plants a big wet one square on the lama's lips,
> bugs bunny style
> 5. begins talking rapidly in tongues, as his eyes roll up so just white
> is showing
> 6. spontaneously combusts
> 7. starts moving backward through all that has happened, including
> regurgitating his unmasticated lunch.
> 8. delivers Churchil's famous "We will fight them on the beaches..."
> speech.
> 9. starts tapdancing like a madman
> 10. begins pitching his great game idea.
I pick (3).
(1) and (2) are ok but not as good as (3). Next scenes of the dig are hurried
and frenetic, as we discover just how much the anthropologist is/isn't in
charge. If he's in charge, then everybody is being driven like a madman to
discover this lama. If he isn't in charge, he's being treated like a madman.
Either way, more weird stuff happens as the camp isn't quite in a state of
sanity.
I find it interesting how you took a surrealistically odd scenario, then
resolved it with a realistic explanation, that the lama is invisible. There is
a time lag in which the audience will still experience the scene as surreal,
because they haven't figured out what's going on yet. But it will be far easier
to keep the audience moving towards some plot expectation if the scene proves
itself to be realistic in hindsight.
(1) would actually be just as bizzare as everything that had happened
previously. It wouldn't explain anything yet, there would have to be a whole
plot around what it means for that anthropologist to have disappeared.
Brandon Van Every
>
> It's much more fun to let someone repeatedly touch both feet on the
> ground before sweeping them off it again, than just letting them tumble
> through space.
I dunno, how much time have you spent tumbling through space?
--
chris palu
Brandon Van Every wrote:
>
> I find it interesting how you took a surrealistically odd scenario, then
> resolved it with a realistic explanation, that the lama is invisible. There is
> a time lag in which the audience will still experience the scene as surreal,
> because they haven't figured out what's going on yet.
I like doing this better than the consistent inconsistency of a totally
surreal world - especially for narrative, where the
audience/reader/user/player has a greater sense of events and thus the
rules of the surreal world unfolding as time goes by. And although in
good surrealist paintings you can have a similar approach, it's not
quite the same.
I think that reorienting the viewers mindset every so often and
therefore giving them the sense that everything is "normal" again is a
much better approach.
Not only does it allow them a bit of breething space, where they can
actually perform some cognitive analysis on the situation, but it's more
disturbing (and surreal!) going from "real" to surreal than surreal to
surreal.
Surrealism (and any good "conflict" - whether between physics, concepts,
or lamas and canteens) is about changing the state of a system. And
chaos in a system is only worthwhile for the new states of stability
that emerge. Constant chaos is not fun for the writer or reader. It
isn't rewarding and it's terribly difficult to say or do anything
without contextual stability at least at times.
It's much more fun to let someone repeatedly touch both feet on the
ground before sweeping them off it again, than just letting them tumble
through space.
Chris
That's why esher's guys are walking on the stairs, not floating around!
chris palu
Brandon Van Every wrote:
> I find it interesting how you took a surrealistically odd scenario, then
> resolved it with a realistic explanation, that the lama is invisible.
of course, just *why* is the lama invisible?
1. the anthropolosist is suffering from sun stroke and seeing things
... [boring]
2. there's a world wide conspiracy between invisible lamas to reveal
themselves just at that time across the world, and Tohulli's post was in
the tomb, in order to pass on the knowledge of the 11 herbs and spices
through touch to the first individual they see... [kinda surreal]
3. the lama is part of the *reader's* overactive imagination. And it's
beginning to intefere with the world in the narrative.... [hmmm]
I like the implications of 3.... That the only consistency throughout
the "outbreaks" of surrealism in this game world is their viewing and
interacting.
pfft!
Chris
chris palu
Brandon Van Every wrote:
>
> chris palu <synd...@metaphorcity.com> wrote in message
> news:38036ED9...@metaphorcity.com...
> >
> > It's much more fun to let someone repeatedly touch both feet on the
> > ground before sweeping them off it again, than just letting them tumble
> > through space.
>
> I dunno, how much time have you spent tumbling through space?
you mean without the assistance of mind altering herbs and fungi?
Ryan Kelln
computer game see if you can find "Blood of a Poet" by Jean Cocteau (info:
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/cocteau.htm) which was made in 1930 I think.
Hopefully your public library will have it.
A quick list of ideas from other early surrealist films include:
Dead, decaying donkeys on pianos.
Slitting eyeballs with a razor.
Mirror worlds.
Clergymen in really long robes.
A mouth on your hand.
Ants coming from a hole in your hand.
Repetitive alternate realities.
Loads and loads of fallic symbols and sexual imagery.
Ryan
chris palu <synd...@metaphorcity.com> wrote in message
news:38036ED9...@metaphorcity.com...
>
>
> Brandon Van Every wrote:
> >
> > I find it interesting how you took a surrealistically odd scenario, then
> > resolved it with a realistic explanation, that the lama is invisible.
There is
> > a time lag in which the audience will still experience the scene as
surreal,
> > because they haven't figured out what's going on yet.
>
> I like doing this better than the consistent inconsistency of a totally
> surreal world - especially for narrative, where the
> audience/reader/user/player has a greater sense of events and thus the
> rules of the surreal world unfolding as time goes by. And although in
> good surrealist paintings you can have a similar approach, it's not
> quite the same.
>
> I think that reorienting the viewers mindset every so often and
> therefore giving them the sense that everything is "normal" again is a
> much better approach.
>
> Not only does it allow them a bit of breething space, where they can
> actually perform some cognitive analysis on the situation, but it's more
> disturbing (and surreal!) going from "real" to surreal than surreal to
> surreal.
>
> Surrealism (and any good "conflict" - whether between physics, concepts,
> or lamas and canteens) is about changing the state of a system. And
> chaos in a system is only worthwhile for the new states of stability
> that emerge. Constant chaos is not fun for the writer or reader. It
> isn't rewarding and it's terribly difficult to say or do anything
> without contextual stability at least at times.
>
> It's much more fun to let someone repeatedly touch both feet on the
> ground before sweeping them off it again, than just letting them tumble
> through space.
>
Brandon Van Every
Ryan Kelln <ryan...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:IoeN3.13487$K5.1...@news1.rdc1.bc.home.com...
> For a really good example of a surrealist film that would translate to a
> computer game see if you can find "Blood of a Poet" by Jean Cocteau (info:
> http://kirjasto.sci.fi/cocteau.htm) which was made in 1930 I think.
> Hopefully your public library will have it.
>
> A quick list of ideas from other early surrealist films include:
>
> Dead, decaying donkeys on pianos.
> Slitting eyeballs with a razor.
> Mirror worlds.
> Clergymen in really long robes.
> A mouth on your hand.
> Ants coming from a hole in your hand.
> Repetitive alternate realities.
> Loads and loads of fallic symbols and sexual imagery.
The only thing is that now, we need surrealist mechanisms that work for our own
times, that aren't simply the surrealist cliches of a previous generation. When
surrealism first did its work, it wasn't a cliche. Now we can do lotsa analysis
on the sexual imagery in many surrealist works and see it as rather dated.
Nowadays we'd have to deal surrealistically with an explicitly sexual yet
neurotic culture, such as the hulabaloo surrounding Calvin Klein ads. What
would be the surreal treatment of a CK ad? It's not quite the same job of
semantic linkages, our cultural semantics and sensibilities are different today
than what they once were.
The best work of surrealism I've seen in a modern film is the scene in Star
Trek: First Contact where the Enterprise assault party and the Borg squadron are
walking through each other, no one firing a shot. That it has a rational
explanation does not detract from the surreality, in fact in a sense it
heightens it.
Gerry Quinn
>For a really good example of a surrealist film that would translate to a
>computer game see if you can find "Blood of a Poet" by Jean Cocteau (info:
>http://kirjasto.sci.fi/cocteau.htm) which was made in 1930 I think.
>Hopefully your public library will have it.
>
>A quick list of ideas from other early surrealist films include:
>
>Dead, decaying donkeys on pianos.
>Slitting eyeballs with a razor.
>Mirror worlds.
>Clergymen in really long robes.
>A mouth on your hand.
>Ants coming from a hole in your hand.
>Repetitive alternate realities.
>Loads and loads of fallic symbols and sexual imagery.
>
Coming soon - Sensation, the Game. Each box with a free ball of
elephant dung. I can't wait...
Gerry Quinn
--
http://bindweed.com
Puzzle / Strategy Games and Kaleidoscope for Windows
Download evaluation versions free, no time limits
Adam
because of bugs or the limits of technology. Take Kingpin for example
how come people can talk to me but their mouths don't move! What am I
telepathic? Most games use polygons which make the characters angular
and deformed but we assume there meant to be normal.
So if you recreated that scene from the StarTrek film by putting the
player on a Borg ship and as they walked past them they didn't move
would the player just assume it was just really bad AI and not
intentional?
-- Adam Gore
Ryan Kelln
Brandon Van Every <vane...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:7u42a8$5ch$1...@holly.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> The only thing is that now, we need surrealist mechanisms that work for
our own
> times, that aren't simply the surrealist cliches of a previous generation.
When
> surrealism first did its work, it wasn't a cliche. Now we can do lotsa
analysis
> on the sexual imagery in many surrealist works and see it as rather dated.
> Nowadays we'd have to deal surrealistically with an explicitly sexual yet
> neurotic culture, such as the hulabaloo surrounding Calvin Klein ads.
What
> would be the surreal treatment of a CK ad? It's not quite the same job of
> semantic linkages, our cultural semantics and sensibilities are different
today
> than what they once were.
Perhaps then what we are taking about is not surrealism at all. Its similar
to surrealism of the 1930s (when surrealism was first defined/created) but
more in tune with todays attitudes. Lets call this Neo-Surrealism! <grin>
So your saying that sexual imagery is prevailent in our society nowadays, so
that the sexual imagery in surrealism is cliche, right? So neo-surrealism
needs to expand or comment on the status quo... hmmm... I recently saw an
exhibit called Threesome that was *very* explicit, perhaps neosurrealism can
force the sexuality of Gap commercials into the open. Imagine a GAP
commercial where all the people are standing naked, their GAP clothes strewn
about the floor. Neosurreal? Perhaps if they were masterbating.
What about games? here are countless examples of excessive violence in
games, but are there any games that have excessive nudity/sex/etc? Anything
that challenges the little minds of American censors (a la Eyes Wide Shut)?
(I mean games that are not expressly designed to be sex games)... the best
example I can think of is Duke Nukem...
So are there any takers? Anyone want to make a game that includes nudity and
explicit sexuality?
Ryan
Brandon Van Every
Adam <a...@nvcs.nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:$yk3bEAa...@nvcs.demon.co.uk...
> I think surrealism's already in games not intentionally though only
> because of bugs or the limits of technology. Take Kingpin for example
> how come people can talk to me but their mouths don't move! What am I
> telepathic?
They all got zazzed by that freaky dude from old Trek who made people's mouths
disappear.
> Most games use polygons which make the characters angular
> and deformed but we assume there meant to be normal.
> So if you recreated that scene from the StarTrek film by putting the
> player on a Borg ship and as they walked past them they didn't move
> would the player just assume it was just really bad AI and not
> intentional?
Oh dear...
Brandon Van Every
>
> Perhaps then what we are taking about is not surrealism at all. Its similar
> to surrealism of the 1930s (when surrealism was first defined/created) but
> more in tune with todays attitudes. Lets call this Neo-Surrealism! <grin>
>
> So your saying that sexual imagery is prevailent in our society nowadays, so
> that the sexual imagery in surrealism is cliche, right?
No, more that the sexual imagery has to be made relevant to today. I've got a
book of Dali's stuff in front of me. Some of his queeny/hermaphroditic stuff
just doesn't seem all that poignant in a GBLOC world. (Of course, I live in
Capitol Hill in Seattle so that colors my perspective.) Other works of his are
deeply strange. Still others are merely "sexual," as in "yep that one there is
about sex." Not terribly surprising or surreal.
>So neo-surrealism
> needs to expand or comment on the status quo... hmmm...
Yes I think so.
> I recently saw an
> exhibit called Threesome that was *very* explicit, perhaps neosurrealism can
> force the sexuality of Gap commercials into the open. Imagine a GAP
> commercial where all the people are standing naked, their GAP clothes strewn
> about the floor. Neosurreal? Perhaps if they were masterbating.
Nope. Boring. Been done countless times. That's my point, in the past 70
years we've seen all of that.
> So are there any takers? Anyone want to make a game that includes nudity and
> explicit sexuality?
Some erstwhile friends of mine that I've lost touch with kicked around the idea.
They wanted to do some kind of game-based web porn, because that's the only
thing that was selling like hotcakes on the web. But the woman of the possible
project wanted it to be "high class" porn somehow. My business-headed challenge
was why was anyone going to gobble up "high class" porn, when they could just
download hundreds and hundreds of the really crude pictures instead?
Brandon Van Every
> Brandon Van Every wrote:
> >
> > chris palu <synd...@metaphorcity.com> wrote in message
> > news:38036ED9...@metaphorcity.com...
> > >
> > > ground before sweeping them off it again, than just letting them tumble
> > > through space.
> >
>
> you mean without the assistance of mind altering herbs and fungi?
I don't have that kind of training. :-) I mean like a grappling/throwing
martial art, or many kinds of dance, or basically anything where those little
hairs in your ears that govern equilibrium get royally messed up. I was
actually contemplating how much fun weightlessness would be.
Grendel
around sex and/or violence - some kind of a Millenium-type game where you
get visions of a sex-crime commiting serial killer or something, with clues
in the visuals so you have to watch them, and they are very much a part of
the game mechanism instead of being tacked on, or even worse making the game
look like an excuse for some porn. This type of adult-oriented game could
well become popular (in fact I think Sierra had a go a while back with their
Fantasmagoria game, but that was cruddy ;o) if someone dealt with it in a
mature and engaging way. Tata for now...
--
Larry
--
Brandon Van Every wrote in message
<7u9ng1$5rs$1...@ash.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
>
>Ryan Kelln <ryan...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:XFXN3.25343$K5.2...@news1.rdc1.bc.home.com...
>>
>> Brandon Van Every <vane...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>> >
>> > No, more that the sexual imagery has to be made relevant to today.
I've
>> got a
>> > book of Dali's stuff in front of me. Some of his queeny/hermaphroditic
>> stuff
>> > just doesn't seem all that poignant in a GBLOC world. (Of course, I
live
>> in
>> > Capitol Hill in Seattle so that colors my perspective.) Other works of
>> his are
>> > deeply strange. Still others are merely "sexual," as in "yep that one
>> there is
>> > about sex." Not terribly surprising or surreal.
>>
>> I would say that about most of his works,... "not terribly surprising or
>> surreal", I think Dali was more interested in looking like he knew what
he
>> was doing rather than actually know what surrealism was all about. He was
a
>> Freud wanna-be. :)
>
>Maybe so. What artist would you cite instead as having a better handle on
the
>surreal? I do think Dali deserves more credit than that, though.
>
>> <snip>
>> > > I recently saw an
>> > > exhibit called Threesome that was *very* explicit, perhaps
neosurrealism
>> can
>> > > force the sexuality of Gap commercials into the open. Imagine a GAP
>> > > commercial where all the people are standing naked, their GAP clothes
>> strewn
>> > > about the floor. Neosurreal? Perhaps if they were masterbating.
>> >
>> > Nope. Boring. Been done countless times. That's my point, in the
past
>> 70
>> > years we've seen all of that.
>>
>> Well, uh, I would wager that most people *haven't* seen all that. In fact
>> the recent episode on New York proves my point nicely!
>
>Well, I guess it's a matter of commodification and distribution. Perhaps
they
>haven't seen it out in the Midwest somewhere. But people following artsy
fartsy
>things for the past 70 years, have seen it. It's been done in the
artworld.
>Too much, really. One thing I really liked about the Futurist manifestos
is
>they proclaimed there should be a moratorium on the nude for the next 50
years.
>Not out of a sense of morality, but because artists were so *boring* with
the
>subject, visiting the themes of their whorelike mistresses over and over
again.
>This comments on a theme I hold, that while drawing nudie sketches and
getting
>laid might be a good fringe benefit of the fine arts, it really shouldn't
be an
>artist's dominant output. That IMHO shows a lack of ingeneuity and
integrity.
>
>> > > So are there any takers? Anyone want to make a game that includes
nudity
>> and
>> > > explicit sexuality?
>> >
>> > Some erstwhile friends of mine that I've lost touch with kicked around
the
>> idea.
>> > They wanted to do some kind of game-based web porn, because that's the
>> only
>> > thing that was selling like hotcakes on the web. But the woman of the
>> possible
>> > project wanted it to be "high class" porn somehow. My business-headed
>> challenge
>> > was why was anyone going to gobble up "high class" porn, when they
could
>> just
>> > download hundreds and hundreds of the really crude pictures instead?
>>
>> Yeah my friends and I have talked about "high-class" porn, but I think
maybe
>> what we really want is sort of a Neal Stephenson kind of thing, ie: when
>> there is sex in the story he doesn't censor himself (that much). None of
>> this hide behind the bed-sheets or cover the privates with fortuitous
>> objects in the foreground crap.
>
>As a culture what we really want, but won't usually admit, is to be
relieved of
>the guilt of openly viewing very crass porn. In the USA we live in a sex
>negative culture, and shamefully what a lot of us want is to be released
from
>that, to live in a sex positive culture.
>
>Calvin Klein commercials, for instance, do not deal with sex in a positive
way.
>They tie it to child pornography to create sensationalism. Products are
moved
>with messages of negativity. The same can be said of the "heroin skinny"
runway
>model look. Heroin is negative, and thus it is tied to sex. It also goes
less
>deep than this... the old monniker is "sex 'n' violence," uttered in the
same
>breath as equivalent things that are to be reviled. Yet USA culture is
pretty
>positive about violence, pretty negative about sex.
>
>I wonder what Brazilians think of all of this. It's not been my impression
from
>what little I've seen of their media that they are a sex negative culture.
But
>I don't know anything firsthand about Brazil.
>
>> I guess the audience isn't there though. Perhaps if we build it they
would
>> come. Literally.
>
>Now that's funny!
Krystian Bates
dig that. I'll admit that much of this thread was somewhat over my head, but
this post caught my attention. Someone should pick up on this..
--
Krystian Bates
kgbates at ply.adelphia.com
http://www.geocities.com/kgbates
ICQ #48251356 EFNet #ClashDev
Grendel <gre...@biosys.net> wrote in message
news:7us02k$c6d$1...@phys-ma.sol.co.uk...
Ryan Kelln
news:aqwQ3.352$f5.1...@server1.news.adelphia.net...
> I must say, that does sound like a good idea. I think a lot of people
would
> dig that. I'll admit that much of this thread was somewhat over my head,
but
> this post caught my attention. Someone should pick up on this..
>
> > around sex and/or violence - some kind of a Millenium-type game where
you
> > get visions of a sex-crime commiting serial killer or something, with
> clues
> > in the visuals so you have to watch them, and they are very much a part
of
> > the game mechanism instead of being tacked on, or even worse making the
> game
> > look like an excuse for some porn. This type of adult-oriented game
could
> > well become popular (in fact I think Sierra had a go a while back with
> their
> > Fantasmagoria game, but that was cruddy ;o) if someone dealt with it in
a
> > mature and engaging way. Tata for now...
> >
Yes, I think "mature" computer games might be an area that becomes popular
sometime in the future. As more and more Nintendo/Atari/etc kids grow up,
they might just want to play games that have some more interesting aspects
than fragging your buddy or defeating Foozle.
Currently, I see games as lacking sophistication, they are too geared
towards the sort boardgame mentality rather than having a film or novel sort
of quality. (Actually, I would like to play games of both types).
I can't really think of any game that has moved me like a good film, or put
me into a weird headspace (like Fight Club did last night - you must see
this movie, its great).
Now, sex or sexuality is not going to give a game an instant maturity level
or any sort of filmic quality, but it is a good example of the kind of
serious subjects that most games avoid.
I think, perhaps, that the computer gaming industry suffers from the same
phenomenon as the animation industry - the products are perceived to be
"just for kids", and thus it is next to impossible to deal with any
"serious" or "mature" issues... and if this is the common perception, then
the people with the money are not going to support any games that challenge
the stereotype.
How do we, (err, well, the real game designers in this group), fight this
trend, or do we even want to?
Ryan