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I've been seeing a lot of dissent from gamers, professionals and bloggers about games lately. Jenova Chen mentioned in a recent Gamasutra article that he
believes connecting with a player's emotions is the next big step for
games. Countless blog posts on Gamasutra have dealt with the issues of
morality in games and how they can be implemented. There is an undercurrent of disapproval about games' execution and their lack of a universal 'magic' element that will make them a surefire hit. These are interesting debates but I think everyone is overlooking is the consumer.
The question should theoretically be: how can I as a game designer deliver the best experience possible to the player? Not, how can I push the boundaries of technical excellence and immersive narrative storytelling. It's this desire of trying to reach beyond what has been executed successfully that has led to sacrificing gameplay elements and as a result--producing worse games.
A lot of great non-digital games are really simple to play and hard to master. Chess doesn't require immense concentration to master its ruleset yet it takes years to become truely good at it. At its core it's a really simple turn-based strategy game. Because of its difficulty threshold, Chess is never "mastered" and isn't discarded like many video games are. Chess also offers a social component with each game played in addition to each game playing slightly different from the next. It supports the player concocting strategies, executing them, and learning from their consequences. What's the other element Chess doesn't have? Story.
In the end, Chess is fun. Chess has solid gameplay and doesn't suffer from imbalanced mechanics. Chess is also a good investment. Buying a Chess board offers years and many hours of entertainment. I don't even think of the "cost" of Chess, it's simply a staple that
must be owned.
If a play
experience is and continues to be so gratifying, then it will continue
to hold great value for the player. I never pondered whether I should
have bought Super Mario 64, Heroes of Might and Magic III, or Starcraft. The thought never trickled into my mind about "trading in" or auctioning off those games.
All of those games I listed are arguably extremely replayable with enjoyable variations
on each play session.
A game should function in a similar way by creating elegantly simple gameplay mechanics that are fun when they're performed a lot. The play environment should only accentuate these mechanics and provide challenge. If the player is doing one action a lot, it should be fun. In Chess, the player is only moving pieces. That action is fun because of the strategic foresight needed to perform a successful move and the gratification of that success.
In Portal, the player is going to be shooting a lot of portals. It doesn't become stagnant because of the variety of ways in which these portals can be used and portals also reduce the repetitiveness of movement across given rooms. It's drastically more fun to shoot and move through a portal to go to a subsequent area than to simply walk there.
So, if games are trying to strive for "meaningful" experiences but force players to do repetitive actions that don't continue to be fun, then the game's longevity will surely suffer as a result. This in turn can explain why so many games are being traded in after so little time spent on them. I've pretty much omitted discussing any of the story elements that are supposedly "needed" for a game to be great. Maybe the secret of a great game lies within how sustainablly enjoyable it is not what subtext is hidden within a dialogue tree?
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@Frank Chess itself originated in the 15th century, so no. How it was marketed through whichever company had the rights to distribute it is another matter.
But if had to choose one game throughout all of history that I considered mythic in its construct and sublimely spiritual in its design (precicely because of its elegantly simple gameplay) it would be chess. So near as I can tell we're in agreement on principle ;)
Anyway, I go on in great detail about this stuff in the last blog I posted (you may or may not have noticed it).
(and b/c i can't resist) Chess does have a social and narrative subtext: the naming and capabilities of the pieces represent the historical context of the strategic simulation itself. Checkers is a better example of a game with no 'story': the contextual depth of Chess, which cannot really be separated from the mechanics without making something other than Chess, is part of why it's a Cultural institution.
I think you hit the nail on the head J.. I generalized too much in my own blog and should have specified RPGs/Adventure Games.
I see where Charlie is coming from though, I loath dialogue trees and really consider them a cheap cop-out to effective game storytelling; and nobody wants postured intellectualized clap-trap.
That's exactly where Colossus succeeded, not a lot of dialogue or text, but an overwhelmingly powerful sense of 'story' that permeated every aspect of its design and art. I think people will be talking about that one for a long time in terms of groundbreaking adventure games. I'll pay full $$$ for Ueda's next game.
Speaking from my own experience, the older games that I go back to play are typically games which captivated me with their narrative like Chrono Cross or games like Myst which captivated me with their atmosphere, not the games which had the most carefully honed and balanced play mechanics. That's why it's important to know what kind of game you're making and who you're making it for.
A truly great game, I would say, is one where all the parts and pieces work together to deliver the intended experience. Different types of games, and different types of audience, may shift the balance of these somewhat, but all play a role. Chess has very deep gameplay, but presents no story directly. An RPG with the same balance would be a failure as an RPG (but perhaps a passable game in a different genre). Even more, successfully intertwining those different elements allows a game to reach whole new levels of greatness.
Finally, there also seems to be an assumption in here that a game is made great by high replayability. While I don't entirely disagree, I don't think it's the only thing. Looking at it in terms of games delivering a great experience, there are many many games that I have no particular desire to play again, but that still linger in the back of my mind. These, for me, are the great games – they're the ones that made me want to be a game designer :)
You write: "There is an undercurrent of disapproval about games' execution and their lack of a universal 'magic' element that will make them a surefire hit. These are interesting debates but I think everyone is overlooking is the consumer."
Yes--everyone--such as EA/Bioware/Bethesda--is overlooking the consumer. Have you been reading the news about the massive layoffs and losses? Billions upon billions in market cap! Imagine if they served the rising fanboy demand to hold the gold 45 revolver and fight for the us constitution, instead of being locked in dumbed-down, childish, boring worlds wherein ideas and actions have no greater consequences, and thus, no soulful meaning.
Did you listen in on EA's earning reports? Billions are being lost and thousands are being laid off and millions of consumers are demanding new, exalted games and games as art, while all the mba fanboys keep ignoring them, as well as those hoping to work in the industry, who are dedicated to defending the hostility to new ideas and innovations serving the rising demand; as they know that in order to work in the declining industry, one must never innovate; and one must rather mock and scorn the consumers and designers seeking exalted art and action.
Sentences such as "I've pretty much omitted discussing any of the story elements that are supposedly "needed" for a game to be great," get one a corner office at EA where one's job is to organize fake protests from fake Christians against Dante's Inferno. All fanboys know that story is stupid and silly, and thus it does not matter if Dante placed Beatrice in heaven--we will be placing her in hell. That is what the MBA CEO dictated, and we must never question massive corporations working for the consumer.
Well, classical, epic, exalted story will soon grace games, even though the fanboys are commanded form high to never let this happen, and it will make playing fallout/dante's inferno/gta/mass effect feel like playing atari combat.
The Novel "Gold 45 Revolver/Ideas Have Consequences/ Moral Premise" Game Technologies Will Be Worth Billions of Dollars
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/20090709/2322/The_Novel_quotGold
_45_RevolverIdeas_Have_Consequences_Moral_Premisequot_Game_Technologies_Will_Be_
Worth_Billions_of_Dollars.php
Name one case where an exalted story has ruined a film or film franchise or novel or work of art.
I think it is hilarious that the upper-level MBAs/fanboy brass at EA/Bethesda/Bioware/EGM (which they are following on doewn) have been so successful in convincing all the fanboyds that story and the soul are art's enemy, so that they can keep on selling the same dumbed-down, reskinned versions of yesteryear's hooker-killing "Dante as Warrior/Beatrice in Hell" technologies.
People are longing for story and soul in our reality-TV-laden/dumbed-down/boring video game world, but in order to get a job you must serve not the people, but the CEO/MBA's dictaroial, iron-fisted rule that there is to be no deep, profound, epic story. Hence Charlie's tone and tenor. A man's gotta make a livin'.
Yes--that epic, Shakespearean story in GTA4 certainly got in the way of the general fanboy fun found in hiring and killing hookers, shooting cops and innocent civilians, and of course jacking cars.
another hilarious thing is that rockstar/ea further teaches fanboys to hate story by calling cut-scenes and stupid, vapid story lines "story."
because fanboys were never allowed to read the great books and classics by the fiatocracy, they by and by become to believe that cut scenes in gta are epic story. and so the fiatocracy succeeds in teaching them to hate homer and dante and shakespeare--to detest soul and story, without them ever even having read any of it.
you have to be kidding. name one person who states, "GTA4's story as one that rivals Hollywood."
yes--you are not calling upon the industry to improvie their wirting, but only to reskin decades-old hooker killing technolgies.
unfortunately, the rest of the world is calling apon the industry to exalt games as art--to endow them with story and soul--with exalted action with meaning--with moral premises and ideas whcih have consequences.
with your attitude, imagine you wil get a top-level job at ea/rockstar, as teh industry declines, and as the culture and currency are debauched; as you have to place more and more effort in thwarting the inevitable, exalting gold 45 revolver technolgies and the renaissance they will foster.
The problem with epic stories is that it's extremely hard to directly express that in the context of a game. Players want to "play" games not "watch" them. That's why they're an interactive media not a passive one (like film and television). All of the great works can always be beacons of relevance to games but not when they're directly interjected into a story. I enjoyed the not so subtle biblical undertone in Bioshock, which definitely gave it another narrative layer. The best stories can incorporate elements of the classics, such as Shakespeare and Plato's works, but not when they directly tamper with the experience.
I don't believe story should be completely discarded; it is a valuable tool in a game designer's arsenal. However, gameplay is the bread and butter of any viable game and that over anything else should be emphasized. I'd rather have a game that focuses on its core gameplay and executes it flawlessly than a lackluster game trying to juggle a weak narrative and adequate game mechanics.
@Bjornar
Mirror's Edge is probably so addictive because the actions the player repeats continue to remain fun. The acrobatics are enjoyable initially and they continue to expand within a variety of environmental situations. It's very similar to many other satisfying platform games, give the player all of their skills at the beginning and build environments that continue to make those traits fun and challenging to use!
What the industry is doing is vastly complexifying the issue of story and narrative.
All epic stories center about the rendering of ideals--centered about moral premises--real over time.
The simple flowcharts in my patents/research capture this.
Because game designers/fanboys/the young are taught to hate moral premises/morality/ideals/story, they leave out the unifying elements of narrative, which would translate into vastly simpler code and exalted gameplay.
Check out the flow charts here which contain the secret to exalting games with classical, epic, exalting narrative:
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=aAuzAAAAEBAJ
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=ee-jAAAAEBAJ&dq
Then, witness the corporate-state funded fanboy/feminist reactions for the simple elements of story, which also happen to be the same simple elements underlying our constitution--which they also oppose:
http://brokentoys.org/2009/07/15/for-the-love-of-ayn-rand-do-not-ever-quote-marx
-or-the-world-will-perish-in-fire/
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.125556?page=1
the emotional responses are far-ranging in scope, but they all capture the novelty and demand for such gold 45 revolver / ideas have conseauences / moral premise games.
how can the industry ignore all this unfunded buzz, while losing billions on vanity projects for which there is no demand (while hiring fake christians to protest games that suck so bad that they don't even show up on the radar for anyone to protest), and expect to stay in business?
http://www.popehat.com/2009/07/15/quote-lenin-it-is-pitch-black-you-are-likely-t
o-be-eaten-by-the-state/
http://www.onelastcontinue.com/9136/vampire-zombie-communist-hookers-patent-it/
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3143589
Why are iron-fisted forum modders banning the threads which get the most attention?
http://www.moddb.com/forum/board/ideas-concepts
http://www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/93643
This is a most interesting phenomena: the fiatocracy has so well trianed so many fanboys to detest art, story, classical ideals, and soul; that they would rather see the industry to continue to shed billions in market cap and thousands of jobs, rather than adopt some simple "Gold 45 Revolver" innovations which would usher in a brand new era of gaming.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/author/DrElliotMcGucken/1169/
Never have so many been so united against culture, art, literature, our heritage, soul, story, exaltation, and making money!
Best,
Dr. E :)
The problem that I see is that the huge games that are out there ARE telling massive epic stories... they're just doing it poorly and it's likely because the see the story element as less important than other aspects of production.
I'm sorry to call you out like this Charlie but this is the line that betrays you as a rookie...
"gameplay is the bread and butter of any viable game and that over anything else should be emphasized."
That would be like saying Cinematography is MORE important than good acting, good script or good audio in a movie. Professionals know that all of the elements have to work together and everyone involved is entitled to an equal level of respect. When one element is weaker than the others the whole project suffers... and that's precisely what's happening in games... the stories are weaaaaak.
As an interesting anecdote I once worked on a film where the producer decided to skimp on craft services; 12 hour days with poor nutrition and everyone was at each others throats within weeks. By the end of the first month I was ready to jump up on my desk and yell ""Catering is the bread and butter of any viable film project and THAT over anything else should be emphasized!!!" In that case I think I would have been correct.
In my patent, which the fiatocracy's fanboys were commanded to assault, (before they relaized I was waiting there with a gold 45 revolver, whereupon they banned me as thw fanboy naturally hates the first amendment for individuals, as anyone knows that only corporations whould have the freedom of speech), I covered the elements of Aristotle's Poetics which ranks story first and spectacle close to last:
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090017886 -- sorry for the length of this, but a far greater, longer treatment can be found by following the link.
[0103]The remainder of the list of titles, spanning every aspect of the "rotten barrel" of cultural decline; from business, to marriage, to government, to entertainment, would consume the entire length of this paper. Aristotle said, "When storytelling declines, the result is decadence," and is it any wonder that when the classics are removed from education, the world is impoverished? Video games lack epic story and soul as films invert Aristotle's Poetics, placing spectacle first and character and plot last; and as Oscar Wilde reminds us, "life imitates art." Well, this present invention would place plot and character first, and spectacle last in video games, countering common fanboy opinion. The dumbing down knows no bounds, and the present invention would foster video games that allowed players to argue and reason with professors, in word and deed: [0104]Our society and our literature and our culture are being dumbed down, and the causes are very complex. I'm 73 years old. In a lifetime of teaching English, I've seen the study of literature debased. There's very little authentic study of the humanities remaining.--Harold Bloom, Dumbing Down American Readers, LA Times, Sep. 24, 2003
[0105]Screenwriting teacher Robert McKee quotes the great poet Yeats, in describing the postmodernized Hollywood. [0106]Flawed and forced storytelling is forced to substitute spectacle for substance, trickery for truth. Weak stories, desperate to hold audience attention, degenerate into multimillion-dollar razzle-dazzle demo reels. In Hollywood imagery becomes more and more extravagant, in Europe more and more decorative. The behavior of actors becomes more histrionic, more and more lewd, more and more violent. Music and sound effects become increasingly tumultuous. The total effect transnudes into the grotesque. A culture cannot evolve without honest, powerful storytelling. When society repeatedly experiences glossy, hollowed-out, pseudo-stories, it degenerates. We need true satires and tragedies, dramas and comedies that shine a clean light into the dingy corners of the human psyche and society. If not, as Yeats warned, ` . . . the center cannot hold.`--Robert Mckee, Story
[0107]The present invention, which would foster video games exlalting these ideals by allowing one to battle for them in word and deed, would be researched and developed at CREATE, thusly leading to expanded, enhanced, and novel commercial and educational opportunities. The present invention would begin in the ordinary world, and follow the hero's journey in allowing one to battle for the following ideals and ideas, which would have exalted consequences.
[0108]I'll keep repeating Aristotle--"when storytelling declines, the result is decadence," as art is culture's flagship. The present invention would allow us to exalt Aristotle, and finally render video games that are classical, epic art. As society forgets to laud the greater beauty of the soul in its art, character and integrity--freedom's foundations--become unfashionable. And so, losing trust in the moral soul, whose center no longer holds, society begins to trade freedom for security; and bureaucracies capitalize on this--growing to oppose the truth and freedom that is necessary for the natural, long-term wealth generation that classic capitalism affords. The late Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman made note of this in the introduction to the late Nobel Laureate economist F. A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom:
Charlie came of age in a school system where one is rewarded with A's for destesting story and the classics--for hating on Yeats and Homer and Shakespeare and Aristotloe, while showing up on time to conform to the CEO's/feminist instructor's corporate-state ideologies of wealth transfer. the purpose of art is no loner to exalt the indie spirit and soul--to inspire and entertain--but only to bolster the corporation's bottom line, as illustrated in radical the differences in dante's inferno and ea's inferno.
Charlie would be wiser to use the Force and rebel and follow his better instincts, but instead he wants a corner office in the Death Star of the contemporary industry.
I recognize the importance of other external elements (visuals, sound, narrative), but I see them often being the focal point rather than subtle elements that blend into the game. One could easily argue that MGS4 is more "watching" than actual "playing" and that it detracts from the experience at times. One could attest that time spent developing 30-minute long cutscenes could have been devoted to refining the core stealth-action elements that define MGS.
To respond briefly to your point about me being a "rookie" I have to cite the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks. When I see a lot of these games, I say to myself "I don't get it."
are you saying that there is no interactivity in films? did darth vader never interact with luke skywalker?
what you and the games industry is so stubbornly blind to is that story and exalted, artistic games will naturally emerge when interactions are centered around moral premises and principles, just as darth vader's and luke skywalker's interactions were centered about moral principle.
"In video games, the gameplay is the foundation in any game. Without interactivity, how is it a game? Without it being fun, why would I want to play it?" Charlie--you can still hire and kill hookers and have your fun. All I am saying is that is you refrain from hiring and killing them, and instead talk to them and exlat them, the gold 45 will glow gold at the end of the game, during aristotle's third, cathartic act, and slay all the fiatocray's fanmbas/fanboy feminist/vampire/zombies, as illustrated in this figure:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/20090730/2631/ImprovingExaltingS
implifying_Assassins_Creed_Mass_Effect_Gears_of_War_GTA_Fallout_Left_For_Dead_an
d_all_RPGsFPSs_With_The_Gold_45_Revolver_Ideas_Have_ConsequencesMoral_Premise_Te
chnology__Making_Billions_in_the_Renaissance.php
Simon@Gamasutra.
i have been using links instead of posting a lot of text, but will think of ways to cut it down further still.
it seems shorter in the text box i am typing in right now, than when it becomes a post--i will keep this in mind.
best, dr. e :)
Charlie buddy, film Directors around the world would tear a strip out of you for THAT comment. I've worked on over twenty films and I can say for certain that there is no *single most important element*. Good producers know it and good directors know it. Screenplays are just one piece of a big puzzle. Team players keep working, prima donnas quickly fall by the wayside.
Anyway, I think anyone showing up at a development meeting (be it films or games) wearing a gold star that reads "Most Important" is going to have difficulty developing any meaningful chemistry with the rest of his team. But good luck!
Frank is merely commenting on Charlie's having to perform breathtaking, summersaulting backflips to blame the billions of lost market cap in the gaming industry on a) game companies putting too much story into games and also b) game companies catering to consumers who do not want story/meaning/soul/emotion/depth/profundity/fun/enlightement in their games.
Obviously charlies is serving the CEOs/Matrix/Empire/Sauron/Scottish nobles, instead of truth/story/freedom/rebels/Fellowship/the renaissance, as taht si where the money and corner offices are at the moment.
If only he were a long-term, investor, he woudl see that the soul alone, and thus story, is immortal and capable of creating an enduring, exalting franchise.
Anyway, I'm of the impression that part of the problem with trying to work out what the most important aspect of a great game is is that people are trying to work out what the most important aspect of a great game is in a generic sense.
In any medium, I don't know that you can hold everything to the same standard. What is the most important aspect of music, when you account for styles such as classical, dance, techno, Rhythm n Speak, rap, R&B, pop, rock, metal? It's impossible, other than the fact that a good composition has what it needs, and that it is different for every composition. If we were to assess techno and say "good techno needs a good beat above all else", and then proceeded to remove aspects from the song that were not part of the underlying beat, we'd begin to realize the flaws in this assessment, because A) things start becoming generic as they emerge from the same backbeats, and B) there's nothing that elevates the music higher than simply being it's backbeat.
I don't know that you'll find what's most important in something by looking at the parts that make it. All forms of media need a vision to drive their development, and they need the pieces to fit that vision.
I am the first who wish I didn't have to repeat myself. :) The thing is though, that the gaming industry is far, far from getting my point, let alone understanding it. As I write these words, Beatrice is yet in hell in EA's Inferno, instead of where Dante placed her. Millions of innocent, unarmed women will die bloody deaths in GTA and Fallout, and until they are saved via the gold 45 tech, my point has *not* been gotten. Games lack story, moral premises, deeper emotion, love, epic story, and romance, and thus they are falling far short of their vast potential and classic art. The gaming industry is losing billions of $$$$, millions of souls are going unserved, and thousands are being laid off. People such as Charlie then come forth and blame the industry's failures on the consumer, which is ridiculous. The fanboy/mba/CEOs are making the games and the profits (while losing billions for investors), while firing thousands and creating soulless games and ignoring epic innovations, and in no way is this the consumer's fault--it is the fanmbas.
Yes--I wish I never had to write another word, and that they would just go ahead and license the gold 45 tech & make billions by creating the epic, soulful, exalting, meaningful games everyone is demanding, and we could grab a beer and celebrate the renaissance in our dodge vipers.
Best,
Dr. E :)
"And then, so as not to exclude female fanboys and grrrrl gamers, all the fanboys' whores will be called in to clean up the mess in Odyseuss' hall..." "the option will be presented to have the fanboys' whores taken out and hung(sic)". With a few minutes work, I'm sure I could have found something funnier, but any point in any page is literally dense with this drivel. For over a hundred sprawling pages.
A competition offers the reward of his "technologies" to game makers who use them in their games, presumably to generate a reference about the credibility of said "billion dollar" technologies. I also enjoyed an example in his blog, wherin he advances an alternative to Gears or War where you read the locusts the constitution to convert them, or a GTA where you use the hooker->pimp connection to virally distribute the lords word.
I'm sure there's a hilarious story in here, were the matter important enough to research.
My patent was merely referencing Book 22 of Homer's Odyssey, where the suitor's whores cleaned up the blood of the suitors after they were killed. They were then hung by Telemachus:
"On this the women came down in a body, weeping and wailing bitterly. First they carried the dead bodies out, ..... When they had done this, they cleaned all the tables and seats with sponges and water.... Then when they had made the whole place quite clean and orderly, they took the women out and hemmed them in the narrow space between the wall of the domed room and that of the yard.. and Telemachus said... "I shall not let these women die a clean death, for they were insolent to me and my mother, and used to sleep with the suitors." ... he made a ship's cable fast to one of the bearing-posts that supported the roof and secured it all around the building, at a good height, lest any of the women's feet should touch the ground;... even so did the women have to put their heads in nooses one after the other and die most miserably. Their feet moved convulsively for a while, but not for very long." --http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
The fiatocracy teaches fanboys to laugh at the justice in the Odyssey's third act, while exalting in the meaningless killing of innocent, unarmed women & cops/citizens in gta/fallout/other games. That's why the odyssey has endured 2800 years and fallout/gta will soon be over (check the market caps/layoffs), like atari combat. glad you enjoyed the pics!
Dr. Elliot McGucken was born and
raised in Akron, Ohio, and he has studied
and taught physics ever since he left Akron to attend Princeton University
as an undergraduate. He recently received his Ph.D. in physics from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1998), where his research on
the Multiple Unit Artificial Retina Chipset To Aid The Visually Impaired
often led him down the road to North Carolina State University. He is
currently continuing his involvement with the retinal prosthesis's
prototype development at NCSU, while also teaching physics and astronomy
as an assistant professor of physics at the neighboring Elon College.
I guess one can only speak from authority after one has created virtual hookers for killing for the "fun factor" in an attempt to distribute one's post modernist load to bunch of tragically angst ridden teenagers.
You make some good points (not about Dr. Elliot but about elements of media).
I've got to admit I was kinda miffed that my discussion about spirituality in the narratives of games was overshadowed by this somewhat pointless "narrative=good/bad" argument.
I also think it's a little weird that Gamasutra chose to 'feature' this knee-jerk reaction rather than the challenging point that actually started the discussion in the first place. I can't tell if they're taking sides or just prefer argument to conversation.
When I look at the professional blogs the discussions are far more advanced. The industry has moved way beyond "narrative=bad" and I was well aware of that before I wrote my piece.
I take all the fanboys' barbs with a smile, and I try and warn them and just be on my way, but they just keep at it. This also happens in Homer's Odyssey--when he shows up back home, all the suitors start picking on him, not knowing who he is. This also happens in A Fistful of Dollars--the Sergio Leone Masterpiece which broke Clint Eastwood to international stardom. They scare off Eastwood's mule, so Eastwood goes forth to ask them to apologize it. "You see? My mule don't like people laughing. He gets the zrazy idea you're laughing at him." Then, Eastwood finally swings aside his poncho, displaying his Colt .45, just as Odysseus finally swings aside his robe after just trying to move on by, displaying his massive thighs and the scar on his thigh that gives him his identity (Harry Potter used this too). And too, Dr. E swings aside his long duster, displaying his Gold 45 Revolver. http://45surf.com/johnny_ranger_mccoy.html
And even then, I just want to walk away and inspire a billion-dollar renaissance--to serve the souls of the rising generation with epic, exalted games and to bring in billions to the shareholders and investors, which could easily be done, for less money than EA spends on hiring fake christains to protest their fake dante's inferno. But I know--I know the fiatocracy's fanboys have to draw on me--the lone man with no name--to protect their masters' innocent-women killing decadence and debauchery. In Fistful, Eastwood goes on to save a woman, who was kidnapped as a hooker/mistress, and reunite her with her kid. Such things the fiatocracy cannot allow, as they must detsroy the family and replace it with the state.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bBqb7X3LpU (first time a gun was shown in the same scene as the people falling, like a third person shooter! we watch the movie in my class every year! it is homer's odyssey reenacted--those greeks/italians were geniuses!)
Great to meet you guys! This is the belly of the whale period on the hero's journey! Our ideas are getting deep into the Death Star, and as all the fanboys sense change ahead, they react as they were taught--not with manly logic and reason (as their exiled fathers--exiled both in their homes and in their schools--might have taught them), but with emotional violence and illogical screeds, which is how the fiatocracy rules over them.
And this tragic corporate-enforced soulless, storyless state is leading to epic failure on both cultural and commercial levels:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DrElliotMcGucken/20090810/2702/LOL_eafail_EAs_Dan
tes_Inferno__Epic_fanboyfanmba_EA_Fail_Using_Corporate_Fanboi_Arrogance_Against_
the_Corporate_Fanboyz_Clint_Eastwoods_Fistful_of_Dollars_Part_I_The_Gold_45_Revo
lver_Begins_to_Glow_Gold.php
I hope you join us, Charlie, for unless I miss my guess, EA won't be in a position to hire you for very long; especially not to create the exalted, soulful games the rising generation is longing for.
And please, Charlie, stop blaming the good consumers for the epic cultural failings of the industry, for it is the fiat-fanboi MBAs who are creating *both* the dumbed-down, soulless games and fanboi marketing campaigns which the consumer is rebelling against, as did comic con.