Half Life = Gamer's "Twilight"

[Shru1kan]

I have a theory here. So please, bear with me while I try to think it out fully. READ IT BEFORE YOU POST OR REPORT, I AM NOT TROLLING.

I see some very striking resemblances between HL2, and the much-hated series of Twilight. You see, both feature very two-dimensional protagonists. They have almost no inherent personality, and their faces are taken out of the picture for 99% of the game/book. This means that any gamer can plug himself into the story, as well as any girl plugging herself into the Twilight saga.

After you successfully insert yourself, you take on a role that describes you. In Half-Life 1, you take on an egghead scientist, which automatically makes you assume that he was a loner for being so smart. Much like most of the target audience. In Twilight, you take on the story of a socially awkward girl, much like most of the target audience. In other words, most of the base can plug themselves in readily and identify with the character. If there was any character in the protagonists.

Now, as most of you know, in twilight the girl meets a boy with a perfect body, and a perfect personality. The author goes on and on into great detail to describe just how perfect he is, and lo and behold, he is interested in the protagonist! This leads to the girl obtaining more and more friends (no matter how fucked up they may be), and fulfills the "suddenly popular" fantasy on both fronts.

Half life, on the other hand, fulfills another fantasy. Half life 2 is my main point in this, because the first one had nearly no people in it, all monsters and masked military, all against you. So please, bring Half-Life 2 and episodes to mind while reading this. You, a nerdy scientist, who is probably none-too-popular outside his clique of other nerds, gets to get up and kick societies ass. You suddenly are put in a murder simulator against bodybuilding jocks dressed as soldiers. Many guys dream of punching people out who put them down, and most girls decide to try and befriend them, for some unknown reason (yes, generalizations, but bear with me, as a good portion of each gender falls into it enough to make it valid).

On top of climbing the social ladder by force, there is suddenly a hot girl interested in you. I don't see how she's all that hot, but I've heard some creepy shit like boys wanting to do her or marry her. Oho! Suddenly the lonely guy becoming suddenly "alpha male" fantasy is fulfilled on both fronts!

On top of it all, both series are insanely popular with rabid fanboys and girls. They flame, kick, scratch, and scream to defend their chosen idol.

Now, I submit to you once again that Half life is the "Twilight" of gamers. Thoughts?


EDIT: Yes, there ARE differences. Half life 2 was revolutionary for its time. Twilight is just a massive cliche, etc. But the points above really cannot be ignored. I'm not saying they're 100% identical, that would be absurd. But there are very striking similarities in the way they capture your imagination.


EDIT2: Okay guys, I'm sorry if I'm not clear on my intentions for this thread. Maybe this guy can say it better than me.

EDIT: I think most people seem to be misunderstanding what the OP is talking about, he's not making a direct comparison between the two (killing aliens is very different from emo/vampire romance) but was more saying that both have an effect of wish fufillment for the audience through use of a blank, generic protaganist (teenage girls like the idea of a vampire boyfriend (I'm assuming), and nerdy guys like the idea of being a revolutionary hero who saves the world, is idolised and adored by many and even has a attractive/smart chick who's into them because they're so great (again, I'm assuming)).

 

[MiracleOfSound]

The difference is that Half Life 1 and 2 both introduced many dynamic and original concepts and mechanics into the medium, completely changing it forever.

Twilight is just another vampire love story.

 

[mad825]

well I supppose you forgot to mention the part where gordan Freeman is a slave to Gman's whim, Gman's motive any why he does this to him still remains unknown however we do know that there are "higher" people than the Gman

 

[kingcom]

I see some very striking resemblances between HL2, and the much-hated series of Twilight. You see, both feature very two-dimensional protagonists. They have almost no inherent personality, and their faces are taken out of the picture for 99% of the game/book. This means that any gamer can plug himself into the story, as well as any girl plugging herself into the Twilight saga.

Firstly this method of storytelling dates back to ancient Greece, its called using a Tabula Rasa (blank slate, a term used when refering to childhood development theory). Its been used countless times in many forms of medium. This is nothing new.

After you successfully insert yourself, you take on a role that describes you. In Half-Life 1, you take on an egghead scientist, which automatically makes you assume that he was a loner for being so smart. Much like most of the target audience. In Twilight, you take on the story of a socially awkward girl, much like most of the target audience. In other words, most of the base can plug themselves in readily and identify with the character. If there was any character in the protagonists.

Actually they go out of your way to explain your not a loner. The security guard Barney actually tells you to meet him after work and he'll buy a you a beer. Implicating that Freeman is someone who actually hangs around with people outside of his stereotype. Hes an MIT graduate, they are not that uncommon and infact the entire research facility is probably filled with people much smarter than him. Also you presume that much of the audience who play and like Half-Life are therfore loners, thats a bit insulting.

Now, as most of you know, in twilight the girl meets a boy with a perfect body, and a perfect personality. The author goes on and on into great detail to describe just how perfect he is, and lo and behold, he is interested in the protagonist! This leads to the girl obtaining more and more friends (no matter how fucked up they may be), and fulfills the "suddenly popular" fantasy on both fronts.

Half life, on the other hand, fulfills another fantasy. Half life 2 is my main point in this, because the first one had nearly no people in it, all monsters and masked military, all against you. So please, bring Half-Life 2 and episodes to mind while reading this. You, a nerdy scientist, who is probably none-too-popular outside his clique of other nerds, gets to get up and kick societies ass. You suddenly are put in a murder simulator against bodybuilding jocks dressed as soldiers. Many guys dream of punching people out who put them down, and most girls decide to try and befriend them, for some unknown reason (yes, generalizations, but bear with me, as a good portion of each gender falls into it enough to make it valid).

Firstly, you: an MIT graduate who already actively engages with peoepl outside his stereotype meet more people fighting for their lives and gets along with them? That just sounds like any action movie ever made.

On top of climbing the social ladder by force, there is suddenly a hot girl interested in you. I don't see how she's all that hot, but I've heard some creepy shit like boys wanting to do her or marry her. Oho! Suddenly the lonely guy becoming suddenly "alpha male" fantasy is fulfilled on both fronts!

Your not alpha male, most people assume you are long dead, and its actually human nature for people constantly fighting for their lives to find companionship with eachother.

On top of it all, both series are insanely popular with rabid fanboys and girls. They flame, kick, scratch, and scream to defend their chosen idol.

Now, I submit to you once again that Half life is the "Twilight" of gamers. Thoughts?

Actually your describing fanboys/fangirls. They exist in everything. I could submit the exact same theory for something like Halo. What makes Twilight scary is the honestly dangerous subtexts throughout the series.

This is trash at best, your theory has little to no evidence and depends entirely on false assumptions.

 

[ranger19]

Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree. Have you seen MovieBob's reviews of Twilight? I'm too lazy to link you to them, but they're from a series of videos on the escapist ("Escape to the Movies"). He also goes into detail in a column called Intermission. The main idea: yes, Twilight does fulfill many of the same fantasies for girls that video games and movies have been fulfilling for guys for years, but even taking that into consideration, they are still objectively poorly made.

Anyway, maybe from strictly a story perspective, you could be right. I don't know; I haven't played through the Half Life series enough to be sure one way or another. But the thing is that the Half-Life series isn't lauded, cherished, and loved for its story. It's held with such high regard because of its superb design, level and otherwise. Twilight has no such extra dimension of gameplay. Twilight has no such redeeming values.

A guilty pleasure game with no redeeming qualities that fulfills male fantasies? Try those Leisure Suit Larry games. That sounds about on the right level.

 

[migo]

The difference is that Half Life 1 and 2 both introduced many dynamic and original concepts and mechanics into the medium, completely changing it forever.

Twilight is just another vampire love story.

Eh, Half Life fine tuned first person shooters, but compared to Deus Ex which came out just a bit later it was pretty stale. I'd disagree with changing it forever, whatever game it was that introduced regenerating health did that (Halo?). Modern FPS games hardly look anything like the ones from around 1999.

 

[Rakkana]

Have you played half life? Have you read/seen twilight?

If no to one of the above you shouldn't be making such an opinion.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I say, good sir you really are quite mad. Half Life brought a new package of gaming mechanics that many other dev teams use today including the Havoc Engine. Twilight is just another silly and stupid love story about a pretentious airhead of a woman who manipulates the people around her to try and get with a man who won't even touch her unless they marry.

 

[Mr Companion]

You could say all that, or you could say people like the series because it focuses on introducing story through gameplay.
Another reason people like it is because of the fun, smooth gameplay the clever pacing the facinating sci-fi setting the lovable characters and the exellent sound and visual design.

In fact considering all that I think if you get right down to it men like the half life series because its really well made, not because it stimulates some sort of Freudian male fantasy. I really hate theory's like that, stupid chin strokey intellectual type gatbage that tries to over complicate the thought process behind peoples actions.

 

[Iron Mal]

I believe the OP has a point, let's face facts, Half Life (Half Life 2 more specifically) does pander to a 'nerdy' audience.

well I supppose you forgot to mention the part where gordan Freeman is a slave to Gman's whim, Gman's motive any why he does this to him still remains unknown however we do know that there are "higher" people than the Gman

And I'm sure that Twilight fans have their reasons for why the books are deep, interesting and meaningful to them, it's part of being a fan.

I personally thought Half Life was an alright shooter (I'll give Valve credit where credit is due) but I couldn't get into the story or characters (a lot of the former seemed to be absent from the game and a lot of the latter comprised of flat archtype characters, different from the usual 'manly man' and 'buxom chick', but still very weakly defined by a few set personality traits).

EDIT: I think most people seem to be misunderstanding what the OP is talking about, he's not making a direct comparison between the two (killing aliens is very different from emo/vampire romance) but was more saying that both have an effect of wish fufillment for the audience through use of a blank, generic protaganist (teenage girls like the idea of a vampire boyfriend (I'm assuming), and nerdy guys like the idea of being a revolutionary hero who saves the world, is idolised and adored by many and even has a attractive/smart chick who's into them because they're so great (again, I'm assuming)).

 

[HotFezz8]

i like how you say "On top of it all, both series are insanely popular with rabid fanboys and girls. They flame, kick, scratch, and scream to defend their chosen idol" then hope for no flaming or trolling LOL

 

[Deleted]

The difference is that Half Life 1 and 2 both introduced many dynamic and original concepts and mechanics into the medium, completely changing it forever.

Twilight is just another vampire love story.

This is true, Half-Life was a great puzzle adventure game with some FPS mixed in. But whether or not its good now is opinion, you can tell who the "chic gamers" are if they think Half Life rocks even if they first played it well after its time.

Goddamn I'm reading the thread and some of you are really mad. (not the guy I quoted). He isn't shitting on your precious game so calm down. If you can't say anything negative about a game you love, chances are you're fanboying over the game and that's a bad thing.

 

[Megacherv]

I...erm...I...well...these points actually make a bit of sense...

 

[The Procrastinated End]

Isn't the reason for Twilight being hated the awful writing, story, characters, and overall existence?

 

[Snowalker]

Snip.

You know, this made my day. I'm not a Half-Life fan, nor a Twilight fan, but its nice to see when some who is completely talking out their ass gets owned by simple logic. Thanks.

 

[Fernj]

I registered here because I was completely shocked of this enourmous display of complete idiocy and twisting of facts by the original poster.

I absolutely love how he completely disregarded the first game in the series or anything to do with it, and in every other corner how he twisted the facts because of some unexplained hatred he has towards the Half Life series.

No one can be this stupid.

 

[Angerwing]

Firstly this method of storytelling dates back to ancient Greece, its called using a Tabula Rasa (blank slate, a term used when refering to childhood development theory). Its been used countless times in many forms of medium. This is nothing new.

This, thankyou. This is really the only legitimate answer to this thread that both refutes the OP and actually is playing by his rules.

To fanboys: stop saying "But Half-life is good and Twilight is shit." We get it. The OP gets it. He never pretended otherwise. He just stated some striking similarities. It's just that as the fellow I quoted shows us, this isn't that rare.

EG:

I say, good sir you really are quite mad. Half Life brought a new package of gaming mechanics that many other dev teams use today including the Havoc Engine. Twilight is just another silly and stupid love story about a pretentious airhead of a woman who manipulates the people around her to try and get with a man who won't even touch her unless they marry.

This is completely irrelevant to what the OP was saying.

 

[Apathetic Flamingo]

Not really, because Half Life is actually GOOD.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I'm sure Twilight is just a retelling of Meyer's experience when she accidentally stumbled upon a WoD LARP session.