Nice try, but there's too much fallacy in your argument. Every problem has been described perfectly by kingcom.
Half Life = Gamer's "Twilight"
- Thread starter Shru1kan
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That pretty much applies to 99% of anything that comes out of Hollywood or the game industry. Next you're going to tell us both have characters, areas and props too.Shru1kan said:
I cannot comment much on twilight, but
No, it doesn't. We don't asume anything about Gordon, because there's almost nothing to go on.
He's just a toon to shoot aliens with.
It's a FPS. You get to shoot people in almost every shooter and the targets aren't usually women. You're looking for things that aren't there.
They introduced a female fighter only in the sequel, HL2. She's not hot like you said yourself. If HL were a male fantasy there'd be atleast a dozen hot women in bikinis.
Rediculous.
TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I believe is the only apt explanation for this.HotFezz8 said: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
I think KingCom pretty much said it all. Your comparisons are pretty minor in all honesty, and could be applied to huge swathes of fiction if you tried hard enough. A pretty common archetype of all action/adventure/fantasy/sci-fi novels is a protagonist without much defining character, who goes from nobody to messiah before the story is up.
Your presumed nerd meets hottie stereotype is also way off the mark. Freeman obviously has to be some kind of geek to begin with, but he's obviously thought of as young and dynamic among his peers, and Alyx doesn't seem to have much of a selection, living in a bunker with the human race decimated. Of course she's going to shack up with the toughest, smartest and generally most exciting guy left around.
You also should recognise that there's a vein of ironic humour running through Half-Life, that this is an MIT grad saving the universe. One of the reasons Twilight gets such a panning is its misplaced sense of grandeur.
Your presumed nerd meets hottie stereotype is also way off the mark. Freeman obviously has to be some kind of geek to begin with, but he's obviously thought of as young and dynamic among his peers, and Alyx doesn't seem to have much of a selection, living in a bunker with the human race decimated. Of course she's going to shack up with the toughest, smartest and generally most exciting guy left around.
You also should recognise that there's a vein of ironic humour running through Half-Life, that this is an MIT grad saving the universe. One of the reasons Twilight gets such a panning is its misplaced sense of grandeur.
Yeeeeah....Shru1kan said:
Get back to me when Half-Life fans initiate violence against people who dislike the game, or seperate into 'Team Gordon' and 'Team The Other Guy' (Yeah, I never really played more than a few hours) and have bitter, whiny feuds about it.
Pretty much all I hear about the Half-Life series these days is "Where the fuck is episode 3?!". There has been a distinct lack of people worshipping the series as a god.
although i agree, it's pretty easy to put this onto any other large gaming franchise
in fact, i'd say the cod series is far more fitting as the "gamer's twilight". it basically fills all the roles of the OP, and almost every girl hates cod, while almost every guy hates twilight.
it also fits because every guy out there has always had fantasies of killing another human being, and girls have had fantasies of having some 'irresistable man' being in love with them all of a sudden
that's why i think cod is more fitting than half-life for the "gamer's twilight"
in fact, i'd say the cod series is far more fitting as the "gamer's twilight". it basically fills all the roles of the OP, and almost every girl hates cod, while almost every guy hates twilight.
it also fits because every guy out there has always had fantasies of killing another human being, and girls have had fantasies of having some 'irresistable man' being in love with them all of a sudden
that's why i think cod is more fitting than half-life for the "gamer's twilight"
One could also more strongly argue that, in a purely interactive media, the blank slate protagonist approach is much more appropriate as actions are actually dictated by the person in control. Personally, I don't like the blank slate approach. It improves immersion but weakens the protagonist, who could be argued as being most important.
The comparison is relatively apt but falls short. The scope and threat situation differs between an angsty high-school situation and an actual war between multiple races. The whole, "nerd involved in social uprising against jock-like people," seems to belittle the quality of story-telling by boiling it down to a brutal simplicity. Twilight already sits in the simplicity of, "awkward girl becomes popular," without being dumbed down.
Although a crossover would be interesting. Bella falls in love with a black headcrab zombie
The comparison is relatively apt but falls short. The scope and threat situation differs between an angsty high-school situation and an actual war between multiple races. The whole, "nerd involved in social uprising against jock-like people," seems to belittle the quality of story-telling by boiling it down to a brutal simplicity. Twilight already sits in the simplicity of, "awkward girl becomes popular," without being dumbed down.
Although a crossover would be interesting. Bella falls in love with a black headcrab zombie
You pointed out a few similarities but most of it just seemed like you were digging for reasons that didn't make much sense.
The big similarity is that the protagonists are two dimensional, letting you put yourself in their shoes, but that's where they split.
- Half Life has a deep storyline with a unique way of storytelling that puts a lot of things up for speculation, ready for it all to be concluded and tied together.
- Twilight is just two dimensional through and through, the characters, the plot, everything.
The big similarity is that the protagonists are two dimensional, letting you put yourself in their shoes, but that's where they split.
- Half Life has a deep storyline with a unique way of storytelling that puts a lot of things up for speculation, ready for it all to be concluded and tied together.
- Twilight is just two dimensional through and through, the characters, the plot, everything.
so your main point is that both act as a medium for the audience to fulfill secret desires/hopes that wont/may not happen in real life? well....um ok, welcome to the world this is what most games aspire to, connecting to the target audience on a personal level.... am i missing another point here?
You lost me after you started calling me a nerd.
But I strangely agreed with everything before that.
But I strangely agreed with everything before that.
If you're just pointing out tiny similarities in the way that both series try to make YOU the protagonist, then there's really no discussion value here. You can point out the similarities in anything, if you look hard enough. For example, Spiderman = Batman because they're both superheroes with dead parents! But we all know they're almost entirely un-like each other, so why should we care if there's a single similarity?Shru1kan said:
kingcom said:
Alright, now for this post.
Tabula Rasa is a well-used medium indeed. However, the simple fact of its widespread popularity and reverence by gamers (much like the reverence of the Twilight Saga with naive teen girls) makes them two comparable examples. One could not compare an obscure work with the use of a Tabula Rasa to a very popular one, as the impact would fall extremely short. Suddenly if I spouted obscure references and made very specific points, it would be lessening the impact further. If I used "The Illiad" for my book, and "I wanna be the guy" for my game and made very symbolic metaphors, it would go one of two ways. One, it would be seen as genius and deep for my insight, or I would be seen as raving mad. However, both being niche media, it could work. With a huge target audience, more generalizations must be made.
The guard is a co-worker. This means that he must like his job, and must like the people in the facility. He therefore will befriend people in the facility, or just live a lonely life of hatred watching people he hates go through gates without a word to them. I do believe that puts him in the clique. And honestly, if you had no idea about science and you were introduced to Gordon with the pretext of him being young and dynamic, would you give a shit? You aren't in his group, you can't understand much beyond the pretext, therefore he wouldn't gain any pleasure in associating with you if you don't understand or appreciate what he has dedicated his life to.
I can't say that's been my experience. When I tell people I didn't like it, and stopped playing after an hour or so, they don't usually care.Shru1kan said:
Sorry Shru1kan, even though I can see your point, I have to say your being rather general about it. If you were to take a list of games/movies/books where you start out as a social reject who relates to it's target audience, rise to success and fulfill the character's (and subsequently your) fantasy while gaining the attention of a member of the opposite (or desired) sex you would have a long list.
If you could find a few more points to back you up, you would have my vote, but sadly you only have three points and since this isn't an english class essay its not enough points to win me over.
It did make for an interesting read though.
If you could find a few more points to back you up, you would have my vote, but sadly you only have three points and since this isn't an english class essay its not enough points to win me over.
It did make for an interesting read though.
