Leaked Skyrim Manual Reveals "Hirelings"

[Dogstile]

I don't know if you'd call be mean or bleeding-heart but:

If you are going to have slaves in your game, then actually call them slaves!

I won't stand for any of these "hireling" euphemisms. The worst crimes in history have been dressed up with such euphemisms, they are far deadlier than swear words like the N-word. Euphemisms like "The Final Solution".

Risky as fuck, but if you played it right and used hirelings as a commentary on the evils of slavery then I think that just might work.

*facepalm*

Way to jump the gun. Didn't you read the article? You're hiring people from places like taverns, not buying slaves. If anything, a more appropriate term would be "mercenaries."

I don't know, if they're anything like Diablo hirelings: those are slaves, man.

Seriously, the amount you pay them for the amount of shit you put them through, it's clear the money went to their owner and you have some power over them to be their master.

I don't know if it was intentional or not. But that's the way it came across

See following someone into HELL ITSELF and they don't get a cut of your loot? I mean was that part of the agreement for the small sum of money they were "hired" for? So the deal has been altered, will it be altered any further?

As a mercenary/patsy mechanic it failed, because no mercenary would work for such measly sums compare to the amount of gold and loot they have to carry. Really it should have been a partnership with agreement to share conquests OR do the other way and have an actual slave and leave the moral decision with the player on what is the right thing to do.

Mercenaries are one job, entities, or they are paid a steady rate of something so valuable they couldn't just find on their conquest with you... also they are free to leave any time they please, like when they want to spend some of their money in a Brothel.

Well, see, that would work perfectly fine, if this was a merc sim. However, this is at heart a pretty damn casual RPG and people don't want to deal with that, so we just assume the mercs are content with whatever job they're doing.

The only time it becomes slavery is when you stop paying /THEM/. If you're paying someone else, then fine, slavery, but if you're paying them and they're willing to put up with the shit you put them through, which they are considering the game, then its not slavery.

 

[Mike Kayatta]

I don't know if you'd call be mean or bleeding-heart but:

If you are going to have slaves in your game, then actually call them slaves!

I won't stand for any of these "hireling" euphemisms. The worst crimes in history have been dressed up with such euphemisms, they are far deadlier than swear words like the N-word. Euphemisms like "The Final Solution".

Risky as fuck, but if you played it right and used hirelings as a commentary on the evils of slavery then I think that just might work.

*facepalm*

Way to jump the gun. Didn't you read the article? You're hiring people from places like taverns, not buying slaves. If anything, a more appropriate term would be "mercenaries."

I don't know, if they're anything like Diablo hirelings: those are slaves, man.

Seriously, the amount you pay them for the amount of shit you put them through, it's clear the money went to their owner and you have some power over them to be their master.

I don't know if it was intentional or not. But that's the way it came across

See following someone into HELL ITSELF and they don't get a cut of your loot? I mean was that part of the agreement for the small sum of money they were "hired" for? So the deal has been altered, will it be altered any further?


As a mercenary/patsy mechanic it failed, because no mercenary would work for such measly sums compare to the amount of gold and loot they have to carry. Really it should have been a partnership with agreement to share conquests OR do the other way and have an actual slave and leave the moral decision with the player on what is the right thing to do.

Mercenaries are one job, entities, or they are paid a steady rate of something so valuable they couldn't just find on their conquest with you... also they are free to leave any time they please, like when they want to spend some of their money in a Brothel.

I'm really having difficulty deciding whether or not you're trolling. Are you honestly, A) comparing the use of a terrible name for in-game mercenaries to a real life attempt of promoting human slavery, and B) arguing that for the amount of fake money these fake people are fake paid (which no one evens knows yet, by the way) for the fake work they do for fake you is somehow socially unjust on a cosmic scale?

 

[Treblaine]

I don't know if you'd call be mean or bleeding-heart but:

If you are going to have slaves in your game, then actually call them slaves!

I won't stand for any of these "hireling" euphemisms. The worst crimes in history have been dressed up with such euphemisms, they are far deadlier than swear words like the N-word. Euphemisms like "The Final Solution".

Risky as fuck, but if you played it right and used hirelings as a commentary on the evils of slavery then I think that just might work.

Did someone watch a certain program with Stephen Fry yesterday?

OT: I need to catch up on Skyrim, now that I finally own a platform that I can play it on!

Yes. And worse than that, I subscribe to his twitter feed (for shame!).

Now all of a sudden I want to make a Swords and Sorcery (or Guns and Geiger-counter) style RPG where slaves are a major element of the economy, say a Fallout type universe they are controlled by a collar that shocks them for compliance and I can detonate as an extreme measure.

Now that is a moral choice, you can free your slave but will he kill you? Or can you earn his trust again? Is it possible you could form an equal partnership? Or would it be better to continue to be a brutal bastard and make your slave utterly loyal even emotionally dependant on you?

I'd like it to be like Bioshock's moral choice of infanticide/rescue for ADAM... only a bit more variable in the outcomes.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

I wish I could recieve leaked information along with my Sunday Comics...

 

[Hitchmeister]

The fact that there was a leak is slightly less astounding than the news that there is a manual. I thought those had gone the way of the dodo. We're expected to read a book to play a computer game? Bizarre.

 

[Treblaine]

Well, see, that would work perfectly fine, if this was a merc sim. However, this is at heart a pretty damn casual RPG and people don't want to deal with that, so we just assume the mercs are content with whatever job they're doing.

The only time it becomes slavery is when you stop paying /THEM/. If you're paying someone else, then fine, slavery, but if you're paying them and they're willing to put up with the shit you put them through, which they are considering the game, then its not slavery.

I hate to nit-pick, but it just seem like the money goes straight to their former owner. But I suppose as long as technically the money is going straight to the individual "Hireling" then they are "free" though they do show remarkable loyalty following you anywhere far "above their pay grade".

 

[Treblaine]

I'm really having difficulty deciding whether or not you're trolling. Are you honestly, A) comparing the use of a terrible name for in-game mercenaries to a real life attempt of promoting human slavery, and B) arguing that for the amount of fake money these fake people are fake paid (which no one evens knows yet, by the way) for the fake work they do for fake you is somehow socially unjust on a cosmic scale?

I want to make this absolutely clear, I have active on this site for over 3 years, with over 6 thousand posts: I am not in the trolling game.

Though that's not to say I am no fool, I may have jumped the gun a but, but Hirelings really do remind me of slaves and I can't help but remember reading a variation of Robinson Crusoe as a kid thinking this guy was pretty cool surviving on this desert island. Then when a black guy was stranded on the island with him, did me make a friend to stave off madness? No, he made the black man his slave/servant and named him after the day of the week he found him.

That hit me hard as a kid. And I never really understood it, why he would do that. HOW he could do that. I know he's a fictional character but then again slavery was so common back then. I guess I never had White Guilt, more White Confusion. I am genuinely intrigued to get inside the mind of the slaver, what is their thought process what leads to it. They're obviously wrong, I'm not looking for excuses, I'm looking for a motive. We've done as much to look into other atrocities of history like the Holocaust, I want to explore what can lead to someone committing the ultimate crime against freedom.

And hirelings, they just intrigue me as a concept. Because for the first time you are getting a look, just a hint of, that mindset that has been all but extinct for 150 years.

And I suppose you wouldn't like it, being accused of being a slaver. And I'll concede that, Hirelings don't seem to quite fit the profile (though the fact that they use that odd neologism, for what purpose) but it's and interesting thought. In what ways ARE they like a slave?

 

[Dogstile]

Well, see, that would work perfectly fine, if this was a merc sim. However, this is at heart a pretty damn casual RPG and people don't want to deal with that, so we just assume the mercs are content with whatever job they're doing.

The only time it becomes slavery is when you stop paying /THEM/. If you're paying someone else, then fine, slavery, but if you're paying them and they're willing to put up with the shit you put them through, which they are considering the game, then its not slavery.

I hate to nit-pick, but it just seem like the money goes straight to their former owner. But I suppose as long as technically the money is going straight to the individual "Hireling" then they are "free" though they do show remarkable loyalty following you anywhere far "above their pay grade".

I consider loyalty a game limitation myself. Nothing more, Shogun had a decent attempt at it and loyalty was still borked.

 

[TitanAtlas]

Am i the only one that is curious about the last picture with the "Dumb blonde Joke"?...

That's exactly what I thought. I reckon anyone with enough patience can probably find the comic strip online and put you out of your misery! (not that you're in misery...)

Is this deliberate leaking or is this someone going to get into a load of trouble?

I remember what happened to an intern who leaked the line up to a major festival once. She never got hired by any other company in the industry. It was like total black list

Oh sarcasm, how i love you

So usefull to use many combinations of words just to call someone stupid withouth them ever realising... And you're marvellous in using it

 

[carpathic]

OMG: And yes, even the manual confirms it, the Elder Scrolls' dreaded "encumbrance" is back in full effect for those of you who just can't leave that second Daedric Claymore behind.

Again? Now I have to buy pc version so that I can use god mode to get back to town with my full backpack.

I might NEED that claymore at somepoint.

 

[JMeganSnow]

OMG it's RISEN!!! I mean GOTHIC!!!!!!

 

[silasbufu]

Cooking, huh? That sounds intense

 

[Mr.FrigginMarvelous]

No need to cook. I just want to steal sweet rolls from children.

 

[Denamic]

Yeah, "leaked".
Poor Skyrim indeed.
With all this free PR, they won't have enough stock to supply everyone who wants a physical copy!
I'm sure they're suffering.

 

[Ghengis John]

Well that's all well and good but do the hirelings have any personalities?

 

[thiosk]

The IMPORTANT question is, can I decorate my house with skulls?

I WANT TO DECORATE MY HOUSE WITH SKULLS

 

[Jezzascmezza]

Aren't the hirelings basically just like companions from the Fallout games?
Except you have to pay for them?

 

[Bravo 21]

Not being able to carry several hundred kilos of random gear? but what if my archer feels a sudden need to put on several sets of full plate, simultaneously, of course, and wield 2 claymores, a warhammer, and a battleaxe? or at least carry them all back to the nearest town.

 

[SmugFrog]

I hate to nit-pick, but it just seem like the money goes straight to their former owner. But I suppose as long as technically the money is going straight to the individual "Hireling" then they are "free" though they do show remarkable loyalty following you anywhere far "above their pay grade".

Have you played Morrowind? That game actually dealt with slavery. I hope you're picking this up on PC - no doubt there will be a mod where you can fix it up to your liking and call it whatever you want.

I've always thought it would be better when hiring mercenaries to have a "payment" system; you continually pay them to keep them or something like that. At some point though, gameplay has to take precedence over realism. If they were going crazy taking everything and looting stuff the player wants, the player is going to resent "hirelings".

I read an article a few years ago about creating the perfect FPS military shooter. One of the devs said, "You don't want to make a game that's so realistic that the player gets shot in the gut and they lay there dying in pain on the battlefield for hours - that is not anyone's idea of fun." So sometimes realism has to take a backseat to gameplay, you know?

If you've never played TES games on PC, then I highly recommend you check out TESnexus.com and the amount of modifications available for Morrowind and Oblivion. A lot of people mistakenly assume the mods are just cheats - but they are what you make of it.

 

[warprincenataku]

Did anyone notice the joke at the bottom of one of the pics?

What did the blonde get on her A.C.T.?
Nail Polish