When "Dark and Edgy" Goes Too Far

[Mahoshonen]

"dedg...whatever" is such a shitty word.

Why not just use "grimdark?" Or does that remind you too strongly of Warhammer 40k, as well as your refusal to review anything related to it because then you'd have to face the fact that it is something that was created by your countrymen and so you can't just blame it on America or Japan as usual?

 

[Balkan]

While we are at the theme WHY don`t you make a BUCKET list *smug self satistaction * ?

 

[MichaelMaverick]

dedgyark

HOW did you not say "darkgy"?

It is an utter mystery to me.

 

[Bluecho]

I don't know about you guys, but I for one will be incorporating "Dedgyark" into my normal vocabulary. Hell, I review comic books, so there'll be no shortage of opportunities to use it. Especially where the nineties are involved. *Shudder*

The problem Dedgyark faces in video games (and most mediums actually) is that 1) it's used too much too quickly so people get sick of it, and 2) it's often implemented inconsistantly. If you want a Dedgyark video game, making the gameplay be all about cartoon violence doesn't mesh with the dedgyark tone. If the tone is gritty and realistic and dark, so too should be the violence. If you're making a dedgyark comic book, it makes no sense to have characters yelling and shooting progressively larger guns, and have that be the extent of the violent content.

 

[Zom-B]

Old? 29 is old now? Poor baby. I'm about to be 37 and I certainly don't feel old. Sure, my knees pop and crackle from years of athletics and injuries, but I certainly don't feel old. Anybody whingeing about being old at twenty-fucking-eight has no idea what old is.

By the way, those opening sentences were enough for me to write off the rest of Yahtzee's article, the first time I've ever done that.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I can't figure out how to pronounce "Dedgyark", though.

D-edgy-ark.

It just sounds like awkward, though; you can't put the emphasis on so many hard consonants. Do I put the emphasis on the D, like in D'Alembert? Do I say "Dedg-yark"? Should the second 'd' be silent, so it sounds more like "Degy-ark"?

Curse you, Yahtzee! There were things I was going to do today, but now I'll spend my time trying to figure this out!

 

[wintercoat]

I can't figure out how to pronounce "Dedgyark", though.

D-edgy-ark.

It just sounds like awkward, though; you can't put the emphasis on so many hard consonants. Do I put the emphasis on the D, like in D'Alembert? Do I say "Dedg-yark"? Should the second 'd' be silent, so it sounds more like "Degy-ark"?

Curse you, Yahtzee! There were things I was going to do today, but now I'll spend my time trying to figure this out!

The 'dg' should be pronounced like in dredge. I pronounce it "de-dgy-ark". It flows rather well for a half-assed awkward combining of two words.

Also, fuck you Yahtzee, my cereal bowl is plenty dedgyark! What with the heroin addiction and the murdered family, not to mention the vow of revenge and the slowly going insane.

 

[nyysjan]

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

Most "dark and edgy" entertainment may try to be grown up, yet is very childish in it's heart, and lacks depth beyond "hey, look, entrails/boobs/entrails covered in boobs(or was it the other way around?)/a dick joke", now, i like a good tragedy now and then, pathos and misery can be very entertaining when done well, but it usually is not.
These days, i prefer a nice happy ending and intelligent story that leads there as well as likeable protagonists.

 

[Draconalis]

Happy early birthday! Cause I'll forget in two months...

 

[Angel Molina]

But if you want to challenge yourself, make a game that everyone can enjoy.

Wait... Does Minecraft count? The only group of people that automatically wouldn't like it without trying it, off the top of my head, would begraphics enthusiasts and quick-action (~CoD series) players. Other than that, its got something for everyone.

Edit:

...Warhammer 40k, as well as your refusal to review anything related to it...

Would this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9153-Hating-Warhammer-40k-and-Space-Marine] count?

Edit 2(Redemption-of-the-edit!/working title):

I think all you're trying to say is that you want a consistent tone

Pretty much. Although I imagine it is somewhat difficult to manage said consistency within a group of developers (then again, that's the job of the producer, to put together a final product). If the developers in charge of game design give you a wacky pseudo-physics fun fest and the writers hand in a serious grimdark narrative, how would one go about it?

 

[Powerman88]

Man I agree. As a 29, soon to be 30 year old I find myself not really into the whole darl/edgy thing anymore unless it is particularly well done. Around this age I find myself getting pretty jaded where all I want to do is play Minecraft, Sim City, and Civilization, and think about how much better of a person I am then anyone who plays anything COD.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Tired of all the anger, blood, guts, gore, edge, dark, nonsense, incongruity, and pointlessly obtuse violence?

There's a simple solution.

Play Journey.

 

[Eddie the head]

Shit my hair line is higher then that and I am 19. But most people in my family have a high hair line. I don't know why I commented on that it's only kind of sort of related.

 

[K4RN4GE911]

As someone older than Yahtzee - by a whole half-decade, the horror! - I have one piece of wisdom for the masses: Maturity is a texture, not a number. I've been mistaken for 40 and 15 in the same week in different situations. In some ways I'm very mature and in some I'm still not out of high school, much to my embarrassment. The trick is to try improve the spots where being 15 is a bad thing.

And yeah, the biggest market for over-the-top gory not-for-kids stuff will always be kids. It's the draw of the forbidden overcoming any desire for quality.

I can't figure out how to pronounce "Dedgyark", though.

It's that thing indigenous Australians play, isn't it?

I think it's a didgerydoo (botched spelling FTW) that you're thinking of.

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

Exactly. The whole obsession with "maturity" is fallacious. Maturity is measured by behaviors that are associated with age, and this is a purely descriptive measurement. In other words, there is nothing in the concept of 'maturity' that entails that we ought to be mature, or that maturity is a good thing. Some psychological aspects that we leave behind in childhood are no doubt 'bad' by most standards: children are often greedy and lack sympathy. But this doesn't mean that every trait that we lose through the process of maturation is a bad thing. For anyone who disagrees, I suggest you read some Wordsworth. The loss of wonderment about the world around us is the greatest tragedy of old age.

Most "dark and edgy" entertainment may try to be grown up, yet is very childish in it's heart, and lacks depth beyond "hey, look, entrails/boobs/entrails covered in boobs(or was it the other way around?)/a dick joke", now, i like a good tragedy now and then, pathos and misery can be very entertaining when done well, but it usually is not.
These days, i prefer a nice happy ending and intelligent story that leads there as well as likeable protagonists.

Agreed. The very striving to be mature is itself a symptom of immaturity. It is the child's wish to be all grown-up. It is bad because it often makes the work hollow. Often things are only "dark and edgy" for the sake of being dark and edgy.

I think the main reason for Yahtzee's malaise in response to "dedgyark" in general (aside from the incongruity of tone in TM) is that it has become so common place that it is no longer dark or edgy. We've been desensitized. Frankly I've never really had much use for overly somber works, whether they be in literature, theater, television or video games. I understand that it might be cathartic for some, but I just have too much of a tendency to see the absurdity in life. French existentialists typically crapped their pants when faced with this absurdity, whereas I find myself siding with Nietzsche in that I find it to be liberating. The "downside" is that I can hardly take anything seriously for very long. Thus I prefer dark humor to dark tragedy, but to each his own.

 

[deadish]

Well, it can't be helped.

The market has spoken, it wants dark, grim and edgy. It wants war, death and violence. [1]

The lighter and more hopeful tone that you find in games like JRPGs just isn't hitting it off with the masses anymore - part of the reason for it's decline IMO. Dark fantasy is the in-thing now. [2]

[1] I swear games like CoD, BattleField and Gears of War are "militarising" the youths of the US.

[2] Got me thinking about what astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said, that the US isn't dreaming (of a better tomorrow) anymore. From the looks of it, it doesn't even what to "escape" into "dreams of a better world". War and fighting is now the order of the day.

PS: It really saddens me that I'm actually older than Yahtzee - 30 here going to be 31 this year. I'm so used to writers of articles I read being my seniors. It just feels weird when I find out I'm older than them.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

You know, your last paragraph made me think about one way that video games are very different from movies: If an adult sees a poster for a G-rated film (by anyone other than Disney), they'll assume it's stupid kiddie crap. But there are plenty of E-rated games that they will gladly pick up and play. Maybe it's because nostalgia for the games they played as kids is such a core part of why adults play video games in the first place, whereas seeing movies is something people of all ages just do. Or maybe it's because the idea of games - not video games, but games - as innocent entertainment for all ages is so ingrained in our culture, whereas the various video game rating systems and the reasons they exist have only been around for a couple of decades. I mean, even now if you told someone that a card game or a board game isn't appropriate for kids, their first reaction is probably going to be "Why? Is it some nerdy intellectual thing?" not "Why? Is there sex and violence and swearing in it?"