Why We Love Zombies

Yahtzee Croshaw

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Aug 8, 2007
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Why We Love Zombies

Yahtzee's got four good reasons why we love any book, movie or game that has zombies in it.

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The Critic

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Apr 3, 2010
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Very interesting points. Number 1 and 2,especially, actually make enough sense to seem unsettling. I'm in agreement.

Even though you might be projecting (just a bit), deep down, human beings do indeed despise eachother on some level or another. Good point with that one.
 

Jabberwock xeno

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"no one really knows what happens after death. The only thing we do know is that the concept of an afterlife, any afterlife, even the hot fiery ones, holds more appeal than the notion that our consciousness will simply cease to be."

Never knew you felt that way yahtzee, so do I.
 

fozzy360

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Oct 20, 2009
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I totally agree with all points, but number four sticks out to me the most. We're so obsessed with what might happen when everything comes to end (myself included). We find the subject fascinating because we imagine ourselves in these situations and being able to survive when everybody else has fallen. We project ourselves into these situations because we want to feel and believe that we are survivors or masters of our own fate. It's an attractive idea, and adding zombies to that mix, where we can act out our homocidal tendencies without much consequence, makes it more interesting. Good article.
 

Clunks

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Apr 21, 2010
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I hate number 3. I don't disagree with it, I just hate it. A lot of horror comes from this aspect of the subconscious - that it's comforting to think that some sort of life exists after death. But I don't think horror should be comforting at all. I think it should make you feel like everything is fucked, especially you.
 

Razgrizaces

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Ooh, an article about zombies. :D

I agree with all those points he brought up on why we love zombies. We all despise somebody in our lifetimes, and we have to bring it out on somebody. Aliens are too technologically advanced and sometimes annoying. We can't kill our own species, we'll get thrown in a jail. We want to be able to kill things without consequences. Zombies are a great way to think about releasing our anger and hatred.(even if it is frustrating when you get to a high level and the enemy just hits you twice and brings you down)

Good article, Yahtzee! Look forward to whatever review you post tomorrow! :D
 

repeating integers

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I disagree, on the grounds that I don't usually like Zombies. I find them bland and overdone. Why can't we have a more original horror villain for once? Why can't there be more along the lines of Chaos, from Warhammer 40k (and yes, I know Gw copied the Chaos idea from some book, but it's still more original than Zombies - and you can be very creative with it, as Dan Abnett never fails to demonstrate). Shambling hordes of groaning zombies rarely inspire any emotion other than boredom in me (the "rarely" bit added in due to Ravenholm, though even that scared me more because of the atmosphere than the "OH GOD HELP ME in reverse" zombies).
 

Doomcat

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Clunks said:
I hate number 3. I don't disagree with it, I just hate it. A lot of horror comes from this aspect of the subconscious - that it's comforting to think that some sort of life exists after death. But I don't think horror should be comforting at all. I think it should make you feel like everything is fucked, especially you.
Yes, but at the same time i think that its true, think about it. Would you rather simply stop, blackness, nothing, after death? Or would the notion that something resides that can be horrifically and monstrously woken up is in you?

Really i think number 2 is the main reason people like zombies though, i mean, look at Left 4 Dead.
 

Windexglow

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I'm making a zombie survival during the 1800s with Unity. One of the things I've loved about zombie survivals are
A: Simple enemy. It needs no backstory. It's like an animal yet human. It does not try to hide or run away. It's goal is simple : To kill you. They are not invading. They have nothing to protect.
B: Dread. a zombie can die, but what effect are you really having aside from postponing the inevitable? Humans are often hopelessly outnumbered.
C: Random. They can be in swarms or small pecks, they aren't consistent and can be hard to plan.
D: Swarms. Zombie AI isn't as complex as a soldiers would be - this allows a larger amount of zombies to be against the player. This is refreshing after fighting only 3-4 enemies at a time in every game.
 

Lord_Gremlin

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I still prefer living killing humans in games. Some rich capitalist dicks preferably. Zombies.. They're usual, boring. However all those points Yahtzee made have been there from the first zombie-themed games.
Of course one can add some spice to a zombie game to make it less drab... L4D2 for example uses special infected and VS mode = sentient super-zombies. Dead Space use a very unique setting.

I gonna try Dead Nation soon to see what they have to offer. Looks like this one use RPG-style progression...

As for the afterlife, so far it seems that our consciousness don't continue to exist after death, yet it's not all clear what exactly happens with those recent experiments showing loss of mass and energy emission in the moment of death.

And what's damn important about zombies, games and realism is that dead muscles CAN'T function. Because the protein responsible denaturated and is no longer functional. But hey, there are walking skeletons in videogames, who am I to complain.
 

SimpleReally

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Do you read cracked? your writing style in those last 2 points seems very similar to a certain cracked writer. I doubt it's intentional though
 
Feb 13, 2008
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May I postulate number 5?

5. The first thing we do is kill all lawyers.

See, the world today sucks. It may suck more or less than it used to, but it does suck. When, historically, didn't it suck? During wars.

Yeah, sure, there was always the chance of getting bitten or blown apart or crushed; but that's there every day. Perhaps not as much, but it's still there.

Yeah, and also there's less stuff. But that's a good thing sometimes. If you're stressing about the exam coming up tomorrow, then the apocalypse will sort that out. Worried between buying games on the Xbox or PS3? Don't. You can't during an Apocalypse.

Your life is one long workday of running from one safe house to the other, but guess what? That's all it is. Gone are the worries of whether Alfie really loves Peggy, what you're going to have for dinner, whether Fox were right to cancel Firefly. And that guy down the street who winked at your girlfriend? He's alongside you blowing holes in the undead. And her. But she's a zombie. And her mother never did like you.

It's a simple, less brutal life. Living on the edge, safe in the knowledge that you're not only the counter culture, but the culture itself.

And anyway, Zombies are pansies. Not as bad as Triffids or something really scary.