Science fiction has been an almost compulsive love of mine for most of my whole life and never had I asked myself the question of why. I assumed that it was just "one of things" and while it may have begun that way I think I've discovered it's become more then that, it's now an important part of who I am today. Science fiction is such a broad genre that it was a gateway in to not only the fantastical but also the philosophical.
Science fiction ranges from the fun and action packed (Retribution Falls - novel), the sweet and child friendly (Wall-E - film), philosophical (The Matrix - film), dystopian (Fallout - game), adventurous (Firefly - TV), to the prolific (Nineteen Eighty Four- novel). As shown the genre is broad in its reach and type of story but what the best science fiction can, and should do, is make you think about who we are and the world we're in.
While all stories typically should have this ability this particular genre has an interesting trait that can help in this. It takes place in our future (or close enough, Star Wars uses a simple and playful phrase at it's beginning to make wonder and question what we're about to see). While not all use this trait the ones that take this path have the advantage of placing where our world is right now in direct comparison to where it might be headed. And with this makes us consider if our actions today can lead to the futures we are shown and if so, do we want that?
The Matrix takes place in a future where our own creation, machines with artificial intelligence have defeated us in war and humans exist as living batteries. The few who are free fight for freedom of the rest. The Fallout series is an alternative future where nuclear war breaks out over non-renewable resources and almost everything is wiped out and all that's left is a wasteland with few barely surviving people. A place where if the environment doesn't kill you, some one probably will. In Nineteen Eighty Four there exists a perpetual war and people have all their freedoms, including their own private thoughts, watched by the all seeing Big Brother. We follow one man's struggle to come to terms with his wants and desires in a world where these very things are seen as treason.
These three examples are borne directly from concerns we have today. Artificial intelligence, consumption of non-renewable resources, nuclear warfare, governmental control reaching our very thoughts. It may take place in a not knowable future, a far away planet, even have a nonhuman protagonist but these are all still a reaction to the very things happening around us. Science fiction, when done right, is a commentary on today. It makes us think because in itself the genre is a think piece. It's a "what if" and by asking that question it opens up our minds to asking "how did we get there". It's an opening of a debate relevant to every one alive craftily veiled as simple entertainment.
Science fiction to me can be a lot of fun. I enjoy its idiosyncrasy, it's extremeness, it's style. The very things that may put off many others. This is a shame because the genre led me to something special, perhaps profound. It led me to asking a question that once asked leads to so many more. A question involving "what if", "how" and ultimately, "was this the right thing?". These are personal and internal questions, ones that have never ending implications to our world because, as we discover in many of these stories, our decisions are what shape it. Our world is defined by our decisions (and the people we are) and so should perhaps take more care when we make them.
This is why I today love science fiction. It led me down the rabbit hole by asking a simple question. A question that should always be asked and weighed in equal measure against consequence and opportunity. It's these questions and values that have shaped me into a different person had I not had the opportunity to ask. A cautious and at times cynical person perhaps, but still foolishly excited to see where our future, one we craft, will take us.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Natural Selection 2: My Addiction, My Appreciation
I've obsessively been playing Natural Selection 2 for the past couple of months now. After previously writing about not liking the online part of MMO's I've decided to write about one where it's essential and largely why I'm hooked. So what is NS2?
Natural Selection 2 is a first person shooter (FPS) with real time strategy (RTS) elements. There are two teams, marines and aliens and the goal is to eliminate the enemies base (or bases). In each map you begin with a standard base and someone on each team elects to be a "commander". This commander plays the role of the RTS player and everyone else are the units who fight. Each map there are resource points you need to capture and gain more map control.
Team work in this game is key, without it you lose. It's a simple rule.You have work as a whole team and as individual groups. Covering each other, helping build buildings and protecting them, listening to commands and constantly moving forward trying to secure more ground. If you venture out yourself you're most likely going to die unless you have superb aim, even then a well executed attack by a couple of enemies and even your aim won't save you. Because of this, a losing team could come back from the brink.
I've played games where the whole map is lost to us and we have only our little base to camp in and through some amazing team work, quick thinking and some luck have turned the tables completely and I've had the same happen to me while on the winning team. That thrill of coming back or the shock horror of all of a sudden be losing is exhilarating. A game is almost never set in stone makes you play smart, always be on your guard and expect anything. To me this is rare in most games. This game relies on a lot of components to gain a win (a good commander, good players, map control, constant awareness, resources, etc.) that it's hard to have the upper hand on all of those which means by the virtue of so many facets, that it's usually a more balanced competition. On the other hand, with so much to juggle it's easy to be overwhelmed.
This is the one thing I appreciate most of all from this game, the friendly community. It can take some time to understand how the game works and even longer to get good at it. I've seen many a player in a server with everything thinking "what the hell is that guy doing?" and for them to say "sorry guys, I'm new". In my experience in other games I've seen the person either be told off or ignored, in NS2 the majority of people have actually instead helped. They tell them what they're doing wrong, how to do it right and things to be aware of in between. This even happens with people new to commanding (with out a decent commander you are almost bound to lose) and people teaching them and being supportive throughout it all. It honestly makes me truly happy inside to see this considering where the community stands today.
The gaming community can be a horrendous pit filled with anger and childish behavior that seems to be endless. This is where most of me grew up, gaming is something I love and I know most in this community out there feel the same way and it hurts to see the vocal minority who have nothing but vitriol to spit being the larger voice to represent us all. There is some of this in NS2 but there is much more kindness to balance it out.
NS 2 is a small community compared to other games and maybe that's what guides it down a gentler path. There are not many of us so the more we push away the less of a chance the game we enjoy will stick around. So we try not be an ass and instead help to guide these and hopefully they'll do the same in time. That's something I can be proud to be part of.
With a high challenge, the to and fro of games and an awesome community filled with decent human beings I can't help but to constantly jump back in to a game when ever I have free time.
Duck and roll. Plan A for any situation.
Natural Selection 2 is a first person shooter (FPS) with real time strategy (RTS) elements. There are two teams, marines and aliens and the goal is to eliminate the enemies base (or bases). In each map you begin with a standard base and someone on each team elects to be a "commander". This commander plays the role of the RTS player and everyone else are the units who fight. Each map there are resource points you need to capture and gain more map control.
Team work in this game is key, without it you lose. It's a simple rule.You have work as a whole team and as individual groups. Covering each other, helping build buildings and protecting them, listening to commands and constantly moving forward trying to secure more ground. If you venture out yourself you're most likely going to die unless you have superb aim, even then a well executed attack by a couple of enemies and even your aim won't save you. Because of this, a losing team could come back from the brink.
I've played games where the whole map is lost to us and we have only our little base to camp in and through some amazing team work, quick thinking and some luck have turned the tables completely and I've had the same happen to me while on the winning team. That thrill of coming back or the shock horror of all of a sudden be losing is exhilarating. A game is almost never set in stone makes you play smart, always be on your guard and expect anything. To me this is rare in most games. This game relies on a lot of components to gain a win (a good commander, good players, map control, constant awareness, resources, etc.) that it's hard to have the upper hand on all of those which means by the virtue of so many facets, that it's usually a more balanced competition. On the other hand, with so much to juggle it's easy to be overwhelmed.
This is the one thing I appreciate most of all from this game, the friendly community. It can take some time to understand how the game works and even longer to get good at it. I've seen many a player in a server with everything thinking "what the hell is that guy doing?" and for them to say "sorry guys, I'm new". In my experience in other games I've seen the person either be told off or ignored, in NS2 the majority of people have actually instead helped. They tell them what they're doing wrong, how to do it right and things to be aware of in between. This even happens with people new to commanding (with out a decent commander you are almost bound to lose) and people teaching them and being supportive throughout it all. It honestly makes me truly happy inside to see this considering where the community stands today.
The gaming community can be a horrendous pit filled with anger and childish behavior that seems to be endless. This is where most of me grew up, gaming is something I love and I know most in this community out there feel the same way and it hurts to see the vocal minority who have nothing but vitriol to spit being the larger voice to represent us all. There is some of this in NS2 but there is much more kindness to balance it out.
NS 2 is a small community compared to other games and maybe that's what guides it down a gentler path. There are not many of us so the more we push away the less of a chance the game we enjoy will stick around. So we try not be an ass and instead help to guide these and hopefully they'll do the same in time. That's something I can be proud to be part of.
With a high challenge, the to and fro of games and an awesome community filled with decent human beings I can't help but to constantly jump back in to a game when ever I have free time.
Duck and roll. Plan A for any situation.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
MMO games and why I like to ignore the MMO part.
For the longest time I avoided MMO (massively multiplayer online) games. The idea of such a game always sounded cool to me but seeing it in practice it looked quite different to what I would have wanted out of them. I wanted a game where you could play online with your friends, go through a real narrative experience and shape the world around you. That isn't actually what these games are about.
MMO's are more focused on creating individual characters though class, race and builds specifically designed to either battle enemies, areas or other players. While these games are surrounded by history and lore they always seemed secondary to the mechanics (and what seemed to me very daunting mechanics to learn). And that isn't a game I was interested to play but I'd have to give these a go some time, as a gamer that would be an inevitability.
A few months back a friend of mine convinced me to jump into SWtoR (Star Wars of the Old Republic). This is a world I was already familiar with and a fan. I consider the game "Knights of the Old Republic" (which SWtoR is essentially a sequel to) one of my favourite games of all time. Very quickly I fell into the story and my characters place in it. It was an RPG at heart with a strong story thread to connect it all together. Leveling up with new skills and getting new gear was a plus and seemed natural to the process. I was having fun playing an MMO for the first time. And then I started to play with my friend.
My friend had already played the game and was an experienced MMO player. When I began to play with him the game completely changed for me and it was all around a slight shift of focus. The focus of the game he played was about experience. He already knew the story and was aiming at playing in as a battle group together. This works for me in games which there is no other option (such as Gears of War, Natural Selection 2) but for myself I like to take my RPGs at a slower pace. But I was no longer playing me own story, I was sharing it and that, as in any relationship (yes I'm calling playing with a friend online a relationship) takes compromise.
While my friend was more then happy to keep the game at my pace I discovered that I wasn't able to compromise on his gaming experience. I couldn't be the one to slow him down and with limited time to play together (seeing as we both have lives to a certain extent) time was at a premier. So I played at his speed, rushed through dialogue, run to exactly where we had to go for the current quest, and focused on quests with better EXP/gear benefits. And I stopped having fun.
I no longer knew what my character was doing in this world, or for that matter, what the hell was happening in this world. Yes bad guys were trying to kill the good guys and vica versa, but why did little Timmy want to death choke little Jimmy? Yes the story in these games arn't the strongest but it's why I play games and even the silly ones can work. But take that away and I'm just pressing buttons get higher numbers to press more buttons. That to me isn't as much fun and so I stopped playing.
With my experience over and some light shed on my own idiosyncrasies playing with others overall I'm grateful I played an MMO. Finding that I was correct in my original assumption that these games are not for me I also discovered that their may be another way to play them. If I only play it on my own, go at my own pace and play as if it's a single player experience. Maybe then I could learn to love the MMO.
MMO's are more focused on creating individual characters though class, race and builds specifically designed to either battle enemies, areas or other players. While these games are surrounded by history and lore they always seemed secondary to the mechanics (and what seemed to me very daunting mechanics to learn). And that isn't a game I was interested to play but I'd have to give these a go some time, as a gamer that would be an inevitability.
A few months back a friend of mine convinced me to jump into SWtoR (Star Wars of the Old Republic). This is a world I was already familiar with and a fan. I consider the game "Knights of the Old Republic" (which SWtoR is essentially a sequel to) one of my favourite games of all time. Very quickly I fell into the story and my characters place in it. It was an RPG at heart with a strong story thread to connect it all together. Leveling up with new skills and getting new gear was a plus and seemed natural to the process. I was having fun playing an MMO for the first time. And then I started to play with my friend.
My friend had already played the game and was an experienced MMO player. When I began to play with him the game completely changed for me and it was all around a slight shift of focus. The focus of the game he played was about experience. He already knew the story and was aiming at playing in as a battle group together. This works for me in games which there is no other option (such as Gears of War, Natural Selection 2) but for myself I like to take my RPGs at a slower pace. But I was no longer playing me own story, I was sharing it and that, as in any relationship (yes I'm calling playing with a friend online a relationship) takes compromise.
While my friend was more then happy to keep the game at my pace I discovered that I wasn't able to compromise on his gaming experience. I couldn't be the one to slow him down and with limited time to play together (seeing as we both have lives to a certain extent) time was at a premier. So I played at his speed, rushed through dialogue, run to exactly where we had to go for the current quest, and focused on quests with better EXP/gear benefits. And I stopped having fun.
I no longer knew what my character was doing in this world, or for that matter, what the hell was happening in this world. Yes bad guys were trying to kill the good guys and vica versa, but why did little Timmy want to death choke little Jimmy? Yes the story in these games arn't the strongest but it's why I play games and even the silly ones can work. But take that away and I'm just pressing buttons get higher numbers to press more buttons. That to me isn't as much fun and so I stopped playing.
With my experience over and some light shed on my own idiosyncrasies playing with others overall I'm grateful I played an MMO. Finding that I was correct in my original assumption that these games are not for me I also discovered that their may be another way to play them. If I only play it on my own, go at my own pace and play as if it's a single player experience. Maybe then I could learn to love the MMO.
Monday, April 16, 2012
The Death of the Old West; Red Dead Redemption
The themes of Red Dead Redemption are ones that I can't help but love. It's about the end of an era, what is just, and what is morally right. It's about sacrifice and consequence. Ultimately it's a tragedy about redemption.
The story beings with a train taking John Marston, the games protagonist, into the wild and yet untamed lands of America. Marston is a criminal, living his life as an uneducated man on the wrong side of the law. Having walked away from it all to raise a family he's now thrust back into it all by government agents to catch the leader of his former gang. The story that unfolds is John Marston's redemption and the consequences of a life already lived.
This whole breakdown will only be worth reading if you've played the game. To retell the story would take away the discovery the game offers. So do yourself a favour, play the game. For everyone else, here's is why this story worked for me.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
I was looking for love in the all the wrong places
All I was doing was checking an email when fate decided to slap me in the face. It spoke to me in hushed whispers and stated, in no uncertain terms, the one I was to marry is here, and our first chance meeting would be via an MSN chat.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Introductory Post
A post to introduce something no one will ever read. That intrigues me for some reason. I could say anything I want, from the fact I like cake to how I believe genocide of minorities is essential for the betterment of the human race. Though that wouldn't be much different then a day in my normal life. I suppose anonymity doesn't change the subjects of my random rants.
So back to introducing, this is where I will post...well random rants as stated above. Nonsensical and utterly useless. "Complete wankery" to steal a phrase. "Awesomeness" to state it in another.
So stay tuned non-existent people, for a ride of thrill and adventure. Down the deepest holes of depravity and insanity that I may be capable of. Welcome and farewell.
In hindsight I already know this was a bad idea.
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