Big-Cat
Challenge accepted.
DISCLAIMER: This post deals with some very heavy spoilers from Metroid Other M. If you have not beaten or seen the game's cutscenes online, I strongly recommend leaving this thread unless you don't mind being spoiled. Also, I would've posted this in the User Blogs forum, but we all know how that's working right now.
Despite the positive reception of videogames like Wii Sports, videogames are only looked as as merely games. As such, people don't typically think about how realistic something is outside of gameplay and graphics. This can either be applied to how characters behave in their context (story) or the idea that you have to practice with a game in order to be really good a videogame. These are two examples of realism that aren't quite widely accepted in videogames. This leads to my two main examples of this struggle for acceptance: Metroid Other M and fighting games.
Metroid Other M has been a rather polarizing game for varying reasons, be it the portrayal of Samus, the weapons authorization, or the game be ing more linear than a number of other Metroid games. The most controversial aspect, however, is a cutscene. The cutscene in question deals with Samus being confronted by Ridley and being absolutely terrified of him despite that she had defeated him a number of times (varies on whether you consider the Prime trilogy canon or not) in the past. Some people have come to consider this sexist, out of character, or whatever. While I think that a lot of these perceptions are heavily flawed, I will discuss whether this was a realistic scene, given the context.
When I had first seen this scene prior to the release date, I didn't find anything wrong with this scene. Samus had defeated Ridley and any chance of him NOT being cybernetic was extremely low, if not impossible, as Ridley was on Zebes, the same planet that blew up in Super Metroid. It's pretty tough to come back after your body has been destroyed in a planetary explosion. As such, Samus must been terrified with the idea that not even a planet's explosion could kill her arch nemesis. While I consider this to be a valid interpretation, there is another one that has a lot more support behind it: That Samus was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The following article goes into depth with this interpretation: http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/81909/ptsd-or-weakness-real-experts-on-why-samus-didnt-shoot/
My next topic deals with the idea of practicing to be good at fighting games. A big stink I tend to see on forums is that people don't like the idea of having to learn how to play so you can win tournaments. What a lot of people don't realize is that you have to go into these games and tell yourself, "I suck." This is the same thing you need to realize when you learn any sport. You're not going to be as good as Michael Jordan the first time you play. Why should you be as good as Daigo or M2K when you start out? I believe this view has actually affected this community. You could say that all the changes to Brawl were a result of this widespread belief, but that's for another discussion.
When do you think these and other aspects of videogames will be better accepted? I think it would happen once we finally get out of the Animation Age Ghetto.
I just wrote this because I wanted to get it out of my head.
Despite the positive reception of videogames like Wii Sports, videogames are only looked as as merely games. As such, people don't typically think about how realistic something is outside of gameplay and graphics. This can either be applied to how characters behave in their context (story) or the idea that you have to practice with a game in order to be really good a videogame. These are two examples of realism that aren't quite widely accepted in videogames. This leads to my two main examples of this struggle for acceptance: Metroid Other M and fighting games.
Metroid Other M has been a rather polarizing game for varying reasons, be it the portrayal of Samus, the weapons authorization, or the game be ing more linear than a number of other Metroid games. The most controversial aspect, however, is a cutscene. The cutscene in question deals with Samus being confronted by Ridley and being absolutely terrified of him despite that she had defeated him a number of times (varies on whether you consider the Prime trilogy canon or not) in the past. Some people have come to consider this sexist, out of character, or whatever. While I think that a lot of these perceptions are heavily flawed, I will discuss whether this was a realistic scene, given the context.
When I had first seen this scene prior to the release date, I didn't find anything wrong with this scene. Samus had defeated Ridley and any chance of him NOT being cybernetic was extremely low, if not impossible, as Ridley was on Zebes, the same planet that blew up in Super Metroid. It's pretty tough to come back after your body has been destroyed in a planetary explosion. As such, Samus must been terrified with the idea that not even a planet's explosion could kill her arch nemesis. While I consider this to be a valid interpretation, there is another one that has a lot more support behind it: That Samus was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The following article goes into depth with this interpretation: http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/81909/ptsd-or-weakness-real-experts-on-why-samus-didnt-shoot/
My next topic deals with the idea of practicing to be good at fighting games. A big stink I tend to see on forums is that people don't like the idea of having to learn how to play so you can win tournaments. What a lot of people don't realize is that you have to go into these games and tell yourself, "I suck." This is the same thing you need to realize when you learn any sport. You're not going to be as good as Michael Jordan the first time you play. Why should you be as good as Daigo or M2K when you start out? I believe this view has actually affected this community. You could say that all the changes to Brawl were a result of this widespread belief, but that's for another discussion.
When do you think these and other aspects of videogames will be better accepted? I think it would happen once we finally get out of the Animation Age Ghetto.
I just wrote this because I wanted to get it out of my head.
