Critical Miss: Doubleplusungood
- Thread starter The Wooster
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If you really need an example of why I and probably many other think that idiots are idiots because of pointless trends then this game is a perfect example
The joke is that they decided to make a plot for the game that is a ridiculous crusade by skate rats to somehow overthrow a totalitarian regime. I can only assume this occured due to the fact that skateboarding is a counter-culture and actually banned in a lot of places that don't want to deal with the liability issues of people using their sidewalks/blacktop for skateboarding since they could hit someone, injure themselves, or just discourage business due to all kinds of loud people whizzing by. Conflicts between street boarders and people who own things like parking garages (where a lot of them want to ride) are semi-legendary, the police get involved, and it leads to retaliation in terms of vandalism and such by people who argue they should be able to skate anywhere. Trying to capture the essence of these kinds of anti-societal attitudes could be considered giving kids a bad message, after all teaching kids that it's okay to say spray paint swear words on the wall of someone's parking garage, or get into it with the police over issues like tresspassing is going to be seen as promoting a negative message. On the other hand exagerrating things to a ridiculous extreme and presenting them as freedom fighters instead of vandals and anarchists in a "dark future" setting (sort of like Cyberpunk but without the sex and violence) allows them to include these kinds of cultural elements but in a "positive" way as stupid as it might be.VanQQisH said:
The nature of the society in question which is pretty much malevolent and oppressive for the sake of being malevolent and oppressive reminds people of a famous novel/social criticism called "1984".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
Wikipedia has a basic run down on the plot which should do a lot to explain the specific jokes. Especially seeing as the idea of a goverment like this messing with skaeboarders (instead of just killing them and disappearing their families) is kind of ridiculous.
One thing I will point out though is that I think a lot of people, including the guys who wrote that wiki miss some of the subtexts of that book. Among them the simple fact that the people in that society were in part controlled with drugs and were actually happy with the system. As was mentioned when I read it in school, one of the big questions that needs to be asked is whether the guy in question was the problem, or if the society really was the problem. It's more frightening when viewed that way actually because if examined properly there is no easy answer to that question. This isn't really the place for me to ramble on my own thoughts about it.
It's also noteworthy that George Orwell himself was a believer in Democratic Socialism (as opposed to what someone here saying that he opposed it). That is to say that he's against capitolism/competition and the basic ownership of individual property. He's not a totalitarian in his views, but he's also definatly not someone who supports American ideals, unfettered personal freedom, and similar things. As a result I think a lot of people project messages onto his writing that are a little differant from what he was actually saying.
He also wrote a criticism of Communism and Capotalism (sort of), called "Animal Farm".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm
The basic premise being that animals on a farm rebel against the farmers and establish a goverment to rule, based on the premise "All Animals Are Equal". Something that can be associated both with communism, AND a lot of America's ideals. Our "All Men Are Created Equal" arguement being very similar. What basically happens in his book is that not all animals ARE equal and the Pigs who are smarter than other animals pretty much wind up taking over and gradually becoming more and more human. When other animals catch on, they wind up getting killed off. Eventually the pigs turn almost fully human, and then sell the farm and leave.
Very thought provoking books, which is the entire point, though as I said they aren't quite as straightforward as a lot of people like to think, because George Orwell himself would be liable to disagree with the central philsophies a lot of us hold ourselves. Sure we both don't care for communism or totalitarianism, but we tend to overlook the criticisms he winds up making. As some would argue "Animal Farm" can be considered both extremely racist, due to the intended human projection (all people are not equal, no more than all animals are), and the ultimate message that it's knowlege that leads to corruption of the best ideals. Something especially interesting when you look at "1984" and realize that things really went wrong for the protaganist when his blissful ignorance ended, and he could no longer be content within the system like most other people. I doubt many of us would want George Orwell setting up the society we live in.
At any rate, the whole point here is that it's using a rather well known and profound totalitarian society of fiction, in contrast to obnoxious Skate Rats, to show how utterly ridiculous this premise is.
I just keep thinking "Jet Set Radio Future!" but the rouges work for the fast food industry. It just dosent seem right... and now I want to play "Jet Set Radio" agen, that was a fun game.
The joke is that the game is completely missing the point of the book 1984, about a dystopian, repressive police state, and the author, George Orwell, is spinning in his grave. (Blimey that was a lot of commas.)VanQQisH said:
The Irony, that I'm sure most people have picked up, is that, that is a VERY interesting dilemma. which IS worse? the police state that offers you no freedom and directly controls you; or the idealized capitalist state, where the people are indirectly mind-controlled through mass-media and turned into ever-consuming slaves living under the illusion of freedom?
If this topic is presented in a thought-provoking and satirical way...that game could basically spearhead the "games are an art" debate.
Instead we get this consumerist trash that, admittedly, proves one half of the dilemma, but lacks the IQ to see the whole.
If this topic is presented in a thought-provoking and satirical way...that game could basically spearhead the "games are an art" debate.
Instead we get this consumerist trash that, admittedly, proves one half of the dilemma, but lacks the IQ to see the whole.
The point about 1984 was that it was a self perpetuating system, and Big Brother (or Dear Leader) only needed to exist in concept -- I think it was said that the Trotsky stand-in was dead and was just being used as a focus for hatred (the idea being that the state had co-opted these strong natural emotions for their own ends by replacing the devil with a dissident and God with the state figurehead). Its a Marxist idea that systems are more important than individuals as evidence by the flat refusal of Putin and the like to take responsibility for any actions committed in the Soviet Union. It is clearly a dystopia, the people he describes in the book are not happy, they are living in a state of constant denial of their sexual desires (i.e. his wife), of even small freedoms (such as making a reference to God), and their children are being indoctrinated to reject them and report on them. There is no friendship as you can not trust anyone. The people aren't happy but they trust in their Government the same way the religious believe in God as a protector from the enemy outside and the enemy within. Its a lot like how the people in North Korea aren't happy but they are indoctrinated to believe that everywhere outside of North Korea is worse/evil/corrupt and although life is hard it would be much worse without their Dear Leader.Therumancer said:
If you want to talk about a dystopia where the people are happy the Utilitarian 'Brave New World' is much nearer the mark and I believe most people would actually not mind living in that society today and we are probably on the way there as many of the things described in the novel (complete focus on the material, genetic engineering, a permissive sexual society where romantic attachment is considered clingy, complete indifference toward the spiritual or religious, intellectual poverty for the masses, extreme specialisation, rejection of history). It is the ultimate consumer culture where the people are engineered both physically and psychologically for a specific purpose and to have specific material needs and for those needs to be met -- rather like if the entire world were run by some kind've giant all encompassing supermarket chain.
I can safely say that "1984" by George Orwell was one of the few things that managed to shake me down to my very Core ...but what the Fuck does it have to do with Tony Hawk !?
Also... this Game-idea miss Stout is spinning bears a striking resemblance to Mirror's Edge.
Copy-Right Much?
!?Also... this Game-idea miss Stout is spinning bears a striking resemblance to Mirror's Edge.
Copy-Right Much?
