Good noble aliens versus evil monstrous humans, can it work?

[Vrex360]

As I've said before I am so sick of all these painful games, movies and books that have the same message i.e. "We are humans and are good, noble, valiant and honourable and these aliens are sick gross evil and twisted because they look different to us, let's genocide them."
So the hordes of humans then go and respond to aliens encounters by invading their homeworlds, bombing every planet that the aliens control (even the ones who have no connection to the aliens that actually DID attack, just killing them for the sake of species), mercilessly slaughtering the innocent women and children aliens and all the while celebrating their nobleness and listenin to patriotic music (I'm refferring to Starship Troopers which wins a few points by being aware that the humans are evil) and of course everyone just blindly follows shouting over and over again ALIENS ARE BAD.
But I wonder if we could see a reverse where the aliens are not evil, in fact the humans patriotic bullshit is seen in their eyes as an act of monstrous evil. Kind of a reverse Lord of the Rings where the elves and men are the evil monsters and the orcs are fighting for the sake of self defence.
I just think it's about time the world had it's first good noble alien army that has to fight aganst hordes of evil humans, complete with a badass cool alien lead character who finally goes up against an evil human general and ends the war.

You think that could work? Honestly I think the world needs it's first hero alien and human villain.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I was going to mention Starship Troopers, but you pretty well beat me to that punch.

The misanthrope in me says "Give it a shot!", but the realist wonders just how many people saw the satire in that movie ("We invaded Bugworld! They fought back! Now we gotta kill them all!") and weren't blinded by the pyrotechnics and special effects. Seriously, I actually got into an argument with a friend once about ST; he was adamant that "Humans are always the good guys" and said that the insects had to die in order to make room for human expansion.

Unless it's an extremely well-crafted vision, I don't see such an effort being greeted with much excitement.

 

[Ridergurl10]

I think it could work if it was done correctly. There are some times where this has been tried in books and movies and has worked well. For example Grendle was written showing Grendle's side of the story told in Beowulf. It's a really interesting book and makes you sympathize much more with Grendle.

 

[Alex_P]

You think that could work? Honestly I think the world needs it's first hero alien and human villain.

I don't think much is gained by making a noble alien player-character killing bad-guy humans. We're used to killing bad-guy humans.

If you want to really sell the point that humans are wrong to kill the mysterious Other, make the PC a human. That way you're in the thick of all the badness instead of just observing it from afar.

-- Alex

 

[birdboy]

Not a game, and not quite as extreme as your vision, but Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, takes place in a future where humans are at war for no adequately explained reason, with an alien species. It turns out that there was no reason to fight, that a simple lack of communication (and no attempt to by either side) is what started the war. While it doesn't show the aliens in a positive light per se, the cause of the war does rest on the shoulders of trigger happy humans, so that might be what you're looking for.

BTW Starship Troopers was absolutely hilarious, how anyone could watch it with a straight face is beyond me!

 

[Flour]

It will never happen because Humanity is Superior [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumanityIsSuperior].

Such a game would also be destroyed by reviewers and ignored by a lot of gamers because you're doing something new.

 

[Eiseman]

That would be so lame, bro. Me playing as the alien? That's so gay. That'd be gay and lame. That'd be... game.

Wait, shit.

 

[Limos]

I personally subscribe that Roussea Was Wrong [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RousseauWasRight] and Humans Are Bastards [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumansAreBastards]

So I always thinks it a huge copout when Aliens are the designated antagonists and humans are some kind of shining beacon of all that is good and pure. Pwah! If we ever encounter an Alien civilization I can pretty much guarantee that the first thing we will do is kill most of them and take all their shit.

 

[Sprogus]

I think it would work and if done correctly it would be great and I would love it. I'm a firm believer in humanity being the ultimate evil.

 

[Eipok Kruden]

I'd love that so much! Playing as an alien soldier fighting back against the human menace. That would be so awesome... Hopefully Killzone 3 will let you play as a Helghast.

 

[Alex_P]

Not a game, and not quite as extreme as your vision, but Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, takes place in a future where humans are at war for no adequately explained reason, with an alien species.

John Scalzi's Old Man's War books continue that tradition, though a bit softer, perhaps. Humans find themselves in a MOO/GalCiv kind of galaxy, fighting for worlds against other species. We're not unambiguously the worst but our government is rather uncompromising and opportunistic.

I guess Starship Troopers (the book) did that too, more or less. You never really get a sense of who started it or who's bad or good, they just kinda do this stuff because it's their job.

...

3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars is a pen-and-paper roleplaying game (my favorite, actually) all about being kill-happy human space marines purging every planet in sight. It "out-Verhoevens Verhoeven".

-- Alex

 

[DeleteMe1112311]

You might think to do it like the invisible man. Lead the audience (I use the term "audience" because it could be a book, movie, or game) to believe the protagonist is human and the antagonist is the alien, make the protagonist likable and give him the positive human characteristics, etc and build the human as the unlikable villian bent on destroying the world and before or during the final confrontation, reveal that the alien is the protagonist.

Probably a run-on sentence up there....just a thought.

 

[Chibz]

This has ALREADY been done in movie form.

Watch: The Day the Earth Stood Still, but not the 2008 remake (I think?).

The alien is good, benevolent and came with a warning. The human response? KILL IT!

 

[LordSnakeEyes]

Wait a minute: From THAT point of view (a very valid one at that) the characters from Lost Planet are evil, which btw makes a lot of sense because in reality I see humans as the bad guys in most scenarios, especially if you think about the whole Roswell conspiracy thing:

(not saying I believe in it, but lets say for conversation's sake that I do)

Alien comes to earth on a scouting mission of some kind, accident happens on board and he crashes, humans rush to the scene and capture said alien (and if he wasn't dead, they finish him off) only to perform tests on him and autopsy the body (aka grave desecration) only to put him away in a closet and never talk about him again.

It makes sense that humans are the bad guys because in most scenarios we don't see the other race's point of view (and seldom does one think about it anyway)

I say make a game where the PC is a half-alien (I don't care how it happens) and show us human evil by making humans the racists and the alien race accepts you as one of their own (all of this in a war against humans where... of course... humans are to blame).

 

[GodofMadness]

What Beowulf have you been reading? because its not the Anglo-saxon epic.


But the human= bad Aliens=good , while not so common in SiFi is at least partly explored in Warcraft. also in Star Wars the Empire was also obsessed with race and most of the "bad guys" are human.

but i agree that we probably wouldn't like to be portrayed as the bad guy's.

 

[Jandau]

First of all, stop linking to TV Tropes! Whenever I see something there I get stuck reading through the articles for an hour! It's very distracting

Second, I like the idea of Humans as bad guys. Games/movies/books that use this are a breath of fresh air for the most part. In fact, that was one of the high points of the recent Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. A forgettable experience with a terribad story, with the interesting twist that the galaxy is ruled by greedy human corporations and almost all aliens are enslaved or exterminated.

 

[Anarchemitis]

I think it could work if it was done correctly. There are some times where this has been tried in books and movies and has worked well. For example Grendle was written showing Grendle's side of the story told in Beowulf. It's a really interesting book and makes you sympathize much more with Grendle.

Or case in point how V For Vendetta sympathizes for Radical Anarchist Terrorist.

The problem thinking realistically is that most gamers in the universe want their games uncomplicated and with guns and good guys winning, good guys regardless of what they do are good because the audience can instantly sympathize with them. The horrid truth means that the instantly acceptable protagonist is invariably human, probably white, and with notable physical features that aren't on the face.

This is an elementary and wonderful idea, original. But I'm afraid in my opinion it would be a story-based game that could only be pursued when the Gaming Industry further employs and enriches the story. At this point, the climate is not right.

 

[nova18]

I think it could work if it was done correctly. There are some times where this has been tried in books and movies and has worked well. For example Grendle was written showing Grendle's side of the story told in Beowulf. It's a really interesting book and makes you sympathize much more with Grendle.

Or case in point how V For Vendetta sympathizes for Radical Anarchist Terrorist.

This is an elementary and wonderful idea, original. But I'm afraid in my opinion it would be a story-based game that could only be pursued when the Gaming Industry further employs and enriches the story. At this point, the climate is not right.

Off-topic, a girl in my Media Studies class didnt believe me when I told her that V was a terrorist, no matter what I said, she wouldn't believe me because he was the "Hero".


On-topic, not all gamers want blood and bullets, Team ICO released some pretty narrative based unique games that have developed a good fan base, proving that original ideas work. I like the alien being the protagonist idea though, at least its slightly different than the normal "Humans FTW attitude".

 

[Drachknouir]

gta did it if you watch the space marines on the tv.
but I think that we will have a lot more mindless games that depict natzi or allian enemy's before we get any real game that lets you determine who the bad guy is. most games have a biased view that they want to brain wash you with. for example natzi are a common enemy in fps the first one I remember is wolfensine. but after going to a questionable war I start to realize that some times you have no choice to what side you want to be on. for example in IRAQ there were Iraqi's who were only fighting us because there was an officer behind them telling them he would kill them if they did not fight. this also was the case in the battle of Stalingrad on the Russian side. when you realize this you may see some ppl in a different light. for example I changed my view of Rommel when I saw a documentary on him and realized that he was a warrior the same as me just doing what he was told to do to the best of his ability. but yet every ww2 game portrays the natzi's as mindless killers. who some of them definitely were. but what if you were born in Germany and decided to serve your country and did not realize that your leader was a war monger. I would like to see a game were you are a German and your secretly trying to kill Hitler that would be fun.sadly after being in war and first hand sight of things to be left unspoken I realize there are hero's on both sides.propaganda only gets you so far until you are confronted with the facts.history is written by the victorious, until the historians dig up the facts.