Half Life = Gamer's "Twilight"

[Shru1kan]

You lost me after you started calling me a nerd.
But I strangely agreed with everything before that.

I understand that I do make generalizations, and that not everyone will fit into them. Its a problem inherent with trying to deal with the masses.

And yet if you post anything questioning anything about the series you get flooded with "THATS YOUR OPINION, MAN", or "BACK IN ITS DAY IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER, SO YOU WONT GET IT TODAY".

I can't say that's been my experience. When I tell people I didn't like it, and stopped playing after an hour or so, they don't usually care.

Then you must not wander into the HL2 threads on here. I know its not the best idea, but if you do make one here, you will see much of that.

 

[sms_117b]

I always thought half-life 2 to be the thinking mans Halo, so going one over to say it's like gamers "twilight" isn't much of a reach.

 

[John47]

well I supppose you forgot to mention the part where gordan Freeman is a slave to Gman's whim, Gman's motive any why he does this to him still remains unknown however we do know that there are "higher" people than the Gman

well if he dissobeid(i probably wrote this wrong) there would be consequences

 

[Shru1kan]

Snip.

You know, this made my day. I'm not a Half-Life fan, nor a Twilight fan, but its nice to see when some who is completely talking out their ass gets owned by simple logic. Thanks.

I'm sorry, but if you know nothing of either series, then how the hell do you know I'm talking out of my ass? That makes absolutely no sense at all. Maybe if you read the posts that aren't completely off from my point, many people are agreeing that there are some very striking similarities, and that my points do hold up from a GENERAL STANDPOINT. Which was my intention in the first place. I'm not saying that killing aliens is EXACTLY LIKE a love story. How hard is that to get?

 

[PurpleSky]

*reads OP*


Hahahaha,no, just no.



Twilight = we all know it's shit for girls to have wetdreams about

Half-life = A decent game series, almost nothing exploited


You did find vague similarities,I'll give you that. VAAAAAAAAAAAAAGUE ones.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

This just in: Writers tend to create a protagonist that their target audience will identify with! Full story at 11!

Every piece of fiction ever written (movies, books, games, TV shows, etc) has this as a primary goal. It is not something unique to Twilight and Half Life 2. You need to get out more.

 

[kingcom]

Tabula Rasa is a well-used medium indeed. However, the simple fact of its widespread popularity and reverence by gamers (much like the reverence of the Twilight Saga with naive teen girls) makes them two comparable examples. One could not compare an obscure work with the use of a Tabula Rasa to a very popular one, as the impact would fall extremely short. Suddenly if I spouted obscure references and made very specific points, it would be lessening the impact further. If I used "The Illiad" for my book, and "I wanna be the guy" for my game and made very symbolic metaphors, it would go one of two ways. One, it would be seen as genius and deep for my insight, or I would be seen as raving mad. However, both being niche media, it could work. With a huge target audience, more generalizations must be made.

The guard is a co-worker. This means that he must like his job, and must like the people in the facility. He therefore will befriend people in the facility, or just live a lonely life of hatred watching people he hates go through gates without a word to them. I do believe that puts him in the clique. And honestly, if you had no idea about science and you were introduced to Gordon with the pretext of him being young and dynamic, would you give a shit? You aren't in his group, you can't understand much beyond the pretext, therefore he wouldn't gain any pleasure in associating with you if you don't understand or appreciate what he has dedicated his life to.

What? Tabula Rasa isnt a medium, its a term meaning a blank slate. Its been used WITHIN many mediums. Your now trying to tell that comparing two popular items and making broad general statements insted of specific points its easier to compare the two? REALLY? BROAD GENERAL STATEMENTS ARE EASY TO COMPARE? My mind is blown.

Also, the cliche would be to have the security guards hang out with the other security guards and the scientists hang out with the other scientists. This is clear co-worker companionship, perhaps its also cliche but either way, indicates that he is not a loner.

Im just going to assume your english is not very good and not criticise you for entirely misinterpreting what I said. Anyway, the points have been made and i suggest people let this thread die.

 

[GammaZord]

so your main point is that both act as a medium for the audience to fulfill secret desires/hopes that wont/may not happen in real life? well....um ok, welcome to the world this is what most games aspire to, connecting to the target audience on a personal level.... am i missing another point here?

What he said. Congratulations OP on playing your first game and reading your first book.

You can make the above analogy with nearly anything. I'll offer the TL;DR version of your OP:

Twilight is a book
Half-Life is a game
They share some elements of their respective mediums.

HURRR DURRR The End.

 

[Danpascooch]

The difference is that Half Life isn't universally hated by non gamers like Twilight is hated by non Twilight fans.

It also doesn't set back any right's movement by decades.

 

[Danzaivar]

Their fans are certainly of a similar calibre. Dissing Twilight in front of your typical teenage girl garners a similar reaction to insulting Half Life in a place like this. You might be on to something there.

"Twilight sucks" -> Omg how can you call Twilight? Edward is awesome and he's everything a girl could want and etc etc

"Half-Life sucks" -> Omg how can you call Half-Life? Gordon freeman is awesome and half-life is so innovative because it did etc etc

 

[Danzaivar]

[edit: double post]

 

[Nazz3]

The difference is that the gamers dont like Half-Life for the same reasons as people like Twilight.

 

[Marowit]

EDIT: I think most people seem to be misunderstanding what the OP is talking about, he's not making a direct comparison between the two (killing aliens is very different from emo/vampire romance) but was more saying that both have an effect of wish fufillment for the audience through use of a blank, generic protaganist (teenage girls like the idea of a vampire boyfriend (I'm assuming), and nerdy guys like the idea of being a revolutionary hero who saves the world, is idolised and adored by many and even has a attractive/smart chick who's into them because they're so great (again, I'm assuming)).

Yes. This is my point. In fact, I like it so much that I will add it to the original post.

The problem I have with your theory is that it can be plugged into any video game which delivers you into an avatar with minimal emotion/dialogue. Medal of Honor *check*, Modern Warfare *check*, Grand Theft Auto 3 *check*, and on, and on. I think it's an interesting, but ultimately you're talking about escapism, and routes of escapism that allow you to impose your own values, impressions, etc.., onto the main character. I've never read the Twilight books, and I can't determine how truly blank the person is. However, I can't imagine that she's as blank as Dr. Freeman though.

And if she is in fact a character who has dialogue, and interactions, then where do you draw that connection with Twilight and Half Life, other than doing so to be edgy?

 

[Asurnasurpal]

All gaming is the fufillment of fantasy to an extent. Yahtzee says it better than I, though.

 

[Broady Brio]

I see where you're coming from. People melt to both of these series.

This is from someone who hasn't seen any Twilight films or played any Half-Life games.

And quite frankly that's all I can contribute on this subject.

 

[SFR]

Hmmm... I guess. The main difference though is that Half-Life is written well. HEYOOH!

 

[Cid Silverwing]

How is a kick ass middle aged scientist who never talks (with no pale skin) with massive weapon training skills and alien butt kicking moves ever, EVER, come close to a pale emo teen vampire love story?

This.

I'm extremely tempted to proclaim OP's post completely moot. And no, I'm as unrelated to both Half-Life and Twilight as can be (no, really).

 

[Ih8pkmn]

While you do make an interesting argument, I still think that Gordon's More charismatic than the Necrophiliac Lovers in Twilight.

Also, if I ever see this game or any of my other favorite games compared to Twilight again, I am personally crowbaring in Stephanie Meyer's Fat Head.

 

[Patton662]

Exactly the same can be said about any game protagonist that does not talk much/ can be player generated. It's all about fulfilling one's desire to be somebody else.