Half Life = Gamer's "Twilight"
- Thread starter Shru1kan
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andrew21 said:
Yes, because nothing has ever stepped outside of its target audience? Women are insecure, no matter how secure they seem, this pertains to high school only though. It was written for that age group and managed to transcend its original target audience.
Women dig men that show some bone?meganmeave said:True, but aren't most games wish fulfillment games?
Quite a few games place you in the protagonists role, who is, very often, a loner/outsider/brilliant in some way. The protagonist is often not given a voice, and sometimes you get to fill out his features. If you go the FPS route, then 99% of those games you don't see the protagonists face. Obviously there are some exceptions to this rule, but you get my point.
Then, throughout the course of the game you discover that, lo and behold, people are drawn to you, and are in fact, inspired by you. Women think you are hot because of what you can do, and men look up to you.
You could say this about most Western RPGs. Look at Dragon Age. Even if you decide to play as a poor ass dwarf who nobody likes, you find out there is something uniquely special about you -your blood is tasty- you can become a grey warden without dying. You could design your character to be the ugliest bastard who ever lived, yet every woman who looks at you in camp finds you sexy.
And yet, Leliana still talks about how handsome I am. Girl has issues.You can get the King to be to be your best friend, bed the hot gay elf, the dark and sultry mage woman and the seductive and saucy bard. By the end of the game, you can make everyone love you if you want to, even though you started out as a lowly, poor and ugly dwarf.
You can't really limit this comparison to Half Life. No one really wants to play a game where they are a normal boring person who isn't special in any way, and people who read books to escape don't normally want to read books about normal boring people.
OT: Makes a lot of sense, more then I'd like it too.
RAAA RAAHHHHH MINDLESS HATE AT YOUR OFFENSIVE WRITING THAT OFFENDS ME AND MY PRECIOUS GAEM HOW DARE YOU COMPARE TEH AWESOME HALF LIFE TO TEH CRAPPYNESS OF TWILIGHT!!1!!11
But seriously, interesting read, and I'd have to agree with you on a lot of counts.
But seriously, interesting read, and I'd have to agree with you on a lot of counts.
meganmeave said:And yet, Leliana still talks about how handsome I am. Girl has issues.
True, but Bioware game feature a Clice chart:
http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Bioware-RPG-Cliche-Chart
also, Megan? Please don't show picture ever again...He scares me. D:
Ok I'm not flaming or anything here but it's a pretty weak comparison, so both are similar because they both fulfil the dreams of their respective target audience.
Well I would like to draw your attention to the untold comparison between the Sonic the Hedhog Universe and Twilight. You see Sonic and his merry chums are all dependant on collecting Rings to survive, as are Vampires dependant on Blood. When Sonic gets hurt he loses his rings just as a human would lose blood when injured. The striking comparisons between Sonic and any Vampire comes from their need to collect rings and blood to survive and if they fail to do so they are weak and vulnerable.
To be honest you can draw very weak comparisons between any universe, and that doesn't mean that you should. Your comparison at the start is like saying Barbie and the Nutcracker is similar to the Matrix because the main characters both have Heads.
Well I would like to draw your attention to the untold comparison between the Sonic the Hedhog Universe and Twilight. You see Sonic and his merry chums are all dependant on collecting Rings to survive, as are Vampires dependant on Blood. When Sonic gets hurt he loses his rings just as a human would lose blood when injured. The striking comparisons between Sonic and any Vampire comes from their need to collect rings and blood to survive and if they fail to do so they are weak and vulnerable.
To be honest you can draw very weak comparisons between any universe, and that doesn't mean that you should. Your comparison at the start is like saying Barbie and the Nutcracker is similar to the Matrix because the main characters both have Heads.
kingcom said:
Sorry, I must have gotten too far ahead of myself. Its well used in many mediums. And I guess I'll make the same insulting assumption that you don't have very good english either. Because what makes sense to you doesn't make sense to me. Its going to seem different to you in your head because you know EXACTLY what you mean. Well, I'm not clairvoyant. So please, try and explain your thoughts more, instead of just keeping them the way they are. I try to expand and rewrite my thoughts if they aren't getting across in the way I want them to, much like in my original post. You however, assume I am stupid because I don't understand your point, which may not be as clear cut to me as it is to you. Or we may be on different assumptions about the topic. At any rate, don't insult me, as I have refrained from insulting you.
The larger the target audience, the more general you must be when comparing the two AUDIENCES. Hence my assumptions that most gamers that love the series are basically loners, with smaller cliques. This is my personal experience both in real life and anyone who I have discussed it with online.
Hm... over all, I agree to the resemblances, but there are some minor difernces that you didn't notice; - Nobody really hates HL, or at least not as much as people hate twilight,
- Gordon Freeman is not supoused to be a "nerdy scientist", but a world-wide known physics specialist (in the game obviously)
- Finally, Alyx and Gordon are more partners than an actual couple (more detail in EP3?)
But still, you are somewhat right.
- Gordon Freeman is not supoused to be a "nerdy scientist", but a world-wide known physics specialist (in the game obviously)
- Finally, Alyx and Gordon are more partners than an actual couple (more detail in EP3?)
But still, you are somewhat right.
I completely agree. I can't stand Half-Life, nor Twilight, and both of those mediums are perfect for drooling fanboys/fangirls to insert themselves into.
You think that's bad, then don't google, "Ugly Dragon Age Characters." There are some truly hideous ones out there. It's like a weird competition.Dr. wonderful said:
Only if it is sexy bone. I find the scapula the sexiest.Taddy said:
I honestly didn't know much about Half Life, so thank you for all of the good info on its backstory. I have only played a few levels on the xbox, but to make comparisons to Twilight is a little degrading to anything but the lowest filth in the entertainment world. Twilight is the kind of dross that fixates ignorant twits who have not had the life experience to realize that it's promoting a submissive and debased life where one must idolize a smarmy prick that looks glittery in the daylight.kingcom said:
Twilight is so pathetic that I can't even sympathize with those who fall into its neon-glaringly obvious trap.
Fanboys/Fangirls in general will fall in line with something as it smashes a beer bottle of reality over their insipid skulls enough times to prove lethal, and they'll still come back for more.
However, there is always a point to be made about an entertainment medium linking to its audience to form some sort of connection (which I suppose is at least some measure of it fulfilling its role). It is especially easy with more of a "blank slate" like in half life or a vapid sod in the case of twilight because one can find features to relate to and subconsciously pick what connects them to the fantasy.
Going a bit off topic here, but you're making a lot of assumptions from a single throw away line about buying a beer. The line is "Hey, Gordan, catch me later, I'll buy you a beer."kingcom said:
This could be "Hey, buddy, let's go have beers together" like you assume. I always thought it was more of a "Hey, new guy, I know you just moved here, so let me introduce you to some people outside of work so you'll make friends." And, from the line, that's just as reasonable an interpretation. I see no reason to assume that Freeman isn't a loner because one guy offers to buy him a beer.
Other possible interpretations include:
"Man, that guy Freeman, I never see him doing anything but working, I should give him the chance to loosen up"
"OH MY GOD, it's Freeman. He's so cool. He's always got something funny to say and just seems swell. I think he'd be great to hang out with. Oh what the hell, I'll ask him"
"If you survive the next few hours, I'll owe you a beer."
"I ask everybody to party with me, because I'm a lush."
"What's the code phrase for possible investor in a suit has been asking about your research. Buy you a beer, right?" (It is Black Mesa, who knows what kind of codes they have).
"Freeman sucks, stuck up elitist MIT grad. If we could get him down to the bar, me and the boys would show him a thing or two." (Admittedly, Barney always seems friendly, so probably not).
"Hey there big boy, let me buy you beer and see where things take us." (I have seen nothing in any of the games that clues us in on Barney's orientation).
bojac6 said:
Oh wow I think I love you. That last one made me laugh for a while.
Well, in my reading experience, I do immerse myself, but I never see it as me in the story. I see it as... a third person view where I simply use whatever face I draw in my mind with the details and watch the scene unfold. Same with movies, I never get too lost in them. Sure, they grab me, but I never substitute myself. HL and all sequels and twilight do this on purpose, making a husk that they expect the player or reader to fill, and quite frankly, I can't do it.Frenger said:I hope you are aware that this applies to pretty much EVERY story with an protagonist (silent or otherwise)? Deus Ex, Unreal... hey, let us raise the stakes = Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are others, Fallout, Zelda... screw it... EVERY GAME that even have a hint of a plot does this, books and films aswell. And music, poetry, art in general.
That's about how relevant Half-Life is to Twilight.
You made some 'observations', but it's been debated before in way better ways rather than using obvious flamebaits like Half-Life and Twilight. Shit would really hit the fan if you used Halo instead, but too late for that
EDIT: Fail grammar is fail.
When did I say I knew nothing of either series? I said I'm not a fan, I've played both Half-Life games, and read the entire Twilight saga, I liked the half-life games well enough(first one a friend got me, the second I got for Portal), but nothing all that great, and a girlfriend of mine made me read the Twilight books, So, yeah, I do know you're talking out your ass. As from a general standpoint, yeah, I guess there are some similarities, nothing striking though, most of the similarities are because of writing style, and you can find the same similarities in other stories/games. From a more involved standpoint, Half-Life shook things up a bit, not much, but enough for it to make the FPS genre more innovative, Twilight on the other hand is just showing the world that bad writing can sell well if targeted properly. Which isn't good at all, cause it create bad book series for the sake of money, don't believe me? Look up the Dark World books, blatant rip-offs of Twilight, but their popular as all get out. I think theres a few others I've heard girls talk about aswell. If they were truly similar, Twilight would have renovated the book industry, not dumb it down.Shru1kan said:
