Metroid represents everything wrong about our treatment of the enviornment.

[Johnnyallstar]

So, you're angry that it promotes survival of the fittest while having humans the fittest to survive?

No, he's angry that people over-analyze things. Read the whole post please.

I did. I was asking a question about the first part of the post. Ironic you post about me not answering the main point, while not even addressing my point. So, as you say, read the whole post.

Ignoring the fact that the first part of the OP was a joke, I'm still wondering what point you were trying to make here. I never once brought up survival of the fittest in that post. I was "complaining" about the Metroid series lack of concern over the preservation of the environment. Survival of the fittest has nothing to do with that.

Well, even if it's a joke, lets dissect this. You didn't need to state "survival of the fittest" in words, but if you look deeper into it, you can find that there is a shade of Darwinism behind what you said, but it's obscure. I latched onto it because I find it funny in it's own way.

Humans are natural animals, and as such, we act according to our nature. If it's in our nature to butcher every critter we see and wipe out whole alien races, are we not acting out a form of natural selection? A piece of mandated Darwinism? True we are reasoning animals, but our ability to reason is part of our nature. If, then, we reason that an individual race of creatures must be eradicated for our own good, are we not acting as the hand of natural selection, and doing so within our nature?

My point is, if humans are eradicating individual species, it is a form of natural selection, because we reach our reasoning naturally, and then it comes down to survival of the fittest as to the species' ability to survive. True, humans may have an "unfair advantage" in eradicating animals, but that is because we have developed ourselves to be the fittest. It irks me that some people (e.g. radical environmentalists) think that humans are somewhat unnatural because of how we live, and that we are not doing what is their definition of "natural."

 

[Worgen]

allot of games have you commit genocide upon the wildlife, any mmo, oblivion (the wolfs).... lots of other games that Im too lazy to think up

 

[Internet Kraken]

How'd I do OP?

I did enjoy reading your metroid/environment wall of text so naturally I only felt inclined to write my own in honour of yours.

I hope it meets the standard set by the eco-terrorist Samus Aran.

Lovely. The thing I really like about this is actually does mirror some of my first thoughts about Majora's Mask. I never played the game as a kid (my brother bought, but we returned it because he was afraid of the moon), so my only knowledge of it mainly comes from part of an LP I watched. And I was actually disturbed by Link assuming the roles of deceased people. I actually found the scene were the Zora dies to be pretty creepy. Though that might ave something to do with his mysterious ability to summon enough energy to preform a rocking guitar solo, and then collapse to the ground as a lifeless corpse. Between that and the aliens sucking the little girl's brains out, this game seems very bizarre to me.

Funny thing is I probably wouldn't have been bothered by this at all as a kid.

 

[DustyDrB]

So, you're angry that it promotes survival of the fittest while having humans the fittest to survive?

No, he's angry that people over-analyze things. Read the whole post please.

I did. I was asking a question about the first part of the post. Ironic you post about me not answering the main point, while not even addressing my point. So, as you say, read the whole post.

Nothing in that post indicates you read the entire original post. You wouldn't be the only one to not have read the whole thing, either. Plus, he did answer your question. No he's not angry about some survival of the fittest bullshit, because that's not the point of the post or this thread.

Majora snipora

How'd I do OP?

I'm not the OP, but you did well. I want to think of one of my own now.

 

[Enigmatic Master]

Wow some has way too much time on his hands

 

[Internet Kraken]

Wow some has way too much time on his hands

This took about 20 minutes to type up. Granted, I did spend more time after that proofreading it and making sure it wasn't just a jumbled mess, but still, it's not like this took some enormous amount of time and effort. It was better than just sitting around doing nothing during my free period at school.

 

[Tuken]

I am afraid to respond to some of the posts here unless I get hit with the " Read the whole post first " line.

Funny thing is I probably wouldn't have been bothered by this at all as a kid.

I wasn't that bothered by it when I played it young, similarly when I rewatched the Zora scene I felt the same way years later. Creepy stuff along with that Goron spirit.

I want to think of one of my own now.

After I read the first page it took me about 15minutes to decide on Majora's mask over other things like MGS and HL1, fun ideas came out of that!

Wow some has way too much time on his hands

I had mine done in about 15minutes, not really that much time.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Well, even if it's a joke, lets dissect this.

Why? It's supposed to be a flawed argument. Unless you are making a facetious response, you'd just be missing the point. And I got the impression that you are being serious.

You didn't need to state "survival of the fittest" in words, but if you look deeper into it, you can find that there is a shade of Darwinism behind what you said, but it's obscure. I latched onto it because I find it funny in it's own way.

No, there really wasn't. Just because something has to do with the environment and genocide does not mean Dwarinism needs to be involved. You are over-analyzing my over-analysis, but being completley serious about it (or at least appear to be).

Humans are natural animals, and as such, we act according to our nature. If it's in our nature to butcher every critter we see and wipe out whole alien races, are we not acting out a form of natural selection? A piece of mandated Darwinism? True we are reasoning animals, but our ability to reason is part of our nature. If, then, we reason that an individual race of creatures must be eradicated for our own good, are we not acting as the hand of natural selection, and doing so within our nature?

Seriously, what are you talking about? If you're trying to suggest that pointless genocide, lax environmental regulations, and disregard for ecosystem preservation are somehow parts of natural selection, you're just being a fool.

My point is, if humans are eradicating individual species, it is a form of natural selection, because we reach our reasoning naturally, and then it comes down to survival of the fittest as to the species' ability to survive. True, humans may have an "unfair advantage" in eradicating animals, but that is because we have developed ourselves to be the fittest. It irks me that some people (e.g. radical environmentalists) think that humans are somewhat unnatural because of how we live, and that we are not doing what is their definition of "natural."

This literally has absolutely nothing to do with what I was saying. You seem to be under the impression that I was trying to suggest that Samus's actions were only wrong from a moral perspective. I'd consider that to be a valid enough reason, but it's also wrong from a logical perspective. Ruining ecosystems pointlessly does not benefit humans. In some cases it may benefit us in the short term, but in the long term we are just damaging our ability to utilize the environment as a renewable resource.

But again, that entire first part was a joke. I don't get why you would try to poke holes in an argument that was meant to be flawed in the first place.

After I read the first page it took me about 15minutes to decide on Majora's mask over other things like MGS and HL1, fun ideas came out of that!

Half the fun of making this was brainstorming all the ridiculous ideas. Other potential topics included;
-Dwarf Fortress is socialist propaganda.
-The Mario series promotes rouge vigilantism and murder.
-Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker is about the consequences of global warming.
-World of Goo is really about peak oil.

 

[Frotality]

this is interesting, because having recently replayed prime, i began to notice that virtually every enemy that wasnt a space pirate was just wildlife, and half of them werent even actively trying to harm me; some of them just happened to be in my way...

but in serious land, however much i hate what halo has become, that was a quite insane conclusion moviebob came to. government super soldiers? alien religious zealots? the flood triumphing over the technologically superior?

halo is obviously anarcho-communist/syndicalist propaganda.

humanity's dependence on wage slavery has lead to completely twisted priorities, with highly advanced supersoldier programs in place, all the while normal military is still forced to use weaponry cheaper and functionally inferior to 21st century military hardware; inaccurate assault rifles this day and age? obviously a sign of the desperate financial state of the military when subject to dependence on economic totalitarianism. contrast with the covenant, blindly following the edicts of their religious theocracy in an effort to conquer the universe, but the prophets are the only ones who benefit, keeping the truth safely locked away from the peasant population; class warfare at its finest. but then there is the flood, the free workers of the universe, unbound by the State, all equal and all working towards the same goal; time and time again, rising above the capitalists and zealots(religious zealots, not just the sword guys) and conquering with pure will. the flood are a true vision of anarchistic utopia, surviving any and everything...but in a twist of brilliant tragic irony, brought down by their own hubris, spending eons building the gravemind to lead them to a free society were they could practice their beliefs away from the master chiefs and arbiters trying to kill them, but growing reliant on it, and in its arrogance killing its own people by allying with the master chief and betraying him, dooming them forever.

 

[Sephychu]

You make a good point, over-analysis is fun, and you did it in quite an amusing way.

After a full three minutes spent trying to think of a witty follow up, I concede. I can't think of one. Nevertheless, good article. Or vapid drivel, whatever.

 

[Internet Kraken]

It was a pretty unique type of sidescroller, so give him credit for that.

I guess that is a fair statement. Though it isn't nearly as "groundbreaking" or "innovative" as he claims it to be. But what really irks me is that the main reason he considered it innovative because it wasn't an FPS. He's acting like turning Metroid into a sidescroller (you know, what is was originally) is somehow more difficult than making it an FPS.

And hey, Kraken, it's been a while (I think)! I almost didn't recognise you with your new avatar

Yeah, well I was sick of people saying my avatar had a racist undertone. I don't think that will be a problem with this one, so I'll probably stick with it.

 

[Ultra_Caboose]

I'm glad that you're being satirical, but yeah, it is gross over-examination of the games.

I would imagine that in the same spirit, Tomb Raider was just as bad. TR 2 was particularly bad. What's the first thing you do in the first level? Slaughter an endangered tiger.

All the same, the metroid games are a blast, even if they are increibly unethical.

 

[Professor James]

The Legend of Zelda : Majora's Mask

Spoilers ahoy.

Majora's Mask is one of the many highly acclaimed Zelda titles and while some have mixed opinions of it - especially following so soon after Ocarina of Time - it is still listed as one of the best games of all times user and editor lists.

However there is a much darker side to this game that no classification board spotted while rating this game - Not even the Australian Classification Board.
Quite simply this game deals with death in a more horrifying way than Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt. Throughout this title Link frequently encounters death in such a casual matter and save for the one act of burying the dead Zora ( Barely seconds of his grave being shown ) the game is completely devoid of any remorse for death.

As Link continues his adventures in this game, he gains the forms of 3 other races in the Zelda franchise - The Deku, the Zora and the Goron. All of these forms are acquired through the death of an individual from the named races and Link quite literally takes their essence and forcibly uses this to accomplish his own selfish ( Using the soul of a Goron to win a race - seriously? ) and misconstrued endeavours all under the pretense of saving the land from the moon falling onto it.

Remember that this game was and is sold to children, it was wonderful colourful graphics with an "E for Everyone" label right beside the Nintendo Seal of Quality logo. Is this really what we should be letting our kids play?
Sure, one may argue that our young can access games like the aforementioned Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt even though their age restrictions are in the 18+ region but what of the parents who are aware of these restrictions and monitor their child's play? They are being fooled into letting their kids play games that have this level of advanced content in them at an unprepared and sensitive age.

Now I am not against letting children understand the meaning of life and death - lest our newer generations grow up without any morality! But I do believe that every parent has a right to decide how their child should grow up and how they should learn these important life lessons. What gives game developers the right to include this content without letting the rating boards fully understand the themes that are dealt with. I do wish to point out that I focused the main body of this text on the sole aspect of death in this game but many other issues arise on further examination.

Majora's Mask is commonly compared to Groundhog Day and sure there are similarities with the whole repeating the same timeline and learning what,when and where things happen but let us further examination this comparison.
In Groundhog Day the protagonist experiences a period of depression following his repeats. This gets so bad as to warrant suicide as a solution to the insanity that accompanies every loop in which you are the only one aware of it and simultaneously unable to end it. In the movie the main character comes to see the worst of the world - Most amply demonstrated in the scene allotted to the old homeless man. This can be seen to be somewhat mirrored in what happens to the Romani Ranch owners.
Quick Version : If left unattended a little girl will be kidnapped for 2 days only to return traumatised and disorientated while the life of the elder sister is thrown into disarray.
There is a happy ending however, if Link safeguards the ranch for a time - But as with every loop this is undone and must be repeated.

Groundhog Day ends on a positive note - Phil Connors solves all the problems of the locals in one loop while avoiding temptation and greed and is awarded by the ending of the loops.
For Majora's mask this is not the case - It is physically impossible to complete all the quests and tasks in one single loop of Majora's Mask making the 'Happy Ending' completely implausible. Our protagonist has taken what he wants from the world and walks away more powerful than ever before while reaping the benefits of the combined loops without actually 'doing anything' in the end.

In closing, is this really the message we should be teaching our children? Is this how we should be molding their minds? I think not.
No one but a kid's parent should decide when they are the right age to learn some of life's biggest mysteries especially under the guise of a "Kid's Game".
This title - while rightfully critically acclaimed - does not deserve to be accessible by children, it just isn't right.
This represents a bigger problem than global warming or other related issues as if our children grow up with the wrong mindset from their early years, whos the say they won't make the wrong decisions when it comes to bigger issues - Most dominately around the life and death of fellow humans given the subject at hand here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How'd I do OP?

I did enjoy reading your metroid/environment wall of text so naturally I only felt inclined to write my own in honour of yours.

I hope it meets the standard set by the eco-terrorist Samus Aran.

Nice one Now i'm about to do one on Mario.

The Mario series promotes murder & drug abuse.

Think about it a Italian plumber who goes around eating mushrooms, and stomping on poor innocent creatures sometimes with the help of his brother and his pet dinosaur Yoshi. Yet even with these horrifying things the games are rated E for everyone, how can we let our kids play this. Do you know what else, the mushrooms tries to run away trying to escape their grisly fate of being eaten alive and help a killer with his rampage.

"Okay" is what you thinking but Mario is doing these things to save Princess Peach that is at least kind of makes up for it you ask. Do we really know is princess peach is getting saved, for all we know bowser might be the hero trying to keep the Murderous plumber that is Mario doing god knows what to Peach. But know matter what bowser does, In the end he will be defeated and Mario has his way with peach.

I hope you learn from this the bigger picture of Mario and who's who.

 

[Thaius]

You are my hero, OP. Great job displaying how ridiculous we can be with this. I would be interested in your views on authorial intent.

I would try it, but I'm already spending more time on this site than I should be at the moment. Seriously though, well done.

 

[Jim Grim]

Obviously I'm taking a jab at the subject of Movie Bob's new series, in which he did the exact same thing with the Halo series and hidden racism. The difference being that I made this as a joke, while he was being dead serious.

But was he though? "That guy has blue eyes, NAZISM!" I think it was supposed to just be some generally entertaining rambling about nothing.

 

[JLML]

Give me a moment to stop laughing...

1. Your arguments are crap.
2. People (for some reason I can't understand) take those arguments as a serious opinion.
3. You make a nice point.

Try it for yourself; over-analyze one of your favorite games and try and make a convincing argument about some ridiculous message it supposedly promotes. See what hilariously wrong statements you can come up with. Also, this thread might serve another purpose; pointing out how many Escapists don't bother to read an entire topic before commenting.

4. The Mass Effect series promotes racism, corruption and viligantism. It also promotes slavery and genocide.

Racism, as showed often towards quarians. Corruption in that you as a spectre can take "bribes" and stuff. Viligantism as in you can kick bad guy ass in a not so legal way. Slavery is showed several times, towards A.I. and V.I. characters, and it encourages genocide against the Geth and the Rachni. And the Krogans.


Did I pass? xD

EDIT: Longer, more interesting analyse might come up later, when I'm not in my bed at half past twelve and using an iPhone xD

 

[Internet Kraken]

Obviously I'm taking a jab at the subject of Movie Bob's new series, in which he did the exact same thing with the Halo series and hidden racism. The difference being that I made this as a joke, while he was being dead serious.

But was he though? "That guy has blue eyes, NAZISM!" I think it was supposed to just be some generally entertaining rambling about nothing.

I highly doubt that he wasn't serious. Honestly, I think it'd be even worse if he was joking. Because that means the Escapist is paying him to troll people. Perhaps if I didn't know how insane his arguments can be sometimes I'd be more tempted to believe that it was trolling.

 

[Jim Grim]

But was he though? "That guy has blue eyes, NAZISM!" I think it was supposed to just be some generally entertaining rambling about nothing.

I highly doubt that he wasn't serious. Honestly, I think it'd be even worse if he was joking. Because that means the Escapist is paying him to troll people. Perhaps if I didn't know how insane his arguments can be sometimes I'd be more tempted to believe that it was trolling.

One of his series was called the Game Overthinker, which would suggest he knew he was reading way too much into things. Personally, I think there is entertainment to be found in analysing something to a ridiculous degree, and seeing what sort of weird conclusions you can arrive at.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Dude....if i could meet you in real life id give you a bro fist and buy you a drink.

Awesome post, you almost had me so ill give you a 8/10.
Would rage again.

 

[Internet Kraken]

But was he though? "That guy has blue eyes, NAZISM!" I think it was supposed to just be some generally entertaining rambling about nothing.

I highly doubt that he wasn't serious. Honestly, I think it'd be even worse if he was joking. Because that means the Escapist is paying him to troll people. Perhaps if I didn't know how insane his arguments can be sometimes I'd be more tempted to believe that it was trolling.

One of his series was called the Game Overthinker, which would suggest he knew he was reading way too much into things. Personally, I think there is entertainment to be found in analysing something to a ridiculous degree, and seeing what sort of weird conclusions you can arrive at.

I know that's what one of his series is titled. However, it still seems like he's completley serious. I've never gotten the impression that he wasn't being serious.