2112 -
April 30, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot.
No, I'm not a Rush fan, I just needed a title.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Sometimes if Chris won't go to the discussion, the discussion goes to Chris, hence today's letters on the Columbine lawsuit. Let this be a lesson to all of you on the futility of thinking you can fight the future. Or the present. Or the past.
Onward.
| Robert Frost: Better than Ezra |
| CJ,
You know, not a lot of people are taking this lawsuit seriously. If they
win all of the $5 billion dollars, our favorite hobby could disappear
overnight. While big businesses like Sony and Nintendo would probably
survive, smaller companies like Square and Enix could not.
Our justice system let OJ free; what makes everyone think they'll side with
us? Robert Frost put it best:
"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better
lawyer."
-Red Raven, who is only 80% sure that the lawsuit will fail
|
Our justice system is specifically designed so that one fluke jury decision
won't overturn the a primary tenant of constitutional law. There are,
unfortunately, more than a few flukes in the system; innocent people
found guilty, guilty people found innocent. But in a civil case such
as this one, the jury's just one level - ultimately, something can
only go through if it fits within established legal precedent. People
have a right to speak (or write, or program) as they see fit, short
of actually inciting riot or rebellion, and I don't think anything
of the kind is the case with Final Fantasy VII, or even DOOM. More
importantly, even if we assume that a jury would find merit in the
suit, I'm pretty sure several layers of federal judges wouldn't agree.
But more importantly, think about what the implications are if such a suit did go through. You're worried about video games? I'm worried about my write to talk, write, debate, think, in any way that might be considered "dangerous", or cause someone else to become "dangerous". If you're really worried that this could happen, (and I'm not, because there are plenty of people who realize what the implications could be) then you should realize the stakes are much bigger than the next FF.
| There was violence in the past, long before cartoons were invented |
| Dear Agent,
I have read of a time, long ago, before video games. In this time there was a group of people who killed a couple million religious people in Europe primarily because they needed a scapegoat for all their economic troubles. Or at least it began that way.
My point: Retards will kill despite influence. Live with it and be knowledgeable of your children's activities.
nuf said.
-Brad
The thinking man's scientist
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You're implying a similarity between World War 2, the most important social, political, economic and military event in history, and a few mentally unbalanced kids turning murderous? I think your analogy needs a little work.
| I'm well known for publishing pro-DQ letters. At least, I should be. |
| Letters making fun of DQ7.... Must... reply.... *Twitch*
Erhm. Anyway. 17,000 pages of text isn't that much when you realize just how *big* DQ7 is -- remember, 100+ hours of gameplay and all that. And besides, we all know about DQ7's graphics -- and with graphics like that, it had BETTER have a great story behind it to back it up.
(I won't get into another flame war over DQ7's graphics style. To each his/her own.)
I know the game isn't for every American, but it's nice for us "Old Schoolers" to have a new game that appeals to our preferred RPG style. And I think even some New Schoolers will enjoy it -- especially if they enjoyed the older SNES FF games. (FF5j translated rom, Anyone?)
I do have to wonder how much text is in, say Final Fantasy 5 or 6. Or even 7 or 9, come to think of it. Remember, each townsperson you talk to in every instance you can possibly talk to them adds to that total. And if you're playing an RPG the way they're meant to be played, you are indeed reading quite a bit -- especially given the puzzles that Enix loves to put into Dragon Quest games.
But, anways. Happy days are here again -- the main Dragon Warrior series has returned to the states and there's not a single anti-DQ7 comment in the world that can ruin that for me. :)
Mark Cantrell
The Knight In Tarnished Armor
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Nothing to argue with here, except that, if you consider each individual text box as a "page" of text, then you might well hit a the 5-figure mark for needed translations. And having to translate that many pages would also explain why Enix would need over a year to move the game across the Pacific. All I know is that I said I'd get the game when it came out here - I'll comment further on it once I've Quested Dragons for a few dozen hours.
| Old School DA: Ranting about the way games should be |
| S'up Chris,
You know what I wouldn't mind? More RPGs taking up the virtues of my favorite game series, 'cause the world revolves around me like that. I've noticed that Miyamoto has a good talent for using up nearly every drop of the potential in the gameplay rules he creates, especially for Zelda. I call it the Zelda Paradigm. That is, that nearly every enemy requires a different technique to beat. Turn-based and other RPG battle systems are great, but I've come to realize that Zelda offers (albeit for only one party member) surprisingly more strategy in a lot of the fights than the resource management involved in weedwacking through the common plant life of your average RPG dungeon, despite the realtime nature. Certainly, there are many exceptions on the RPG side, and of course Miyamoto's team must deal with much fewer enemy designs than your normal RPG.
Nonetheless, I was playing one Japanese RPG I can't remember the name of, where a guest NPC thief accompanied you into one dungeon. Now most enemies in the dungeon had jewels you could get from them and if you got them to critical status a message would appear saying, "Monster B is carelessly flashing his jewels" (oh we crazy Japanese). It turns out you solve the dungeon by fighting them just to the point where they are critical, then have the theif character steal a certain color you need to unlock the door. While you did have to hunt randomly for the right color, it was done well enough not to become too tedious and certainly a lot more involving than usual. Especially because later on you noticed that those monsters would only appear in certain color rooms and these Zelda-doors would close on you if you entered the wrong places, and that rare purple gem would open doors to good treasure. It was fiendishly minty cool, to the Dentine Ice level. Too bad the rest of the game wasn't like that. Super Alpha Trinsic Gojira Battle Modes are cool, but often fresh game design like that will impress and absorb me more than world-conquering innovation, call me old-fashioned. If forced to really defend the freshness of the new Zelda titles, I don't so much rely on the innovation or new elements, as much as how Miyamoto and company used the ideas well and often to further the well-balanced gameplay design. They didn't stop with building a foundation for a pool depth, but filled it to the top with water too.
Say what you want about FFIV, but I remember what happened in the Zot Tower much better because of the fond memories of the alarm-activators that would unloose all hell if you didn't kill them soon enough or figuring out how to beat the Magus Sisters. One of the things that helped make the Dead Sea in Chrono Cross memorable were those weird, dead beauty pageant competitors who introduced themselves to you before they fought you. When I feel the Zelda Paradigm, that I'm more actively participating in a fleshed-out destiny of my characters rather than passively bulldozing them to the next hot spot, the plot can pick my characters up from that feeling, and maybe that's where the unique art will lay in video games. I think the rules are fine, that we get enough innovation as it is, but the design is lacking.
-Link, was it that unsurprising that that would be my nick?
|
The game in question doesn't ring a bell, but that does sound interesting. Actually, what it sounds like more than anything else was a particular bit in the NES Wizards and Warriors where you had to kill enemies until you acquired a speed potion that would let you run up a particularly steep incline. And I hated that puzzle, at the time.
Other than that, you're pretty much in agreement with what a lot of people have been saying, as of late - smarter, fewer battles, as opposed to faceless hordes. Works for me.
| Yelling at the collective about individual responsibility |
| Aleksandrs' letter yesterday said that the parents were completely validated
in suing the videogame people because the parents feel they are guilty.
Yeah, like hell it is. Hey, I just stubbed my toe on my metal bed. I'm
going to go sue the steel company! I'm also going to sue my doctor for not
warning me about metal beds! Yeah!
And by the way, with the country's current mindset, they probably will
win their damn suit.
Christoph, brought to you by Individual Americans, "Nothing is our fault;)"
|
If I remember right, this lawsuit isn't even about parents - it's made on behalf of one of the teachers who was killed, by his family. So parent/child responsibility doesn't enter into it so much.
As for the meat of your letter, I tend to see individual responsibility rants as something of a zero sum game. Sure you can point out any number of frivolous lawsuits, but there are also a fair number of lawsuits where companies get away with murder by saying "hey, it was just bad luck, one isolated incident, not our fault", even when a wider pattern is in place.
As much as anything, this whole situation reminds me of a fairly good film that came out a few years back called The Sweet Hereafter, about a lawsuit launched by several families in a small Canadian town after their children died in a bus accident. It wasn't so much the details of the case that were interesting as the anger and sorrow that drove the participants - you got the impression that their lawsuit was basically worthless, but represented a terrible mass of grief that they couldn't do anything with. I can only imagine the situation is the same here, and that gives me pause in criticizing the plaintiffs. I don't agree with them, don't think they have a legal leg to stand on, but they likely have much more complex reasons for doing what they're doing than we realize. Let's just hope this thing drops out of sight and dies quick, so that all of us can get on with our lives.
Closing Comments:
One of the final projects that the class I TA came up with was a DDR-style rhythm game, playable two ways - through a custom dance pad they developed, and through a standard keyboard interface. What was interesting to me was the difference between the two play styles: one was a simple reaction test, the other became a full body challenge. In other words, a dance game, when properly done, isn't playing at dancing the same way MGS2 is playing at being a secret agent, it really is about dancing.
So the topic for tomorrow is this - would you want to become that much more immersed in other types of games, like RPGs, and if so, how would you do so? Get back to me. Later.
Chris Jones, can't dance, but can nod his head rhythmically
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