From: Lucian Mogosanu Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 07:51:06 +0000 (+0300) Subject: posts: 029, 02a X-Git-Tag: v0.4~13 X-Git-Url: https://git.mogosanu.ro/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=1430195136383a8777e3398e07b7326b83930eb5;p=thetarpit.git posts: 029, 02a --- diff --git a/posts/y01/029-the-walking-dead.markdown b/posts/y01/029-the-walking-dead.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..60e1d78 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y01/029-the-walking-dead.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,138 @@ +--- +postid: 029 +title: The Walking Dead +date: September 8, 2014 +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +tags: gaming +--- + +

+*People will often go mad when they believe their life is over.* +

+ +Telltale Games is a so-called "indie" company formed about six years after the +beginning of the downfall of adventure games, which [we've already +discussed][gf], and about four years after the end of the same thing, which we +haven't (yet)[^1]. Perhaps coincidentally, or perhaps not, many of the guys who +founded Telltale were former employees of LucasArts, which, y'know, says stuff. +I prefer seeing them as people who went to set this whole computer adventure +game stuff right, and so they did when they bought the rights to make Sam & Max +games, and then Monkey Island games, and so on and so forth; and at some point +they decided they want to make their own story, but that time hasn't arrived +yet as far as I know, because this one's based on a [comic book][twd-comic]. + +Now, if you haven't played the first season yet, then I'm really going to break +this for you, so don't read if you're the kind who gets touchy about +spoilers[^2]. It's today, I guess, and Lee Everett (controlled by the player) +is in a police car, ready to be convicted of murder, or has been, or something +along those lines; doesn't matter, because the world ends now. Yep, just like +that. + +And not only it ends, but it ends through the most clichéistic turn of events +ever: dead people start walking the streets and eating living people to death, +turning them into more dead people walking the streets and eating... well, you +get the idea. So Lee doesn't die just yet, otherwise this wouldn't be much of a +game. Instead, he finds Clementine -- the main character of the series, just so +we're clear about this -- and they head on somewhere, trying to survive; +somewhere in Georgia, on the way to Macon and then hell-on-Earth knows where. + + +This is the basic story, which the writers, directors and whatnot decided to +structure into some kind of sitcom[^3] made up of „chapters”, „episodes” and +„seasons”. So far Seasons One and Two are available, but I've decided to cover +only the first one, although I might make this into a series if things get +interesting along the way. + +Anyway, this whole structure leads me to see the crux of the game as "stuff +happens": various characters come and then go, mostly by getting eaten or shot +or what happens in the somehow believable universe of The Walking Dead. This, +of course, makes nitpickers such as myself want to dig deeper for a meaning, or +understanding where all the unholy flesh-eating disorder comes from. +Unfortunately not even a clue is given by the end of the first season, which is +quite believable given this rather peculiar universe, where actual food is a +rare commodity, let alone stuff such as electricity. What I particularly liked +about it is that this didn't make it horror or anything, only downright +disturbing. + + +The story of the first season is, however, or at least I believe it is one of +maintaining an ounce of sanity in the midst of chaos. At the end of the day +it's Lee trying to educate a girl he becomes attached to pretty early on, while +surviving along with a bunch of other people and making the tough decisions, +but the normal decisions regarding the circumstances. + +The game implements a decision tree spanning I think from the first episode of +the season to the last (and, from what the developers say, into the following +seasons), where the player is faced with choosing between some evil or another, +between saying something stupid or something stupider and so on. The weird part +is that a large part of the dialogue choices are timed, which gives you the +option to shut up, which I find to be a breath of fresh air, despite the +possible frustration it might cause. These mechanics extend to other actions, +such as deciding between what object you'll toss down the head of a "walker" +next or trying desperately to avoid a fight with someone whose help you might +need later. My feelings regarding this whole thing range from "wow, cool, take +that bullet, put it into the shotgun, just like in real life! then shoot the +goddamned zombie" to "fuck, I can't find the focus point for this object, welp, +now I'm dead, gotta restart". In some ways that's just like in real life, but +in others, spending too much time trying to select an object that's right in +front of you can be frustrating. + + +Overall, the game's mechanics tend to orient it towards an "interactive drama", +less focused on combining this object with that and fitting it with the rubber +ducky, and more on dialogue, even though The Walking Dead is no [Gabriel +Knight][gk][^4]. Myself, I would have preferred the feeling of a good book +instead of that of a good TV show, but I get it, Telltale are really good at +making this kind of stuff. + +As hinted before, I've only played Season One so far. I don't know where this +is going: the authors seem to want to stick it to a five-parter, which means +that the story is supposed to have a well thought out beginning and an end +right at this moment. The feeling I've been given so far, and I hope I'm wrong, +is that this has the potential of going in the direction of Lost or some other +TV series I haven't seen[^5], ending stuck in a rut, or maybe worse. Well, I +never thought I'd say this, but the whole zombie apocalypse thing has great +potential to be exploited in exactly the right way. And I'm looking forward to +playing, and hopefully enjoying, the whole thing. + +**Post Scriptum**: I get that the American public is sensitized to the +emotionally wrecking thing, but it hasn't quite gotten to me. The final scene +almost got a tear out of me, but I still made the right decision, which was to +tell Clementine to blow Lee's brains out. Hey, sorry, that's one fucked up +world, it'd be stupid to judge it by any "normal" standards. + + + + +[^1]: I promise I'll write about the beginning of the 2000s, when some of the +best (and last) adventure games ever spurted out of the middle of Nor... I +mean, nowhere. I am looking forward to it, oh, with so many deep feelings and +so much nostalgia. + +[^2]: That's because I like to think that I prefer writing analyses and not +reviews. I've tried to shed my thoughts on some good games without a good +story, but I eventually found out it wasn't worth it. So, there you go. + +[^3]: Actually, a walkdram? + +[^4]: Gabriel Knight is more of an "interactive narrative" if you ask me. + +[^5]: Actually, there are a few I've seen: Star Trek and spin-offs? Stargate +SG-1 and spin-offs? The Simpsons? Maybe Twin Peaks, but this one was really +great and ruined by whoever decided to mess up Lynch's brilliant idea. Oh, +which reminds me: Seinfeld, but that was a show about nothing in the first +place. + +[gf]: /posts/y00/01a-grim-fandango.html +[twd-comic]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(comic_book) +[gk]: posts/y00/005-gabriel-knight-sins-of-the-fathers.html diff --git a/posts/y01/02a-online-media-is-feeding-on-your-tears.markdown b/posts/y01/02a-online-media-is-feeding-on-your-tears.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cbb8ec --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y01/02a-online-media-is-feeding-on-your-tears.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +--- +postid: 02a +title: Online media is feeding on your tears +excerpt: In which I publicly shame the rubbish that is new media. +date: September 20, 2014 +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +tags: asphalt +--- + +I don't usually bash things or people on the great superhighway of the +Internets, and not because I find it degrading or anything of the sort; on the +contrary, I think of it as a very useful tool, especially in those particularly +nasty times when sorting humans from animals[^1]. No, I avoid doing this +because it doesn't give me any pleasure, while this blog, like the one before +it, was created solely for my pleasure and your struggling to comprehend it. + +However, there are times when I must, and here and now is one of those times. +The target is, as you have most probably already guessed, the so-called "online +media" or "social media" or whatever it is they buzzword it nowadays. + +The story is, of course, much older than that. "Traditional" forms of media, +mainly radio, TV and paper journalism, were conceived in the previous century +as a means to convey information more efficiently to the masses, hence the +buzzword "mass media". Now, if we look beyond the naïve definition, we will +find that "mass media" had been used for more perverse reasons as early as the +days before World War II, if not earlier; I am not referring to +pornography[^2]. The more "efficient" means of communication were also more +efficient at spreading lies among the masses, going as far as providing the +means for mass brainwashing, or -- is that how they call it? -- collective +psychosis[^3]. Lies, however, are just false information, while mass media +channels can transmit much more than that, i.e. strength, anger, violence, etc. + +Given this whole mass media mess, the Internet, particularly the World Wide +Web, had been a breath of fresh air in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Things +were a lot more simpler before Yahoo and Google and Twitter; oh, also, +Facebook, how in the world could I forget that one? All these services aren't +in any way evolutionary steps "in the right way". Yes, they help people become +"more connected"[^4] and they provide better "user experience" and other such +non-qualities; yes, they were made to be accessible, maybe the most accessible +stuff on the Internet, browsable while you sit on the couch holding your tablet +or your phone in your hands, but it also happens that all this stuff doesn't +matter at the end of the day, because they never actually brought any +significant improvements to your life in the first place. In all fairness +though, these so-called "social networks" are useful in a few limited +circumstances; otherwise, they're places where everyone talks and no one +listens to anybody, where users are divided into "content providers" and +"content consumers", because fuck it, they just had to make new "mass media", +also known as "online media", that looks just like the old one and inherits all +of its flaws. + +Thus, the "smart guys" are profiting from this one in exactly the same ways +they were profiting from that one. For example it is a well-known practice in +Romanian journalism, where a large part of the political fight[^5] has been +moved online, where most so-called newspapers are controlled by political +factions. In early August this year, one of the "media moguls", also a guy with +lots of political power, Dan Voiculescu, was sentenced to ten years of prison +for corruption, which led to a massive backlash from [Antena 3][plimbare], one +of the stations he owns. Amusingly enough, a lot of the younger people on +Facebook expressed their agreement with the sentence, while the Antena 3 +sympathizers, mostly in their 50s or 60s, went as far as to protest in front of +the Cotroceni Palace[^6], which is a clear indicator of the social division in +the country. "Amusingly enough" is not a very fitting description though, it +would be funny if it weren't so sad. + +In the golden age of the World Wide Web, the phenomenon of tear-jerking[^7] is +however global: you may have forgotten the death of Robin Williams, which also +occured in early August this year[^8]. There's not much to be said of the +actor[^9], but his death caused a slew of emotional reactions on all the +"online media" channels. This is in itself understandable, since we often +become attached to characters and in some odd way to the actors fitting in +their roles. The bad news about this is that, well, how should I put it; some +guys actually make money out of your likes. + +Is it cynical? Yeah, maybe. Is it in any way ethical? Hell if I know, you're +free to debate this aspect. All I know is that some guys are mining these big +data pools and using them to manipulate the users' emotions in order to, well, +I don't really give a flying fuck why they do it. The good news, everyone! is +that [they're succeeding][social-contagion], and they're quite possibly getting +better at it in time. + +So there you have it, people, your Brave New Media, the junk food of the +Internet. + +[^1]: Really, no. [You're not born a human, you become a human][mp]. + +[^2]: Although that was also one of the more important uses, despite the +Christians' cognitive dissonance that it wasn't. Also much to their +desperation, in time it's become at least [as important as +religion itself][post-religion]. + +[^3]: It happened in the 1920s and '30s with fascism and then after World War +II in more ways than we can imagine. Orwell has done such a good job of +documenting it in 1984, while Huxley has done such a good job of documenting +another side of it in Brave New World. They're both at least as valid in +today's "mass media"/"online media" context. + +[^4]: Does anybody remember laughter? + +[^5]: Romanian democracy, or rather "democracy", is a peculiar beast. The vast +majority of citizens, from common folk to educated people, love, no, they +simply crave to discuss and fiercely debate politics, while few of them, about +20 to 30% or so, actually participate in the actual political life by doing the +usual stuff that a citizen would do in a functional democracy, such as voting. + +[^6]: The president's main residence. It's a well-known fact that Traian +Băsescu, the almost-ex-president of Romania is a very hated figure amongst +Antena fans. Hey, I'm running out of epithets here. + +[^7]: Tear-jerking, hate mongering, same crap. It's all "shocking this" and +"mindblowing that". Seriously, cut us some slack now, will ya? + +[^8]: It was such a long time ago! I know, right? + +[^9]: I'm really lacking in cinematic education, so I find it hard to have a +well thought out opinion about this. To me, Robin Williams is one of those +really good actors having the bad luck of being cast in a series of utterly +pointless films, such as Bicentennial Man. Oh, and the main character, potrayed +by Williams, dies in that movie, and this just goes to show how cold and devoid +of meaning death is, and how we're so very afraid of it. But that's nothing +really new. + +[mp]: http://trilema.com/2013/why-i-am-not-a-white-nationalist/#comment-95838 +[post-religion]: /posts/y00/018-on-post-religion.html +[plimbare]: http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-17861732-antena-3-initiaza-protestele-plimbarea-contra-statului-jurul-palatului-cotroceni-ora-17-00.htm +[social-contagion]: http://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788.full diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-01-thumb.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-01-thumb.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77fb932 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-01-thumb.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-01.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-01.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b2d0e0 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-01.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-02-thumb.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-02-thumb.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4697d1a Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-02-thumb.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-02.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-02.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ccc7db8 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-02.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-03-thumb.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-03-thumb.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..040656d Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-03-thumb.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-03.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-03.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6628ad3 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-03.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-04-thumb.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-04-thumb.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4670901 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-04-thumb.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-04.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-04.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..881c145 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-04.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-05-thumb.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-05-thumb.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..61d0df5 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-05-thumb.jpg differ diff --git a/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-05.jpg b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-05.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9bd1e2 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2014/09/the-walking-dead-05.jpg differ