Theme-y Thursdays: Survival and Self-Preservation

This week's post is going to be pretty short, but is actually about my absolute favorite type of game: one's with apocalyptic settings. While this subject ties in with all four of my previous posts, there is still a special place in my life for a game that explores the fantastical possibility of the world, as we know it, ending. Whether the game focuses on war, aliens, zombies or a sudden virus outbreak, I am completely on board 100% of the time.

There's just something about our social construct being completely wiped clean and civilization being forced to start over, leaving everyone with a million different questions, that I love. It is a theme that really makes you think about the way our society is run and what changes will occur in the future. If the world ends, do we live as savages? Re-build everything the exact same way and hope, by some miracle, that history doesn't repeat itself? Or does humanity strive for utopia?

Image Credit: Stefan Stefancik

The best survival games are generally able to give players a pretty good representation of what it's like to rely on our most basic instincts. While these games play on the more psychological aspects of having to survive, that is one of the first things you would more than likely lose in reality. How long can you keep your humanity when the world is being overrun by zombies and your self-preservation instincts kick-in over your charitable nature?

Civilization has come so far from the hunter/gatherer days, creating, modifying and overthrowing systems of government, that it has separated us from the most natural parts of ourselves. While we have pretty much escaped the "food chain", in its original sense, a big theme throughout movies, books and games surround the day that mother nature finally gets her revenge for all those fast-food wrappers thrown on the ground. And on that day, I will be forced to accept the fact that my hundreds of hours playing Fallout does not mean I am prepared in any way for a world without Internet or running water.

However, whether you are getting your survival know-how legitimately from the scouts, Bear Grylls, or you are totally winging it with video-game survival tips, at least we are once again learning the natural things our bodies forgot long ago. 

Again, I apologize for this week's post being as short as it is, especially since it is on one of my favorite topics. Still, I want to hear what you guys think about this theme in games or anywhere else. Do you guys enjoy playing apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic games and what are your favorites? What do you guys think about the "end of the world" scares that we seem to have every few years or so? I know a lot of families with actual shelters under their houses or on their property for when the world "ends", which I don't really know how to feel about. Would you guys consider them smart and prepared or fanatics with tinfoil hats? Either way...

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and thanks so much for reading.

SS

Theme-y Thursdays: Loneliness

The idea behind categorizing everything by genre is vastly different and more vague than looking at literature through its themes. Yet, while everyone can rattle off their favorite types of literature, games, music, etc., it is these smaller aspects regarding tone and storytelling which really describe what you like about a genre.

Theme-y Thursdays, starting next week, is going to look at a multitude of different games through one narrative theme. In the same sense that you should never judge a book by its cover, judging a game by decided upon genre instead of its contents could be isolating you from a great experience. This week I am going to be looking at the theme of loneliness...

Image Credit: Ken Kistler

A major misconception behind this theme surrounds individuals not understanding the difference between being alone and being lonely. With the current state of technology and communication, it is astonishing how many people feel like they are alone in the world even while in a room full of people. Stories which play on this narrative well generally stand out in the gaming industry for being more realistic and personable in their plot and characters, as it is something that many can connect with.

A few games that play on that sense of complete isolation by actually isolating the player, do not succeed in anything more than making their games seem empty. However, some game designers make amazing new titles by pushing this idea of isolation as literally as possible. Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Journey or Alone in the Dark, just naming a few, make your character seem like the only thing that is truly real in a world that seems to be endless.

This constructed loneliness is fairly obvious, yet is extremely effective in the way that it enhances the player's connection with the story. It can force players to experience the psychological implications of isolation, connecting and creating relationships with inanimate objects or disembodied voices, like in Portal and the original BioShock.

Another way of creating that sense of isolation is through forced introspection where you, as a player, are never technically alone in any way. The Masters Review Blog by Cole Meyer, another blog focusing on literature in all forms, mentioned a game that I was previously obsessed with, Papers, Please. 

This game has such a huge agenda regarding its theme and message about society and morality that I would feel wrong not mentioning it here. Connection and communication is a necessity to us, as humans, and this game's perfect representation of the dehumanizing effects of modern labor make it feel like you are under the pressures of a real job. 

While I could go on forever describing and recommending games, I want to here what you guys think about this theme. Have you ever stopped playing a game because it felt too "empty"? Do you guys enjoy playing mostly multiplayer games to counteract how lonely some games feel or do you enjoy post-apocalyptic survival scenarios? I have always felt more connected with single player campaigns than multiplayer ones since the stories are generally more interactive.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and thanks so much for reading.

SS