"Escapist Fantasic" or "Why Seil Apparently Wants To Be An Asshole"

[Seil]

I have scotch.

It is fantastic. Life isn't fantastic, life could be better. I could actually be hired for the job in which I earned my certificate, but that hasn't happened yet. I've got a lot of time on my hands. So... scotch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwBdSOse9as)! Scotch and Skyrim and Seil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljokdjJo7cY).

Here's the thing! (I am rather fond of saying that, aren't I?) I like reep-egs. They're good. I like the Final Fantasies, (each one more final than the last!) the Chrono Triggers, (took ages to beat!) and the Dragon Age. (It's.... got dragons?) I like the reepges 'cause I like knights. More accurately, the knights depicted in The Death Of King Arthur. The Knights of the Round. The idea of questing along a big landscape, righting wrongs, wronging rights, and fair, fair wenches.

Oh, wait, feminism.

Fair, fair independent ladies.

So Seil likes the whole middle-age/maybe sometimes steampunk if Seil is in the mood video games. I've actually argued the Oblivion versus Fallout 3 route as I can be a dude with a sword.

But here's the thing. Quest For Glory (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4-IHx3Cl9c). It's a quest of some description, for adulation of some kind - and when I was younger, it was one of the gaming experiences that stuck in my mind. I never had a Super Nintendo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dIWyvNoxM) or a Sega (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX8Ldy0obW4), or a Sony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DOKzTHaPfM), but I did have a family computer and a brother who was fond of gaming. I watched him play Half Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCpkQGsDftw), a pirated version of Metal Gear Solid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O_kg6EqcRA) where the cut scenes made the game crash, and Quest For Glory V (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtx_fpdi06w). With a V instead of a 5 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJK-_UkjR8U).

So here it is (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snNpEUJp_Z4). The character I use on the rare times I can D&D is a Dragonborn Priest. When I repeeg, it's a priestly, white-knighty becon of holy farts. Except in the games where it gives me a choice.

That's not to say that I'm awful - I still play that Gallant Gawain, it's just that when offered the choice, Gawain chooses to sneak his way through a dungeon and slit the throat of the Evil King. He chooses to pickpocket and thief his way to goodness. The Dark Brotherhood, and all that jazz. Rogues and such.

So why is that? I like knights - one of my fondest dreams is not to be knighted, but to be knighted for doing a deed worthy of a nighting. (Maybe with Kate Middleton! Meow!) So, I usually play the biggest, strongest, most purest Paladin. Or.... I rob all the banks and all the people and all the monsters of their pants. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH4KCz2vCa8) Is it boredom? Is it the most lucrative option? Is it the lack of real repercussions? Is it escapist fantasy? (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/138-Age-of-Conan)

Am I a beacon of light, like Krylo says (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?p=1239936#post1239936), or just a butt who enjoys farting misdeeds all over the ruhpug lands?



---------- Post added at 07:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:37 AM ----------

HdO6xLqc-Yo

I really like games in which the primary goal is to just be a sack of douche, but that also break away of gameplay sometimes for musical numbers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0kSBiu1IGk).

---------- Post added at 07:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:03 AM ----------

iUxsgmJv-2c

Ho snap! Why are games like Thief so enjoyable if stealing is bad, yo?

[phil_]

I like knights. More accurately, the knights depicted in The Death Of King Arthur.I like the tale of Sirs Balin and Balan because it exemplifies how pointless most of the round table's quests were and how up-their-own-asses its members were. For those of you who haven't read it, it's about Balin going around killing people for no reason, apologizing every time and making pointless oaths he never has an opportunity to act on, his brother Balan hangs out for a bit, then they kill each other in a tournament and everyone is sad and makes them a neat grave. Killing each other is about the only thing leaning toward good either of them ever does.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

So I started rereading about Arthurian lore and

The first accounts of the beast are in the Perlesvaus and the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin. The Post-Vulgate's account, which is taken up in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, has the Questing Beast appear to King Arthur after he has had an affair with his sister Morgause and begotten Mordred (they did not know that they were related when the incestuous act occurred).

Arthur sees the beast drinking from a pool just after he wakes from a disturbing dream that foretells Mordred's destruction of the realm (no noise of hounds from the belly is emitted while it is drinking). He is then approached by King Pellinore who confides that it is his family quest to hunt the beast. Merlin reveals the Questing Beast had been born of a human woman, a princess who lusted after her own brother. She slept with a devil who had promised to make the boy love her, but the devil manipulated her into accusing her brother of rape. Their father had him torn apart by dogs as punishment. Before he died however, he prophesied that his sister would give birth to an abomination which would make the same sounds as the pack of dogs that was about to kill him.

The beast has been taken as a symbol of the incest, violence, and chaos that eventually destroys Arthur's kingdom.

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz214/Lindasiki/questing-beast.jpg

What the hell British folklorists

[rpgdemon]

I like the tale of Sirs Balin and Balan Dwalin

That is about as far as my brain got while reading this.

[Revising Ocelot]

Too many links in first post. Rename Seil to "citation needed".

Shyria's picture looks like the average thing found in Wales, what's the big deal here?

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Whatever kinds of substances Wales is on, I'm not sure if I want to ban them or if I want Wales to share

[phil_]

Whatever kinds of substances Wales is on, I'm not sure if I want to ban them or if I want Wales to shareYou would never be able to read the label.

[Solid Snake]

Quest for Glory is an awesome series.
I literally don't understand anything else about Seil's rant, I'm just popping in to say that.

[Seil]

I'm oft described as a goody-two-shoes, but when given the choice in a game or role playing, I usually end up playing as a thief or assassin class. Why is that? It's not that I don't play big hero paladin types, but I usually steal and kill my way through the lands.

Is it because deep down I'm really just an ass?
Is it because I want to experience things that I don't or wouldn't experience in real life?
Is it because I get bored with a game, and just like to dick around in a world with no repercussions?

[mauve]

Is it because deep down I'm really just an ass? Nope.
Is it because I want to experience things that I don't or wouldn't experience in real life? Yep.
Is it because I get bored with a game, and just like to dick around in a world with no repercussions?Yep.

Current research suggests we pick characters that are either A) a version of the idealized self, who we'd choose to be if we were perfect or "better" in some way or other, or B) the opposite: a chance to act or exhibit traits we don't normally do, in a safe and consequence-free environment. It's the novelty of role-reversal: a chance to act in ways not normally characteristic to yourself or socially acceptable. A person who is normally very polite and non aggressive, for example, might be drawn to barbarians, fighters, etc simply for the novelty of acting in ways they wouldn't normally. It doesn't mean you're a bad person deep down, just like how dressing as a villain on Halloween doesn't mean you're secretly evil. It's just fun.


So the paladin is the idealized self, and the thief is the opposite.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Current research suggests we pick characters that are either A) a version of the idealized self, who we'd choose to be if we were perfect or "better" in some way or other, or B) the opposite: a chance to act or exhibit traits we don't normally do, in a safe and consequence-free environment. It's the novelty of role-reversal: a chance to act in ways not normally characteristic to yourself or socially acceptable. A person who is normally very polite and non aggressive, for example, might be drawn to barbarians, fighters, etc simply for the novelty of acting in ways they wouldn't normally. It doesn't mean you're a bad person deep down, just like how dressing as a villain on Halloween doesn't mean you're secretly evil. It's just fun.


So the paladin is the idealized self, and the thief is the opposite.

I would concur with this. I remember playing Fallout 3, where I made it my mission to kill every killable npc in the world. I succeeded.

Then Skyrim came along. I rp'ed a character who would do literally anything to achieve immense magical/political power. Become a mage and learn ALL the spells? Check. Secretly become a werewolf? Check. Basically gain control of every guild, learn their secrets and gain all their unique powers? Check. Kill all the dragons and gain all their powers? Check. End the civil war and make the Empire strong enough to hold off the Aldmeri Dominion so that the two can fight it out, buying myself enough time so that I can eventually rise to power once the now weakened victor emerges? Check. Sell my soul to every demon lord/higher being, gaining their favour and special weapons and items, effectively becoming immortal because they'll ultimately end up fighting amongst themselves for the rights to my soul once I do die, making it impossible for me to pass on to the afterlife? Aaand we're done.


My next character was a theif who was almost literally invisible, despite not having an actual invisibility power, but was able to steal anything, including items from gods and Elder Scrolls from their secret underground caverns, long before the real Dragonborn would ever turn up to claim them. Because my theif was clearly not the real Dragonborn, so the entire hope for the future of the world was undone. Yes, my guy stole the hope for the world.

[Satan's Onion]

Huh. And here I like best playing, like, good thieves--the kind of characters who'll never steal a crust of bread from a beggar, but will happily empty the house of an aristocrat and give the beggars the proceeds. Like, the Thieves' Guild questline in Oblivion is my jam: it is, in no small way, about acting outside the law in order to punish abuses of authority. (It's also why, when I fire up Fallout: NV, I start singing to myself "I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the Legion I see".) I guess I favor characters who are smart enough to separate the letter of the law from the spirit of the law, and brave enough to fight authority and stand outside accepted society to do something about it.

[Krylo]

When I play thief characters, it's usually because the mechanics of the game incentivize stealth/stealing SO MUCH that I can't help but do it.

I find this to be the case in most Bethsoft games. I mean, at low level Oblivion/Skyrim destruction magic is hardly usable, and in Oblivion melee is a bit shit as well, unless you pick a melee centered race, until you've built into it a bit. Meanwhile, in both games, you can just lawlsneakattack with impunity while the enemies keep forgetting you are there. In the recent Fallout games, as well, the game is infinitely easier if you sneak around a bit, even if your stealth skill isn't very good.

Given a true equality of play (or high enough level to ignore how good stealth is), however, I usually end up being the righteous fist of an avenging god. No hiding, no cowering, no retreating, no stealing (at least until all the owners are dead), and no survivors--but only when the killing is justified. Basically like SO's 'good thief,' but with a lot more charred corpses.

In most games I tend to end up with any morality counters all the way to good.

I don't enjoy crossing any kind of moral event horizons, and doing things that I wouldn't find justified. Even when I play an 'evil' character, I need to build up some kind of backstory and personality in my mind that allows me to justify--through the character's eyes--anything awful I'm doing, and those ones tend to have high morality marks in lots of games, too, because I still, for instance, wipe Paradise Falls off the map. Just for different reasons.