I am working on a new game where you play as alleged double murderer and rapist Malcolm Naden. He is an Australian fugitive who has been on the run and living off the land for 7 years. He is currently hiding somewhere in the Barrington Tops of New South Wales. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya8MmQkowVM
In the game, you must hunt and kill wild life for food.
Here's a wallaby running animation I just finished.
I know this may be a touchy (offensive?) topic for people and I'd be interested to hear what people think.
Is that the guy "Wolf Creek" was supposed to be based on? Fairly disturbing film that - pretty sure your game won't be more offensive.
Anyway, very nice wallaby you have their, with very realistic animation.
The only thing is - weren't you making a zombie game that looked *exactly* like this? I can't help but imagine a horde of zombie-wallabies hopping around, eating everyone (a little like the other antipodean classic, "Black Sheep").
Haha nah the guy from Wolf Creek was Bradley Murdoch and he's in jail now. The movie is "based on true events" but is pretty much totally made up. Malcolm Naden is a current real life Australian fugitive on the run for murdering his 2 cousins and indecently assaulting a 15 year old school girl. He is a freakishly gifted master bushman adaptable to any conditions. He also shot a cop a few weeks ago.
And correct! I am working on a zombie game. But it is a huge project and I am taking a little break from it for the time being. A short Malcolm Naden game where you hunt wild life and fight the police is something I can realistically finish before the world ends.
Plenty of stories and games have been made about exiles of society before. Some of the most remarkable films ever made have been about anti-heroes or folks "on the run." Have a look at Terence Malick's "Badlands" or anything about "Bonnie & Clyde" for some inspiration. What you're doing is not uncommon. Hell, even the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was 'based on true events.'
Are you trying to make some kind of editorial point with this subject matter? Is it just a curiosity for you?
On another other hand, Malcolm Naden has not been charged with anything. Innocent until proven guilty! But on another other other hand, he did rip up every photo of himself and flee into the forest leaving his cousin strangled in his bedroom.
Personally, I think Malcolm Naden is freaking awesome and I hope he kills as many cops as he can and lives happily ever after.
Personally, I think Malcolm Naden is freaking awesome and I hope he kills as many cops as he can and lives happily ever after.
Not being funny but i find that statement extremely disturbing and disrespectful. At the end of the day those cops have families and are trying to make a living the same as everyone else. To say that you hope he kills as many cops as possible is a little bit immature and hateful in my opinion.
It is one thing to be Anti Police but another thing be completely psychotic which is what this sort of statement symbolises
You have never been beaten up by the police have you?
I am well aware that these people go home to their families and have feelings and feel pain like the rest of us. But when they put on their uniform and badge, something changes. They are now acting on behalf of the institution of the police. This single most institution involved in the day to day application of violence to maintain the systems of control any honest human being should find themselves opposed to.
The problem with police is their role in society, not their individual personality's.
I don't hope Malcolm Naden kills as many cops as he can. If he did, then the New South Wales police force would spend more money and time trying to catch and arrest him when all he wants is to be left alone. He is an honest man with honest beliefs.
I don't intend on getting into an argument with you about this but I will address some of the points you have made:
Originally Posted by Chris Burrows
You have never been beaten up by the police have you?
No, I haven't. Why? I steer clear of any occasions/situations where my actions might end up with being confronted by the police.
Originally Posted by Chris Burrows
I am well aware that these people go home to their families and have feelings and feel pain like the rest of us. But when they put on their uniform and badge, something changes. They are now acting on behalf of the institution of the police. This single most institution involved in the day to day application of violence to maintain the systems of control any honest human being should find themselves opposed to.
You are now tarring all members of the Police force with the same brush. The same line of thinking could be applied to Doctors in the UK. Take Harold Shipman as an extreme case. He went around administering lethal doses of painkillers/drugs to his elderly patients. Does this mean that ALL doctors in the UK do the same thing?
Originally Posted by Chris Burrows
The problem with police is their role in society, not their individual personality's.
This statement is the problem. It is how the police are governed that is the issue. They do not appear to be accountable for their actions but this does not mean that one individual should suffer for a groups failures.
As for your final statement:
Originally Posted by Chris Burrows
He is an honest man with honest beliefs.
How can someone who has murdered another human being be honest? Where is the honesty in murdering someone?
Where is the honesty in these crimes?
Originally Posted by Chris Burrows
Malcolm Naden is a current real life Australian fugitive on the run for murdering his 2 cousins and indecently assaulting a 15 year old school girl. He is a freakishly gifted master bushman adaptable to any conditions. He also shot a cop a few weeks ago.
Back on Topic, the animated Wallaby is really good. If you stare at it long enough it looks as though it is running backwards.
Originally Posted by lembi2001Back on Topic, the animated Wallaby is really good. If you stare at it long enough it looks as though it is running backwards.
lembi2001: Or rather, although the animation is nice I think the topic title is a 'bait-and-switch,' and the issues you and Chris discussed are what Chris really wanted to chat about. That's where my earlier question came from, anyway. So I'll comment on that.
LONG STORY SHORT: In principle, I personally support any anti-police and prison-abolition initiatives I uncover. I applaud any attempts at turning these sentiments into a creative or practical effort of some kind. I even attempted this recently with my short-form joke/game "Charm City Patrol".
And for the record: you do not have to be attacked by the police to become anti-police. That's only a single justification for someone's perspective on the issue.
Choosing a real-life suspected murderer as the protagonist of your story is a hard sell to anyone, even someone as anti-cop as me. So at first blush I recommend you avoid the anti-hero sentiment. Focus more on the survivalist aspect of it. Actually, it would be interesting to leave your protagonist nameless/anonymous until the end, when he's finally caught by the cops. Only then will the player realize they've been fighting so hard to help a fugitive and suspected murderer stay alive.
You could go the shock-value root, which is much quicker and less subtle, and most likely just piss off plenty of folks. But I think focusing on the other aspects of this man's real-life tale are much more interesting, and a LOT less black-and-white. The game would be more enjoyable, in my opinion.
Kinda like First Blood meets Das Boot. Good luck with it.
Well it seems we have two very different opinions. You support the criminal organisation known as the police, and I do not, let's just leave it at that.
@ s-m-r
Correct! I am focusing on the survivalist/stealth aspect of Malcolm Naden's life, with a bit of cop killing thrown in for good measure to keep ya on your toes. Some locals will support your cause and offer food and supplies, others will see you as violent scum and attack you.
@ nobody in particular:
Malcolm Naden is a current real life alleged murderer on the run from the law. It will be years, probably decades, possibly never, before he transcends into a folk lore legend/hero like his fugitive counterparts Ned Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde etc. With real families alive today effected by these murders, I know this could be considered offensive and in bad taste. I am going to finish this project regardless, just curious as to other peoples views on the matter.
Well it seems we have two very different opinions. You support the criminal organisation known as the police, and I do not, let's just leave it at that.
I'm not inclined to argue with you, seeing as we wouldn't even consider each others views on the subject anyway, just wanted to point out the fact you can't really - on a lingual basis - call the police a 'criminal' organisation seeing as 'criminal' is based on the reverse of abiding the laws that the police govern, in the position(front-end one that is) of deciding to whom it's applicable.
I realize it sounds quite smart-ass'y of me, but all your possible 'points won' drop to zero when you use language that's highly emotive.
Just sayin.
EDIT: Oh, and I instantly see the wallaby jumping backwards.
Well it seems we have too share two very different opinions. You support the criminal organisation known as the police, and I do not, let's just leave it at that.
Well I don't know if he's a hero, but since he's a rapist you should include a rape feature in the game. That I would like to see. Also make your next game about Martin Bryant -- there's a true hero.
Discarded pizza boxes are an indispensable source of cheese.
Haha, I'm from Tasmania and Martin Bryant aint too much of a hero round here. A lot of my friends went to school with him or know people who he killed.
As for including a rape function, I would, but I don't think Malcolm Naden raped anybody.
The newspapers sometimes throw in that he is wanted for questioning over the indecent assault of a 15 year old girl which happened a couple of years before he fled but they never say too much about it and are always switching their words around. Many believe the police have just thrown that in the mix to make him seem more of a scumbag.
Thanks for your thoughts marky_2. I appreciate it, valid points.
Originally Posted by Eternal Man [EE]
I'm not inclined to argue with you, seeing as we wouldn't even consider each others views on the subject anyway, just wanted to point out the fact you can't really - on a lingual basis - call the police a 'criminal' organisation seeing as 'criminal' is based on the reverse of abiding the laws that the police govern, in the position(front-end one that is) of deciding to whom it's applicable.
Any argument based on linguistics is destined to fail or even in some cases contradict itself. This is a classic example of "the emperor has no clothes," and - to extend the metaphor - nowadays the assertions that the dude is bare-assed naked are more frequently coming to light.
I can only speak for what's happening here in the USA, as opposed to police forces worldwide. Simply looking at evidence of police corruption, outright abuse of powers, brutality, drug dealing, malfeasance, and refusal to 'protect and serve' citizens (even citing previous cases where it is established that police are under no obligation to respond to crimes or citizen requests for help AKA 911 calls), which is all readily available, it establishes that many facets of law enforcement are completely lawless. This is well-established in the United States: a country that, in 2008, had imprisoned at least 1 in every 100 adult citizens...Many for non-violent crimes that did nothing to negatively impact society.
Asserting that everything done by sworn officers of the law (or any government official for that matter, as they are by definition "law makers") is by definition lawful is irresponsible at least, and ignorant at best. Paperwork evidence has been building for several score years, and in the past 20 or so years video and audio evidence is surfacing at surprising rates.
I'm coming to the conclusion that - in accordance to the evidence of what the US government is allowing its servants to do both here and abroad - we are the "bad guys." it's in my opinion that laws established by the current government - whether SOPA, PIPA, the worldwide ACTA initiative, or even the Patriot Act - are worthy of suspicion and scorn. Those who choose to enforce those laws - legislators, sworn officers of the law, prison guards, et al - are also worthy of such suspicion and scorn.
There are plenty of ways to earn a living and provide for one's family. in my opinion, enforcing laws in an environment such as this should not be one of them.
Chris, did you really want the discussion to go this route?
I was more interested on hearing what people thought about my main character being a real-life current alleged murderer. Deciding whether or not you support the police is a personal choice and arguing about it solves nothing. It's like the choice to stop eating meat. A person will stop when they feel they are ready, and there is nothing anybody can say that will make them. It just happens when it's right for them. Some people get there early, some people never do. Same with the police.
That said, I love to listen and to learn, and I would love to talk about it.
I believe justice will require abolishing property the way that capitalism recognises it, and the police are the ones who apply violence to maintain capitalist property. Most cops become police officers because they want to help people, and any cop will do some of that during their career. But they will also be there every time to side with the right for developers to own unused property over the right for homeless people to have a roof over their heads, or the right for the supermarket to own food over the right of broke people to eat it, or the right of a corporation to shut down a factory over the right of its workers to occupy it and keep it running to stay in a job, etc.
As cool and awesome as killing cops really is, the real challenge is to establish a means of coexisting that is not based on coercion. A world where we don't have to call the cops when the shit goes down. We must identify all systems of hierarchy (aka control) and construct alternative methods of providing the needs that people today rely on the corporations and governments for and ultimately abolish corporations and governments altogether.
This may be an impossible dream, but the reason to pursue it is not that we may necessarily archive it, but because our individual lives, immediate communities and ultimately our societies will become better to live in.
Chris: Creating games that deal with the subject you're discussing is something I've wrestled with myself. I'm wondering what it will take to deliver a solid platform of one's beliefs without being off-putting or completely foreign. I think this is tough because video games rely so much on conflict to involve the player; the player's actions solve the problem, and players are often asked to solve the problem "the same old way" AKA direct violence. Since violence is already so much a part of western culture, it's familiar and thus dilutes the impact of the message. The message is seen as more of a gimmick or story hook than anything else. It does little to open the player to considering the alternative lifestyle seriously, and in fact obscures it.
I think deliberate use of humor is a way to open the door to new subjects. Making a joke about the situation, or pushing it to the extreme, is a way to harmlessly introduce the 'radical' subject matter to a brand new audience. A gifted writer can plot out a game's storyline with some creative problem solving, or develop an incredibly immersive world, or both. Fail at the approach and one is seen as "ham-fisted" or overwrought.
It's a tough balance, and not an easy one to maneuver in a world dominated by the military and pro-government establishment; this, coupled with the nature of most video games to use violence. I don't have a solid answer.
This is the stuff of a thesis in the making, for sure.
I'm glad we have law enforcement, are there bad ones sometimes? Sure.
Some make mistakes, but these mistakes ultimately stem from the fact that society as a whole is becoming more lawless.
I know a few cops personally in my own town, and since they've got to deal with so many morons on a daily basis they start to see everyone as a criminal. It can cause them to overreact in situations of extreme stress. It's a tough job, one I think is underpaid.
There are law enforcement that abuse their power, but for each one of those how many hundreds of others have saved lives and done their job correctly?
I'm not sure why you have the opinion you do Chris, were you bitten by a cop when you were little?
Originally Posted by . : UrbanMonk : . I'm glad we have law enforcement, are there bad ones sometimes? Sure.
Some make mistakes, but these mistakes ultimately stem from the fact that society as a whole is becoming more lawless.
[emphasis mine]
I disagree with this sentiment, unless you look at the issue from simply laws being disobeyed. There are many more laws today than there were in past decades or even as recent as a few years ago, so by definition society is becoming more lawless. Otherwise cops would be out of a job.
But that's only one way to approach the issue. An alternative is to view it from the sense that law enforcement has grabbed society's power (through various political processes) and literally disarmed society. Then police state they will "serve and protect," and what has followed is a steady scaling-up of oppressive behaviour and tactics put forth by law enforcement to neuter society. For example, in many communities in the US, handguns are not permitted; to avoid scrapes with the law, law-abiding people have stopped purchasing firearms. Meanwhile, criminals have continued to purchase and carry firearms (they're accustomed to breaking the law anyway). The result is two-fold:
- a disarmed populace that cannot immediately defend itself; criminals can attack with a lesser chance of harm to themselves;
- an overtaxed police force that needs to mobilize faster and more effectively to do its job.
Is it any wonder that police are resentful of their sworn duty? Is it any wonder that they view themselves as "different" from us "morons" and regular plebians? My simple response to that is, "You don't like the job? Find another one." After all it's my tax dollars (also taken from me through coercion, by the way) that fund that officer's efforts, regardless of their effectiveness.
Anyone who stands up to the police force as an oppressive entity in their community will invariably be harassed, threatened, and bullied into stopping their complaints and demonstrations. They are painted by the media as deviants and 'bad seeds' in society. The status quo is maintained through coercion and violent acts, and law enforcement is portrayed as the only recourse for society to come back from the brink of destruction. The rest writes itself.
To sum up, I'm not of the opinion that society is becoming more lawless. I am of the opinion that society as a whole is becoming more powerless; this breeds resentment and conflict on both sides of the line.
If I were able to defend myself without fear or threat of imprisonment for doing so, I would take up arms in a heartbeat.
Although I still think that society as a whole is becoming more lawless, I still agree with everything else you said!
Perhaps it's simply the fact that less criminals are discouraged from performing their crimes when they know that the majority of the population is unarmed.
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Here's a wallaby running animation I just finished.
Edited by Eternal Man [EE]
