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s-m-r
Slow-Motion Riot
Registered
04/06/2006
Points
1078
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21st June, 2012 at 21/06/2012 17:15:16 -
The question I pose is,
What does it take to become a hero?
That's the question explored in an article authored in part by Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist who helped create the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971. Here's a quote that struck me:
As the sophistication of video gaming grows, can the power of this entertainment form be used to educate children about the pitfalls of following a herd mentality? Could these games help children develop their own internal compass in morally ambiguous situations? Or perhaps even help them think about their own ability to act heroically? And as we plow ahead in the digital era, how can the fundamental teachings of a code of honor remain relevant to human interactions?
Read the full article here:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_banality_of_heroism/
How have you explored heroism in your own game creations? Please discuss.
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Cazra
Crazy?
Registered
24/07/2002
Points
4472
 
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23rd June, 2012 at 23/06/2012 14:01:59 -
costume and superpowers.
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Alonso Martin
Registered
29/12/2010
Points
294
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23rd June, 2012 at 23/06/2012 17:40:21 -
All videogames are about heroism to some extent. Not because that's the rule, but because it hasn't occurred to many to try different things because the current model sells. If it's a story-driven game, it probably uses Campbell's mono-myth template (as most Hollywood films do). If it isn't, you still end up playing as the main character, who, just by his being the main character, is already special.
How else would you be able to tell a story, or present the situation for lack of one? There are countless ways, but all of them escape most of the western culture. One is a feminine way of approaching storytelling: instead of going through long journeys to new worlds to learn something about life, one would learn things without leaving one's place—at least, not physically. Virginia Woolf did this with some of her novels. 'To the Lighthouse' is a good example. Nothing much happens in terms of plot or physicality, which is ultimately unimportant, but there's always a constant introspection taking place. More than an introspection, which is more about 'understanding' (in terms of rationality), it's a clearing-that-happens which leads to a vision. In other words, something-is-shown to one (by life), and this makes one intuit-something which leads to a becoming—all without involving rationality, which is a very masculine trait (Apolline/Platonic in Nietzsche's explanation).
I'm sure the limitation of masculine/feminine is self-imposed (because of my being-born in a post-christian epoch which glorifies dualism), and there are several other ways of looking at narrative, but they escape me because they escape my era.
Lastly, I didn't make a distinction before which hasn't been made in terms of videogames, for certain, and film. There's a contemplative approach and a commercial approach.
The commercial approach, we all know. We make things that sell, and if they do not sell, we deform them until they look like those things that sell. If sales still aren't happening, we kill the 'product' and start anew. The content is not very important unless it makes the sales go higher. There's a strong urge to make a prototype that sells, and from which all other attempts are molded—a formula. In terms of storytelling, the commercial approach is a transfiguration of the original mythological model of the hero, which became from the need to 'teach' the young about living through life (in other words, to cure them from the frustration of the 'rules' of life), turned to work in a profit-driven epoch. It a good question to wonder if this understanding of the mono-myth is not simply what one modern western man (Campbell) would see if he gazed into previous incomprehensible or unaccessible historical periods—which immediately makes us wonder what we're missing.
The contemplative approach is unadulterated because it has remained out of reach. In its simplest form, it is that which, instead of taking us away on a journey to distract us from the heaviness of life (as many Hollywood films promise to do, or many videogames do), asks us to take a look at the problems of our lives—perhaps from another perspective, or at least through another filtering— so that we can learn something new about ourselves. It is not a journey to distract us, but to exalt that which worries us most at one point of our lives. It is like a framing around a picture—through the framing, the contemplative work points us toward something vaguely specific about life. That something-vaguely-specific is seen inside the framing, and we see it twofold: transparently and reflectively. It is like a semi-transparent mirror: we can see something that looks like us, but we don't immediately recognise, and something-vaguely-specific that brings our greatest problems to light—which makes us intuit-something and allows us to have a vision about ourselves in the transit of life.
Anyway, this call came because of the question of heroism, which made me digress into its purpose in history (in my view, of course), and ultimately to compare it with its other 'equivalents' that have remained out-of-sight throughout the modern western culture because of our fixation with rationality. I'd like to continue with the subject if anyone is interested, but I don't think so.
Thanks for the opportunity to blabber away, though 
 Edited by Alonso Martin
www.hfalicia.com
www.alonsomartin.mx
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jamesh
Registered
28/02/2012 15:24:25
Points
381
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25th June, 2012 at 25/06/2012 11:21:19 -
OK, here's a couple of points.
Heroism is inextricably bound up with storytelling, as Alonso Martin has pointed out
In many games, especially the more abstract/arcadey ones favoured by click people, the hero concept is just presented as a shorthand.
CF Doom Guy - the monomyth recorded (not invented  ) by Joseph Campbell is so entrenched with us that one can just present a hero and the mind will do the rest.
In film - because of the nature of the medium - protagonists tend to have to go through the mangle of the plot, so even if the character development's not great, they can be said to have at least gone through some sort of personal journey by the conclusion.
Video games have traditionally been weak on storytelling (that said, I've never played something like FF) because the main story arc necessarily comes in interludes between puzzles, difficult sections, levels, etc - which are the main focus of mental engagement in the game.
For example, I've played Diablo II a few times, and the 'epic fantasy' storyline just comes across as a confusing afterthought to the action and changes of scene.
I think the major difference comes in whether you're trying to create something that's primarily plot-driven, like Eternal Daughter or Aquaria (I can't remember ED well enough, and the plot to Aquaria became distracting for me), or something that is more action/puzzle based, in which you can drop in a surrogate 'Doom Guy' as the player's extension in the virtual world.
Sidenote: I read somewhere that because of the Uncanny Valley thing (whereby robots get creepier the more they resemble humans), that cartoons were more easy to identify with/project onto the less realistic they were. Someone should draw a graph.
Endnote: My 'big project'(tm) is explicitly about heroism - I wonder where this leaves me.
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s-m-r
Slow-Motion Riot
Registered
04/06/2006
Points
1078
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25th June, 2012 at 25/06/2012 13:37:35 -
As there's some discussion happening in the topic now, let me see if I can guide it a little further.
The article I cited above (well worth the read if you've a moment or two) puts forth the concept of "the banality of heroism." It's the idea that anyone can become a hero, given the right circumstances. The article also makes mention of the "herd mentality," citing examples of either groups of people doing nothing because no one in the group steps up, and/or people going along with the group because they don't want to seem like the "outsider."
Apart from "costume and superpowers" as Stephen suggests, are there any ways that your games encourage people to rise to the occasion and become heroic? Do you think the current crop of big-budget titles encourages people to "leave heroism to the experts" like Batman, super soldiers, or the like?
Do your games inspire heroism, or are they simply vehicles to invite player action, as jamesh suggests?
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jamesh
Registered
28/02/2012 15:24:25
Points
381
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25th June, 2012 at 25/06/2012 13:48:51 -
I think genre is important in this: RPG-style games place a big emphasis on heroism - and it's integral to that type of game.
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