GamesRadar - When Video Games Go Emo

magerette

Hedgewitch
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For those in the mood for a little British humor, GamesRadar UK takes a not-to-be-taken-seriously, sarcastic look at the change in focus in modern video games from amusing toys to :
...A form of interactive electronic entertainment, more often than not steeped in all the misery and darkness of the deepest depths of Hell. No-one ever smiles and lots of things get shot.
It wasn’t always this way. Those of us who became gamers during the 8 and 16-bit eras can remember when games were supposed to be fun. We quite liked that. It might make us sound like big mincing girls, we know, but seriously guys, why the misery nowadays? Why does almost every modern game hero (Sorry, anti-hero) seem to be shooting up the bad guys of his respective post-apocalyptic cess pit/drug-riddled urban hellhole just to fill in the time between arm-cutting sessions and My Chemical Romance concerts?
They take a look at a few games of various flavors not particularly focusing on the rpg, but they do have a few words for Final Fantasy VII:
Final Fantasy VII arguably set the archetype. Skinny androgynous males who look like they might break in a strong wind (presumably a physical externalisation of a broken emotional state as beautiful and fragile as angel wings made of frozen unicorn tears), and who quietly hold onto their dark, personal emotional traumas just long enough for things to build...when a cup of tea and a chat would have probably sorted things out years ago.
More information.
 
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It was quite amusing and it does have a point. That told it's more of a nostalgic look. Yes I did enjoy those times but that does not prevent me from enjoying the newer games. Maybe it was just time to evolve, show something different. Maybe it's just a matter of preference and others could say that the old ones are generic and simple just as new games can be called emo. They are just different school, what I miss today is the good natured humour that is often substituted with a big dose of sarcasm, grim or not.

I'll admit that I miss some good old 2d gameplay with a lighter mood :) Btw what the heck - I had no idea that bomberman went that way :O
 
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I think it's just part of the trend towards media in general becoming more dark and sadistic (for lack of a better term atm) as time goes on. It's far easier to be negative and depressed than happy and positive. Music has become darker and more violent, as have movies and even television. Watch the old musicals from the 50's today, and theyre flat out sickeningly sweet, nothing could be made this day and age like that. Television was positive, movies were, there was always a happy ending a resolution, evil never won. Now it's often a question of who is less wrong. There's music now that absolutely wallows in despair like blues never did, and music that totally revels in evil and destruction. Believe me, I listen to some of it!

I think games are just another aspect of media that's continued downward.
 
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