Hello everyone.
Since months I am thinking of … where the humour might have gone.
Not only in video games, but especially there.
If I look around me, I can see no humour in "the computer industry" anymore. Nothing in video games, and especially NOt in the PC area.
In the 90s, there used to be books making fun of computer aspects.
As my all-time favourite remains the book "DOS 9", a satire on DOS 6, complete with joke programs that seemed to have come from Jester's dreams. The program I liked most was "Frag", the essential counterpart to "Defrag", the program that shipped with MS-DOS 6, having the EXACT same look, but apparingly doing only 1 thing : The opposite of defragging : FRagging the harddisk. You could literally see the blocks being spread around the graphic representation of the harddisk. Plus the harddisk access lamp (which was so much bigger these days than today) was actually flickering ! :lol:
Or, another example. Sierra's "King's Quest" games, the later ones. In my opinion, tghey were basically "family games". They were marketed as such. they had humour, they had graphics that could be seen without any ESBR rating. Plus, it was violent-free. Completely. Because these were Adventure games. Storytellers. (The only exception of that is the very last King's Quest game, which is basically some kind of RPG.)
Family games. Colurfulness. Humour. Violence-free. And humour again.
Does that ring something inside of you ?
And it's humour again which I miss most. What on earth do all games these days have to be so much grim looking, humourless, colourfulness, being about killing invaders, making money as a gangsta, fast racing, about being within a military organisation ?
Hitman, Assassin's, Mount & Blade, the almost proverbial Counterstrike, Far Cry, Company Of Heroes, Larry Laffer, Gobliiins, King's Quest, Day Of The Tentacle, Simon The Sorcerer, The Secret Of Monkey Island … Do you feel that contrast ?
Hitman is no family game. Counterstrike is no family game. Assassin's is no family game. Dragon Age Origins is no family game.
Where has all the humour gone ?
Where has all the lightheartedness gone ?
Where and why did the times change that much ? Why did the players who do not like colourful lighthearted family games get so much influence ?
Why did "the industry" decide to develop games only for them ?
Why were families suddenly something one ould not earn money with ?
And as I do seriously and consciously do know that this argument will come sooner or later : Why do games have to reflect reality so much ?
Why do games have to bring the Syrian war's into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring the Mafia into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring anonymous killers into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring terrorrism into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring military warfare into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring undead ones into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring "greed, for lack of a better word, is good" into my living room ?
Why all this hate against humour ?
Why all this hate against colours ?
Why all this hate against lightheartedness ?
Why all this hate against humbleness ?
Why all this hate against friendliness ?
Why all this hate against stories ?
When did this wheel turn into that direction ? Why did this twist occur ?
I'm clueless.
All I can do is , to describe what i see. I can only build up my theories on that (like my "addition to adrenaline" theory, with people actually relishing the rage within them, like Hooligans do) , but I can never fully explain it.
All I can say is that at one point "the industry" decided - based on what players want :
To get completely rid of humour.
To get completely rid of colourfulness.
To get completely rid of "family games".
To get completely rid of lightheartedness.
To get completely rid of non-violent games.
To get completely rid of story-heavy games.
To get completely rid of non-competitive games.
To get completely rid of Escapism.
And "computer literature" … Well, it consists merely of handbooks now. If I'm looking for humour, I'm directed towards "some web pages". That's all. Outside of that, "computer humour" (like with the satire described abgove) doesn't exist. It has become an extreme niche right now, so extreme that there should be a new term made for it : The "Computer Humour Nerd".
Why ?
Alrik
Since months I am thinking of … where the humour might have gone.
Not only in video games, but especially there.
If I look around me, I can see no humour in "the computer industry" anymore. Nothing in video games, and especially NOt in the PC area.
In the 90s, there used to be books making fun of computer aspects.
As my all-time favourite remains the book "DOS 9", a satire on DOS 6, complete with joke programs that seemed to have come from Jester's dreams. The program I liked most was "Frag", the essential counterpart to "Defrag", the program that shipped with MS-DOS 6, having the EXACT same look, but apparingly doing only 1 thing : The opposite of defragging : FRagging the harddisk. You could literally see the blocks being spread around the graphic representation of the harddisk. Plus the harddisk access lamp (which was so much bigger these days than today) was actually flickering ! :lol:
Or, another example. Sierra's "King's Quest" games, the later ones. In my opinion, tghey were basically "family games". They were marketed as such. they had humour, they had graphics that could be seen without any ESBR rating. Plus, it was violent-free. Completely. Because these were Adventure games. Storytellers. (The only exception of that is the very last King's Quest game, which is basically some kind of RPG.)
Family games. Colurfulness. Humour. Violence-free. And humour again.
Does that ring something inside of you ?
And it's humour again which I miss most. What on earth do all games these days have to be so much grim looking, humourless, colourfulness, being about killing invaders, making money as a gangsta, fast racing, about being within a military organisation ?
Hitman, Assassin's, Mount & Blade, the almost proverbial Counterstrike, Far Cry, Company Of Heroes, Larry Laffer, Gobliiins, King's Quest, Day Of The Tentacle, Simon The Sorcerer, The Secret Of Monkey Island … Do you feel that contrast ?
Hitman is no family game. Counterstrike is no family game. Assassin's is no family game. Dragon Age Origins is no family game.
Where has all the humour gone ?
Where has all the lightheartedness gone ?
Where and why did the times change that much ? Why did the players who do not like colourful lighthearted family games get so much influence ?
Why did "the industry" decide to develop games only for them ?
Why were families suddenly something one ould not earn money with ?
And as I do seriously and consciously do know that this argument will come sooner or later : Why do games have to reflect reality so much ?
Why do games have to bring the Syrian war's into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring the Mafia into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring anonymous killers into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring terrorrism into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring military warfare into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring undead ones into my living room ?
Why do games have to bring "greed, for lack of a better word, is good" into my living room ?
Why all this hate against humour ?
Why all this hate against colours ?
Why all this hate against lightheartedness ?
Why all this hate against humbleness ?
Why all this hate against friendliness ?
Why all this hate against stories ?
When did this wheel turn into that direction ? Why did this twist occur ?
I'm clueless.
All I can do is , to describe what i see. I can only build up my theories on that (like my "addition to adrenaline" theory, with people actually relishing the rage within them, like Hooligans do) , but I can never fully explain it.
All I can say is that at one point "the industry" decided - based on what players want :
To get completely rid of humour.
To get completely rid of colourfulness.
To get completely rid of "family games".
To get completely rid of lightheartedness.
To get completely rid of non-violent games.
To get completely rid of story-heavy games.
To get completely rid of non-competitive games.
To get completely rid of Escapism.
And "computer literature" … Well, it consists merely of handbooks now. If I'm looking for humour, I'm directed towards "some web pages". That's all. Outside of that, "computer humour" (like with the satire described abgove) doesn't exist. It has become an extreme niche right now, so extreme that there should be a new term made for it : The "Computer Humour Nerd".
Why ?
Alrik