Silent Heroes in Vid-Games

Frst a news update on Camp NaNoWriMo....>.> I'm still incredibly behind but with a bit of encouragement and competition I'm working to get caught up. I suppose it's just a matter of sitting down and actually hashing out my ideas with a chainsaw before I get stalled too much. Anyways I have a pretty good idea for where my story will be going and it actually seems to be something I'd consider reading! I hope...

Onto the blog proper!

Today I'd like to talk about the 'Silent Heroes' you see in video games (in particular FPS games). Now in a lot of cases games just simply don't have voices for the characters and that is just that, but sometimes you'll get a game where the character's silence sometimes feels as if it were meant to be. Just to give an example of a few games where this is so (that I know of); The Half-Life series, Portal, The Marathon Series, and The Bioshock Series. I probably am missing a few but these in particular I'd like to focus on. One reason why I focus on video-games however is that the 'silent hero' is something that I feel can only really be done in video games. After all a book where the main character does not talk at all would get awfully boring and probably end up being a side character. In a movie it would be easier, but still not as do-able as in video games where, while the hero doesn't speak the player still gets to be interactive with the story.

One of the things that has always intrigued me about this concept has been the question of the protagonist's agency. You, the player, control the character's actions, but the character is constantly put in situations by some 'other force.' On top of all that, your character never has a voice. Is your character a tool to be used, or are you an opposing force against those who put you in such a situation? I also find it interesting that sometimes the protagonist's lack of voice is sometimes commented on, as if other people note that it's strange you never talk. Everything in games like these seem to put the player apart from everyone else. The character is even put apart from the enemy and the allies, even if these two sides think it otherwise.

The Marathon series really puts to the forefront the question of the character being a tool or a natural/human force. I've already posted about Marathon in a previous post so check it out if you'd like a bit of background, but it isn't vital. Essentially I find it fascinating that Bungie was able to give you (the character) a conflict between yourself and your controllers that plays itself out in the objectives you pursue and yet you are still lead from place to place by anyone other than yourself. Granted, with gaming technology back then it would have been hard to come up with dialogue for your character inside of an FPS environment, and Bungie did give its hero a voice in the Halo series, but in Marathon I felt I had to ask myself why did Mr. Security Officer never talk? Indeed the whole game is about the hero's agency and freedom of action; one line that is repeated in the series is, "Escape will make me free."

Valve's Half-Life series is very similar to Marathon in this regard. Gordon Freeman is a man who, "Is the right man, in the wrong place," constantly. He is put in these places however. I have to wonder about what is really going on behind Freeman's glasses. Even when Freeman is about to break free at certain points, or seems to be making his own way, the story takes a twist and puts him right back in square one. Is Freeman a free man? Or is he merely a tool? We think of voice as playing a pivotal role in how we express ourselves and our agency, but if that were taken away...? I like wondering about Freeman's role in the story, and what kind of humanity he represents, and the story there would be incredibly complex. Sometimes he seems to be a hero at points, and others an unwitting ally of those with ulterior motives.

Tied to Half-Life is Portal, which I've posted about before as well. While my explanation for Chell in my second part of the post seems to negate what I've been saying about the silent hero, in some ways I still feel it to be valid. Perhaps it is more valid in Portal than in other games. In the Portal story you are actually a test subject in a laboratory and your goal is to escape. You are placed in a clear situation where you must break free of the entity that is directing you from place to place. When that control breaks down, literally the walls of the facility become meaningless and you then have to make your way. But, even your escape seems to be directed some how in subtle hints, left behind by painted symbols. Is Chell a test subject or is she choosing to break free from all tests? From here I suppose that these silent heroes are really silent so that they can have a multitude of voices. I feel now that maybe these characters are made this way to represent humanity in these types of situations.

The last series I'll examine is Bioshock 1 (I haven't played the others...). Again this game is very similar to the above games for it's silent hero who has no voice, and is set in a world that is a competition between nature and science. This conflict can clearly be seen to take place in the character himself as there are many points through the story where you are able to choose certain outcomes, and key story points where you cant. The whole world is designed as if to say 'this is what you really are, and there isn't anything you can do about it' but when in fact, the situation might be more complicated.

To wrap up, I feel that silent heroes in video games are an interesting symbol in stories. They can be done well or horribly, but when done well they really mess around with your head and get you to wonder just what the game itself means. To compare; Games where the player has a voice, the story is scripted. While the meaning (if it is a good game) can change just like when one re-reads books, the plot is still carried out in a particular way. The player goes through the game experiencing a situation in an almost complete manner. But when the character's voice is taken away, the player must contemplate just what that means in relation to the story. I constantly feel like I have to figure out why the game developers wanted a character to no be able to speak in certain key story moments. I don't mean to say that 'all' games should have silent characters; I do love games that have incredible stories however they are told. What I do think though, is that the ones where a seemingly vital part of any story is taken away, become interesting to puzzle out and analyze; Why was this chosen to tell the story? What does it change about 'us'?

Review of 'Spice and Wolf'

NaNo update: Well to say it simply...I'm soooo behind! It's difficult to get focused enough to write like this! It's good for me though and I'm planning on sprinting ahead to catch up...but I'm actually confident as to where my story will be going. The tough part in my plot is yet to come, but I'll deal with that when it comes around.

Onto the blog proper.

A few weeks ago I stumbled on a rather interesting anime while on Hulu. At first I didn't know exactly what to think. Reading the description I didn't feel like this was a show that I'd get into. And even after the first few minutes of the first episode I was a bit unsure. The animation might not be the best or the most iconic and it actually is a little sparse. What I mean is, in a lot of anime there is action (people moving and such) going on constantly, and in heavily populated scenes there is a sense of a great many people. In 'Spice and Wolf' it's mostly just Kraft and Holo sitting or standing and talking, but do not let this put you off! I was drawn in by the delightful dialogue and very intriguing yet relaxed plot. Essentially Kraft is a traveling merchant and Holo is a wolf goddess. Their adventures seem to come right out of a book of myths. Instead of having action and fight scenes like in many other anime, or having an intense and highly dramatic love plot 'Spice and Wolf' mostly has to do with their partnership and with trade. The key aspect to most all the episodes is Kraft's job as a merchant and Holo's interest in it. Of course Holo and Kraft have an interesting relationship that you might say includes love, I won't say that it's typical of other anime. This to me is a drawing point as well as I keep on having to reevaluate how the two interact just as they have to reevaluate their relationship as well.

Now on Hulu the first of the two seasons is dubbed. But, to all those hardcore anime fans out there I will say that I think I like the dubbed version better than the subbed version. The voice actors for both Holo and Kraft are excellent and I grew fond of them. In particular Holo's actor got across Holo's dry wit and imperious attitude quite well and made me smile quite often when she did something ridiculous. Kraft's actor also seemed to convey a rather relaxed and sharp minded merchant. One thing I like about the dub is that none of the characters are voiced by idiot ditzy sounding people with high pitched voices, or with gruff over exaggerated male ones. This to me is a happy medium that gets across what the story is actually trying to do. So in short, if you are wanting a nice relaxing anime to watch that is not one of those typical love drama's that is set in the present day then 'Spice and Wolf' is the way to go. It's free in it's entirety on Hulu (Although for season 2 you have to sign up because it's apparently adult content, although I can't figure out why).

I apologize for this being a shorter post, but I do not want to give anything away about 'Spice and Wolf.' Also I was caught a bit shorthanded this weekend. Next sunday you can expect a full length post to be sure!

1st day of NaNoWriMo Camp!

I feel that the timing of my blogpost with the start of NaNo Camp is fortuitous. For those of you who do not know NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month (Link: http://www.nanowrimo.org/) where crazy writers decide that in the month of November to write a 50,000 word novel all in one go. Imagine this as a literary marathon. This is entirely about goal setting and while there are bragging rights involved as rewards (and some neat badges) there are no penalties for non-completion...in fact don't even think about it in terms of complete and incomplete! The whole idea is that writers should sit down, write, and challenge themselves to produce.

Now what is Camp NaNoWriMo? Well...it's essentially the same thing but during the summer! (and possibly other months as well? Link: http://www.campnanowrimo.org/sign_in) Although it's still in beta phase, prospective campers can get together with others and produce the same crazy schedule by choice. 50,000 words over the month of July and I'm diving right in. This is actually my first official involvement with anything WriMo so I'm very excited to be involved with the community. I've done a bit of writing in the past but nothing I've done has been on this scale in this time frame. This will be my first real attempt at writing a novel as all my experience up till now has been with short stories. I don't intend on documenting everything that comes along, but I think every Sunday along with the main post I'll put a tiny blurb at the top for highlights of the weeks writing.

The title of the story I'm working on is titled, "Tangled in Steel." Here's the synopsis I posted up on my camper profile page (there is also an excerpt from my first bit of writing there as well):

"A young girl's father on one of the backwater moons of Saturn has a failing merchant business. In order to save the business from a greedy and tyrannical strong-man he must risk all on a trading venture through pirate infested space. But alas! There's a rogue warship stalking the orbits here, rumor has it it's Martian but no one knows for sure. All (insert Daughter's name here) knows is that her father is missing and she must save him (and that she must avoid marrying said strong-man)."


Well I guess failing Merchant business is a bit exaggerated, it's more like struggling. The story includes love, sadness, action, suspense, comedy, and probably other things I haven't thought of yet! When I started yesterday I felt a little like I was in over my head...How am I going to make this story fill 50,000 words? Well that's part of the fun!