Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Snatch1414]

The best gaming chair I ever had was a Darth Maul blow up chair. For whatever reason it was just perfect.

[ElkinFencer10]

I have a new, big one. I think This War of Mine misrepresents and unintentionally whitewashes the Bosnian War and under the façade it's simply another "zombie crafting survival" game.

I just read your review. That's pathetic. How could they so badly misrepresent what is arguably the most significant military conflict of the 1990s as well as one of the worst genocides since the Holocaust?

[Erik_Twice]

I just read your review. That's pathetic. How could they so badly misrepresent what is arguably the most significant military conflict of the 1990s as well as one of the worst genocides since the Holocaust?

I think that they simply have a poor understanding of what war is or why it happens, which leads them to mix historical fact with fantasy.

For example, the whole idea of burning books as fuel is fantasy. It's found everywhere in post-apocalyptic literature and film because of its symbolic value, but in reality books burn extremely quickly and barely produce any heat, making them useless as fuel. But chances are, the developers have never seen a burning book in reality so what they see on the screen (or in other games) seems reasonable.

Another example: Crime. In times of war, crime actually decreases. The idea that difficult situations will lead to people killing their neighbours that is depicted in zombie and other post-apoc artwork is unrealistic, people actually band together and form closer ties until the threat is nullified. The perception that "when the time comes, it's every man for himself" is a heavily political (and very American) sentiment.

That accounts for half of it, the other half is that they thought that this stuff could happen to anyone. That one day we might be the ones being hit by a war like the one in the Balkans. But it's not true. The Balkan war cannot be separated from the Balkans anymore than Franco can be separated from Spain or the Revolutionary war can be separeted from the US. To argue otherwise, is to not understand why the war happened.


By the way, I totally want to post this on the This War of Mine subreddit but I don't want to be that guy who toots its own horn. Damn you self-promotion

[Jmustang1968]

All out apocalypses and post apocalypse is different than war. Crime during war may very well decrease. But you can't compare that to the situation in a theoretical appcalypse

[Erik_Twice]

All out apocalypses and post apocalypse is different than war. Crime during war may very well decrease. But you can't compare that to the situation in a theoretical appcalypse

That's kind of the point. This War of Mine plays by post-apocalypsis tropes, not by historical facts. It confuses the former with the latter and ends up misrepresenting the conflict.

[prfsnl_gmr]

To be fair - and thankfully - none of us really knows what will happen during and after any apocalypse.

[Jmustang1968]

To be fair - and thankfully - none of us really knows what will happen during and after any apocalypse.

The best comparison would or could be post-war countries or territories with power vacuums. Many of these peoples lives are upended and order has vanished and the areas become ruled by local warlords. I imagine this is where most post-apocalypse stories get inspiration from.

[prfsnl_gmr]

To be fair - and thankfully - none of us really knows what will happen during and after any apocalypse.

I imagine this is where most post-apocalypse stories get inspiration from.

I am not so sure that authors writing games, movies, novels, etc. have performed a lot of research into these historical scenarios. (Do you remember those news reports from Somalia in the 1990s showing that one guy playing a flame-throwing guitar?) I think they mostly just make things up...

[Sarge]

Speaking of burning books... while it might not be useful as fuel, it's certainly useful for starting a fire, so there's that.

I feel that human nature is pretty corrupt overall, so while some might band together in a situation, there will also be an increased number that will go lone wolf, and take advantage of whoever and whatever they can.

As for your criticisms vis-a-vis the Serbian/Bosnian conflict, any time I see the words "inspired by", I always know to take with a massive grain of salt. It's kinda like the Concussion movie. Folks are going to treat that like it's a documentary, when elements in there are heavily fictionalized.

[Ack]

Well, it serves as useful tinder, but you must be sure to remove the cover first. The dyes used may generate too much smoke, like using leaves.

This thread has gone in a weird direction.