ENTER THE ARENA!: SO YOU WANT TO BE THE HERO? ROUND 1

A look into Character Stereotypes from a comical view from beyond

Enter The Arena!
Arena Master: Welcome! Welcome Contestant of RMN! I, being a mysteriously handsome arena master will show you my brilliance by creating this very paper that you are reading here. Now, my arena sponsers clean fights, where words can face off against words! Now, for the next few rounds, we shall see whether or not you can be the hero of the ETA cup! For these rounds, we shall look into character development, characterized by stereotypes and ridiculed as old by the masses. Are you ready?

You: Wait, what?! I never meant to come to this section of RMN. Take these handcuffs off, I was just trying to get to the Game Design and Theory forum!

Arena Master: Denied! You must fight to the bitter end! Begin Round 1!
ROUND 1: The Hero vs The Villager!
Arena Master: On my side, we have The mysterious hero, whom may be lacking a past, but still can defeat any bosses that come his way! And on the other side of the arena is a poor villager, normally a NPC due to his peaceful nature, but now has been promoted to a role far greater then before due to the storyline!

You: Why do I get the poor little man wearing peasant clothing while you get that monster in his plate armor and his outrageous cape?!

Arena Master: Dramatics of course! Now to the meat of the fight!
Hero: As his name implies, he is the hero to the story. Normally, this means he is mute, has little to no memory, a swordsman and naive among other things, however this stereotype is exactly what the name implies: a stereotype. It has been broken before time and time again, but let's face it: There is no story without a main character, and normally this is it.
Villager: Normally a NPC, just due to the fact that well... Life is boring and the life of a farmer/hunter/carpenter typically is not the material most look for in their RPGs as a playable character. However, he is a PC in this debate, only due to the fact his plot has elevated him to this role. Expect him to be utterly dismal in battle, but unlike the silent hero, he has skills else where other then fighting.

You: How is this supposed to stack up in my favor at all?!

Arena Master: You have no favor here. Besides that, my hero is in so many stories and does so many things!

You: Yes, but if you look at so many NPCs that the villager has stepped up from, he has a better chance to have a romance that ends well and already belongs to the world. Many times, the hero is more like a anomaly more then not.

Arena Master: *shock* Still the Hero is more useful as a story tool, so he wins!
ROUND 1 WINNER: The Hero!
You: What! You are the judge as well? That is not fair, my villager had a chance!

Arena Master: Really? Why don't you ask the Hero about that?

You: Fine I will!

The Hero: ... *death glare*

You: Nev-ver mind... Um wow, is that sword real? Heh, Good bye!

Arena Master: So what did he say?

You: Oh... Nothing. What about the next round?

Arena Master: *stare* The next round? Very well! The next round will...

You: Yes?!

Arena Master: Be coming soon!

You: No!!! And take these handcuffs already!

Arena Master: Not untill the battle has been fought through! Till next time on the dark back alleys of RMN, Farewell!

You: Let me free!!!!

Posts

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Eheehee this was so much fun to read xD
I always aim to make my NPCs more interesting than mindless busybodies~

But you scrambled the letters a little bit right here :

Arena
Game Design and Theroy fourm. {Theory forum}


But this was a very funny article :D And your English is getting much better as well ^^ Keep these articles up and you'll be able to speak English fluently~
Thank you very much! Yes, living here in america is speeding up my English understanding very fast. I thought if I started a series of these articles, I would have more of a chance to practice my studies. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I'm fixing that right now.
author=Pokemaniac
I don't get it
Japanese style humor, I guess. I'm told that some of the things I found funny in japan are not that funny elsewhere.

EDIT: Round 2 will be submitted tomorrow. Keep an eye out for it.
Exactly how are you defining your terms here? Who's to say that the one cannot be the other? I know my characters - I'll gladly pit my Farmers/Carpenters/Villagers against your generic stereotypical amnesiac swordlugger. They might not be Destined(TM) Chosen(TM) Heroes of Fate(TM), but their lives have just as much of a tale to tell as anyone else's life does.
author=EnderX
Exactly how are you defining your terms here? Who's to say that the one cannot be the other? I know my characters - I'll gladly pit my Farmers/Carpenters/Villagers against your generic stereotypical amnesiac swordlugger. They might not be Destined(TM) Chosen(TM) Heroes of Fate(TM), but their lives have just as much of a tale to tell as anyone else's life does.

Its just a generic example of very generic characters I've seen over the years. As was written, its true that all characters have a chance at a good future, and all I'm protraying are examples of generic charcters. Its true everybody has a story, but sometimes you have to face it: RPGs typically simplified the real world to a cheap mockery at times. Besides that:
You: What! You are the judge as well? That is not fair, my villager had a chance!

Its basically implied that the Arena Master is unfair. His veiws are radical and are mainly for comedy alone.
Using the classic genesis shining force as an example, no villager stood a chance to Max, see?
I don't really get it. Maybe I am just an idiot, but I read this two times, and all I saw was something about the hero being there as a way to tell a story and the villagers just being there as fodder so that the world the hero lives in is not empty?
Okay. I kind of get it and kind of don't...
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