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I’m going to hell with this game~

  • orange-
  • 03/22/2017 08:36 AM
  • 3597 views

I'm going to hell with this game~


Hi everyone~! I decided to write a blog post here, because my progress with the game has been so slow lately and I want to keep this page updated. I have been busy with my school projects for past months and I’ve barely been able to spend any time on Fear & Hunger. BUT I have found the solution! I’m in the middle of writing my thesis work and I decided to write it about this game. And feelings of horror and anxiety in video games in general. The final form is still shaping up, but I’m pretty motivated. So in order to clarify my thesis and my ideas, I’m going to be posting my thoughts here. Do mind that it’s all still very much work in progress and I don’t even know yet what it is that I want to tell.


So yes. I’ve had this moral dilemma with this game for a while. The themes and narrative contain some really disturbing material. It’s safe to say I’m going to hell because of it… but I was probably going there anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Still, I did have urge to censorship my own game or at least make things more vague, but certain people talked me out of it and now I’m just adding all the monstrosities I had planned and some more. Just to paint picture; Fear & Hunger contains sexual violence, child abuse, drugs, a lot of gore, nudity, etc.

There is the age-old debate about what kind of matters video games (and other mass media) can contain. What can we show to children without them getting traumatized and scared sh*tless. Of course one could say that we got age ratings for that reason, but everyone knows they are not followed and pretty much every single 8-13 year old has played GTA. Most of the gamers usually want to deny the effect games might have on us. ”Games don’t make killers - those people were f*cked up from birth” - but isn’t it pretty much the same as ”Guns don’t kill people - people kill people - with guns”?

The truth is - most of the studies do prove that anxiety, horrors, violence and such do have effect on us. Research has been consistent that fictional stories have great impact on people. Fictional stories influence how we see the world, what kind of moral choices we make, what we fear and what causes anxiety in us. All this happens on subconscious level without us maybe even realizing it, or without our consent. The bigger the immersion to the media, the bigger lasting effect it has on us. I mean how can people think that we could somehow isolate our entertainment material inside our head from the real matters? Put all the nasty stuff to ”don’t care”-folder and be done with it? We are picking influences up non-stop in our daily life, from advertisements to news broadcast.

There are bunch of studies by Joanne Cantor on the matter. During 1997-2000, she arranged a research where hundreds of college students were interviewed. They were asked about any frightening experiences they had had with mass media. The kinds of experiences that left a lasting impression on them. The research show that most of us are traumatized by fictional horror at least on some level. 75% said they had experienced anxiety because of horror movies, by the extent that it affected their behavior if they were in a situation similar to the movie. For example going on camping trip after seeing Blair Witch Project. 46% said they suffered from insomnia because of fictional horrors. 1/3 of the subjects said the effects were long lasting. Many of the effects following subjects all the way to their adult life. The interesting part of these studies was that it didn’t just include horror fiction. It was all mass media. Meaning real life horrors seen from news and documents didn’t have as big effect as fictional material.

Jonathan Gottschall comes to a conclusion in his book The Storytelling Animal, that when we see something that is supposed to be real, like news, we have this barrier of criticism and skepticism. But with fictional stories our minds seems to relax and lower their shields. We embrace new ideas more easily and in general our minds are more vulnerable. It might have something to do with the immersion and how much we empathize with main characters and villains. Generally how big of an emotional connection we make to the story. I could continue writing how empires and kingdoms of the olden days (and why not modern as well?) used stories and religions to control masses, control our moral values, etc. and we’d get a full circle on ”I’m going to hell with this game”- title, but that’s besides the point. This text was supposed to be about horror games.

So yes. Games are indeed affecting people. Isn’t it our responsibility to upkeep good values with games then? The most common defensive argument on why all this sh*t is fine with video games, is the freedom of expression as artists. Art knows no boundaries - why should games? If we are ever to take video games seriously as an art medium, we need to break some borders. I do believe this is true - but whenever I think of my own game in making - I’m not so sure if this is art really. Sure there are artistic merits to be found, I’ve seen tons of effort in crafting this thing - but art? I’m not there yet. The thing is - I’m afraid it’s all for the joke. The events happening in the game are so absurd in their shock value that it becomes humor of sorts. Even if everything is very much straight faced in the game. It’s not much different from the offensive shock humor running rampart in memes and youtube today. So there comes my dilemma. I can’t justify all the macabre themes in the game to myself. Still I’m going to stay uncompromising. Maybe just to break some borders of my own mind and hopefully this will get me closer to the art form. Maybe the next project will actually have some grander message?


Sorry about the rambling, it’s not the most coherent text as I just vomited the writing in 30-45 min and my english isn’t perfect either… But if anyone has ideas about the subject, I’d be more than happy to hear them! ^.^

Posts

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author=orange-
The thing is - I’m afraid it’s all for the joke. The events happening in the game are so absurd in their shock value that it becomes humor of sorts. Even if everything is very much straight faced in the game. It’s not much different from the offensive shock humor running rampart in memes and youtube today.

So, what you've been working on has gradually turned into an adaptation of FATAL, and now you are realising the finished game (whose content is already prompting you to post such contradictory blogs for public's perusal) will likely come across as clearly half-hearted teenager's concept of grimdark, and will probably prevent anyone from taking whatever else you make seriously, ever again? Well, I suppose it's best to have such realizations early on, at least.
author=NTC3
So, what you've been working on has gradually turned into an adaptation of FATAL, and now you are realising the finished game (whose content is already prompting you to post such contradictory blogs for public's perusal) will likely come across as clearly half-hearted teenager's concept of grimdark, and will probably prevent anyone from taking whatever else you make seriously, ever again? Well, I suppose it's best to have such realizations early on, at least.


Hmm. Actually I have to take some of what I said back. I don't think comparisons to meme and youtube culture are accurate. They are very different in nature to the nasty stuff in this game.

I had to go back to the roots of this game, to where I got the initial inspiration and it was stuff like Berserk and Outlast that made this happen. Both have gruesome things done in them and they are there for shock effect for sure. People laugh at those scenes, because they are so absurd that it's beyond comprehension for such things to happen at all in real life. But it's not the same as, say in Mortal Kombat, where gore and violence is taken to more humorous direction. In Berserk and Outlast nasty stuff serves another important role, apart from just the shock effect - it's world building. Both stories are about a lone human being going through hell, where everything just goes wrong and they are pushed in ever more horrible situations. The effect wouldn't be as big, and the struggle wouldn't have the same weight without those extreme scenes Berserk and Outlast are known for.

That is what I am aiming for too in this game. But I cannot deny that the shock effect isn't there also to just cause talk among people.


As for no one ever taking me seriously ever again after this game? I don't really mind that :D Anyone who knows me in real life already feels that way. so I got nothing to lose really.
Oh well, then I suppose it's entirely your choice as to what you feel inclined to portray. You do have the raw capability to show quite a lot, as already evidenced by the screenshots.
It's possible to touch on a lot of dark topics without them becoming humorous. Most of the time, the issue is that the violence is so exaggerated that it is too ridiculous to be believed. I think the most important first step is to realize you have some responsibility as a creator to handle the topics realistically and tactfully if you want to be taken seriously. For example, you seem to be handling nudity well in your screenshots? You don't call attention to it, but it's still THERE IN YOUR FACE which can make for a somewhat astonishing visual. It really says "this game will not hold back" (for better or worse). As for rape and such, well, we'll have to see.

It might behoove you to add a warning of the mature topics in the game at the beginning. Just as a common courtesy thing, ya know? Looking forward to this!

author=Gourd_Clae
It's possible to touch on a lot of dark topics without them becoming humorous. Most of the time, the issue is that the violence is so exaggerated that it is too ridiculous to be believed. I think the most important first step is to realize you have some responsibility as a creator to handle the topics realistically and tactfully if you want to be taken seriously. For example, you seem to be handling nudity well in your screenshots? You don't call attention to it, but it's still THERE IN YOUR FACE which can make for a somewhat astonishing visual. It really says "this game will not hold back" (for better or worse). As for rape and such, well, we'll have to see.

It might behoove you to add a warning of the mature topics in the game at the beginning. Just as a common courtesy thing, ya know? Looking forward to this!



Yea you got good points there. I think "You don't call attention to it" is really good base for all the nasty things. I had forgotten my initial sources of inspiration and that's why some things started drifting towards more humorous and ridiculous direction.

I'm still trying to find the right balance and that's the reason I wrote such contradictory blog - because I'm kinda confused about the matter still. But already this has helped me clarify the idea behind it all.

AND YES, absolutely there will be a warning/disclaimer.
Dragnfly
Beta testers!? No, this game needs a goddamn exorcist!
1809
Compare Berserk with, say, Fist of the North Star as far as violence detail goes. I love both of them but for totally different reasons. In Fist, people explode all the time. Limbs get severed all the time. But it's so crazy it can't possibly be seen as serious. In Berserk we see people crushed, eaten, slashed up... all in the name of war, chaos and darkness. Even when it's over the top it's never overdone and it's never to be laughed at. Also, Fist doesn't need to be as violent as it is to tell the story, but Berserk certainly does.

I always ask myself the question "what purpose does this scene/image/story point serve?"

For your mature topic warning, if any of the content relates to the story directly I recommend making your warning with conditional branches. I got the idea from TearsOfNightfall's game and that's how I'm doing it too since my project also explores a lot of dark directions.

http://i.imgur.com/7lBTmnk.png

The idea is that if the player has any deductive skills at all, they will draw conclusions about the story from the content warning alone, ruining the timing and impact of your scenes and plot twists. Of course, that depends on the story.
I should also say that a recent example of how darkness might be handled is provided by 2Dark, a recent game from the guy who invented survival horror all the way back then. I have finished watching a playthrough of it yesterday, and while I think it's very mediocre on the whole, it's notable that it has a plot about child abduction, cannibalism, pedophilia and other related stuff, and it didn't draw any controversy to speak of, and reviewers generally appreciated the boundary-breaking, while lamenting many other things. I am not sure whether people necessarily took it all seriously, since it ends up rather more absurd then Outlast, etc. was, but it's still a game where children can be killed right in front of you if you screw up, after all. (You can even end up shooting a young, abused girl from a cannibal family with no apparent consequences, and I think at least some reviewers ended up doing that because they were too frustrated by stealth.)
@Dragnly, yea I completely agree on your view of Berserk and Fist of the North Star. I am aiming obviously towards Berserk style. That's an interesting idea for the disclaimer, but I'm probably just going to put a generic disclaimer in the beginning, simply because if the player isn't comfortable with the themes listed there, there's no way he/she can enjoy what's to come. And the story in this game might not even contains those themes that much. Nasty stuff are more of a world building tool for this game.

@NTC3, Thanks for the tip! I'm gonna check that game up, seems like there might be things I can learn from there otherwise too!
I don't know about being offended or not, but the art style for this is amazing and ballsy and totally sold me on trying the game when done. I personally don't mind things that go too far as long as it has depth. People sometimes forget truly nasty terrible stuff does happen in real life and if someone wants to express that side of the world in art I'm fine with it as long as it means something. The struggle to overcome it, the helplessness of the situation, etc. A million ways to give it depth as long as its not glorifying it lol.
author=Dragnfly
I always ask myself the question "what purpose does this scene/image/story point serve?"
This is also a really good point that I'm glad Dragnfly mentioned because I forgot. XD

author=Dragnfly
For your mature topic warning, if any of the content relates to the story directly I recommend making your warning with conditional branches. I got the idea from TearsOfNightfall's game and that's how I'm doing it too since my project also explores a lot of dark directions.

http://i.imgur.com/7lBTmnk.png

I'm willing to say that the alternative warning is as good as a more standard warning! People who know they're a bit squeamish will choose details and the rest of your players will not have things spoiled for them. Seems like a win-win to me. ^.^
It's up to orange though. Both options are viable~
Well as long as there's no scat or vomiting I'll still write it. Not sure if I'll be any good given the subject, but I've made bigger miracles happen.
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