Is it me, or are we in a "dark" age of gaming?

[JaguarX]

...I guess my broader point here is that, as a child of "communism meets democracy," and as someone who sees corruption and social unrest in my everyday life, I see no practical reason to look at more of that in my games. If I wanted dark, depressing thoughts, I'd walk out my front door or turn on the news. I can get that elsewhere, I don't need games to do it for me. What I CAN'T do is save the world or fight aliens or save a princess. THAT I would like to do more of in my games :)

Yeah. I'm with you on that one.

Games=enjoyment. Well at least still to me. I think the current definition and purpose have changed a bit it seems.

On the other hand, I dont like mind violence or dark undertones as long as they have an actual purpose. Many games just throw the dark undertones and some gruff anti-hero in there just for the hell of it and or just because it's the "cool" thing to do now.

"You know, I feel like being depressed today." *flips to the news station.* "Ah same ol crap that been going on for the past 100 years. I'm depressed."

[Colette]

Yup, with you both on that one, though I'm less depressed.

This may sound odd in the face of all the suffering y'all perceive, Sam, Jag. But I own a newspaper my parents kept from when I was born in the US. It's horrifying reading! Red Scare. Race riot. Nukes. Bra burning. Draft cards. Scary, scary stuff! I look at CNN.com today. Global warming is scary. The Taliban are scary, and kinda pathetic. Lunatics shooting in schools. Don't wanna make light of any of that. But not the-world-could-end-and-maybe-we-deserve-it scary.

So I look back at the post-Stalin Soviet hegemony over countries like Sam's, and I feel like we've seen improvement. I'm sure the former Bloc countries are no Utopias, but at least now they can chart their own destinies. I look back two centuries and see slavery, the various hateful "isms," and exploitation from our worst nightmares. Go back two thousand years and you see ruthless warlords fighting each other and oppressing everyone, unopposed.

We do seem to be making slow moral progress. And that makes me feel better.

Even the modern archetype of the hero that City of Heroes celebrates, it didn't exist in any recognizable form if you go back. Look to Achilles, Gilgamesh, Siegfried or even recent takes on the type like Howard's Conan, and the so-called hero looks pretty self-absorbed and brutal.

The modern hero unites these archetypes with enlightened spirtuality and morality, (of whatever faith, whether the disguised Jewish Samson of Siegel and Schuster's Superman, Buddhist boddhisattvas, Tolkien's Catholic kings and hobbits or whatnot.)  The merger can be difficult and uneasy sometimes, but I still see progress. We hold our heroes to far higher standards these days. I think that is also cause to be optimistic.

So I don't even see Grim 'n Gritty as realistic, more... atavistic.

[JaguarX]

Yeah I think the definition of hero also changes with the times. As mentioned what was considered heroic during say Achilles time was to be able to be brave in the face of death during war, the ability to slay opponents without mercy, and strike fear into the hearts of ya enemies and doing this with a near god like ability. Hmmm kind of sound like the modern anti-hero. Come to think of it it seems that it just went full circle. Atavistic is a good term to apply to it.

To me many golden age and modern heros didnt just up and decide ot become heros because they had the ability but because something happened close to home, for some literally, and then they decided they wanted to do something good. If Batman's parents were never killed I doubt he would have been driven to become batman. He probably would have been just another son of a billionaire with a good heart but probably wouldnt have taken the hands on approach. It's like they are heroes due to a slight vindictive nature instead of doing just for the sake of it. And i see it in modern society all the time. Millionaire's wife die from cancer they start up a cancer foundation after her death in her honor but in reality, why didnt they start one up years ago or before he knew his wife had cancer? Or better question is would they have even bothered to start a cancer foundation if his wife never suffered and died from it?

[Colette]

"...kind of sound like the modern anti-hero. Come to think of it it seems that it just went full circle. Atavistic is a good term to apply to it."

Exactly! It's just one more reason not to take GrimDark so seriously, I like The Dark Knight as much as anyone, but as a steady diet? Nooo thank you!

"It's like they are heroes due to a slight vindictive nature instead of doing just for the sake of it."

In many cases, like Batman, Spider-Man, Edmond Dantes, Dirty Harry... But Campbell's "call to adventure" comes in many forms. Luke Skywalker's burning homestead is a potent image, but it's by no means universal. Superman doesn't remember the destruction of Krypton. What tragedy propelled Wonder Woman? Does Buck Rogers have a dark past? Don Quixote? Frodo? Captain Kirk? Twilight Sparkle? When you grow up in Smallville, Paradise Island, the Shire, the Federation or Canterlot, gnashing your teeth and whining about how grim life is just makes you a drama queen.

Sometimes, the hero even emerges from the "dark past" as starry-eyed-idealistic as ever, like Jean Valjean or Harry Potter.

And in real life too, for every "millionaire's wife" crusading against cancer, there're people who became activists, doctors, firefighters, paramedics and teachers for no more reason than they felt the call to do so.

Hopefully, the Utopias and Sugar Bowls of fiction don't seem so far-fetched after all, when seen in this light, eh?

[JaguarX]

Ah yes, but Superman probably wouldnt have ever been sent into space if wasnt for destruction of his home planet, although right about not being vindictive. But Wonder Woman, if goodl ol Steve never came to her island off a plane crash I doubt the Queen would have sent here to fight the evil of "man's world". Buck Rogers before his radiation incident he was just a mere worker for a company. If he never been exposed would he just up and one day to save the world? Maybe but probably not he would have been just another worker.

But I did overlook Don Quiox who seemed to become a hero just for the hell of it and because he believed it was right. Not sure who the hell is Frodo, never heard of him or twilight sparkle, and really didnt consider Captain Kirk a hero per se, just a protagonist of Star Trek but then again I never did watch too much star trek and only read a little of the early materials.

And yeah in real-life I'm sure there are people that do those things just because it right and they are usually outright ignored by the public as just everyday people that just so happen to have a helpful job and ignored by the media mostly while the one with a "sad" back story gets the attention and raised up as a hero.

Harry Potter, doesnt seem out much to save the world as much as to ensure his own survival and attempot to ensure safety of his friends while on the quest to vanquish a villian that just so happen to murder a family member or members and find out about his own past.


yeah RL is a hodgepoge mixture of it all. That is what make it real life I suppose. Fiction being a reflection and imitation of life with add fantasy kinds of simplify how real life works and thus you have heros that can do no wrong and villians that do nothing but evil when in reality just about everyone is a mixture of good and evil based on their experiences views and what they believe is right and wrong.

Very good point you made there, Colette

[TimtheEnchanter]

I've been through economic "hard times" before, and this is really no worse. I remember the gloom of the millenium, when everyone was wearing black leather trenchcoats like in The Matrix and predicting armaggedon via the Y2K bug. We just survived the Mayan apocalypse. Year before, some church guy started taking out billboard predicting the end in May of 2011. (He later claimed there was an error in his calculations. I wonder if anyone made him show his work.) So all my life, hysterics have been predicting the End of the World, or the Fall of Western Civilization or the Birth of the Antichrist or the Kali Yuga.

I think you're comparing speculation to 'fortune telling' now. These end-time predictions, based on ancient civilizations that had no way to know anything that was going on today, is fortune telling. To compare what people are actually experiencing today, to Harold Camping, is rather disgusting. And by the way, not only did that guy's prophecy not come true, but he even shifted his date to Oct 21. Things in the Bible that he talked about to justify his claims, weren't even in the Bible.

You're actually going to lump him in the same category as something like shifting weather patterns, where we can take the data we have now, compare it to the data of previous decades, and see the obvious trends?

[Colette]

Heya Tim,

I'm so there with you reviling jerks like Camping. Folks like him give the Christian faith a bad name. But yeah, he's trivia, not in the same category by any means. As I said, I certainly don't want to seem to be making light of the very real problems we face today, and you'll note I put ecological damage at the front of my little list.

But despite these problems, the world does seem to me brighter than the days I remember when everyone seemed to be fighting everyone else, and nuclear annihilation hung over our deserving heads like Damocles' sword. I'm happy that kids today just can't relate to it.

Moving on...

Yes Jag, even the brightest heroes have their stories set in motion by evil. I remember Alan Moore once writing a memorable story in which he muses that good actually needs evil to define it, and to keep it strong. Wow, can I remember...? "the strongest, brightest flowers grow from the darkest loam." Something to contemplate.

Heh! I'd forgotten about Rogers' radioactive gas.

"...really didnt consider Captain Kirk a hero per se, just a protagonist...."

Hmm... they're dated, but several of Kirk's outings are properly heroic. Here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsQ3mm0Tm08

"Not sure who the hell is Frodo, never heard of him..."

Whaa...?! You're kidding! No, you're having me on.

...Seriously? The Lord of the Rings! John Tolkien, huge book, big movie franchise! The Hobbit in theatres now. Where have you been hiding? No one who speaks English is allowed to not know who Frodo is! Forth, Eorlingas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy5DwFI_WsQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_788493&feature=iv&src_vid=l8yOdAqBFcQ&v=8Tgi-j56ueU

"...or Twilight Sparkle..."

:: Wipes spittle away, recovers composure. :: Ahem! Alright, you are allowed not to know My Little Pony. I'm slightly embarrassed, m'self. But... here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-LACN46a7E

"...just about everyone is a mixture of good and evil based on their experiences views and what they believe is right and wrong."

More good than evil, I'd say. Good wins because evil is stupid.

[Samuel Tow]

So I look back at the post-Stalin Soviet hegemony over countries like Sam's, and I feel like we've seen improvement. I'm sure the former Bloc countries are no Utopias, but at least now they can chart their own destinies. I look back two centuries and see slavery, the various hateful "isms," and exploitation from our worst nightmares. Go back two thousand years and you see ruthless warlords fighting each other and oppressing everyone, unopposed.

You'd be surprised. Boris Eltsin's legacy of using organised crime money to fund his campaigns and thus letting them get their foot into government is growing ever stronger, to the point where people have all but lost faith in government as a concept, and with good reason. That's not to say that's better than the old stories of gulags and the "midnight knock," of course, it doesn't seem to be THAT much better, socially speaking. Plus, Europe is kind of facing a crisis of its own Greece is just about broke and subsisting on Eurpoean funding that the EU doesn't really have much to spare of, and last I heard Spain is going the same way, though that was a while ago and things might have stabilised. All the while I live in a country with some of the highest prices across in Europe for everything across the board and simultaneously some of the lowest salaries. I hear Americans lament earning $20 000 and realise I couldn't make half that in a good year, and I have a fairly stable, decent job.

But again - that stuff doesn't make me depressed. It is what it is, and we make the best of it. Sure, the economy isn't great. Sure, one of our ministers was recently almost shot on national television and just yesterday, a guy was sniped coming out of a courthouse like out of a frikkin' Tarantino movie. Sure, we're facing ethnic pressure and violence and I'm sick to my stomach of asshole "nationalists" using that as a poor man's excuse for racism. But like I said - it is what it is. We do what we can to support our country and survive and we look to the future. Not much else to do, after all.

But that's my entire point - I don't NEED grim and gritty and depressing. I have that in spades, if I cared to look for it. I don't need fiction to provide it for me. What I need is something to take my mind AWAY from these things, something to show me the better part of life. I remember playing City of Heroes in the days before Doc Aeon took over. I remember finishing a story arc - I think it was Missing Melving and the Mysterious Malta Aliteration. I recall hearing Indigo sort of break character and talk about how it was nice to have someone who isn't a double-agent or trained to murder you when he hears a buzzer or some kind of ruthless murderer. Melvin was a fool, that much is clear. He fawned over her, he drew pictures of her, and even though she knew it was a bad idea, she kind of got to like him back. Here is a woman whose entire life has been basically nothing but hardship finding someone she just enjoys being with and... Well, I found that to be very touching and I found it made for a good story. Yeah, I don't like Crimson being a dick and basically ensuring Melvin's civilian life is ruined forever, but hey - the guy took it in stride. He even shows up later as a "crack agent" and does a good job. I guess if he took to that kind of life, who's to blame? The perfect True Lies ending, I suppose.

Really, these are the stories I want to replay over and over again because these are the stories I enjoy experiencing. Maybe they're not realistic, maybe they're too romantic, or maybe it's just me burying my head in the sand. I'm fine with either. My point here is that if I feel good, I have a much easier time making something of myself. If I'm depressed - as I left after very much every SSA1 arc - then all I want to do is sleep and never wake up, and that's not conducive to a productive work day. Especially when I have to get up early in the morning.

[JaguarX]

"More good than evil, I'd say. Good wins because evil is stupid"- Yes, very much so I believe.


Seriously, I have no idea who Frodo is nor know anything about Lord of the Ring lore. Either I never came across it or it was one of those things I came across that didnt catch my attention and thus wasnt put anywhere into memory. I heard of the recent movie Hobbit, seen a post and a preview of it during another movie but it looks like one of those fantasy elf quest movies with good special effects which is nothing I'm interested in enough to spend money on or gave the urge to look further into it. It takes more than special effects to catch my attention. But I assume the elf that seemed to be focused on in the preview is Frodo? Hell if you havent said anything I wouldnt have even known there was a book or even who John Tolkien is. No one I know heard of Frodo either and a few didnt know there was Hobbit movie. None ever seen the movie, one seen Lord of the Rings still had no idea who Frodo is or dont remember who he is. Three co-workers thought Frodo was the dude with the glasses from Super Bad (Fogell) Wait...as I type one said he's the main hobbit, a creature with fuzzy hands and feet that is not technically an elf. I guess in some circles, certain things are unknown while in others it's common knowledge. In my circle everyone know who is Daniel Roth and things he wrote and familiar with Évocation de la Pentecôte, but outside us, we usually get blank stares. Then another circle of friends know about Edward Vickers and Quant family while again outside that circle, more blank stares as people never heard of them.

[Colette]

Wow Sam, where are you? Sorry you're having such troubles. All I can do is repeat what the fictional Sam said -- the dark times pass.

"...it looks like one of those fantasy elf quest movies... it takes more than special effects to catch my attention."

Hooo! The Pinis would be flattered if someone would compare ElfQuest to The Lord of the Rings.

"...a creature with fuzzy hands and feet that is not technically an elf."

Elves are Nordic, leprechauns are Celtic. Different mythology.

Jag, Tolkien was an Oxford don. The films feature terrific effects, sure. They also offer serious performers acting their hearts out in the story that invented the Fantasy genre. This isn't like Harry Potter. Dr. Who, Superman, or Star Trek. This is a whole 'nother animal.

An educated person is allowed not to like The Great Stories after giving 'em a fair hearing. But they're not allowed to not have some passing familiarity with 'em. A life without Moby Dick, Quasimodo, Don Quixote, Jack Falstaff, Frankenstein, Clarisse McClellan, Achilles, Sherlock, Alyosha, Levin... why, it's scarcely worth the living! Frodo and Sam stand alongside them. And even in their company, they bow to no one.

[JaguarX]

Wow Sam, where are you? Sorry you're having such troubles. All I can do is repeat what the fictional Sam said -- the dark times pass.

"...it looks like one of those fantasy elf quest movies... it takes more than special effects to catch my attention."

Hooo! The Pinis would be flattered if someone would compare ElfQuest to The Lord of the Rings.

Jag, Tolkien was an Oxford don. The films feature terrific effects, sure. They also offer serious performers acting their hearts out in the story that invented the Fantasy genre. This isn't like Harry Potter. Dr. Who, Superman, or Star Trek. This is a whole 'nother animal.

An educated person is allowed not to like The Great Stories after giving 'em a fair hearing. But they're not allowed to not have some passing familiarity with 'em. A life without Moby Dick, Quasimodo, Don Quixote, Jack Falstaff, Frankenstein, Clarisse McClellan, Achilles, why, it's scarcely worth the living! Frodo and Sam stand alongside them. And even in their company, they bow to no one.

Yeah I know who those guys/gals are. F. 151, excellent literature same with Henry IV and King Richard the Second. Not sure who Sam is though. But alas, must be many lost souls out there as I know more than a handful of people that never heard of any of those people let alone read any of their works. They know who Lady Gaga is though.

[Colette]

Ten years from now, no one will remember Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber or Bella Swan. Proof -- no one here remembers Vanilla Ice, Gabe Kaplin or Marie Osmond, any more than they remember the Pointer Sisters, Milton Berle or Smokey Stover. I'm sad but not shocked when people don't remember John Lennon or Jim Henson. Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?

On the other hand, Jean Valjean is a hundred and fifty years old, and just starred in a major film nominated for best picture.

There is a difference, my friends.

And this is starting to be a threadjack. Sorry, all. I get carried away.

:: Wanders off grumbling. :: "Doesn't know who Frodo is. Movie's only ten years ago. Kids these days, only care about what the mass media just shoved in front of their noses. Mutter mumble grumble gripe...! Lucas and JJ Abrams raped my childhood grumble...."

[JaguarX]

uhmm I remember Ice, Kaplin, Osmond, The Pointer sisters, Milton Berle (RIP 2002), and Smokey Stover (been trying to get my hands on some of those comics for years now) and the actual Smokey Stover (albeit from conversations with an old football buff).


But by nature I'm more of the classic writers, Stephen King, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stuff as far as fiction books go. Usually I stick to non-fiction, psychology, sociology, and biology books. The rest, I have my own imagination and own work that I create and read for myself. One day may get something published but I mostly just write for myself to read on average about 3-5 years later.

[Colette]

"...Smokey Stover (been trying to get my hands on some of those comics for years now)."

Foo.

[FatherXmas]

Ten years from now, no one will remember Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber or Bella Swan. Proof -- no one here remembers Vanilla Ice, Gabe Kaplin or Marie Osmond, any more than they remember the Pointer Sisters, Milton Berle or Smokey Stover. I'm sad but not shocked when people don't remember John Lennon or Jim Henson. Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?

On the other hand, Jean Valjean is a hundred and fifty years old, and just starred in a major film nominated for best picture.

There is a difference, my friends.

And this is starting to be a threadjack. Sorry, all. I get carried away.

:: Wanders off grumbling. :: "Doesn't know who Frodo is. Movie's only ten years ago. Kids these days, only read what the mass media shoves in front of their noses. Mutter mumble grumble gripe...!"

You're must just the wrong generation to remember Mr. Kotter (and his hot wife).  Or the Donny and Marie show.  I'll give you Vanilla Ice.  :P

Pointer Sisters?  Really?  I'm So Excited, Jump (For My Love), Fire?  Neutron Dance?!

Kids nowadays, no respect for the classics.   ;)

[Victoria Victrix]

*wanders in, stands there coughing pathetically, trying to muster some breath to say something*

Been watching the hubby play Borderlands 2, which could give all the darkity dark games out there a lot of stern lessons in how you really SHOULD write antiheroes.

Seriously.  If you gave me the terse description of what this game is about (a severely dystopic world full of pain and betrayal in which me-first Vault Hunters scrabble, kill, and destroy to beat The Mother Of All Corporate Jerks to the acquisition of a super-mech-warrior that will grind the last rebels under his heel) I would have said, "No thanks."

This game is fun to watch.  The storylines are fantastic.  The dialogue is hilarious.  They took darkity dark dark and turned it on its ear.  And they are making gazillions of money and more power to them.

Let's hope Borderlands 2 helps reverse the trend.

[Colette]

*wanders in, stands there coughing pathetically, trying to muster some breath to say something*

Whoa there! Careful Misty. You're just gettin' over the flu, remember? Don't overdo.

"They took darkity dark dark and turned it on its ear."

Ahhh... the Deconstructor Fleet trope, one of my favorites. A good sign that we're not the only ones sick of GrimDark.

[Samuel Tow]

Wow Sam, where are you? Sorry you're having such troubles. All I can do is repeat what the fictional Sam said -- the dark times pass.

Well, we kind of already live in a dystopian future here as it is, but is like Weird Al said - "Well doncha' know that kids are starving in Japan so Eat it!" It could be worse, it has been worse and we do what we can. I really didn't mean to wallow in self-pity so much as to say that I don't see how dark times call for dark stories. I'd have honestly thought it would be the reverse. I honestly thought people made stories to FIX what they thought was wrong with the world. I could get the "dork" age of comic books in the 90s. Yes, there were gangs back then, but the world seemed to be going from strength to strength and we were starting to get fed up with first world problems. We felt like "there were no more lands to conquer" and we didn't like that. We wanted to be edgy and cool and find our own brand new fights to fight. It's the generation of entertainment that lacked a its own "war," so we picked a fight with whatever was the most prominent at the time, which was authority.

Well, America did, at least. I really can't say "we" here because my own country really didn't HAVE much in the way of entertainment at the time, other than bland pop-folk music. No real movies, definitely no real video games, other than Tsar: The Burden of the Crown. So when I say "we," I'm just attaching myself to the then overwhelming effect of American culture, cinema and entertainment on us, and my impressions of what drove these tendencies. The thing is... I'm not American, though, and that may skew my impressions. My English is pretty good, if I do say so myself, and I've been part of predominantly American communities for over a decade now, so I give the impression of being one just because I know my way around, but I really do come from a vastly different culture. If it seems like some of what I say makes no sense, it's probably because my understanding of the fiction, culture and entertainment values is still limited. I can "get" only so much :)

I don't know... It just seems to me like games of recent times have all been mean-spirited. The games of the 90s and early 2000s were still gritty, but they had a... "Positivism" to them. They were trying to be dark and violent and all that, but they were still "feel-good" games at heart, just dressed in poseur clothing. You could pick up a game like Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and laugh at its over-the-top violence and silly emoness, but it's still a kind, heart-felt story masquerading as tough. Games in the recent few years, though, have been different. They may look the same, but their heart is in another place. They feel malicious and spiteful, even when they are ostensibly a lot less gritty than your average Mortal Kombat or Silent Hill.

Used to be that I could take solace in the believe that, no matter how grim things may have looked, they would always be OK in the end... Because that's what I came for. Because no matter how gritty a game may have been, it still had a kind heart. But the games of today are just mean. They give me quite the opposite impression - that no matter how good things may be, they would always go to shit in the end. And that... Just isn't a good sentiment.

[Colette]

Bulgaria, huh? Neat. And your English is excellent. You write it better than some native speakers.

(Though when the verb "believe" becomes a noun, it mutates to "belief.")

"...it's still a kind, heart-felt story masquerading as tough. Games in the recent few years, though, have been different."

Aha! This is useful.

I have long believed that a creator's true nature permeates a work, and that no work of any size can escape the creator's nature. If, for example, the creator suffers from avarice, then the characters will be materialistic, stand in awe of those who enjoy a great income, and other values will suffer accordingly.

One could never mistake a Bradbury tale, even at its darkest, with an Ellison. Bradbury, rest his soul, was a playful Peter Pan with a charming guilelessness. Ellison by contrast has seen the dark side of life close up, and even at his brightest expresses his world-weary snark. Neither could one ever confuse Capra's, Hitchcock's or Kubrick's films. Each bears an unmistakable imprint. Every artist has their own "voice."

Let's go back to the Egri model. Theme is supported by mood, plot, character, and setting. Up to now I've been talking about "darketydark" as a mood. What you're describing is a darkness of theme, a kind of despair and hopelessness, and meanness of spirit. That isn't an artist's choice in mood, but a fundamental moral trait (or perhaps weakness) of the creator(s) in question.

Well, I have found the same phenomenon in other media. There was a "dark age" in comic books and graphic novels, where creators struggled to capture the dark magic of Miller's The Dark Knight Returns or Moore's The Watchmen. Unfortunately, they were lesser talents like Mark Millar, Joe Quesada and Rob Liefeld who confused mood with theme (among other failings) and created mean-spirited, tacky comics with all sense of fun and whimsy replaced with wangst and stupidity.

But even in this dark age, more optimistic voices rebelled, giving us Ordway's Shazam!, the Moy's Legion and finally Waid's Kingdom Come, which directly pitted the idealistic silver-agers against their shallow dark-age progeny, and put an end to that era.

All I can advise is to remember that Sturgeon's Law applies to computer games as well, and be more discriminating in what you spend your time and money on.

[Samuel Tow]

Well... To some extent that's the creator showing through his work. For all the bile I've thrown at Doc Aeon, I can never bring myself to criticise his passion for telling those stories. That was his view of the world, that was his way to tell stories and I can respect that. I don't like it... In fact, I HATE nearly everything he wrote, but it's not for lack of trying, and he did get better once we yelled at him enough :)

I guess my vitriol is more reserved for the poseurs who go for "darkity dark" because it's "in," especially when it comes to Marketing. "Who will die?" Really? You're telling me that you, as Marketing people, thought that I want to see people die and that if you advertised your arc by trumpeting this death, I'll be MORE interested? No. Quite on the contrary. I DON'T want to see a story that's expressly designed to kill a character, and I take offence at the assumption that I do.

What's funny, by the way, is how fast Tomb Raider Marketing people learned their lesson. A long time ago when their developers were still allowed to give interviews, the game's primary advertising was "Come see Lara get tortured!" Game designers lined up to list all the ways in which she would be tortured, all the ways people should feel bad and want to protect her, we saw that AWFUL "almost rape" trailer and so on. People found it revolting and made a big stink. So out it comes on Steam for prepurchase, and it has a video. NOT the old one, however. Nope. This new video makes it feel like an adventure game. It has Lara climbing, swimming, shooting a bow, kicking ass and, yes, waking up crucified and crawling through a muddy cave. But the context has now changed. The "tone" of the advertisement has now changed. It's no longer "Come watch Lara get tortured!" and more "We have a gritty adventure game! Come have fun!" I'm still not buying it. I saw the original trailers, I heard it from the mouths of people making it. I have no interest in this game, and changing trailers on me NOW is a bit too late. My $60 goes to Devil May Cry: Devil May Cry.

When it's just an author being dark, I can still respect the author while disliking his work. When it's a whole INDUSTRY being dark, that's just tacky.