Red Dead Redemption 2 - Second Trailer Reactions

So the second trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 dropped today, I'll leave a link at the end for those interested but for now I wanted to give my first reactions on it in words. I know it's a novel concept to write about it instead of making a whole video on it but lets get to it.

Mr. Arthur Morgan

First off, we find out that the protagonist is one Arthur Morgan, a dude who sure looks the part of a capable outlaw. Now I do wanna note that he does in every way appear to be an outlaw unlike the protagonist of the first game, John Marston. He is indeed quite the contrast to Mr. Marston, not only does he seem to enjoy being bad more but he's also a different figure, that is he's more physically intimidating. I do look forward to seeing him interact with the world as he doesn't really seem like the kind of guy to be pushed around easily.

I do think there's a reason for such a seemingly dark character, I wouldn't be surprised if he at some point was a more redeemable character but the changed up a bit after the release of Gta V. What I mean with that is that with Gta V Trevor Phillips was introduced and his psychotic persona became extremely popular so I wouldn't be surprised if this fact influenced Morgan of RDR2. Now I don't think he'll be going full psycho but I do think Trevor did encourage Rockstar to make a meaner character than they'd normally do. Personally, I like him, I've seen some negative comments towards him but I'm excited to see more of his persona. I suspect he's not all around bad but perhaps put on a tougher persona when in "outlaw mode".

Outside of Morgan, we didn't really see that much as it was a short trailer. I mean we did see glimpses of hunting (with a bow no less), horse taming and heists. Though the heists did look quite cinematic so I hope you can still rob stuff outside of main missions. We did see one big thing though, Dutch van der Linde, which with other released info has confirmed that it is indeed a prequel that is centered around Dutch's gang. I was skeptical there would be a lot to explore but it does seem to be so far back with plenty of colorful characters to make it interesting.

Not sure there's that much more to comment on story speculations. I do however want to comment on the types of comments I've read in the comment sections on Youtube, Twitter and so on. Fun conspiracy theories that I will hastily debunk. Lots of comments about Abigail being the mysterious blonde woman, to that I say, Abigail had black hair and wasn't a badass gunslinger. Next, lots of people are thinking the boy Morgan threatens in the trailer is a young Marston, first off John's mother died at childbirth and he was found by Dutch while in an orphanage so no dice. I've also seen comments linking Morgan to MacFarlane, that he would be related but as his name is Morgan it's also quite unlikely and reaching to make a connection. As are all the comments calling anyone with a beard Uncle (the drunk hanging around at Marston's farm towards the end of RDR).

That would be all, if you haven't already check out the trailer and get back to me perhaps if you see something interesting. Here's the trailer for those interested;
RDR2 Trailer 2

Murder and Killing in Video Games

Neil Druckmann of Naughty Dog recently interviewed Hermen Hulst of Guerrilla Games about Horizon Zero Dawn and a comment from Druckmann made me think about a certain aspect of video games. That aspect being murder, now that might sound dark but I would like to remind you that I will be discussing the killing of pixels only.

Big, evil and terrifying pixels.

The comment that got me thinking was when Druckmann and Hulst was discussing how people claim to be unable to relate to characters that isn't their gender and Druckmann retorted with "...But you're okay with playing a murderer?", interesting comment. Now I understand that it was a simplification and not a 100% accurate depiction of protagonists in violent games but it still got me thinking, do we as gamers relate to murderers when we play games about killing people?

In some regards we do, but I would say it's more often than not highly justifiable. Gaming is by all means a very childish medium and often paints conflict in a very black and white manner. You, the player, often play as an underdog oppressed by some pure evil force and is often forced into the conflict through self defense or to protect loved ones. Some would say it's murder regardless of the reason but our medium goes to extreme lengths to make it seem like the right thing to do, because if a game made you feel like an actual murderer I'd argue that not many would actually enjoy playing that game.

That said, there are games that more or less intentionally play around with this. Games like Spec Ops: The Line with more on the nose commentary on killing heaps of people and others more subtly. The example I'd like to bring up is Fallout 4 for a very specific area with very specific enemies. I'm referring to the raiders at the FMS Northern Star wreck who unlike other raiders speak Norwegian. Now the other raiders you meet in the game have few redeeming qualities and often speak about horrible stuff they've done or are going to do, but the Norwegians don't. They will say things like "Leave us Alone!" and "Get off our ship!" when attacked, simply put, they're not bloodthirsty raiders but a stranded crew who simply didn't speak the language and couldn't communicate with the locals and ended up having to fight for what was theirs in a cruel world.

What got to me was how this detail would likely be lost on a vast majority of people who played Fallout 4 as most don't understand Norwegian. However as someone who do understand the basics I was rather mortified about learning that they just want to be left alone and that I am in fact the villain who attack them. This wasn't me defending myself from an evil, faceless entity but me going into someone's makeshift home and actually murdering the inhabitants. Naturally I felt horrible and avoid going there unless I have to, and I think that's an important thing to highlight.

Gamers as a whole will try to do good, and that is why it's dishonest to say we identify with murderers. There's a lot of data that will back this up, games that offer gamers the choice of good versus bad a majority will choose to do good. Not only that, but study from University of Buffalo suggests that doing anything immoral in games will lead to guilt and in a sense make us more morally sensitive. Such a study would hardly suggest that gamers get into a killer mindset even after killing thousands if not millions of pixelated enemies. I've personally been killing virtual bad guys for over a decade and I still felt horrible after killing the previously mentioned Norwegian raiders, as a personal experience to back it up.

Not that it can't be interesting when games do turn the tables, anyone who has played Spec Ops: The Line will know that a morally gray game will also be very entertaining. It was advertised as a standard military shooter so when it turned out to be a "Heart of Darkness"-inspired adventure that really tested the moral fibers of gamers. It's quite welcome to actually question if we should feel so indifferent to killing so many and I'd like to see more games where we strike down our fellow man to not be so careless about it. If we want our medium to mature we should ask for games that aren't just mindless shooting galleries, games that encourage other approaches that perhaps doesn't involve shooting the enemy in the face.

It could be even more beneficial for us if games reminded us that it isn't always so black and white, perhaps have the enemies chat about how they're doing bad things for a justifiable reason themselves. Then give us the option to avoid conflict either through dialogue options or stealth. Life imitates art, as they say, and today more empathy couldn't hurt. Considering that such a large part of the modern population play games it could be a very effective way to inspire more care to tell encouraging stories instead of the same old ones where you are the absolute hero and the enemy is an absolute evil.

To mention another game that kind of dabbles in moral gray areas but not really, The Last of Us is a game that put the player in control of a very brutal man, named Joel. Joel is a man who has survived in a cruel world for many years and as a result has become a very cold killer. If it wasn't for his companion, Ellie, someone who hasn't seen as much violence and in turn give Joel a reason to care again, he would probably be the villain in someone else's story. Would overall be hard to relate to considering how cold he is if it wasn't for even more horrifying bad guys in the game. Would've been nice to hear them talk about anything but how they basically enjoy kicking puppies in their free time. It can be fun playing a anti-hero but as a result the enemies often become so absurdly evil to make it justifiable to kill them without feeling too guilty. Breaks the immersion to some extent.

I understand that devs don't want us to feel too uncomfortable playing their games but I do believe that gamers are more mature than they give us credit for. If they want to depict a very morally gray world then don't be afraid to depict it properly, the previously mentioned The Last of Us would be a good opportunity to show us that the enemies aren't necessarily outright evil and that you might prefer to avoid conflict instead of depicting them as monsters that the world wouldn't miss. You could say it's weird how they instead encourage killing your fellow man because he's an irredeemable monster.

Not that I want mindless shooting galleries to disappear, but like I said our medium is still in a very infantile place as a whole when it comes to how it handles killing. Some games that depict a more realistic take on conflict could be good, games where killing does make you feel uncomfortable. Solving conflicts more creatively could be interesting and could be the next step for gaming to take if we want it to mature as a medium.

As a conclusion, it's a false oversimplification to claim that gamers are put into the role of murderers when playing violent games and call them murder simulators. However, it could be interesting to push boundaries by putting the player in a position where killing could be considered "murder" while giving the choice to simply avoid conflict through more creative means.

Naughty Dog and Gender Diversity

I've discussed this subject before, more or less, can't remember if it was in both blog and vlog form or just a vlog. Regardless, the subject I intend to talk about is gender diversity in games and how it can be handled better by even those who see themselves as shining beacons of hope for those wanting to see more lead women, as an example. 

A recent video interview where Neil Druckmann of Naughty Dog interviewed Hermen Hulst of Guerrilla Games is what sparked this topic. They were discussing female protagonists in a segment of the interview where Druckmann took a jab at people unable to relate to a female protagonist but can relate to murderers. Now there's a lot to discuss in this so lets get started.

First off, I wanted to address the fact that anyone who thinks you can't relate to a character simply because of different gender or race is ignorant. Not completely wrong but still ignorant if that's a deal breaker for them. A character is made up of many different things, among those things is gender and race, those being different than your own can set up a barrier for sure but it's something you quickly get over once you give them a chance. It's just how we're wired in the end, we get along better and quicker with others like us while getting along with different people takes more of an effort. That said, as a straight man I get how it can be weird to play as a woman and in the game have male characters hit on you, the player.

Aloy, relatable despite being a woman.

Moving on, I wanted to touch upon the subject of relating to a murderer. I want to touch more upon that another time but I did wanna point out that it's not really a thing that games do these days. Most often the enemy is a purely evil entity, either zombies, aliens or mercenaries with one goal and that goal is to be as evil as possible. They're faceless, and they go out of their way to show that whatever emotions they have it's about how they enjoy torturing puppies. Putting those kinds of enemies in your path, most often putting you in the seat that you have no choice but to kill them in self defense, isn't putting the player in the boots of a murderer. As an example, Aloy from Horizon is a killer, but no murderer. She doesn't kill innocent people and the enemies are overly barbaric with no redeemable qualities. You're not going to feel bad about killing monsters in self defense, but you might feel uncomfortable when every single character in the game seem to have the hots for you. Understandably so.

I'll have to get around to the murder-mindset and games later on as it's an interesting topic to me, but alas it's time to get to my main point. The reason I put Naughty Dog in the title. As a disclaimer, I have no problems with female protagonists, in fact they often turn out really badass because devs seem to make more of an effort when writing them and badass women are great. For that matter I'm not going to sit here and say we need less women in games, no I'm here to say, we need more.

What I mean with that.. Let me ask you a question, how many badass females can you remember from recent games? Really give it some thought, I can remember Ellie, Tess and Marlene (TLoU), Elena, Chloe and Nadine (Uncharted), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Aloy (Horizon) just to name a few. Now try and mention any female villains. Can you mention three without looking anything up, even one? Better yet, how many games have women among the cannon fodder that the player slaughters en masse?

That's the real point, games today seem to have a real hard time painting women as villains, especially as low level grunts. I think this is a very important part of equality, not to hold women to some ideal standard where they're always the good guys but show that they can be just as bad as men. Now I've mentioned Nadine here, she counts, right? Well first off, she was a Mary Sue, she wasn't that interesting and both times you fought her you didn't stand a chance against this terminator. She's also one only villain that hasn't died in Uncharted, even villains who ended up redeeming themselves in the past died as they did. Nadine just buggers off to return as a protagonist in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Not to mention she's the only female mercenary in all of the Uncharted games. How odd.

The Last of Us is another example of a game which Naughty Dog, gaming media and Druckmann himself uses to show off how badass women can be. It's true that Ellie and Tess are both really badass and good characters but where are the female villains? Even Marlene who, not to spoil anything important, stands in your way at one point isn't portrayed as a bad character. Also where are all the female Fireflies and survivors? Is Naughty Dog telling me that only men are strong enough to do all the savage things you need to do to survive in a post-apocalyptic world? Or have what it takes to be a mercenary in the Uncharted franchise?

Now, I do of course understand why this is a thing. It is of course because we're still uneasy about harming women. We've played games and seen movies where men have been slaughtered without discretion for decades, centuries, maybe more? It's funny how everyone calls for more women in gaming but as soon as they can be harmed all hell breaks loose. I think the first time I noticed female cannon fodder was in MGS4 were Kojima had made the FROG unit to kinda experiment and see if gamers would be more hesitant to kill female enemies.

FROG:s, all female special forces.

What I ask is simple, add female baddies among the waves of enemies you throw against me in games. I didn't think about it until I played more games with female protagonists, how my character was the only female combatant in sight. Why is it okay to slaughter my own gender exclusively while we hesitate to even add female enemies that end up dying before the end of the game? As a man, I'm fine with female protagonists, but I'd like my own gender to not be the only one portrayed as evil as well. As long as this is a thing we won't have gender equality.

I'd also like to mention the recent Star Wars: Battlefront 2 announcement. Apparently we're going to play as a female protagonist in it. Fine, I say, but a female Imperial soldier? Where has all the female storm troopers been before, I ask? Is it maybe that we don't mind the idea of millions of male baddies being killed throughout the Star Wars franchise so we don't really see female baddies until it's time to play the "bad side"? Seems awfully fishy to me, don't get me wrong Star Wars is full of badass women but I've never heard of women among the Imperial Grunts before Phasma in Star Wars Episode 7 who wasn't even a grunt but a fancy commander. Doesn't seem consistent, and consistency is vital for making a believable and immersive world.

Ellie, doesn't hit women because they're too fragile. 

Naturally I do wanna give a shout-out to developers who do support real gender equality in games like Bethesda and Ubisoft who have both badass female protagonists and female antagonists and cannon fodder. Bethesda in particular has been doing it for a long time, first time I saw female raiders in Fallout 3 (which as my first Bethesda game) was quite refreshing to me. They also do it without proclaiming how progressive they are at every step, really I'd say Bethesda is currently a shining beacon of how it's done as far as identity politics is concerned. I really hope Naughty Dog takes note and adds a few female enemies in their next game. Female protagonists is good and I enjoy playing them but it makes it all the more weird when all enemies are exclusively male.

Introduce some real diversity and equality, please.

Oh and here's the interview that caused this topic to begin with; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzomI_VXFLs

Good Girl (Short Story)

[First short story I've ever written, at least that I've felt like sharing. I wanna write more and get better, I understand I'm not going to be some master writer from the get-go but hopefully I get an ounce of feedback and learn to improve. Anyway, it's not a happy story so be warned about that.]

In a small hospital, a man wakes up with an aching head. Slowly he opens his eyes and observes the room, it was bright and he didn't quite see. Suddenly he sees movement, someone in white saw him looking and moving around in his bed and ran off. Likely a nurse he thought. Then he noticed he was cuffed to the bed, someone didn't want him to go anywhere but he didn't really remember why that would be. His vision returned as he now saw the figure in white return, this time she was clearly a nurse, she brought with her a police officer, a doctor and a man in a suit. Hopefully they would have answers would help the man understand what he was doing there in the first place.

The man in the suit approached the man, and sat down on a chair next to the bed.
"Good morning, my name is Hill, detective Hill. How are you feeling?"
"I'm... I'm feeling a bit dizzy, confused.."
"Sir, can you tell me your name? Just for the record."
"Sure, my name is Robert Moore, what is this about?"
The detective looked at the man, then at the doctor, then down on his notes.
"Thomas Moore, is it? Alright, do you have any idea about why you're here?"
The man was a bit confused, but things started coming back to him.
"Uhm, yeah, I was in a struggle... At a house, my neighbor."
"I see, you're.. So you're the neighbor, Mr. Moore, we're not fully aware of the situation, mind filling us in? From the start if you don't mind."
Thomas Moore, as he had identified himself as, started thinking back to how it all had started. The story started coming to him as his mind cleared up.
"Of course, let me think, I've been their neighbor... Oh For a long time, as long as I can remember in fact."
"What was the name of your neighbor, can you account for the family members I mean?"
"Sure, let me think, it was the Payne family, the mother Anne, father Edgar and daughter Sophie."
"Okay, right, continue with the story."
"So I always knew there was something bad going on there, like it was one of those things you just know, the dad was a drinker, the daughter played alone in the backyard all the time. The mother often wore sunglasses and long sleeved clothing to hide bruises but you could always tell when the man, Edgar, had been rough with his family. Horrible man."
"Why didn't you intervene then, if it was so obvious why not call the police?"
"I... I don't know, I didn't feel it was my business, besides, the cops had been there and done nothing. That's just how these things go."
"Right, so you did nothing."
"I know, I'm ashamed, but what could I do? Well, at least that's what I asked myself every day until..."
Moore paused, thinking...
"...Until? Mr. Moore, are you alright to talk right now? We could come back later when you feel better?"
"No that's alright, I can talk right now. What pushed me to action was an encounter I had with the daughter a few days before the... Incident."
"Really now? So what happened?"
"Well, I was walking home, minding my own business, I'm kind of a loner that way..."
"The story, Mr. Moore.."
"..So I was walking and the daughter, Sophie, was playing in the front yard. Hadn't really seen her much as she was hidden away most of the time."
"So it was really that unusual for her to be around, close to other people than her family I mean?"
"Oh yes, they never brought her along when going out, she was often left alone in the house when Edgar and Anne went out for whatever reason."
"I see, so how was the encounter?"
"Well a ball came rolling out in my path and she came running close behind it. She grabbed it and stood in front of me, just looking at me. I got down on my knees and asked how she was doing, if her parents was around. She was quiet for awhile before saying that her mother wasn't around and that her dad was acting strange. Her face was emotionless, it broke my heart. Then I looked at the house and I saw the curtain move, the dad had woken up I figured. Not sure if he was still drunk I just told her to be safe when playing by the street. Then I went home and..."
"..Sorry to interrupt you, I have to go over a few notes with the doctor and such, I'll be right back."

Detective Hill got up and went over to the doctor and the officer, they talked among each other with muffled voices. There was even a bit of head scratching involved. After the doctor had talked exclusively for awhile the detective shrugged his shoulders and walked back over to the bed and sat down on his chair and sighed.
"Mr. Moore, we want the full picture of this... Situation, so please continue your story. What happened next?"
"Well, as I was saying, I went home and thought little of it. Still, it was in the back of my head as I went on. Every day from that on Sophie was playing in the front of the house, it was also eerily quiet compared to earlier. I started noticing that the mother wasn't around anymore."
"Did you suspect that foul play was the reason for her absence at this time?"
"Not really, I mean it was a broken home so it wasn't unusual for her to run off from time to time. The girl playing in the front by the street was overall the weirdest thing about it."
"Right, go on, Mr. Moore."
"It was not until... I'm sorry the exact day escapes me, I'm still a bit out of it, but it was late. I was going for a walk, I hadn't been to work that day so I wanted to do something besides just sitting around the house all day. Then as I got out I noticed something by the Payne household, a freshly dug hole in the backyard, I got chills down my spine thinking that Edgar had at some point killed his wife during a drunken stupor and now was burying  her in the backyard. It made sense to me, that's why the daughter was playing in the front to he would be able to bury Anne without disturbance."
"With this realization, what did you do?"
"Well I felt I had to go over to investigate of course, I ran over to the house and started knocking on the door to confront Edgar."
"And was Mr. Payne and the daughter Sophie both home at this time?"
"Yes, in fact as Anne wasn't around Edgar was taking out his drunken rage on the girl. I felt mad with rage myself, witnessing this monster attacking a small child."
"Sounds horrible, so how did you respond to this?"
"I broke down the door, of course, I had to stop it."
"How did that go? I need exact details of what happened next."
"I'll describe it as accurately as I can.. I rushed in after I had forced the door open and attacked Edgar. During the struggle I pushed away Sophie and telling her to run and that she did. I kept fighting with Edgar, he was strong and had fought a lot during his life so he was tough to keep up with. Even when drunk."
"Right, go on Mr. Moore."
"Well, after a long struggle, I managed to knock him down. I stood over him, catching my breath. My heart was racing, I had just fought this man, I didn't know what to do now. Then I heard a voice behind me, 'Stop!', it said. It was little Sophie, she was holding a gun, barely, it was so heavy for her. I was shocked and lowered my posture and started to talk her down, I told her it wasn't a toy and that she might hurt someone. Didn't even notice how Edgar had risen up behind me and hit me in the head with a hard object, a bottle perhaps, and I went down. Before I passed out completely I heard a gunshot and saw him go down as well, shot in the head. Good girl, I thought, before losing my consciousness."
The detective sat and thought about Moore's story for awhile. Then leaned in.
"So this is your story, Mr. Moore? You, a lone neighbor, noticed the wrongs in a broken household and rose to the occasion, became a hero and defended the little girl from the monster?"
"Not quite how I'd put it, but my story is true."
"Alright, I'll be right back, do give it some more thought."

Hill got up and left the room with the others. Thomas Moore couldn't do anything but sit there, thinking over the events, why was the detective so snarky about his description of the events? Did he miss something? Was he a suspect? Moore wanted answers, and right now he still had more questions than before. Perhaps he'd find out more now, as the detective returned with a briefcase and sat back down beside him. He opened the briefcase and took a few folders in his lap.
"So, Mr. Moore, are you sticking to the story?"
"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"
"Well, the doctors assure me that you might be telling a story you really think is correct. So now I have a few questions to clear things up. Describe Mr. Edgar Payne to me, would you, Mr. Thomas Moore?"
"Uhm, sure, he's a tall man, strong, somewhat round around his guy, beard and messy hair most of the time. Unkempt I guess you could describe him."
"You are correct, here's a family photo, in fits with that description."
Detective Hill handed Moore the photo to observe.
"What is this about, Detective?"
"Describe your own appearance."
"Clean cut hair, quite light brown, average height, quite lean, I don't know, why are you asking this?"
"Mr. Moore, take a look at this mirror."
Hill handed Moore a mirror and he couldn't believe what he was looking at, that was the face of Edgar Payne, a shaggy looking man with a rough face.
"I... I don't understand, is this some sort of trick?"
"Mr. Moore, I assure you that the man you see in that mirror is yourself, you are Edgar Payne, there never was a 'Thomas Moore' to begin with. At least not in your neighborhood. We found your wife dead in your backyard, Sophie, your daughter, won't talk but we found a bottle that appears to be the weapon that bashed her head in. What exactly happened that night isn't exactly clear but what we do know is that you were intoxicated and that Sophie had shot you in the head. It was not fatal but your mind appear heavily scrambled, she was bruised so we figured it was self defense. Your story does make some sense but this 'Moore' persona you made up to make yourself feel better is a lie."
"What are you telling me? Of course I'm Thomas Moore, I've... I've been their neighbor for as long as I can remember, I told you...! I TOLD YOU THE STORY! I DIDN'T KILL MY WIFE YOU SON OF A...!!"
"It might be hard for you to accept, but you need to let this persona go, you made him up, Mr. Payne. The doctors will look at you and determine exactly just how damaged you are. See if that head of yours is truly that broken or if this is just an act."
"AN ACT!? This whole thing was just an act! That photo is manipulated, you're just looking for someone to send in jail! EDGAR PAYNE IS DEAD!"
"We can only hope he is, but unfortunately that's for the doctors to decide.. Goodbye, Mr. Payne."

Detective Hill got up as he walked out of the room, leaving Thomas Moore, or more accurately, Edgar Payne, to shout and cry out in pain and confusion. Apparently, truth doesn't always set you free.