I’ve heard a number of bad raps about drugs
On the other hand do you recall all the insane media blurbs about Trainspotting when it released? Like it was somehow glorifying heroin?
I always found that completely batshit. I’ve never felt less of an urge to try heroin than after watching that movie after all the terrible shit that happens.
So pretty much anything featuring drugs of any kind seems to be on the chopping block to be accused of some nefarious agenda. I can’t recall any examples off the top of my head where that argument has ever been valid.
How about a good one:
There is a big difference between arguing the extent of reaction, and implying that there should be no reaction at all, based on the type of medium.
Sorry. Last time.
Nope.
To be clear, I think it’s a sad empty discussion regardless of the medium because, again, every time I see the argument trotted out it’s usually entirely without merit.
Whether or not you judge the argument to be without merit (and I have no dog in that fight, really) doesn’t affect the validity of having the argument in the first place. That is, unless you want to say that there is no case in which a discussion of a game’s position on drug addiction or another social issue is worthwhile.
The assertion “Games like other media have social meaning and that meaning can be debated” is not the same as the assertion that “In my experience, people criticizing games for glorifying drug use don’t make good arguments.”
It’s difficult to take the argument seriously unless they are against games that glorify violence and war as well.
I do not consider games in a separate category to other artist creations. They get the right to be subjectively amazing or shit just like anything else.
Wasn’t my intention to be a bummer or stifle discussion, so please proceed.
Anyway, I can’t wait to get a hold of this.
that’s fresh yo
I hope you see the issue here.
And it’s always like that. A game features topic X, which person Y doesn’t like. Y goes on a nonsensical rant, Z comes in to say Y conjures a tempest in a teapot, W comes in with “but muh discussion!”. There was no discussion, there was just someone being offended by something, which is what we do nowadays.
Nobody gains anything in this scenario, so you might as well not start the whole thing to begin with.
You could build that argument.
Or you could just be a person with common sense not wanting to waste your time and assume that that’s exactly the case, as that entire game revolves around the mind and decision making, which makes it really damn unlikely that drugs are treated as “LOL get high!”.
You know, we once read a book in school. It featured an in-depth description of a blue curtain that didn’t really fit in with the rest (yes, really). We spent several days - and a freaking exam - on the significance of the blue curtain.
There was no significance - which I pointed out in the shortest answer of all, receiving the highest grade (which I remember clearly, as that subject, German, wasn’t usually my strength).
This really opened my eyes in the years since then to the pretentiousness and overanalyzation of most discussions like these.
More often than not, a curtain is just a curtain, and drugs in a game are just drugs in a game.
Who knows, maybe you are some kind of literature/philosophy student and get a kick out of overanalyzing things, but you’ll have to excuse those of us who don’t.
Thanks for the condescension. I don’t get enough of that on a day to day basis as it is!
Yes, I do like abstract discussions. Yes, I do often like to explore a variety of frameworks with which to view things I’m interested in. No, I don’t lose sleep over whether these things are of epochal importance or not. And as often as a cigar is just a cigar, people use that logic to dismiss discussions of things that might lead to conclusions they don’t like.
I doubt the conversation is worth continuing though, so, eh, whatever.
Nah, I certainly did not think you were being a bummer or anything; one does not have to agree with someone to have a good discussion! And these boards are not very good for nuance, for sure.
I am quite excited to see how the writing in this holds up and I love the style of it. I just find the nature of the drug topic more akin to P&R finger wagging and therefore lacking in interest for me.
If reviews are good I’ll definitely be jumping in and that’s saying something considering my game time these days is far more bite-sized in nature.
It feels like it’s been a very long time since an rpg has excited and intrigued me like this one. I really wish it was a Switch release as well so I could get some impulse playing easier, but oh well.
If that is truly the case, you are in dire need of change in your life. Choices & consequences, just like a good RPG.
Indeed.
I played Planescape Torment, of course, and really liked it.
I also played Torment: Tides of Numanuma, and … oof. What a dreadful bore - I did dig the artstyle and also hoped for the writing to get better later on, but I simply wasted 20 hours of my life on that before I gave up. Really goes to show that “many words != good writing”.
Sometimes you’d get many paragraphs just describing what you can see on the screen with your own eyes - what a waste!
So, for Disco Elysium I have strong hopes on one hand, but I’m also prepared for disappointment. Usually I just have one of these feelings about an upcoming game.
Based solely upon your interactions with others in this thread, I would say “Physician, heal thyself.”
How so?
I’m quite a happy, fulfilled guy, with a well-paying job, lots of time for my hobbies, good self-esteem and - concerning what I wrote - not receiving condescension on a day to day basis by people around me.
Quite lucky, I know. So I really don’t see too much need for a change in my life.
The game does look really really interesting. I’m not sure if it’s my cup of tea–I prefer my RPGs to have, well, RPGs (blow stuff up!)–but it seems really fascinating on a lot of levels.
Yup, I think that that is central to this game and its reception. How much of an audience is there for making the conflict among aspects of personality vivid, as opposed to making violence vivid?
I think that the devs have tried to account for this by using a heavy dose of dark humor to draw people in. But whether it’s books or movies or TV or whatever, most of the market wants sex and violence. And, when it comes to games, there’s likely to be a fair bit of review bombing an offering that purports to be in a genre that is “supposed to” deliver violence, but focuses primarily on things other than violence.