Sunday, February 21, 2010

Exalting the Low Level of Discourse in the Gaming Industry

Well, over the past few months, I have been dragged into the generally low level of discourse in the gaming industry.

I hope, that in this thread, for the first time, we can talk about my ideas in a more exalted manner.

If EA had wanted to exalt the Inferno and make millions while reveling in higher culture, all they had to do was ask, and I would have said, "sure go ahead and use some of the gold 45 revolver technologies." But unfortunately the troubled industry prefers insider arrogance and billions in losses over simple, classical dialogue and the exaltation of epic ideals in interactive narrative, alongside story--the soul of the work--according to Aristotle. I mean it really was pretty simple--"Honor Dante's spirit," and all will be well--after all--Dante know an awful lot about the rules of classical, epic Narrative Design, which have not changed any more than right and wrong, than night and day.

One can easily see that my exalted ideas and classical, reasoned thought are dominating in the free marketplace, beating out billion-dollar corporate hype with zero funding:
http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Rain-Playst ... ort=oldest

I want to thank you guys for creating a forum and then also striving to make it more exalted. Thank you for deleting/editing your past posts which were filled with vitriol, libel, slander, and ad hominem attacks directed my way.

Over at amazon some anonymous folks are responding to my exalted words and ideas and innovations by saying that my father touched me and that I touched my mother. All I am doing is proposing a system and method for exalting games with story and emotion, and the pornagraphic fanboy hate and invective generally kick in, generally sanctified by the massive corporations and industry insiders hosting said forums and creating said games, which is EXACTLY why the industry is in trouble, laying off thousands, as the fanboy h8ers present a limited and dwindling market.

H8 FROM THE INDUSTRY INSIDERS:
Perhaps the most painful experience so far has been from a neogaffer (industry insider) saying that I was like the man who shot up the Holocaust museum in DC.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366448

My mother is a Holocaust survivor and she lost many relatives in the camps in Europe during World War II. I was ultimately banned from Neogaf, while that poster/h8er/defamer/debaucher is yet posting.

I have also been kicked off forums for criticizing EA's treatment of women in their crass marketing campaigns and games. All the h8 puzzles the will. Why h8? For Virgil reminds us, "love conquers all, so let us surrender 2 love."

The Holocaust is no joking manner, nor is it a prop for one's slanderous agenda, and it amazes me that the neogaffers are perfectly fine with this slander, while my exalted ideas regarding the future of games and gaming are routinely belittled, kicked down, libelled, mocked, and spit on throughout the industry. Reading through the NEOGAF thread, one can see the level of discourse that is holding the industry back.

One of the problems is that major companies are designing games not for the general public, but for the handful embittered neogaffers who think Holocaust jokes are funny.

Gaming companies are missing out on vast opportunities by

1) creating an atmosphere nonconducive to exalted dialogue and idealistic thought
2) dumbing down and debauching culture to fit the neogaff needs
3) redefining classical, epic, exalted story in a peurile, dumbed-down, soulless way

But not everyone in the industry is debauched, cynical, h8ful of the Great Books and Classics, and demented.

In fact, I have received correspondence from folks employed at major gaming magazines--magazines you can purchase in your local bookstore. Sadly, their commentary also pertained to this forum, which at that time was brimming with snark, libel, and invective hurled my way; which has thankfully been deleted.

From: XXXXX
Hey Elliot... are you John Galt?

I've been reading many, many of your posts on many message boards. Wow! I don't know where to start... well, it looks like you have an actual hardcopy book of your ideas. Can I buy this online somewhere? It's incredibly exciting reading your stuff on posts, but the thing is, it really depresses me seeing the responses. I have to say you handle them well, but when I see responses, time and again, that are aggressively unwelcoming, small-minded, mean-spirited, and just plain close-minded, it really gets me down. How can I get a copy of your so-called "crazy" ideas?!

Also, it's very, very inspiring to see others out there who actually UNDERSTAND that we haven't necessarily progressed "beyond" the classical world. "We got iPods and Blu-ray players and pot that's waaaaaaaaay stronger than back in the day; just imagine, those dumb Greek mother****ers were just sitting around all day, talkin' and wastin' time!" I swear man, sometimes I really do feel like there are two species of human, because those people who ridicule what you say in your posts - it's not that they aren't intelligent enough to get what you're saying, as a lot of them are able to express themselves fairly well, it's that they are simply fundamentally opposed to... to what? The idea that some ways of living are superior (you would say "exalted" - a good word!) to others? The idea that morality isn't about being clever enough to never get caught? That they're capable of more than they are now?

I used to think that it was all a matter of raw intelligence... I thought that, over time, intelligence would be rewarded and stupidity punished to the point that a futuristic version of humanity would become "enlightened". I was completely wrong. I have seen a lot of very clever, even smart people, simply unable to conceive of a better world, of living as a human worthy of making the world a place fit to live in. It does get me down as I get older - but reading some of your posts were a great help, and I thank you for it!

I'm actually trying to get XXXXXXXXXXX to print some things I'm writing that tie video games with ancient stories, mythology, and so on. Of course it would be a damn sight better to simply have games made by brave men with hearts like firebrands who would simply make games that were already complete mythologies in and of themselves, and that have the balls to support one ideology over another and if people get upset then so be it, let's debate - but as it is, I'm trying to remain content with pointing out similarities between games now and stories then. Once they're up, I'll let you know!
Alright man, whatever you do, don't give up. Right now I'm acting as my own Samwise carrying my Frodo-self through Mordor, but just knowing that the renaissance is in the minds of others is a big help.
- XXXXXXX



And also:

You know, it really doesn't surprise me that the French would make a game where you can make choices, but then those choices don't affect the ultimate outcome or the world itself. I'm going to hold off saying much because I am curious to see what the game is like, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was a fatalistic study of the disempowerment of the individual, the inability to fight fate, the absurdity of reason, and all those other things that people think is so "sexy" about existentialism.

Still, my fingers are crossed that we're both wrong!

Keep in touch, and always let me know what's going on... you're definitely in my dossier of members for a "dream team" designed to save the world and change the course of future history. Sadly, it's a pretty short roster so far.



Well, you guys could apologize for the hate, ad hominem attacks, and invective you hurled my way, or you could just delete me, as well as the words from a major player at a major magazine; but either way, you cannot stop the exalted renaissance in gaming.

The simple, exalted words of my patent application are what inspired a neogaffer/industry insider to hatefully accuse me of being like the man who shot up the Holocaust Museum, even though my mother is a Holocaust survivor. Below please find the abstract and claims which inspired a deluge of hate, libel, slander, and ad hominem attacks throughout the industry. I have faith we can put the snarky h8 behind us and move on in a more exalted, honorable manner.

Major companies need new, exalted ideas so they can 1) stop demeaning women, 2) stop degrading culture, 3) stop losing tens of billions in market cap, and 4) stop condescending to the fanboys who are yearning for far greater things--for a renaissance.

As one of the world's largest game makers whose debauched Inferno just flopped, EA's stock price trajectory represents this need for change.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&c ... RTS&ntsp=0

I would love the opportunity to discuss my novel ideas without the invective, hate, slander, smug snark, and libel that has so far dominated the discussion.

I am patiently awaiting a brand new day and more exalted way.

Patent application title: System and method for creating exalted video games and virtual realities wherein ideas have consequences:

Read more: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/2009001 ... z0g5cCUTC0

Abstract:
A video game method and system for creating games where ideas have consequences, incorporating branching paths that correspond to a player's choices, wherein paths correspond to decisions founded upon ideals, resulting in exalted games with deeper soul and story, enhanced characters and meanings, and exalted gameplay. The classical hero's journey may be rendered, as the journey hinges on choices pivoting on classical ideals. Ideas that are rendered in word and deed will have consequences in the gameworld. Historical events such as The American Revolution may be brought to life, as players listen to famous speeches and choose sides. As great works of literature and dramatic art center around characters rendering ideals real, both internally and externally, in word and deed, in love and war, the present invention will afford video games that exalt the classical soul, as well as the great books, classics, and epic films--past, present, and future.
Claims:
1. A method for creating video games and virtual realities wherein ideas have consequences.

2. The method in claim 1 where said ideas are rooted in classical, epic precepts such as those found in the Great Books and Classics, and exalted at the pinnacles of Western culture and history.

3. The method in claim 1 where said ideas are manifested in the words the player or non-player characters, write, speak, read, disseminate, congregate about, fight for, and/or associate with.

4. The method in claim 1 where said ideas are manifested in the actions the player, non-player characters, and/or monsters act out.

5. The method in claim 1 where said ideas spread like viruses, by being spoken, written, or disseminated in some other manner, transforming characters who come in contact with said ideas into vampires, zombies, or other forms of monsters.

6. The method in claim 1 where said ideas spread like viruses, by being spoken, written, or disseminated in some other manner, transforming characters who come in contact with said ideas into vampires, zombies, or other forms of monsters, and where said vampires, zombies, and monsters may be saved or converted back to normal by coming in contact with ideas that oppose the ideas that made them vampires, zombies, and other forms of monsters.

7. The method in claim 1 where said ideas must be fought for via words and dialogue, before they have exalted consequences.

8. The method in claim 1 where said ideas must be fought for via deeds and actions, before they have exalted consequences.

9. The method in claim 1 where the player can fight for said ideas in word and deed, and witness the exalted consequences of those ideals, including liberty, freedom, and justice, when they succeed, and the dire consequences of tyranny, domination, and intimidation, when they fail to render exalted ideas, as ideas have consequences.

10. The method in claim 1 where the character can fight for said ideas such as marriage, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and right to life in word and deed, and witness the exalted consequences of those ideals, including a stable and enduring society should they succeed, and a declining, bankrupt civilization, should they fail.

11. The method in claim 1 where the character can battle for said ideas that are based upon classical moral and economic principles of famous philosophers, prophets, poets, statesmen, and economists including Plato, Moses, Jesus, Gandhi Sun Tzu, Buda, Jefferson, Aristotle, F. A. Hayek, Martin Luther King Jr., Homer, Ludwig Von Mises, Adam Smith, and others, and witness the consequences of both their success and failure of their battle, as the consequences are rendered in the game's physical world.

12. The method in claim 1 where the character can battle for said ideas via both word and deed, using a combination of words and action, witnessing the consequences of their balance between word and deed, between reasoning and partaking in violence, thusly bringing to life epic classical works of film and literature wherein the hero must balance word and deed.

13. The method in claim 1 where fighting for said ideas in word and/or deed will have consequences regarding the operation of a weapon, which will operate at its full potential for the players and characters who are the most successful in serving ideals and ideas, and rendering them in word and deed.

14. The method in claim 1 wherein said ideas may be based upon Constitutional ideals and ideas underlying the American Founding, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, sound currency, the right to bear arms, the freedom of speech, the right of the artist, author, and inventor to own their creations and inventions; and wherein the player could fight for sound money in word and deed and witness the consequences of their successes and failures, including liberty, wealth creation, capitalism, freedom, private property, peace, and prosperity or rapid inflation, deflation, theft via the inflation tax, massive debt, empire, long lines, wealth transfer to the rich, depressions, corruption, and war.

15. The method in claim 1 where the said ideas will be supported or opposed by in-game characters, and the player will have to choose how to interact with the said in-game characters, based on their ideas, including but not limited to whether or not to befriend them, agree with them, disagree with them, ignore them, recruit them, shoot them, save them, judge them, or forgive them.

16. The method in claim 1 where the said ideas are based upon the pivotal plot points of the great books and classics.

17. The method in claim 1 where said ideas spread like viruses, by being spoken, written, or disseminated in some other manner, transforming characters who come in contact with said ideas into vampires, zombies, or other forms of monsters; and when bad ideas have infected too many in-game characters, the consequences are dire, including the loss of life, liberty, happiness, freedom, and security.

18. The method in claim 1 wherein said ideas may be related to economics and monetary policy, and wherein the player could fight for sound money in words echoing the classical economists and deed and witness the consequences of their successes and failures, including liberty, freedom, peace and prosperity or rapid inflation, deflation, theft via the inflation tax, massive debt, empire, long lines, depressions, corruption, and war.

19. The method in claim 1 wherein moral ideas have moral consequences in the evolution of the gameworld.

20. The method in claim 1 where said ideas in the video game world are founded upon the natural ideas and ideals occurring at the plot points in great works of literature and film where a character must choose whether to serve an ideal or not serve an ideal, thusly rendering or not rendering ideals real by their actions, and influencing the greater outcome and state of the game world, as ideas have consequences.

21. The method in claim 1 where said ideas in the video game world are used to exalt the classic hero's journey, and where a player's success and progress at every stage or step or plot point of said hero's journey is defined by said player's service or disservice to said ideas and ideals, and where by said player's serving said ideas and classical ideals, said hero's journey advances towards ultimate victory and triumph, while by said character's failing to serve said ideas and classical ideals, progress in said hero's journey is retarded or reversed.

Read more: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/2009001 ... z0g5d4VcUv
Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology(TM)
Hero's Journey Entrepreneurship(TM)
The Gold 45 Revolver(TM)
Dr. E on Facebook!!!

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