4 ms·

Eh, is it really "dodging that"? If an alien landed on our planet, took over our resources, filled our air with mutating pollution, and shot at us anytime we tr

by mankyd 4y ago

Eh, is it really "dodging that"? If an alien landed on our planet, took over our resources, filled our air with mutating pollution, and shot at us anytime we tried to take them back, we wouldn't give them a pass just because they were trying to leave :D I always kind of embraced the idea of being the bad guy in this game. I find the ease with which I (and others) just kind of shrug it off intersting. A more stark example would be the movie Starship Troopers: superficially, you might feel like the "bugs" are the bad guys, but take a step back and you realize that the humans are the ones attacking them.

HanyouHottie 4y ago
I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all!
- lvxferre 4y ago
  Oh, I miss Stormtroopers.
kemayo 4y ago
I think the implied intent of the player character counts for a lot when it comes to colonialist vibes. "Oops, I didn't mean to be here, and my main goal is to leave" is a step away from any sort of colonial undertaking. As for accepting it, I'd imagine it's because the game doesn't really give you a choice. There isn't a way to coexist with the native species -- they're always aggressive even if you don't create pollution (they're just not drawn to you without pollution; they'll always attack if they see you). In your metaphor, it'd be like if we never did anything but shoot at the alien. So you can either just not play the game at all, or you can exist in conflict with the native species. It'd make it a very different game, but it'd be interesting to imagine there being some way to work with the native species. If you could make the choice between a quick and dirty pollution-heavy resource-extraction "bad path" and a more complex social cooperation "good path", that'd probably trigger you feeling guiltier about casual extermination.
lowbloodsugar 4y ago
IIRC the bugs in Starship Troopers were hostile. The ones in Enders Game weren’t.
- kemayo 4y ago
  To spoil Ender's Game a bit: the bugs were initially hostile, in a very "we genuinely don't understand non-hive species" way such that they were intensely horrified when they realized that all the people they killed were individuals. They were then purely on the defensive as humanity launched the second war. In Starship Troopers (this varies between the book and the movie), as I recall, the bugs are more or less a peer species to humanity. They're engaged in territorial struggle, which escalates to war. (The movie version engenders a lot of debate over whether the inciting incident of the war was a false flag by the earth government.)

by mankyd 4y ago

HanyouHottie 4y ago

I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all!

lvxferre 4y ago
Oh, I miss Stormtroopers.

kemayo 4y ago

I think the implied intent of the player character counts for a lot when it comes to colonialist vibes. "Oops, I didn't mean to be here, and my main goal is to leave" is a step away from any sort of colonial undertaking. As for accepting it, I'd imagine it's because the game doesn't really give you a choice. There isn't a way to coexist with the native species -- they're always aggressive even if you don't create pollution (they're just not drawn to you without pollution; they'll always attack if they see you). In your metaphor, it'd be like if we never did anything but shoot at the alien. So you can either just not play the game at all, or you can exist in conflict with the native species. It'd make it a very different game, but it'd be interesting to imagine there being some way to work with the native species. If you could make the choice between a quick and dirty pollution-heavy resource-extraction "bad path" and a more complex social cooperation "good path", that'd probably trigger you feeling guiltier about casual extermination.

lowbloodsugar 4y ago

IIRC the bugs in Starship Troopers were hostile. The ones in Enders Game weren’t.

kemayo 4y ago
To spoil Ender's Game a bit: the bugs were initially hostile, in a very "we genuinely don't understand non-hive species" way such that they were intensely horrified when they realized that all the people they killed were individuals. They were then purely on the defensive as humanity launched the second war. In Starship Troopers (this varies between the book and the movie), as I recall, the bugs are more or less a peer species to humanity. They're engaged in territorial struggle, which escalates to war. (The movie version engenders a lot of debate over whether the inciting incident of the war was a false flag by the earth government.)