My theory about why I can't handle loss is twofold: all other video games have taught me that dying means I failed at the game and also, I seem to get attached to things too easily. Even with a troop of completely non-unique followers, I still can't stand to lose them, let alone if they're given names or have unique traits (like the super hilarious and awesome helmets the minions in Overlord would wear). What really makes this hard is when there are statistics being kept of how many I've lost or the memorial to them. There's no real game design problem with this, this is entirely a personal problem of mine. So far, the only way I've been able to handle the loss is if I get sick of repeating the same thing over and over again.
All this is probably the same reason I don't like reading/watching/playing things where characters die, but at least when its the story that kills them off I had no control over it, so it can't be my fault. I wonder if that's why I care so much...I feel like I got them killed...man, I'd never survive a zombie apocalypse, if I didn't get outright killed, I'd be consumed with guilt for anyone I couldn't save.
There's humanism in caring about things with which we've made attachments and investments. However, I think character death serves as an in-game inspiration to carry on. In a game like "eternal darkness" you spend entire chapters trying to keep the character alive, only to have that character killed off at the end. Or driven insane. Or possessed by the demon that ultimately faces off with the Roivas (savior, backwards) granddaughter. In fact, if you never start the game, the centurion never gets possessed and you win already. But I'm sidetracking. If our emotions didn't get invested, boredom would ensue. It's not always character death that does it- clever puzzles, mysteries, or just the urge to level up and get better weapons. Death, done well, just happens to be the most evocative. But those relationships are best forged with friends of flesh and blood instead of ones and zeroes. Or at least in Munchkin or Fluxx.
ReplyDeleteBut in Eternal Darkness, the story kills the characters off. There's nothing I can do to stop it. Therefore, it's not my fault, so I don't stress about it. It's when actions I take (or don't take) end up getting someone killed off (even if that someone is a naameless peon) that seems to take a toll on me.
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