New Feature

In addition to my growing list of quotes and musings, I have another text gadget - I'll change it occasionally to a new biography for one of my characters from Champions Online. I hope to make each of them a short story of sorts in its own right, and ideally it will provide pleasure to the reader and improve my writing skill.

Video Games

WARNING: This piece is less philosophical, though more so than I expected.

Games I've enjoyed seems to range far and wide. From Super Mario World to Champions Online, I've always been the jack of all trades. I'm pretty good at just about any game I pick up, but I'm rarely The Best. I don't particularly like violent games, but neither do they repel me; I become rather snarky about the violence, mocking the world that's built to maximize brutality. And yet, at the same time, I once WILLINGLY played a Barbie game. (Do note once however. I wouldn't really want to repeat it, as it was rather boring, vapid even.) I love the story of a good RPG, but I've also enjoyed God of War without paying much attention to the cutscenes. Really, the only game I don't like is Halo, which combines the three traits I least like: It's an FPS, it's plot-light (from my point of view; I don't get to play the single player much, but I've seen the cutscenes, and they didn't really inspire me.) and finally, the death knell:
It's 100% competitive, less-than-well-made team games notwithstanding.
It really does speak volumes that I prefer Gears of War by far, despite having clunkier controls and less plot (I HAVE played the single-player...) But fundamentally, co-op is too much fun. Moving with your partner, assigning tasks, backing each other up, and the rush of helping, not an NPC who won't care but a *friend* who will be laughing along with you at how close to the edge of loss you both came. My skills, such as they are, escalate rapidly in any team -
In City of Heroes
I was a so-so tank (Taking the hits for the team),
a bad scrapper (Getting up close and dicing foes),
a joke of a blaster (Staying far away and bombarding foes),
but a good defender (Empowering allies and weakening foes),
and a truly incredible controller (Taking the foes, locking them down, and in my case giggling madly as I used wormholes to send them wherever I wanted.)

In Champions Online, a similar thing is occuring; I sadly can't be a real controller yet (working on it) but I'm at my best co-ordinating my team, the foes, and the environment.

In Rock Band, I can play alone, but I actually play slightly better alongside another person; the feeling of mattering to them means that I have one more incentive to bring out my best.

In Prototype, my favorite missions were the normally-reviled escort ones, because the NPCs were well-developed enough that I felt an echo of that - even though the game was made to cultivate a feeling of uncaring, godlike power in the player. This is a game that is even more violent than God of War, and I enjoyed helping people. I guess my name doesn't mean 'Paladin' for nothing... (Actually it means Christ-Bearer, Spear-Carrier/Young Warrior - but I wouldn't call Paladin much of a stretch from that.)

I suppose the root is that, for all that at my worst I have a horrible ego and an unfriendly nature, I prefer assisting to competing or even being assisted. It's just more fun that way! Of course, the weakness of this is that I hate being the direct center of attention unexpectedly - on my own terms, I can do it, but being randomly dragged out for something that I'm not totally confient in? Pass, I'd rather figure out what's going on and THEN talk about it.

Okay, maybe that became a little more philosophical than I meant. Or rather, a little too much 'self-commentary' and not enough 'Hey guys, I like video games.'

Speaking of which, please PLEASE please let me know if you want to play Champions Online, Left 4 Dead, Warcraft III, of Neverwinter Nights 2. Or, well, anything else. If I have it, I probably want to play.

Comments: Please comment as you wish. No insulting consoles, though individual games can be recommended or commented on. Do note I won't stop playing things I like because of you.
Relevant Trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/CrowningMoment/VideoGames may not be directly related, but you won't regret reading it. Also, check out http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/HeartwarmingMoment/VideoGames for the less 'WOW!' and more 'Aww!' version.
WARNING! TvTropes can be an addictive experience!
WARNING! The trope listed was not used in the creation of this post - if you read it expecting a continuation, you may be deservedly disappointed.

Humanity

Note: Summary at the bottom.

The supposed traditional view is that humanity is superior to animals only in our intelligence. This can be seen as far back as Greek times, with the myth of the creation of all animals and humans. Created by two brothers, one made animals - quickly and with little thought, lavishing all of the limited 'gifts' available on them. The other made human, spending much time making us in the image of gods - but when he finished found no gifts left. Instead, Prometheus gave us fire (Fire often representing knowledge) to let our minds raise skywards with the smoke. However...

Humanity is far from weak compared to animals. There are traits where we excel, and even some where we excel uniquely - before even getting into our brains. In fact, we are the Terminators of the animal kingdom!

Trait One: Endurance. Humans may not be able to sprint like a gazelle, but we can nonetheless run one down in a tactic called 'persistence hunting' because while the gazelle can sprint, it does so for a shrot period of time. Humans can walk, and walk, and walk, and walk... We also sweat all over, while most animals need to find shade for any hope of shedding heat. In hot climates, we go from being the top of endurance walking or running to being closer forces of nature.
A youtube video of such hunting can be found here, though it focuses on tracking as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wI-9RJi0Qo
As for why dogs were domesticated from wolves so early in our history? Wolves are essentially the only other terrestrial animal that can keep up with humans, and even they are not superior in that category. Horses and oxen are capable of walking alongside humans, but only given very good food and excellent places to rest each night.

Trait Two: Vision. Humans stand on two legs, making us about six feet tall. What would be perfect cover against a lion, only a few feet above the ground, is nothing for us. In addition to this, highly-developed binocular vision with unusual acuity and color vision translates to us being able to see prey from far, far away, as well as letting us see tiny details to allow tracking animals that passed hours, if not days ago. An important note for tracking is that humans pay attention to still details more than most species: We don't have the incredible eye for movement or pattern that an eagle has, but we pay attention to details in the environment that an eagle sees as mere background.

Trait Three: Accuracy. Humans are the ONLY species known to be capable of throwing accurately at a distance. Despite the idea that other primates will fling nuts, pebbles, and other objects with painful precision, they rarely do so out to more than twenty feet. By contrast, a human without training or practice will often have this accuracy, and we developed projectile weapons to take advantage of this - shooting ranges will often have distances of three hundred feet. A human hunter could use a sling to fling a stone with deadly accuracy from ranges that many animals cannot even see to. (Yes, slings are a deadly weapon - used by ancient armies, against other armies, to great effect.)

Trait Four: Dexterity. Imagine, if you will, another animal with the manual dexterity to operate a computer. There are very few indeed. Most such animals would also need extensive training and practice, while simultaneously not approaching a human typist's speed. This co-ordination (and thumbs) allows us to make not just simple tools - seen in use by several species, especially primates - but complex tools, or simply far more refined tools.

Trait Five: Voice. This might not seem to be obvious at first, or useful. Almost everyone, however, seems to know someone capable of mimicking an animal's cry, sometimes with great accuracy - Not to mention the sheer power of complex language to organize. Human vocal cords, tongue, and mouth design combine to create a flexibility more or less unmatched - while some animals can operate outside a human vocal range, few can operate in a larger range.

Trait Six: Adaptibility. For all that this point, at least, is fairly common, it needs a more simple explanation. There are animals which climb, those that sprint, those that swim, those that create packs, even other animals (mostly mammals) which communicate in surprisingly complex ways. But humans are the only animals willing to do all this - and to learn these things. Where humanity first developed, water for swimming was in short, if not nonexistant supply. And yet almost every culture with access to such bodies of water will swim. People in jungles will climb. People who can will sprint from predators, or sprint to corner prey. We create packs - in comparison to most animals, enormous packs. Imagine wolf packs: How many have you heard of that numbered even forty, let alone one-hundred? And yet we theorize that early human tribes, clans, and other groups could be up to one-hundred-and-fifty in number! Our language, while less unique than once thought, is varied and complex.

To summarize:
Endurance.
Vision.
Accuracy.
Dexterity.
Voice.
Adaptability.

All these combine to create (before intelligence or even creating tools) an animal that, in human terms, will never stop, will see you from miles away, can harm you before you even see it, let alone get close, can fool your ears or call in even more, can follow you anywhere, and can do just about anything you can do - maybe better. We may not have the short-range speed, deadly claws and fangs, scent, or unique abilities of most animals, but we are still an incredible species.

The Terminator never needed to be a robot; humans have done everything he did for thousands of years. Did I mention that compared to most animals living long enough for their hearts to beat just under a billion times, humans can apparently live for up to two billion? Even over one billion is rare.
As for being prey: We are squishy, like any other prey. Unlike any other prey, the other humans will notice, and they will get ANGRY. This means that there is in fact a...

Trait Seven: Vengeance. Things which actually tick off humans generally face the many, many problems of doing so. Just look at coyote hunts, and that's usually for attacking a pet - non-fatally.

Comments: Please, comment! The only rule I'm putting down is trying to pull this into evolution vs. creationism/intelligent design. My feelings on this are obvious, but the impact of this article are the same whether we are the pinnacles of evolution or closest to the divine.
Relevant Trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumansAreCthulhu (See especially the 'Real Life' section.)
WARNING! TvTropes can be an addictive experience!
WARNING! The trope listed was not used in the creation of this post - if you read it expecting a continuation, you may be deservedly disappointed.

Villains and Their (Nefarious) Purposes.

Note: Summary at the bottom.

Villains are crucial to any good work; attempt to find a good piece of fiction you like with no Villain at all. In real life, of course, vilifying people (or just things) is common. A Villain can be defined by three things, usually.

From the average Villain's point of view, it is all about the Me. Most people think about the Us (Themselves, and those whom they know and care for) while true Heroes think about Them (The people around them, others - at the expense of themselves, and even for those they don't personally know already.) But for your average Villain, it's the Me - My needs, My wants, My desires, at the expense of My enemies - and anyone else, if need be. This is what gives Villains their callous repulsiveness - and this is ALSO what makes Villains who work towards other goals so interesting. The Me drives people towards the first trait of most of Villainy: Evil.

On the other hand, not all Villains are evil. However, another facet is this: Villains are active. Heroes, by and large, tend to react to evil, restoring the status quo, or at least preventing an 'unnatural' shift. This means first that the Villain will usually get halfway through their plan before being stopped, since the Hero starts with a handicap, but it also means that Heroes avoid moral questions, usually. The Hero is the driving force that ends the plot - but the Villain is the driving force that begins it, another case of opposing forces. This is the second trait of most Villainy: Activity.

But there is a third type of Villain - this kind need not be a bad person, or even aware of their role as Antagonist. Indeed, it need not be a person at all - 'it' can be an object or event just as easily, as it is in many war stories - the opposing force is just as often simple chance and danger as it is the opposing army directly, and certainly no single person in that army. This Villain is defined by mere opposition: the Antagonist opposes the Protagonist - morality, ethics, logic, none of these need enter. This is the most powerful trait of Villainy, and the most simple: Opposition.

Of course, Villains don't need to be Evil, nor do they need to be Active. They need only Oppose the Hero to be a Villain from the point of view of the plot; in a plot rallied behind an evil man, a good one is the 'Villain' even if few people would label him that. But this Opposition hides a more central truth - that even inactive Villains drive the plot of a work. Heroes are defined by their opposition even if what they oppose is, say, a mountain they must climb. However much it seems that a mountain could not be the Villain, it is: To the mountain-climber Protagonist, the mountain Antagonist defines him - if there were no mountain, then what? Our Protagonist would perhaps sit at home, wishing that his world were a bit less flat, because Villains represent challenge, and without challenge, life can get very boring indeed.


To summarize my wall of text:
Evil, Activity, and/or Opposition define villains. They need not have all three, however, to be an Antagonist.
Their role in any plot is to drive it by providing a challenge to be overcome, whether it is for Batman to foil the Joker's bomb-pie plot, or for a mountaineer to scale an unmapped mountain.
Villains are the neccesary opposing force: the positive charge to a Hero's negative. The Yin for Yang. The Chaos to Law (or vice versa.) They define our Hero, our Protagonist, as he opposes them.

Comments: Please do NOT use examples of real life people for Villains. Please do not bring up controversial works unless you are ready to be opposed.
Relevant Trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Villains
WARNING! TvTropes can be an addictive experience!
WARNING! The trope listed was not used in the creation of this post - if you read it expecting a continuation, you may be sorely disappointed.