Op Ed [May 08, 2017, 08:40 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
OnlySP - Lovecraftian Lies: Why Video Games Cannot be "Lovecraftian." Now you tell me. According to the archive, I've only used the term here 25 times.
I guess it would help if there was a somewhat standardized definition of what "Lovecraftian" actually means. I'd agree that several games that claim to be such don't give me that feeling. Except one kind of obscure title from the nineties, but I can't remember what it was called.
"The assumption that animals are without rights, and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance, is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."
This article is most certainly pretentious and spends an inordinate amount of time citing the works of various authors who have attempted to posthumously psychoanalyze H.P. based solely on his fiction, rather than spending most of its space on laying out in a concrete fashion just why video games cannot be Lovecraftian. It seems more that the author doesn't care much for video games in general, and horror games in particular, and feels that video games are a waste of time and energy that could be better used to belittle people that read comic books and watch television.
VaranDragon wrote on May 8, 2017, 16:41:
Maybe if they let you play as Cthulhu, that would work better
Here you go.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/107310/Cthulhu_Saves_the_World/
There are various statues of Cthulhu, as well as other "Old Ones" however AFAIK they are depictions made by other lesser beings. When invariably humans encounter these old ones or Cthulhu himself, they are so alien or horrific in appearance that they cause complete and utter terror and madness. With that said, the main point of the article IMO seems to be that games are kind of crap at depicting this, since it's kind of standard fare in games that you basically "win" the game at the end. You can't win against Cthulhu
Maybe if they let you play as Cthulhu, that would work better
Maybe if they let you play as Cthulhu, that would work better
VaranDragon wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:52:
I love how people are always complaining about how most articles are bullshit, clickbait, crapola. Then one comes along that is anything but clickbait, with well thought out arguments, and even some serious references and people just go:
"What a load of bollocks!" Without even reading the article, beacuse it doesn't conform to their view or opinion.
Wonderful stuff really.
Okay so I went back and read through past the first paragraph.
It's still bullshit clickbait.
Seriously "it's impossible to make a video game Lovecraftian because Lovecraft said Cthulhu 'defies depiction' after having described a statue of Cthulhu"?
I mean, the author argues that the genre is too wide to even begin trying to define anything as "Lovecraftian".
Maybe not "bullshit clickbait" but "pretentious clickbait" absolutely.
jdreyer wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:19:I wonder if that was what Man Seeking Woman was thinking with Tanaka.
The Japanese are REALLY REALLY LOVECRAFTIAN
ItBurn wrote on May 8, 2017, 13:04:Man reads title and just now realizes websites use gimmicky titles to make people click.
snp
ItBurn wrote on May 8, 2017, 13:04:VaranDragon wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:52:
I love how people are always complaining about how most articles are bullshit, clickbait, crapola. Then one comes along that is anything but clickbait, with well thought out arguments, and even some serious references and people just go:
"What a load of bollocks!" Without even reading the article, beacuse it doesn't conform to their view or opinion.
Wonderful stuff really.
Listen, the title is "Why Video Games Cannot be "Lovecraftian.". Now, regardless of the content of the article, the title is clear and I think I have the right to say that this is BS even if I didn't read the whole article. If the article ends up saying the opposite, that games can actually be lovecraftian, then it's not my fault, it's their fault for doing a clickbait title. So that's why I felt comfortable giving my opinion.
Yes, you do have a point that the title is kind of sensational, though it does argue the point a fair bit further on in the article. A better title would be:
"Why most Video Games cannot be Lovecraftian"
Blue wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:55:El Pit wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:06:
People who don't really know Lovecraft's work think that anything with tentacles must be Lovecraftian.
25 times, Blue? This is like you are actually trying to call Cthulhu.
C'mon, it's barely more than once per year.
Which is mere seconds to an immortal like Cthulu. Relatively.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
VaranDragon wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:52:
I love how people are always complaining about how most articles are bullshit, clickbait, crapola. Then one comes along that is anything but clickbait, with well thought out arguments, and even some serious references and people just go:
"What a load of bollocks!" Without even reading the article, beacuse it doesn't conform to their view or opinion.
Wonderful stuff really.
Listen, the title is "Why Video Games Cannot be "Lovecraftian.". Now, regardless of the content of the article, the title is clear and I think I have the right to say that this is BS even if I didn't read the whole article. If the article ends up saying the opposite, that games can actually be lovecraftian, then it's not my fault, it's their fault for doing a clickbait title. So that's why I felt comfortable giving my opinion.
Flatline wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:50:
I'd argue that there's a difference between "Mythos-inspired" and "Lovecraftian". If you have Cthulhu Mario Kart that's a "mythos" game.
If your game meditates on racist imperialist Christian xenophobia and postulates that just outside the doorstep of civilized euro-centric culture there is a thriving, writhing, pagan world that doesn't give a shit about you and if exposed to it you would become tainted, corrupted, and probably insane as your properly gentrified mind snapped, then your game is probably "Lovecraftian".
Perfectly said.
El Pit wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:06:
People who don't really know Lovecraft's work think that anything with tentacles must be Lovecraftian.
25 times, Blue? This is like you are actually trying to call Cthulhu.
C'mon, it's barely more than once per year.
Stephen "Blue" Heaslip
Blue's News Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, El Presidente for Life
Blue's News Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, El Presidente for Life
I love how people are always complaining about how most articles are bullshit, clickbait, crapola. Then one comes along that is anything but clickbait, with well thought out arguments, and even some serious references and people just go:
"What a load of bollocks!" Without even reading the article, beacuse it doesn't conform to their view or opinion.
Wonderful stuff really.
"What a load of bollocks!" Without even reading the article, beacuse it doesn't conform to their view or opinion.
Wonderful stuff really.
VaranDragon wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:44:ItBurn wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:34:
I read it diagonally, but this article is BS. A game can absolutely be "lovecraftian". This guy probably can't see games for something other than Mario Bros. You can depict insanity and indescribable horror in a visual medium. There really haven't been good "lovecraftian" games yet though... I'd say that Amnesia and Soma are pretty close.
Yep, you sure did read it diagonally. *sigh*
The article does not state as a matter of fact that games can't be lovecraftian, just that most of those games that are marketed as "Lovecraftian" are anything but. For various reason which are stated in the article. Read the article.
I'd argue that there's a difference between "Mythos-inspired" and "Lovecraftian". If you have Cthulhu Mario Kart that's a "mythos" game.
If your game meditates on racist imperialist Christian xenophobia and postulates that just outside the doorstep of civilized euro-centric culture there is a thriving, writhing, pagan world that doesn't give a shit about you and if exposed to it you would become tainted, corrupted, and probably insane as your properly gentrified mind snapped, then your game is probably "Lovecraftian".
I dunno I liked Eternal Darkness. It fucked with you the player. Sometimes pretty well.
I had a reply typed out here, but really I couldn't get beyond the first pretentious paragraph from the author. So yeah whatever.
Fun police clickbait blah blah blah.
I had a reply typed out here, but really I couldn't get beyond the first pretentious paragraph from the author. So yeah whatever.
Fun police clickbait blah blah blah.
ItBurn wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:34:
I read it diagonally, but this article is BS. A game can absolutely be "lovecraftian". This guy probably can't see games for something other than Mario Bros. You can depict insanity and indescribable horror in a visual medium. There really haven't been good "lovecraftian" games yet though... I'd say that Amnesia and Soma are pretty close.
Yep, you sure did read it diagonally. *sigh*
The article does not state as a matter of fact that games can't be lovecraftian, just that most of those games that are marketed as "Lovecraftian" are anything but. For various reason which are stated in the article. Read the article.
I read it diagonally, but this article is BS. A game can absolutely be "lovecraftian". This guy probably can't see games for something other than Mario Bros. You can depict insanity and indescribable horror in a visual medium. There really haven't been good "lovecraftian" games yet though... I'd say that Amnesia and Soma are pretty close.
jdreyer wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:19:El Pit wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:06:
People who don't really know Lovecraft's work think that anything with tentacles must be Lovecraftian.
The Japanese are REALLY REALLY LOVECRAFTIAN
Can't remember reading anything about a vending machine with used schoolgirl panties in any of Lovecraft's novels.
In the current political and social climate, don't be an aggressive monkey . Show that you have evolved that important thin sugar coating called civilization. Don't fall for the fools.
El Pit wrote on May 8, 2017, 12:06:
People who don't really know Lovecraft's work think that anything with tentacles must be Lovecraftian.
The Japanese are REALLY REALLY LOVECRAFTIAN
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
People who don't really know Lovecraft's work think that anything with tentacles must be Lovecraftian.
25 times, Blue? This is like you are actually trying to call Cthulhu.
25 times, Blue? This is like you are actually trying to call Cthulhu.
In the current political and social climate, don't be an aggressive monkey . Show that you have evolved that important thin sugar coating called civilization. Don't fall for the fools.
Cthulu loves you. On a bun. With catsup.
“With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." - Aaron Sati
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