Strange Conversations: Part Seventy-Seven
Posted 12 January 2009 in Strange Conversations by Catriona
SCENE: A quiet mid-afternoon in the study. Gentle rappings from the renovations next door. Me, nursing a slight headache and worrying about the general shape of this journal article. Nick, still on annual leave, sitting at his computer with his headphones on.
NICK (physically leaping up into the air) AAARGH!
ME: What? Where? What the hell just happened?
NICK: (shouting): I THINK I JUST STEPPED ON A MINE!
ME: You what? You . . . how? Ah.
MORAL: Putting your headphones on while playing Fallout 3 out of a kind desire not to disturb your working girlfriend is negated if you also have a highly verbal approach to game-playing.
Previously: Garden At Night
Next: The Ducks Are Back!
Share your thoughts [8]
1
Matthew Smith wrote at Jan 13, 12:55 am
Is that the mine that made him spill the beer on the keyboard?
2
Catriona wrote at Jan 13, 01:14 am
No, the beer on the keyboard came much later—I wasn’t in the room at the time, and don’t know precisely what caused the beer on the keyboard catastrophe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if killer mutants from the wastelands had something to do with it.
Or cannibals. We had the following rather disturbing conversation the other day, when I wasn’t really listening:
NICK: So I found this whole town of cannibals. I’m going to go back and wipe them all out.
ME: You do that, honey.
NICK: Except the children.
ME: Good, honey.
NICK: I don’t think you can kill children in this game.
I suppose I shouldn’t start to worry unless he actively seeks out games in which you can kill children?
3
Tim wrote at Jan 13, 01:52 am
It’s a bit of a sore point among the fanbase.
4
Catriona wrote at Jan 13, 02:03 am
The fact that the game won’t let you kill children is a sore point among the fanbase?
Wow.
That’s . . . that’s insanely disturbing, actually.
Why hasn’t there been a Penny Arcade comic about this?
5
Tim wrote at Jan 13, 04:01 am
The first two games allowed the player to kill almost anything that moved, although killing townsfolk and particularly children was considered a Bad Thing in-game and would lead to negative NPC reactions.
An interesting article here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20908
6
Catriona wrote at Jan 13, 05:27 am
Thanks for that link, Tim—that was fascinating (well, until I got to the first comment. People are idiots on the Internet).
The only thing I knew about Fable 2 prior to reading that piece was that it is, if I remember correctly, the game in which you can virtually impregnate your virtual partner (and there was a hilarious Penny Arcade comic, but their archives suck and I can’t find it).
So I like the idea that Fable 2 has a Dorian Gray approach to in-game evil.
7
Tim wrote at Jan 13, 05:45 am
The Youtube rule applies generally: Never read the comments.
And
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/03/07/
8
Catriona wrote at Jan 13, 05:57 am
I call that the IMDB rule: those forums, before they locked them, were entirely populated, apparently, by homophobic and misogynistic twelve-year-old boys.
And that’s the one! I still think that’s awesome. In fact, whenever anyone asks me where I was from now on, they’re going to be met with “I was fighting a fucking vampire!”