My Truth and some Lies

How the world of fantasy has evolved and gave us superheros.

2011-03-25T15:48:00.002+01:00

The world of Fantasy
You could say that fantasy has always existed. Mostly to escape their miserable situation, sometimes just for fun. But while the imagined fiction is loosly based on the structures as in real life, the creator lets his imagination run wild and creates a world that is inconceivable in the real world. In the ancient times, stories about Gods and Demigods, Heros and Legends and lots of local lore were traditional material. These stories were based on even older ones, adding each time new and exciting powers to the agonists. Our modern western fantasy fiction seems to be based on the medieval times, romanticized into a world of brave knights and princesses. Different genres includes these architypes, ranging from roll playing games, video games, movies, graphic novels, fantasy fiction, etc.

A Hero like we all are
But typical for the postmodernistic era we live in, is the melting pot of influences so that nothing is really invented. What is merely done is mixing different styles or influences because the wide spread information makes it possible to taste all sorts of lore that was preserved. We seem to have no trouble mixing the brave knight from the medieval times with the werewolf from the victorian times toghether with a ninja from feudal Japan. But one thing that we have severly upgraded is their powers. In all the legends, the heros are common people that perform extraordinary feats due to their legendary bravery or cunning. The catch is that everyone in the audience can identify himself with these protagonist and continue the dream at home in the all too familiar 'what if' scenario.

Adding Superpowers
What the ancient greeks were good at is inventing supernatural powers. The same sort of powers return in the Viking mythology. It is impossible for the common man to throw lightning, create storms at sea or fly around. But these were gods. Or Demigods. Supernatural powers for supernatural beings. Now in our individualistic society, we no longer have that connection with the supernatural beings as most of the western religions (christianity, judeïsm, islam) have only one true god. The next step is rather obvious, just give the superpower to the common folks, and a hero is instantly created. Just take John Doe. One day he discovers he can create flames at will. Bam. Superhero born.

Weak reasons, weak motivation, but it looks Cool.To make the story catching, all sorts of silly motives or origins have been invented. None of them works ofcourse and asks a great empathy from the viewer/listener. Falling in a barrel of nuclear waste as a kid, will under no circumstances give you the ability to fly. Or cast lighting. Or crawl around like a spider. Or whatever. Nonetheless are we more than willing to follow the hero on his heroic quest, more often involving a love story as well. All this together signals -to me at least- that the hero with the superpower is a shallow creature, reduced to his power. To counter this, archvillains are created that are even more powerfull, dramatic love stories, all that to show a vulnarable hero, always going through some sort of crisis. But this is all a veil to cover the real identity of the hero: a common man with supernatural powers that look Cool. Up to you if you go home and continue the dream, but I prefer the common man who performs an heroic act out of bravery, necessity or, you know, plot. Because I am a common man. We all are.

The Four Types of Fantasy players

2011-03-25T15:46:00.001+01:00

The Fantasy Consumer is an Escapist.
Wheter you are reading a book, watching a movie or playing a game, chances are that you are doing this merely to enjoy yourself. In this brief moment of distraction, you can emerge yourself in another worlds, away from the daily worries. No need to feel guilty. This behaviour can be translated as well into 'caveman tells stories around the campfire'. It is in our nature to entertain and be entertained. Life is complicated enough not to. Sharing this general feeling of escaping the daily life, we seek different aspects in our escape. Not all like to watch violent or horror movies. Some like to raise a happy little family as well. In this article I'll focus on the ones that play fantasy games since those have the greatest potential of escaping into a completely different world. Nonetheless, we are still human, and human traits are therefore incorporated in the gameplay, resulting into 4 different types of players.

The Explorer, Seeker of new Stimuli.
This type of player loves to emerge himself in the newly created world. His empathy with his avatar or the protagonist is intens. He likes to explore the world and establish an profound feeling of knowledge about it. But once familiar with the new grounds, he moves onwards to new horizons. This constantly changing of enviroment keeps the interest and this type of player will enjoy every expansion or sequal. The joy comes from new stimuli, new stories, new local lore.

The Gatherer, Collector of Gear and Achievements.
This player loves to gather resources, trade, commerce and gains satisfaction when he finds a bargain on the ingame economy. Always striving for new, better, upgraded gear, the gatherer is the type of player that will never settle for suboptimal gear. Quests, set by the game will be completed, and if all ingame content is completed, he will set out goals for himself. All possible achievements will be hunted. Although the character progression is not hampered, the goal is set by himself. These type of players usually analyse the game itself to break the mathematics behind the scene. They are willing to break out the fantasy and create spreadsheet with numbers, only to find the optimal strategy or gear. These players often abandon the game wealthy, but unsatisfied when some challanges are too big to overcome to obtain that last, rare item they do not possess yet or an achievement that seems impossible to obtain.

The Socialiser, Finder of Friends
The Socialiser is the least escapist of the four, since they use the game as a tool to get social relations. Helping out new players, pointing beginners to the right direction and always participating in ingame societies (call them guilds, or clans, or...). That does not exclude them from enjoying the game, as their roll as nestor can only be fullfilled if they possess the necessary knowledge themselves. They will sacrifies their own benefit for the greater good, and have a strong feeling of accomplishment if the group can pass certain goals. They will sacrifies their personal time to help other and be often dissapointed when help is not appreciated or taken advantage of.

The PVPer, Fighter of other Players.
The PVPer (or player versus player) will measure it's performance not by the achievement, their social status or the story, but from his ranking among his peers. He will and enjoys engaging in combat against other human players and finds a great deal of satisfaction when he can beat them. The Gatherer has better gear, and will try to measure up against the PVPer, but will loose, fueling both in their goals. The fantasy world serves as a platform to deploy his skills, not to explore or quench his interest in lore. He will continue to improve his tactics and his character in order to achieve the number 1 in the ranking.

But I recognize myself in all 4 categories!
Don't be so cocky, ofcourse you are a mix of the four. I'm not preaching international truth here. The main point is that while we enjoy leaving our sorrows behind and dive into another world, we maintain our characteristics. You have the opportunity to play or identify yourself with a character that is completely opposite of you in real life, but the way we enjoy the game is always ties to our person. You could be shy and introvert, but play a social character which means that, in fact, you are more social than you'd expect. Deep down inside, you cannot hide yourself and maybe identifying your playing style tells more about yourself than the game.

Why are all good things bad?

2011-03-25T15:45:00.002+01:00

Fat is so Sweet
All good things in life come with a kickback. I like to rest in my backyard for a while, but before you know it, you're applying either sunblock or aftersun. Why would anyone create this world where every temptation kicks like a mule when you expect it the least? What is the irony of making us weakwilled against the good things in life? I cannot believe there would be a creator so cynic to create such a world. The only remaining option would be the inherent human weakness for bad things. And apparently we are all just the same. We like to eat a nice piece of fried food, but then we get fat and die our heart out. We like to do sports, but then we get an injury that drops us back at condition zero. Even love is blind. And fat is sweet.

It is a Test!
I heard a nice angle on this topic. Our creator is testing us. Only if we can resist the temptations, we will live happily. Now, that is the biggest heap of feaces I've ever heard. Firstly because I don't believe in our creator, but more importantly because we don't need to be tested. Being tested the whole live, leaves no room for a normal way of live. Imagine a student that has to take exams every single day of his life. There would be no room for anything else. In short, if you believe it is a test, then the creator is putting us in a threadmill and shuts us out of any purpose. And I refuse to believe that. If you have a pet, or even a child you love very much, you are not doing it a favour by constantly putting it to the test.

You are wrong because we are not constantly in temptation!
Ofcourse we are, you silly. In the Eastern religion they figured that out way before they did in the West. Buddism focusses on throwing off any distraction, and the emphasis lies soley on self deployment through inner calm. Did you not read the first paragraph? Everything we like has a drawback. It is the story of our live until we die. That is the reassuring endnote of our journey. Whatever we do, our ending is the same. Be it more painfull physical or emotional for some than for others. The whole point i'm making is that the balancing act between good and bad is what keeps us awake. You need the down moments to enjoy the up moments. You enjoy a cold drink more in the summer than in the winter. Even love brings us to such heights (and debts), only to enjoy the happy moments. That is what I believe is in our nature. But that doesn't explain why the world around us seems to behave the same way.

The Good, the Bad and the Sin
We know in our heart that we will repend some actions, even before we take them. Jumping of that cliff is going to hurt you one way or another, yet you take the plunge and enjoy every second before contact. Religion has tought about this as well, and gave it the label 'Sin'. A clever mechanism to show us that whatever challange we take, we should be aware that it can lead to side effects. Therefore I suggest that as of today I will no longer reflect my actions upfront. If I'm doing the right thing, and enjoy my life in moderation, then I'm passing the test every single day. I will not know that I've lived, but at least I will not be kicked by a mule.

Solidarity for all, except the unwilling.

2011-03-25T15:43:00.001+01:00

Robin Hood got it wrongSolidarity is the core principle in many religions and constitutions. We pay taxes so that everyone can benefit. However, in some countries solidarity is confused with socialism. I don't think that socialism is a good form of solidarity. In other countries solidarity is confused with sharing among peers. I don't think that sharing should only be among peers. Somewhere in between the socialism and the sharing lies the golden road, the standard of care, the way I see solidarity should work. Solidarity should be a voluntarely contribution to the greater good, or pool of goods, so that everyone can benefit from it. The emphasis is put clearly on violuntarely and everyone to benefit. Two attributes that respectively socialism and -yes I will call it- capitalism seem to neglect. Both were also not considered by Robin Hood. I wasn't there to judge if he aimed for solidarity, but if he did, he got it wrong.

Somewhere along the Rainbow
In socialism the principles are not as devilish as the western leader want you to believe. In fact, the ideals put forward let us dream of a better world where everyone is contributing by his best means. Unfortunatly, that doesn't work as there are always outcasts in a society who cannot contribute due to age,handicap or unwillingness. The reaction to this would be forcing everyone into solidarity. But that restricts greatly the motivation. And unmotivated contributers become unwilling. So although the light shines bright, there are some little raindrops to notice in this model, resulting in a raindbow full of different colors. While beautifull it remains an illusion, momentarely captured by our eyes, but not resulting in a fixed solution.

Sharing is not caring
One way or another, some people seem to be good at making money while other do the best they can, but keep making the wrong decissions. A capitalistic society is ruthless for those that cannot climb the social ladder due to age, handicap or unwillingness. Therefore some sort of solidary is invented to prevent your peers from falling too far from the social ladder. I find it unacceptable however, that our most precious good in live, our health, is not included in this solidarity system. A guilty concious cannot be soothed by some sort of volunterely sharing. The main reason I can find is the lack of structural sharing with every single one in the society who deserves the attention. Not only those that are having a minor setback, but also those held back by the roadblocks throw at them by fate. If the society would really care for all layers, then the sharing would include all basic needs for all.

Exclude the Unwilling to motivate the Willing
Somewhere between both models described above lies a bunch of western countries that are trying to work togheter. Each with their own social system, all contributing to a greater Europe. I believe that these countries found a very expensive, but workable form of solidarity that reflects my opinion. I must admit that the contribution is not entirely voluntary, but since taxes are defined by the democratic elected representatives of the nation, that counts. The biggest difference is that all enjoy the benefits. Not only the poor, or the handicapped, but also the rich that contribute the most, can benefit from the social system, hence incouraging them to contribute in a positive way. All basic needs are covered as well. With minimum wages and health care for all, only the unwilling risk to fall between the beds. A big misconception in other systems is that the rich think that they contributed the most, yet they represent only a minority of the population. But it is impossible to maintain the expensive system without, so throwing everyone a bone is motivating. But it should be coupled with a stringent mechanism to exlude the unwilling.

De speltheorie en de maatschappij

2010-02-18T14:09:00.000+01:00

De spel theorie is een economisch model dat de reactie van alle partijen probeert te voorspellen in een marktsituatie. Deze theorie noemt speltheorie omdat door middel van eenvoudige spelletjes de strategie die spelers hanteren, ook de strategieën die op de markt van toepassing zijn geanalyseerd kunnen worden. Maar dit model kan doorgetrokken worden naar onze maatschappij. In volgende artikel lees je er alles over:
http://www.leerwiki.nl/De_maatschappij_en_het_Nash_evenwicht.

Jezelf invriezen om langer te leven?

2010-02-18T14:03:00.001+01:00

We dromen allemaal van het eeuwige leven, maar eigenlijk bedoelen we dat we eeuwig jong willen zijn. Hoewel de wetenschap de voorbije decaden enorme stappen voorruit gezet heeft, zijn we echter nog lang niet toe aan de eeuwige jeugd. Dat neemt niet weg dat men hoopvol kan zijn naar de toekomst. Steeds meer en meer laat men stamcellen, zijn hoofd of zijn hele lichaam invriezen in de hoop terug tot leven gewekt te worden wanneer de technologie op punt staat. Is dit wel realistisch? In dit artikel wordt er dieper op ingegaan:
http://www.leerwiki.nl/Jezelf_invriezen_om_eeuwig_te_leven%3F

Hardball Online

2010-02-18T13:34:00.000+01:00

With a lot of pleasure, I can announce that my free online management / rpg browsergame is online and running! The remake on roughball turned out to be more complex but still engaging.
Worth a try! www.hardball.be

eerste testbericht

2010-02-18T13:31:00.000+01:00

Een eerste testberichtje op de blog