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Why is realism "lame"?
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<blockquote data-quote="gamerprinter" data-source="post: 6050224" data-attributes="member: 50895"><p>TV, movies, video games and other mass media, and the designs created from those, impose what is cool to mass market audience. As budgets for various fantasy epics get put to film, trying to look 'bad ass' creates those overly ornate armors and swords, wilder looking monsters, etc.</p><p> </p><p>When fantasy stories were limited to the written and spoken word, our own imaginations tell us what things looked at. As one blockbuster movie or game follows another each visual examples of what came before, so each one tries to be bigger, badder, more ornate - until we get to where we are now.</p><p> </p><p>We're letting the costume artists, special effects artists, makeup artists of the blockbuster media products determine for us what something should appear. As if the human imagination was not enough on it's own.</p><p> </p><p>I don't agree that all fantasy RPGs follow this paradigm, but targetting the mass market audience to sell your products, sometimes following what the media is doing helps sell things. At least, I think that's where that concept is coming from...</p><p> </p><p>I don't think all game designers follow that paradigm. For my Kaidan (Japanese horror) setting for PFRPG, my goals have to be a close to reality/history as it pertains to Japanese occupations (classes), social castes, clothing, armor, weapons, items, everything. Elements of Kaidan are based on true historical examples of everything possible. Even the unrealistic aspects are based on pre-modern Japanese legends, folklore and ghost story tradition. I think the reality of feudal Japan is exotic enough, not to have to create a more exotic katana, for example. </p><p> </p><p>The big companies (WotC, Paizo's of the world) seek the most common denominator - the easiest path to profits, and following the mass media renditions of what that looks like is the easiest way. Its the job of the small game publisher to deviate from that if its the better way to go. While we too want to make money, it doesn't require us to circumvent our own creativity to follow the current mass market idea of what that is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gamerprinter, post: 6050224, member: 50895"] TV, movies, video games and other mass media, and the designs created from those, impose what is cool to mass market audience. As budgets for various fantasy epics get put to film, trying to look 'bad ass' creates those overly ornate armors and swords, wilder looking monsters, etc. When fantasy stories were limited to the written and spoken word, our own imaginations tell us what things looked at. As one blockbuster movie or game follows another each visual examples of what came before, so each one tries to be bigger, badder, more ornate - until we get to where we are now. We're letting the costume artists, special effects artists, makeup artists of the blockbuster media products determine for us what something should appear. As if the human imagination was not enough on it's own. I don't agree that all fantasy RPGs follow this paradigm, but targetting the mass market audience to sell your products, sometimes following what the media is doing helps sell things. At least, I think that's where that concept is coming from... I don't think all game designers follow that paradigm. For my Kaidan (Japanese horror) setting for PFRPG, my goals have to be a close to reality/history as it pertains to Japanese occupations (classes), social castes, clothing, armor, weapons, items, everything. Elements of Kaidan are based on true historical examples of everything possible. Even the unrealistic aspects are based on pre-modern Japanese legends, folklore and ghost story tradition. I think the reality of feudal Japan is exotic enough, not to have to create a more exotic katana, for example. The big companies (WotC, Paizo's of the world) seek the most common denominator - the easiest path to profits, and following the mass media renditions of what that looks like is the easiest way. Its the job of the small game publisher to deviate from that if its the better way to go. While we too want to make money, it doesn't require us to circumvent our own creativity to follow the current mass market idea of what that is. [/QUOTE]
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