Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 8725612" data-attributes="member: 4937">Why is that obvious?&nbsp; When 'Predator' came out, very few people had been exposed to the concept of an invisible alien with advanced tech hunting them.&nbsp; One of the experiences of the original movie that is hard to capture now is the fact the audience had barely more understanding of what was going on than the characters in the movie.&nbsp; Now, all those tropes are part of the culture, so if real people were put into a similar situation it would be natural for them to think, &quot;This is like Predator!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; One of the problems with most zombie movies is that the characters in the movie act like they've never heard of a zombie before.&nbsp; Today, zombies are so ubiquitous as to be a trope.&nbsp; Everyone is genre savvy.In my opinion it often hurts a narrative when the characters are obviously dumb for the purposes of the plot.&nbsp; I hate that.&nbsp; Breaks my immersion every time, especially when the characters are protagonists.Do we?&nbsp; &nbsp; Or do we just have incoherent assumptions about what the character mindset should be.&nbsp; Are we just demanding that the characters conform to some bad stereotype?&nbsp;&nbsp; One of the differences between RPGs and movies is that the plot can't depend on the characters being stupid.&nbsp; The characters will be stupid, but not in a way that the plot depends on.Then to be frank, unless a very good reason is given why the characters don't talk and share information, they are very bad stories.&nbsp; Plots that depend on characters jumping through hoops because they are stupid annoy me to no end.&nbsp; Now, if the characters don't talk for reasons that are sympathetic and understandable, because from the characters perspective they have good reasons, that's fine.&nbsp; And if the protagonists aren't the ones being stupid, that's OK.&nbsp; But I hate stupid protagonists with a passion in any media, and no RPG should depend on them.Especially from the perspective of an RPG, this is proof often that the story is poor.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 8725612, member: 4937"] Why is that obvious? When 'Predator' came out, very few people had been exposed to the concept of an invisible alien with advanced tech hunting them. One of the experiences of the original movie that is hard to capture now is the fact the audience had barely more understanding of what was going on than the characters in the movie. Now, all those tropes are part of the culture, so if real people were put into a similar situation it would be natural for them to think, "This is like Predator!" One of the problems with most zombie movies is that the characters in the movie act like they've never heard of a zombie before. Today, zombies are so ubiquitous as to be a trope. Everyone is genre savvy. In my opinion it often hurts a narrative when the characters are obviously dumb for the purposes of the plot. I hate that. Breaks my immersion every time, especially when the characters are protagonists. Do we? Or do we just have incoherent assumptions about what the character mindset should be. Are we just demanding that the characters conform to some bad stereotype? One of the differences between RPGs and movies is that the plot can't depend on the characters being stupid. The characters will be stupid, but not in a way that the plot depends on. Then to be frank, unless a very good reason is given why the characters don't talk and share information, they are very bad stories. Plots that depend on characters jumping through hoops because they are stupid annoy me to no end. Now, if the characters don't talk for reasons that are sympathetic and understandable, because from the characters perspective they have good reasons, that's fine. And if the protagonists aren't the ones being stupid, that's OK. But I hate stupid protagonists with a passion in any media, and no RPG should depend on them. Especially from the perspective of an RPG, this is proof often that the story is poor. [/QUOTE]

Verification