Main Character Name (Honor Sandy Hook?)
Nimmanu
NH, USA Join Date: 2017-01-14 Member: 226681Members
NH, USA Join Date: 2017-01-14 Member: 226681Members
This question was asked on Reddit, and it got me to really thinking.
Here was my first thought:
Well. The devs state that they won't have guns in the game because of the school shooting at Sandy Hook. Since we know the names of the victims, one of them...
My choice would be Noah, from Noah Pozner, and with a tie-back to 40 days and nights in an ark (not that I'm a bible person, I'm not, but the reference is popular culture enough).
James. Daniel. Jack. Chase. Jesse. Dylan. Benjamin. All the boys' names (including Noah) from Sandy Hook.
Could even double up on it. Since Chase can also be a last name;
Noah Chase.
Noah Benjamin. Noah Dylan.
My second thought was that they are planning to put in a playable woman, also. Doing it this way, you could have the PDA refer to the player by name, and Dylan is a name that could go either way... so it could also be
Dylan Chase, Dylan Benjamin, Dylan James.
(This is a fan-made poll and has nothing to do with anything official that I know of.)
If you vote no, an explanation would be helpful if it's game-related. For example, "I want to name my own character, so I don't want the PDA to ever refer to me by name in speech so that I can name the character myself."
Here was my first thought:
Well. The devs state that they won't have guns in the game because of the school shooting at Sandy Hook. Since we know the names of the victims, one of them...
My choice would be Noah, from Noah Pozner, and with a tie-back to 40 days and nights in an ark (not that I'm a bible person, I'm not, but the reference is popular culture enough).
James. Daniel. Jack. Chase. Jesse. Dylan. Benjamin. All the boys' names (including Noah) from Sandy Hook.
Could even double up on it. Since Chase can also be a last name;
Noah Chase.
Noah Benjamin. Noah Dylan.
My second thought was that they are planning to put in a playable woman, also. Doing it this way, you could have the PDA refer to the player by name, and Dylan is a name that could go either way... so it could also be
Dylan Chase, Dylan Benjamin, Dylan James.
(This is a fan-made poll and has nothing to do with anything official that I know of.)
If you vote no, an explanation would be helpful if it's game-related. For example, "I want to name my own character, so I don't want the PDA to ever refer to me by name in speech so that I can name the character myself."
Comments
It isn't like saying Hitler, or Stalin. The atrocity, however tragic, was not on a historical scale for a name to be remembered.
Thus when they see that name, they see only names.
Noah, though, has a larger meaning behind it and I think it would be fitting considering the setting of the game takes place 95% underwater.
I don't think it's important necessarily that someone recognize it and link it. Indeed, I think it allows for both a remembrance of all the victims, but also for a new association.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. It's nice to know people's viewpoint, not just a "yes or no" or "agree or disagree". I'm always curious about different views of the same issue.
Personally, I find using the names of the victims of a tragedy in a video game to be in bad taste. The only time that the names of the victims of a tragedy in a video game should be used is a memorial to heroes sacrificing themselves to save a bunch of civilians.
Which is a reason to memorialize victims of things like this. All too often, the media inspects every aspect of the killer's life. Everyone remembers their name. Everyone knows who they are. Yet few know even the name of ONE victim. They are a faceless crowd, unknown, forgotten, and set aside. It's not "Noah, who loved his red wagon," it's "26 people dead". This form of memorial is low level. No one's going to know unless they ask. It's not the next great pyramid or anything, it's a game. A game is perfect for remembering children.
Also, I don't like the idea that the only people worth remembering, or worthy of memorializing are military or service people who die performing their duties. Would it be okay to tell a grieving widow, "Your husband didn't do anything worth remembering, because he didn't save anyone's life"? No. The problem with these kids right now is that they're just "a bunch of kids" and it's easy to say, "who did nothing worth remembering." If they are memorialized in some way, it makes it harder to dismiss them as not important because they "didn't accomplish something special." Nameless faces can be treated that way easily, but faces and names... so much harder to dismiss their life, their grieving families, and the fact that their death did matter; if only to someone we don't know.
With the game being in first-person perspective and the character having no name, it gives a much greater impression that it's YOU stranded out there in the deep water with no one coming to your rescue.
Just leave it.
A thousand times this.
Only public figures and heroes should have their life analyzed by strangers. It is up to the friends and family of the deceased to remember their life not some stranger and using a child involved in a national tragedy in a video game is in extremely bad taste.
Nobody has the right to say who is remembered or why, that's down to an individual and what they choose to partake in. It's fine if people want to memorialise and remember victims of tragedies, as long as it's okay with the people closest to the deceased. As long as it's tasteful. If the devs felt strongly about making a tribute, and they cleared it with the family members (because they might hate the idea, but they might love it) then whatever. It has no impact on me.
It will endear the game to some people. It will put off other people. That's down to them.
And while I'm at it, in a more general sense, if you find something to be in bad taste, so what? If you're somehow offended by something, too bad. Suck it up. You're a grown up so deal with it.
Frankly I'm offended when people say "I'm offended." So what?
Anyway, the name issue;
Personally I have no investment in the Sandy Hook incident, nor do I have any interest in it. I have no desire to memorialise anyone or anything. So the question simply becomes "Should we have a named protagonist at all?"
I say no. We are the protagonist. The player character is a proxy of us, the players. If you give it a name, the name is meaningless and you may as well be playing as a rag on stick for all it's worth.
I think the Fallout 4 protagonist is a good example, as it was such a controversial player character in general. I believe the male was technically called "Nate"... but who cared about that? Mine was called Derfel Big Bollocks, not Nate, despite what Bethesda wanted. Trying to force a name on players is counter-productive to an immersive experience. In fact the less that's forced upon a player, the better. This is common sense.
Which is why a voiced protagonist was such a controversial topic. If I am playing as Kratos, Mario, Link, Lara Croft, Trevor Philips, or Adam Jensen, then it doesn't matter what voice they have since I am playing as them. If I am able to create my own character, then the voice will never fit what I want. Fallout 4 seemed to deviate from the generic background and create a sort of hybrid character where part of the background was partially defined with Nora having a Law degree and Nate being a Veteran.
There is a difference between thinking something is in bad taste and being offended by it. Something in bad taste would be a fat woman in a bikini while being offended by it would be an extremely fat man in Borat's swimsuit. It is the difference between leaving a bad taste in your mouth and wanting to vomit due to the horror of it.
So you have just as much reason to act like a "special snowflake" about being offended by their being offended. Would be extremely immature, but extremely funny to thrown their SJW nonsense back in their faces especially by using their buzzwords like safe spaces and micro-aggressions.
Well, exactly. And having your character being a veteran was a terrible thing for Fallout, because Fallout games are traditionally about creating your own character. And it's a terrible thing for any game that isn't character driven. If the character of our Subnautica protagonist was an integral part of the game then fine, but it isn't. He's just a proxy body for the player.
If you're playing as Jensen, it's important because he's a huge part of the story. If you're playing Link, then that's fine, it's an important part of the story. Not so with Subnautica-dude.
You're right, I should clarify. I might have the reason/right to be offended. But the difference is, when I'm offended by people saying they are offended, I don't usually voice it. It's not them being offended that offends me, it's them making sure everybody knows they're offended. Voicing the fact you've taken offence is what's absolutely inane and meaningless, rather than the actual being offended.
I'll pick the name I want, thank you very much.
And it seems more than just a bit in bad taste to use a murder victims specific name in ANY Video Game, no matter the circumstances.
< shrug >
Girl: Scuba Sarah
Scuba-Guy & Scuba-Gal.
or even...
Scuba-Doo & Scuba-Don't.
The only time your character is addressed directly (as of the Jan 2017 update) is when Avery Quinn is about to pick you up, and that is just a scripted event. Whatever name your character has no impact on the gameplay itsel,f nor does it affect the story. I'd personally would rather have a customizable character creator, or at least the ability to play as a female character instead of a male one. That would at least have more impact on gameplay without obstructing the storyline.
There is going to be a FEMALE option eventually in the game.
I believe it's listed on the TRELLO page somewhere.
I know you mean well and intend for it to be honorable but it would end up being offensive I think and the devs would likely come under pr fire