It may not make enough of an impact to just reverse them, but I''m wondering what you think... Remember the HR Giger / Stan Winston designed aliens form the Aliens series? Night black, slimy, huge jaws, long spidery limbs, claws? Scholars. Pacifists. Comedians. What if? What if they were depicted the same way, with the same dark, steamy environs, but they were "the good guys." What would your reaction be, and the folks you know who''ve seen them? The other stereotype: The beneficient angel. Sweet, kind, holy, radiant. What if this was the mental image projected by a very nasty species; maybe a species fond of mayhem and murder. The art would be the same, and on first contact I wouldn''t tell players which species was what. But their actions would speak louder than words. Just wondering if this is too simplistic a reversal... -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

Well, to quote Juliet Capulet from Shakespeare''s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

The same philosophy could be applied here. I, for one, would like to see such a thing happen. However, is the fresh change worth the players'' initial confusion?

An interesting dilemma

quote: Just wondering if this is too simplistic a reversal...

Well, I remember a Lost in Space episode that had the same idea, so draw your own conclusions (Sorry, don''t mean to sound flip, but that episode immediately popped into my head when I read your idea, and then when I saw your concern about it being too simplistic...)

Assuming this is for your RPG project, I vote for going with it. Even if you don''t take it beyond the level of a simple object lesson (by that I mean that it only serves the purpose of misleading the character until he discovers the real deal, after which point the appearance of the aliens is a non-issue in the game), it''s still a nice little touch that I beleive most role-players will appreciate.

quote: I, for one, would like to see such a thing happen. However, is the fresh change worth the players'' initial confusion?

For a RPG, the answer is yes. In a shoot-em-up game, visual short-hand to distinguish good guys from bad guys is necessary. For role-playing, though, I think it''s fair game to reasonably play against the player''s prejudices.

-Sean






If the Persians hide the sun, we shall have our battle in the shade.

The main thing I''m looking to do is to liberate the player from notions that appearance == internals. I want to be able to, through depiction, make the statement that it''s only our culture that makes us think the way we do about visual representation. For instance, the Zerg in Starcraft could just as easily have been made benign and helpful if they were part of an an RPG, even though they looked slimy and evil.

I also want to mess with the player''s head a bit when it comes to confronting "alienness." I love Star Trek, but the way aliens are portrayed is pretty annoying. The Ferengi are a perfect example. They were supposed to be heavies, who evolved on a low atmosphere planet. People thought their big ears looked ridiculous, but I think if Paramount would have stuck with them as brutal and aggressive, it would have worked. Instead, they fell back on stereotypes and caved to making them comedians.



By putting in stereotype reversals or variations that knock down stereotypes, I would hopefully (as much as any game could) be getting players to deal with the fact that the world doesn''t revolve around them, or even humans. It would be less "egocentric."

I could also make everyone look like "monsters" and just let players sort it out. The angels thing might be too blatant, but I like the idea of a parasitic, psionic race that can get cultures to trust them by appearing benign.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote: Original post by Wavinator
I like the idea of a parasitic, psionic race that can get cultures to trust them by appearing benign.

Who doesn''t!

Why don''t you have the parasitic, psionic race be humans?

That''d be a freaky twist wouldn''t it?

--
Relee the Squirrel

quote: Original quote by Wavinator
The main thing I'm looking to do is to liberate the player from notions that appearance == internals. I want to be able to, through depiction, make the statement that it's only our culture that makes us think the way we do about visual representation.

Very interesting.

Edited by - Ghostface on October 6, 2001 2:24:50 PM

This post reminds me of the book "Childhood''s End", by Arthur C. Clarke. Take a look at the race of the Overlords.

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Omnipotent_Q
A guy at a community college with too much time on his hands.