#killing is harmless

[bottomramen]

One my favourite games of all time that I have never finished, and I take the consolation prize in knowing that I've not finished, is Spec Ops: The Line.

I know I'm years late, but it's good to read Killing is Harmless, a book on the analysis of the game.

[rebelsscreens]

Do Videogames Matter?

It was a “long form video game review” of the game Spec Ops: The Line—a game I played a few years ago—that probably lead to my pacifism.

After playing the game I was really messed up (in like a “my world is turned upside down” kind of way), but In decided to play an old Star Wars game where you fight Stormtroopers. After sneaking in to a base and killing some unsuspecting Stormtroopers I started feeling physically sick and had to quit playing.

Spec Ops: The Line is important.

If you think videogame violence is bad for kids, or if you think videogames do not affect you at all, I want to loan you the book Killing is Harmless.

Let me know if you want to borrow the digital book. It will challenge us humans and make us better.

[ableaksky]

[...] It is often easier to figure out what films are about than it is books as, at some point in the movie, a character will more often than not say in so many words exactly the theme of the film. In The Line, the theme is painted onto the wall: ‘There is not a man righteous’. It’s such a matter of fact statement. No man is good. Not even you, Walker. Not even you, player. It’s the most simple and cynical of themes, taken right out of Heart of Darkness: peel back the thinnest veneer of ‘culture’ or ‘civility’ and we’re all still just animals. None of us are righteous or special. We just ‘are’.

Brendan Keogh, Killing is Harmless.

[rumirumirumirumi]

Has anyone else read Killing Is Harmless? I just finished it and was curious what other people thought about it. For me it was a solid run-down of Keogh's interpretation of Spec Ops: The Line, but I didn't really think it reached the kind of depth I would have expected from a book on the subject. Also, for an interpretation that's grounded in Spec Ops as an examination of the shooter genre, there's scant little I thought about the genre itself or its history.

[hoxtalishius]

It is all incredibly unrealistic and action-movie-esque. Hearing Nolan North yelp and bark as Walker fell made me think of Nathan Drake, but when Walker wakes up, he has injuries. His shirt is torn; his eye is blackened; he is bleeding from a head wound. Nathan Drake often manages to convince us that he is hurt—it is part of the reason he is so likeable—but the injuries are only ever temporary. Even a bullet in the chest halfway through Uncharted 2 is quickly forgotten mere minutes later. But Walker’s wounds never heal—neither the physical nor emotional ones. Every fall, crash, and burn that marks his body builds on top of those already there to gradually and systemically destroy Walker’s body throughout the game. - Killing is Harmless: A critical reading of Spec ops: The line

[hoxtalishius]

My project list for next week:

School Days with Alexis and gamas (◡‿◡✿)

Read “Killing is harmless: A critical reading of spec ops: The line”

Translate that shit to spanish, so my bro can read it.

Find a job

Play Torchlight

Finish Halo Reach in Legendary

Go in a corner and cry because of steam sale is soon.

[sh4rkbender]

There is good and evil in everyone. Every start is an ending, and every ending is a start. Every human is monstrous. Every right is a wrong. The Line refuses to give us a simple answer. Instead, it embraces contradictions to expose just how fraudulent simple answers are.

Brendan Keogh; Killing is Harmless - A Critical Reading Of Spec Ops: The Line Closing Lines

[sh4rkbender]

No one can appeal to reason in good faith when he gives himself the power to kill.

Brendan Keogh; Killing is Harmless - A Critical Reading Of Spec Ops: The Line