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Games imitate life, they imitate art, they imitate intergalactic soap operas,
movies, books, television or just bizarre otherworldly dream-induced time
anomalies and all with a heady dose of sex and violence thrown in. But where’s
the booze? Yes, a bar or inn is frequently a meeting place for adventurers and
yes, the latest gossip might be purchased with a round or two. Yet it is never
excessive, or thrown in as a fanservice the way blood and skin seem to be.
Further still, I have yet to see an advertisement whore out a game’s alcoholic
content, so to speak. Are developers worried they do not want to wrongly
influence underage children? I could not imagine this would ever be a barrier
to artistic creation as the walls of t, a & v have fallen long ago (if they were
ever up at all). Perhaps alcohol in videogames is overshadowed by other more
attention-grabbing taboos.
Taking a moment to think if there are games out there that use alcohol
gratuitously or in any way other than background, the only game I can recall is
Bad Fur Day. Perhaps development of the game was a bingefest inspired by
googley-eyed overload, but drunken Conker stands sadly as the exception, and not
the norm. Do we blame the Grand Theft series for making violence and thuggery
so sexy without bringing along the demon spirits? It only seemed a few years
ago this country took a stand against all forms of alcohol, and I guess no one
informed the video game industry that the era of prohibition has ended. Perhaps
you’re sitting there thinking alcohol cannot be used effectively in games to
advance the action, plot or gameplay- but that has certainly not stopped
developers from using many other things that do little to enhance a game as
well.
Could it be it strikes too close to home; for many of us, gaming verges on the
edge of addiction, a time-burglar that absorbs boundaries of money, family and
self-being. Gaming is our alcohol (although consuming alcohol in the act of
gaming can enhance both activities) and as such, the use of alcohol in video
games is overshadowed by the larger act of gaming addiction itself.
How then can alcohol enhance a rpg? I fondly recall in Might and Magic III that
if a character consumed alcohol at an inn they would get a surge of strength and
stamina. Then after a brief time, simulating intoxication, that character would
lose agility and other attributes and become a temporary burden on the party.
This was over ten years ago, and still developers have hardly advanced the
concept. So many visual effects, character responsiveness or trickery could
befall party members, the player or the gaming screen itself when using alcohol.
In fact an entire game could be based around an Eternal Darkness effect of
messing with the gamer by putting them in the hands of an alcoholic character.
The controller could suddenly stop moving the characters, or they might move in
the wrong direction, or a first person perspective might begin spinning or
suddenly turn black. Even the EyeToy can lend a hand at simulating the body
movements of the inebriated. Alcohol truly is an untapped resource in the land
of rpg’s, or, as SNL might inform game developers, “You’re sitting on a
goldmine!!”
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