Today someone was showing me sequences from various violent action computer games. I was impressed with the high level of realism in the combat scenes, the rapid fire editing, the authentic explosions, the powerful dynamics and convincing sound as bullet slammed into body armor.
And I thought to myself, what a shame that so much loving care, so much detail, is being poured into a genre that focuses so little on the human element, the deeper emotions, the psychological back and forth. For those who have read Jane Austen or the Brontes know that a voice speaking calmly in a drawing room, over tea and biscuits, can convey depths of cruelty, of psychic violence, beyond anything the players of Halo or Half Life 2 could ever imagine.
And so, perhaps it is time to combine these genres — to render in flesh and blood the depths of psychic violence that lurk within the romance novel. If we could get the brilliant minds that brought us Assassin’s Creed and BioShock to incorporate the remorseless human drama that lies just below the affable surface of a Jane Austen novel, we might achieve a new synthesis.
Perhaps we would then see such fine crossover games as “Pride and Extreme Prejudice”. Or maybe “G.I. Jane Eyre”.
I wonder what kind of ESRB rating these games would get.
I have to learn again and again that those deeper emotions and the psychological back and forth are just too complex for some people and since there is no way for them to understand, it leads them to aggression, verbally and at times even physically.
So perhaps your crossover games, would be a chance to explain. 🙂
The rating would be interesting, indeed…
Been there, done that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Zombies 😀
Michael, yes I think P&P&Z gets part of the way there. I was thinking of a game, not a novel.
I like that some of the conflict in Pride and Extreme Prejudice and Zombies is between the characters (eg: the battle between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy) — not just between humans and zombies, and so the violence is an expression of the psychological conflicts, not just an entertaining complement to them.
It’s possible that P&P&Z would be a better base for such a game than P&P itself.