Okay, so I’ve been playing Warframe, and in game I destroy a lot of Grineer, which are made up of DNA that was human. Corpus machines, no problem. Infested? Yeah, they are space monsters.
But who are really the monsters? Warframes spy, loot, kill often in gruesome ways. They’re the bogeyman of the game, really. I imagine the NPC’s tell ghost stories or “Tenno stories” the same way we tell stories around Halloween witches or ghouls or what have you.
Maybe the Warframes aren’t good. With all their 'beauty’ and power, they just use it destructively (unless you call building a clan hall constructive, which it technically is). I enjoy the game, but the idea I have of my avatar isn’t right. It’s an alien organic machine akin to the Guyver anime from the 80s, and just as brutal.
Then, take into the consideration that if the chatter is any indication of the community, then the players, at least the vocal ones, are pretty immature.
So what’s so compelling about this game? Is it the lights? My Oberon warframe that I enjoy? Or do I enjoy it? Is it neurochemical? nostalgic? I guess I’m asking big questions of a game that probably wasn’t designed to answer them. However, I must look critically at the media I consume. I think we all should.
Well, more later. Thanks for reading.