Heroes

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The problem with always saving the world is that it necessitates that the world be always broken.

The problem with the world being always broken is that it surrenders the idea of it ever being better.

Our games cast us again and again as saviors, and sequel after sequel the world is under threat again, which certainly calls our savior capabilities into question. This is not a new observation. The ubiquity of massive, world-ending threats driving the plots of video games has been well noted. However, I think it’s worth mentioning that this isn’t just lazy, that this isn’t just tedious: It limits us in other ways. Subtle ways.

This is a complicated thing to say.

Games keep bringing us worlds teetering on the brink of destruction, worlds hungry for heroes and ready for us to save. This approach shuts out the possibility of a world with many people working together to make a worthwhile place to live. This shuts out the possibility of the systemic problems that drove the world to the edge being solved by cooperation. This shuts out the possibility of a terrible situation being solved by any solution other than an equally terrible caricature.

Video game heroes are improbable constructs. The powered armor, the thigh-thick biceps, the rocket boobs, the eye-gouging hair spikes – these heroes aren’t characters so much as icons, meant to be admired at a distance. In games, they are the final and only solution, for reasons seldom explained. Heroism is a panacea, applicable to all problems. Lost a cat? Tell a hero, they’ll find her for you. Mafia causing problems? I’m sure a hero is up to the job. The seven fiery claws of Agnonomoth are crawling up over the mountain and the sun weeps tears of fire that obliterate villages? Call a hero. Too shy to tell a girl that you think she’s cute? I’m sure that a hero is available to pass notes.

There’s usually just one, but he always seems to find his way to wherever he is needed.

We play as the hammer to which all problems are nails. We play as the square peg that presumes a universe of square holes. We play the Deus Ex Machina. We resolve all possible problems merely by existing and by occupying the character of this completely awesome dude who is also kind of a tool.

And then the game is over.

And then the world fades back in, and it is itself on fire.

There are warlords. There are corporations hungry for flesh and alien to ethics. There are fissures in the foundations of our lives, our societies, our environments. There are non-fictions that lie uncomfortably close to the fictions of our games. But something is missing. There are no Heroes. There are just humans. People. Trying to exist, however they can.

In our games we would be NPCs. In our films we would be extras. We won’t be saved unless we save ourselves. And yet, for the sake of gameplay, for the sake of a hackneyed story, we tell ourselves over and over that mere people cannot make a difference when it comes to really important things.

Is it really a mistake that we’ve been told this over and over? And, if so, who made it first?

65 Comments

  1. If you ask me, the difference between an NPC or an extra, a hero, and a terrifying villain is basically choice. We can choose to sit back and let someone else do the hard work in improving the world. We can choose to look only for profit or for pleasing our voracious appetites, no matter who gets hurt. And we can choose to improve the world, even if it is only in a small way. It’s all a matter of choice, simple as deciding whether in the zombie labratory whether you take the perilous route to the left, the dangerous route to the right, or the life-threatening route in the middle.

  2. Remember, though: Sometimes the best helpful hints and side quest items come from NPCs that most players skip talking to. These little secret helpers are there for people who, even as they play the hero, remember to ask around for information and help; not everyone ends up being a solitary hero. (And that’s completely ignoring the MMORPGs and their group-questing endeavors to save the city/world/universe.)

    • Well, in general the “saving the world” scenario isn’t a hallmark of quality in narrative, no matter how often it’s trotted out. Still, whatever the problem is that a given work posits, the solution to it seldom extends beyond the main character and their immediate circle of compatriots. There is good narrative reason for this, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t contribute to a slightly warped perception of the world.

  4. “Is it really a mistake that we’ve been told this over and over? And, if so, who made it first?” <- are you saying we made it first? that we created it? it doesn't exist… or not so to the extremes we think about… will we lose sight of the extremes if we dwell on the middle-grounds? what is the point of dwelling on the middle grounds if it doesn't get anywhere? No one listens – only the middle ground people… and they are already 'on board'… to get someone to listen you have to 'attack' the extremes.

    • I’m saying that wherever this concept came from, it certainly seems to frequently work in service of the established power structure, since it casts any ground-level opposition as both irrelevant and redundant.

        • Unfortunately ground-level is the only way for those of us unlucky enough to live on the ground. There’s a lot of possibilities within that space, but we can’t impose change from the top down for the simple reason that we don’t have access to the top.

          • but the top has access to us, how can we not have access to the top? Think about it… it isn’t a closed loop… It is a ‘connection’… they need us to connect with them, if we connect to them, then we are connected. There is a link – the traffic flows two ways. It cannot be broken… They cannot be the top of us, if we are not their bottom 😕 (The top can influence the bottom, as the bottom can influence the top.)

  6. I always depicted Superman as a creature at the crossroads of constantly saving the human race and having no time for himself, or entity self versus saying why bother. There is always an earthquake here and a collapsed roof there. When would it stop. How many dictators must he or it face? Is that not really the dilemma of being super and a hero?

  7. What a great discussion, here.
    Lots of angles and perspectives add space to my reality so I love it when I leave bigger person then when I showed up.
    Seems like each of the angles has some truth to it.
    About games, I love to play multilayer multi player online virtual reality. I play Runescape. The engages me because it brings out weakness and strength and explores ambiguities. The two dimensional story games described here are not for me. I find my game cathartic and thrilling, and full of vicarious experiences. Since I love lore and philosophy and fairy tails, and mixing it up with gaming puzzles achievements, friends, goals quests powers and outfits, i can hardly get enough. The story line’s irony satire and jokes keep me wondering and thinking. There is lots to discuss with other players, as if we had all watched the Hobbit, and couldn’t stop reliving it, and pointing out nuances, and layers of story images and possible meaning and what it alludes to. In the game, we all have powers, we all make mistakes, we all die and lose our hard earned stuff. Sometimes, the only choice to get to the next goal is to be the bad guy. In the next quest, I have to kill my favorite god. The Runescape world already did it. Everything evolved and felt crazy and out wrong. I felt angry and let down like the first time I read that someone had said God is dead. I felt cornered and then pissed. Why? Why kill the god of balance? So now I have to align with some stupid loser war god or the god of sugary fanatic just in name, “good”? Yes, I do, if I want to keep playing, which I do.
    I just haven’t actually done it on my character.
    It just feels so outrageous that my chosen god is dead. There are lots of what the hell experiences I can’t even explain, surprising me.
    I don’t figure this game distorts kids reality in just the way you mentioned. Being as your character is only an adventurer who helps people, and herself, then goes and hears the enemies story and helps them, too. Super powers are all worked for, cultivated or not usable, and everyone has them it they can get them. If they can’t then you can offer them if you are around, and you have them when needed.
    About super powers and people. Maybe a bunch of people do have super powers, which are moot without someone and a situation that requires these exact powers.
    I have super powers.
    I see other people with different super powers.
    Think Einstein, Saint Francis, The person who lifts a car off someone in a moment without even thinking about it. impossible happens all the time.
    Mine are limited like anyone or any super hero, and I need the stuff that I don’t have from other supers who do have them. I also need to use mine, so I seek out the situations, cuz it’s a rush to get to use them.
    If you don’t have super powers you still have power. More power, cuz you are needed-to be served-to give meaning, to make relevant. If you don’t have or don’t know you have a super keen gift skill or power, or art you are still an essential part of the story that would really suck it was about like the games you mention, only a bunch of supers strutting their muscles.
    Nor does life seem so black and white as tho there are the good guys over here and the bad guys over there, and we need to defeat or overthrow and in all ways fight them. Maybe opposing is not the way. After all, whatever we oppose we give our power to.
    I wonder if villans get as much a kick out of using their villan super powers as I do my hopefully harmless only to evil, but not necessarily, powers.
    I look around for people with powers. When I find one I get them excited about serving me and my community. Then I reward them with stuff money cannot buy, and everyone needs. Real, though not fake. Maybe being real is the power normal people could use.
    Anyone can do this.

    I am not sure it’s the solution, but maybe that is a possible approach to those horrible power hungry elite monster corporations, that it feels so clean and good to just blame. Maybe they are made up of some super people who haven’t found a better use of their power and an even sweeter way to get the buzz.
    Give them one. A better one. A reason not to suck out all the life a and money and power. Any normal person could do that in a reality where they could. I know, cuz in virtual reality, I do.
    It is a thrilling game to suck out the life the money and and the power. It’s like winning the Superbowl. What’s not to like?
    How much better would it be defeat the whole world and beat everyone at the game of real life!
    There is only one thing better than that.
    Normal people have that better thing. So, normal people can tame any wayward superhero, caught up in and winning a very fun and gratifying power game.
    Trust me, if I were in their shoes I would be doing the same thing, until some person makes an irreplaceable connection with me, and shows me how winning can be a million times better, when it’s great for you and a million other people, connected to you now by this one, story or reason, or person whom you don’t want to life without. So, a villan can keep on contentedly playing. Just change the rules a bit. And no one gets hurt.
    So, yeah, maybe you are right about so many games that offer black and white, two dimensional realities that keep us imagining that this is the way the world is. Then we act like it, and the other guys keep acting like it, too.

    • “I am not sure it’s the solution, but maybe that is a possible approach to those horrible power hungry elite monster corporations, that it feels so clean and good to just blame. Maybe they are made up of some super people who haven’t found a better use of their power and an even sweeter way to get the buzz.
      Give them one. A better one. A reason not to suck out all the life a and money and power. Any normal person could do that in a reality where they could. I know, cuz in virtual reality, I do.”

      “Super people” as you put it don’t act like four year olds who need an adult to keep them occupied. Super people understand that we all have to live on this planet and it’s this understanding that motivates them to not suck out all of the life and money and power.

      “It is a thrilling game to suck out the life the money and and the power. It’s like winning the Superbowl. What’s not to like?”

      Umm…the consequences?

      “How much better would it be defeat the whole world and beat everyone at the game of real life!”

      Beat everyone at the game of life.
      I’m not even going to try to explain this one.

  8. This is a very shallow way of looking at what is actually going on in the games. It’s also a very limited view of many games out there.

    In most of the games I play, there are people working to try and do their part, either succeeding or failing. Just because the character or characters we play as play a seemingly larger role (being what draws the game to a conclusion) doesn’t mean anything other than what it is at face value.

    Most NPCs are just like 94% of all people: Neutered sheep who are scared to do anything. 2% of the NPC’s are there to give you suggestions and hints, as odd as it may be. 2% of the NPCs are actually out doing something active. 1% of the NPCs are villains. The final 1% are your playable characters doing the real leg work.

    It’s not lazy, it’s true to life. People don’t want to work together to make things better, they want to have someone else do it for them either through election or appointment. It’s been like this for a while, but current day it’s at an all time BS high.

    • NPCs in games who are ‘doing something active’ are always doing it eternally and unsuccessfully until the player comes along. They do not win. They never fix the problem. They are irrelevant.

      The player characters, the ones doing the ‘real leg work’, are also nearly always superhuman. So we have a paradigm where the NPCs, normal people trying to make a difference, never can, and where the player, an unstoppable killing machine, or possibly a small squadron of the same, is tasked with solving any and all problems.

      There are reasons why things are this way. I’m not even saying it’s a bad thing. But it does send some strange messages.

  29. There are plenty of heroes. You just have to look all around you. I know plenty of people that work hard to make a difference in the world. Maybe you are telling yourself you cannot make a difference, but that is your decision. It’s a shame you feel that way.

    • I am not telling myself that I am powerless. I am being told by others, implicitly, through the constructs of art and language and myth, that I am powerless, in subtle ways, over and over. That’s what I wanted to talk about.

  31. I love your post, and how reality distorted in the comments. I am a bit confused though if you meant for the discussion to go that far. I love heroes, they make life seem easier. I lost the god belief so heroes are a good mental support. We can all be heroes, in certain ways, in small ways. I try to be one every day… Good luck in being one. Just a small hero 🙂

  38. Wow this was such a good read. It put in a different (and much more interesting) way something I’ve been thinking about regarding my country.
    I’m South African and our democracy is a relatively young one. I’m sure everyone knows about apartheid now. When it ended and the current government took over it was very much like a superhero swooping down to save the day. The interesting thing is that the people on the ground were not bystanders. They actively participated in the struggle and ending the old regime. Nelson Mandela (may his soul rest in peace) was a symbol for this hero. The hero was the body called the ANC and it’s leadership. The people were the sidekicks. They stood up to the villain.
    But now the battle was won and in time we discovered that our superhero (the new government) is human and capable of making mistakes and even of corruption and being power hungry. Worse, the symbol for our hero retired, fell sick and passed away. And although we were not bystanders before we are now not capable of being anything but bystanders. Imagine Superman saves the world and years down the line he turns to be fallible and susceptible to corruption. What do you do then? This is the question we are facing and the answer seems to be (for now) nothing. We are waiting for another, better superhero to come along. We are waiting.

  39. There is THEE WORLD and then there is THE WORLD in which you live. We have to distinguish between the two. While I can’t help starving people everywhere I can feed some. So you bring canned goods to church. Everyone can be someones hero if they try. The problem is people give up. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” EPH 6:12
    Each day we go into battle. The hero is the person who can stay the coarse of the war. Some battles are won and some are lost. The war goes on. We can’t loose hope. I would rather die fighting for whats right then sit like a coward indifferent to the world around me. For this would be to accept the lie. This is what you asked so here it is… the great lie. That you can not be a hero or make a difference. The truth is that we were created for two reasons to love God and each other. So of course the world says hate God and blame God. Hate each other and everyone for themselves. Why else are compassion and mercy seen as weakness? The world is a brute and a bully and needs people with strong convictions to stand against it. People speak of miracles and angels. The truth is that God works through people. The world gives me no reason to help or to care about my fellow man. The world certainly wouldn’t help me. The real question is are we children of the world or of God? We my friend, we are the light in this darkness so don’t let the world blow out your light. Stay the battle. Wage the war. Be the Hero. Can I get an Amen?

  40. You may be right about this, that generally the problems in video games are solved primarily by the heroes, but this approach does make for some fun games. I can’t really imagine a video game where the world is in trouble and you, the player, play only a minor role in saving it. I know it is illusory but it makes gamers feel good that they saved the world single-handedly. That is part of the appeal of these games: that they allow players to do thing that they normally couldn’t and that they allow players to experience a world that will never actually exist.

  43. I feel that hero’s do not narrow our view but widen it to the true possibility and importance of a single human being. It shows us that us as a single man or woman can make a change to the world as we knowit both for the better and for the worse of course the world could unite and form a utopian society and I agree that should happen but in the civilisation that we live in at the moment that just isn’t going to happen yet. So I think that people such as these hero’s should happen until we are ready to accept our fellow man,for who he or she may be but until that day we will need guidance.

  52. I think this is part of the reason all the AAA game plots feel very samey and not very engaging. The worlds and people in them are nothing like reality even if they look more real than ever.

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