Mythologies revisited

My idea of what the HTI2 Game is all about

My Hero's Journey so far ...

Mythologies revisited
To many people, a hero is the guy who saves lives, fights villains, and rids the world of evil. Heroes are always morally right and justice-driven in their motives. People idolize heroes since they are role models to us normal humans, mere mortals.

For a hero to be born, he must undergo trials to be chosen as the one who will save the people, be it going through thick and thin to be acknowledged as one, or to give his life for others. This is similar to God who will guide and save the masses, and punish those who have sinned. God had also given his life for us humans, and went through hardships to reach enlightenment. So, you can say God is a hero too.

However, the hero is not always good. Can a hero be a villain at the same time? The answer is yes.

In the mind, pure evil is just a line away from pure good. Take Light Yagami from Death Note as an example. There were relentless crime and corruption in the world. Light clearly saw that but was unable to do anything about it, until he got the power, the Death Note, a notebook which can kill people with their names. With the notebook, Light went on to kill people he deemed to be evil and establish himself as “the God of the New World”. He is the hero who fights the villains but also the villain who wants world domination.

This is similar to us humans. There can never be a single human with the purest of heart. The surroundings around us are contamination to us and we live in it. We are all greedy animals by instinct, but our morals try to contain them.

Villains, the opposite of heroes, is often seen as the bad guy who is supposed to be gotten rid off. However, villains are the ones who shape the heroes. They have a certain motive they have to fulfill. They can be seen as heroes in their own universe, based on their followers with whom the motive is driven at. I will love to say villains are “Heroes who are Different”.

Fairy tales are an indirect way of changing society. Coated with a fairy-like disguise which appeals to children, they tell stories from over generations, withstanding the test of time. Through imparting moral values to man, fairy tales shape the minds of man, in turn shaping the way society works. Though fairy tales have changed their disguise over time, the morals presented are still present today, shaping the future generations.

However, is it possible for man to shape fairy tales? I believe it can and it has already been done before.

Man tells stories, hence the creation of fairy tales. If this fairy tales are told for a different motive, like perhaps nationalism, then I will call this fairy tales propaganda. Propaganda is also coated with fairy-like goodness of peace and harmony, while telling stories of serving the nation with pride. Hitler and Stalin controlled the minds of the people of their countries with stories, shaping a society which will fight for their country with a command by them.

In relation to Games Design, I think that heroes do not always have to the main perspective of a game when playing. I think it is quite interesting to see mentally and physically, how the villain will react to a hero. These break the typical and cliché ideas of heroes going up against the villains. Fairy tales and mythological links can also be added to the game to give it a background. Different approaches in telling the stories to players will also give players an opportunity to guess the how the story will flow, affecting how he thinks and acts. The game interacts with the player and vice versa.