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Post by bear on Dec 16, 2021 11:00:56 GMT
So, I do enjoy watching lore videos on YT, sometimes. Similarly, reading and participating in them here on the forum. While not the most knowledgeable about for example DA universe lore, I do sometimes engage in lore discussions. But I also, sometimes think it's a bit.... pointless, not because of the idea that "it's a waste of time thinking about fantasy worlds", but because it's a franchise created and maintained by people who, tbh, don't seem to spend as much time ensuring that the lore is consistent throughout a multi-game series. That the lore changes so much based on changes in employment, and maybe the former writer didn't make a note to the next writer that so and so creature or person's background or so and so explanation needed to be remembered and the new writer makes up a new story.
But gamers engage passionately in the games' lore. DA universe attracts alot of lore buffs speculating on what's unsaid/unwritten and how something might be explained, similarly with the TES universe and you can probably think of several others. For myself, I like thinking about history alot. Also, I'm technically a historian (academically educated as one and worked a bit, but don't anymore due to disability) so I am used to imagining likely "scenarios" based on the available sources and physical evidence. Reading, listening and seeing videos of some lore exploration videos out there, does resemble speculations about history, about how events or personal histories that are no or only few sources to, likely went down.
But it's still the fictional world of, not one person who can thus keep better track of it, but multiple people, who over the years change employees, writers, leave the project for years and then get back to it. High risk of misremembering, losing and making up new lore that doesn't fit with the pre-existing lore. Yet, the passionate lore buffs seem to treat the respective game lore universes' with the expectation that they'll find consistancy, the expectation that they can uncover, unwrap, unwrangle, "hidden" clues that explain things in the following game.
For example, if you're wondering HOW to explain why X happened in a game, relies on evidence from a previous game, and the game creators change the lore so that evidence is changed in the next due to some oversight, why does that not deter/distance/disaffect you from engaging in lore speculation about a game franchise's lore in the future?
What, then, is your motivation to (publicly) speculate and debate on the lore of fantasy/sci-fi RPG's despite knowing that the next game in your favorite game's series might have "lore holes" in it?
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Post by General Mahad on Dec 21, 2021 0:29:31 GMT
As someone who loves Soulsborn and Sekrio, the lore holes are by design because the creator grew up half understanding the books he read. The fun is the community coming together to fill in the gaps and make long videos and essays and such.
It's research but it's fun research.
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Post by bear on Dec 22, 2021 11:40:17 GMT
As someone who loves Soulsborn and Sekrio, the lore holes are by design because the creator grew up half understanding the books he read. The fun is the community coming together to fill in the gaps and make long videos and essays and such.
It's research but it's fun research.
I like using my imagination to make up theories, but at the same time, I also worry about the day that a company might lose respect for the lore they've created, to the point where they simply don't care anymore. But they'll still own the IP, so while I do like the lore speculations, I also sometimes feel it may prove... pointless. Not a "waste of time", and not pointless in the sense of lore speculation, theories, and ideas themselves being pointless. But that it will be negated, ignored. Maybe I'm just too much of a pessimist. Some of the theories I read or watch on YT, I just consider so well thought out that I hope the companies behind the games adopt as official lore or reveals for future games. It is that I find a waste. That the fun research you speak of, might not be used or inspire game writers and creators.
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Post by AnDromedary on Dec 22, 2021 12:01:40 GMT
As someone who loves Soulsborn and Sekrio, the lore holes are by design because the creator grew up half understanding the books he read. The fun is the community coming together to fill in the gaps and make long videos and essays and such.
It's research but it's fun research.
I like using my imagination to make up theories, but at the same time, I also worry about the day that a company might lose respect for the lore they've created, to the point where they simply don't care anymore. But they'll still own the IP, so while I do like the lore speculations, I also sometimes feel it may prove... pointless. Not a "waste of time", and not pointless in the sense of lore speculation, theories, and ideas themselves being pointless. But that it will be negated, ignored. Maybe I'm just too much of a pessimist. Some of the theories I read or watch on YT, I just consider so well thought out that I hope the companies behind the games adopt as official lore or reveals for future games. It is that I find a waste. That the fun research you speak of, might not be used or inspire game writers and creators. This is pretty much what I feel happened to Mass Effect to be honest. It felt like the fans often had a way better handle on the lore than the writers, starting with ME2 in some places, getting worse in ME3 and reaching peak levels of ridiculousness in Andromeda.
And while you are right, it's not exactly cool when that happens, we still had a hell of a fun time coming up with explanations or discussing stuff. For me personally, I enjoy the little metal and logical exercises, obsessing over lore provides. I am working in real world science by day and that can be very tedious and exhausting at times. It's fun to apply the same pinciple thought processes on something that doesn't really matter that much. And sometimes, if you come up with a good explanation or find a tuny conenction where something fits together nicely, it can be pretty gratifying and make the world feel a little bit more real.
Is it a pointless waste of time? Yea, probably but so is just playing the games/watching the movies/shows in the first place and we still do it 'cause it's fun.
To me though, this only works if the lore of the fictional universe has enough depth. ME and DA are great franchises to go deep into because they are very much fleshed out, even beyond what one might strictly need for the games to work. That's cool. Most video games in particular only develop the lore just far enough to what the games need (or it's very clear that the lore was created to specifically enable a certain game mechanic). I have a hard time getting invested in those because I already know that the writers themselves didn't care enough to go deeper. There needs to be enough of a foundation to work with and give oneself constraints when coming up with explanations/additions to make it fun.
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Post by magenpie on Dec 23, 2021 14:43:05 GMT
I've had a few conversations about this very thing over the years. My OH and I both studied history, and we both love games/fantasy/sci-fi, and it's entertaining to compare discussions about lore and history, and the limitations of both. And y'know, it's generally all harmless fun. For example, we had a lengthy multiple-day argument about what would happen if Gandalf took The Ring from Frodo in Bag End. We ended up dragging in friends for back-up and opinions, but it just expanded the debate further. Was great fun. But I have issues when the rabbit-hole dives are too deep or are a bit misplaced? I think some gaming lore-specific podcasts, for example, are a bit much for me. The hosts discuss, with great solemnity and reverance, characters and plot points from games barely cooked and out of the development oven. These characters and storylines aren't the product of centuries of cultura/political progress, and often gaming narratives are a little...er...thin? But again, it's a bit of laugh and I'm not obliged to listen. The Dragon Age series is a good example of writers taking time and care to build a rich universe for the very purpose of seeding lore. They want us to get involved and puzzle it out, I think? Part of the fun is the speculation and debate. And blimey, speculate and debate we do!
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