Thursday, February 12, 2004
I will now critique a "web comic" that someone decided to grace the internet with.
Taste the lame.
The artwork in this particular piece is the now standard brand of lamesque. Pioneered by those with creative writing talent but no art skill, and by those with art skill but no time, common internet dumbfucks have interpreted this artform as an open door for their expression. Lamesque now solely refers to artwork-that-should-not-be-named-art, which is bad, not on purpose, but because the "artist" really does not have any ability.
Normally this lack of skill/talent/training can be offset with excellent writing, and many comics thrive simply because the message is so strong. Yet, what is the message of this comic? "A character in a MMO is not roleplaying." It's quite the deft observation that some people attempt to roleplay while others do not. Were it not for this publication, I , as a frequent player of both roleplaying and online games, would certainly have not been able to notice such events in online play, and thus the "humour" may have been lost on me forever.
Had the "artist" actually attempted any research (re: reading about the game, playing any of the related Warcraft series of games, looking at any screenshots besides the ones with blocky Night Elf breasts) and thus understand a fundamental, and universally known part of the game history (such as WHO THE MAJOR VILLAIN OF THE STORY IS), he would perhaps realize that the playable undead known as the "Forsaken" are the liberated, and hateful former minions of the all powerfull Lich King, and thus would not - at ANY TIME - be greeting anyone, much less an orc, from his "crypt".
Additionally, the Lich King does not have a crypt. He has a spire. It's an easy mistake. Afterall, they are OPPOSITES and it's only the constant focus of the expansion for the series on which WoW is based. It's the menu screen and featured in various movies for fuck's sake.
Perhaps that last comment was extreme. Afterall, who would expect someone who is making and posting an online comic on a fairly large game site for a game with a huge fan base and many excellent games in the series to actually have played or read ANYTHING regarding that game?
Taste the lame.
The artwork in this particular piece is the now standard brand of lamesque. Pioneered by those with creative writing talent but no art skill, and by those with art skill but no time, common internet dumbfucks have interpreted this artform as an open door for their expression. Lamesque now solely refers to artwork-that-should-not-be-named-art, which is bad, not on purpose, but because the "artist" really does not have any ability.
Normally this lack of skill/talent/training can be offset with excellent writing, and many comics thrive simply because the message is so strong. Yet, what is the message of this comic? "A character in a MMO is not roleplaying." It's quite the deft observation that some people attempt to roleplay while others do not. Were it not for this publication, I , as a frequent player of both roleplaying and online games, would certainly have not been able to notice such events in online play, and thus the "humour" may have been lost on me forever.
Had the "artist" actually attempted any research (re: reading about the game, playing any of the related Warcraft series of games, looking at any screenshots besides the ones with blocky Night Elf breasts) and thus understand a fundamental, and universally known part of the game history (such as WHO THE MAJOR VILLAIN OF THE STORY IS), he would perhaps realize that the playable undead known as the "Forsaken" are the liberated, and hateful former minions of the all powerfull Lich King, and thus would not - at ANY TIME - be greeting anyone, much less an orc, from his "crypt".
Additionally, the Lich King does not have a crypt. He has a spire. It's an easy mistake. Afterall, they are OPPOSITES and it's only the constant focus of the expansion for the series on which WoW is based. It's the menu screen and featured in various movies for fuck's sake.
Perhaps that last comment was extreme. Afterall, who would expect someone who is making and posting an online comic on a fairly large game site for a game with a huge fan base and many excellent games in the series to actually have played or read ANYTHING regarding that game?
