What Shooter Archetype Are You?
by CheekyGuy, HSM team writer
Joseph Campbell wrote extensively on the subject of archetypes in narrative; not just the many iterations of the hero, but also the other characters which must inevitably populate a story in order to convey the message.
Video games often have to tell a story with remarkable amounts of cultural shorthand; as a result, while some games are remarkably imaginative and actually play with monomyth in ways hitherto unimagined, most game titles, within their respective genres, follow pretty rigid formulas.
There are reasons for this. The most obvious one is money. As more and more revenue is generated by fewer and fewer games — and, conversely, game titles cost more to develop and publish — there is ever-increasing financial pressure to play it safe.
Another reason would be that the audience simply wants certain experiences, just with the names and serial numbers changed. From Aristotle to Anton Chekhov, it has been well-discussed that there just aren’t that many different story types. The same can be said of video games. Virtually every RPG, for instance, can trace some (if not most) of its lineage back to Richard Garriott.
With first-person shooters, the very nature of the genre is fairly constraining. Yes, you change out the window dressing, but the inherent format is essentially the same from title to title. And, thus, I thought it might be fun to profile some of these archetypes.
ASSAULT: Probably the most common. This individual loves to “run and gun” (usually whilst carrying two impossibly heavy assault rifles — one under each arm) an all-out loud, cigar chomping, one-man army. Think Chuck Norris from Delta Force. Of particular note, the assault archetype usually has a monosyllabic first name, hails from somewhere in the American midwest, and is haunted by the loss of a loved one. Lots of dramatic squinting.
MEDIC: Usually the biggest (tactical) target on the battlefield, and has a gallows sense of humor as a result. The medic can often serve the narrative as the voice of conscience for the assault archetype. While the RPG equivalent of this character might be the pudgy cleric, the FPS healer usually has a featured moment or two of sidekick glory, despite carrying lighter weapons. In D&D terms, this guy would be dexterity-heavy instead of strength-heavy.
ENGINEER: In some games he usually doubles up as the armoured vehicle driver or pilot. Generally speaking, the engineer has multiple syllables in his name, and falls into one of two subgroupings: the gruff mechanic, or the bespectacled computer whiz. Typically, the engineer also carries more specialized weapons that require more finesse to use. He also usually serves as a wonderful source of exposition, and is probably multi-lingual.
DEMOLITION: Generally speaking, the “demolitions expert” archetype is a physically large individual of a different ethnicity or race than the rest of the group. This individual may come in one of three flavors: the hulk with a teddy-bear heart, the brooding mountain, or the devil-may-care risk taker. The demolitions expert also usually moves the slowest and is the hardest to kill. If he actually chose to work out — because all of those muscles just came naturally, no work required — his arms might explode from the sheer bulk.
SNIPER: Have you ever noticed that Daniel Craig bears an eerie resemblance to Homer Johnston from the Rainbow Six series? The sniper archetype is almost always cold, deadly, and silent. He kills with clinical precision, unseen, and from great distances. He’s typically stand-offish from the other team members, who wonder if he’s mentally unbalanced. He’s also usually the most well-read in the group, with a taste for either French philosophers or German existentialists. You get the sense that if he’s not busy killing, he’s either reading Montaigne’s Essays or churning his own butter in a mountain cabin somewhere in the Intermountain West region.
Are there variations on these themes? Sure. But not all that many, frankly. And it has to be asked: what is the real appeal of the first-person-shooter genre? Why are titles and series like Killzone, Halo, Battlefield or SOCOM (to name just a few) so addictive to so many people? And how long can this trend continue?
There was a time when text-based adventures like Zork I were the norm (you can actually find some lovely text adventures in the Xi Museum on Home right now). Then side-scrollers like Mario or Sonic were all the rage. Today, it seems that this is possibly the golden age of first-person shooters. Even in Home, with the Killzone 3 promotion in Central Plaza, a rather addictive FPS mini-game was deployed.
I frankly wonder what the next big rage will be in video gaming. With the ever-increasing penetration of wireless broadband across the United States, perhaps online console gaming or social gaming will be the new addiction. Look at how fast Home’s population has exploded just in two years, for instance.
So: which FPS archetype do you feel you fall into?
February 20th, 2011 by CheekyGuy | 5 comments
CheekyGuy is a loveable, mischievous Brit who first entered virtual reality via Second Life, and now frequents Home as a Grey Gamer to keep in touch with friends. In real life, Cheeky is a video editor who has just completed a Master's degree in screenwriting from Liverpool John Moores University.
The problem with following rigid formulas in games,like movies,is often it feels like stale repitition.Before long u end up with 12 games or movies in the series.Around the 3rd or 4th one u can pretty much guess how the rest r gonna go by 7or8 u start wondering,like Ross Perots running mate,”Who am i?,Why am i here?”.I think there r a few game catergories that r horribly under represented on the ps3 which is y i bought a lap top,i realized if i wanted a good strategy game i’d have 2 go elsewhere.At my local game store i can get new fps’ all the time but haven’t found a good strategy game 4 the ps3 since civilizations revolutions.Part of the reason some genres sell so well is simply lack of choice.
“Is that you john Wayne? Is this me?”
FPSs seem to have taken hold of competitive gaming by force. there was a time when genres were plentiful, and there was much celebration.
but in the past few years FPSs grabbed hold of a bunch of angy youth who really wanted to kill and destroy. so when games like Call of Duty or Halo, showed their heads, this was the perfect method to vent. It was REAL it was intense it was FIRST PERSON!!! it was like being there!!
heck when bungie made halo (sorry for the reference fanboys, stick with me) they wanted to originally make halo wars(look it up) but they didn’t have the funds to make it pop. so they looked at the market saw FPSs on thr come up, bandwagoned and BOOM, you have the phenomenon that was halo. so it wasn’t the gaming industry that did this it was us! So go buy some of those other genres, even if they’re not top notch, it will show the industry we want more than another Call to Duty, we want meat!
oh, and i’d DEF be the sniper. there’s an art to it, and i love it
Sadly u are correct,if i want more genres to sell i may have to buy some dog crap games in that genre.Is that something i really want to do?NO but the alternatives are buy only FPS’,something i won’t do i only own 1 at the moment and don’t plan on buying anymore anytime soon,or give up disc based gaming on the ps3 altogether.I’d rather buy the dog turd than accept either 1 of those possibilities.Btw i don’t really fit into just 1 of the above catergories,i’m a combination of some parts of all of them.
I’m definitely the DOOM guy! I know it’s not PS3 but Its the game that hooked me to gaming in general. Oh, and Painkiller and Killing floor rock too!
ASSAULT or ENGINEER as these roles make the frontline, get most kills (when not lagging). While both RECON ( sniper) and MEDIC tends to be more of supporting role. Assault is most preferred by me because of the unlimited ammo. If i am connected to a lagging server, I will be Sniping, getting marksman headshots *_*