Logan’s Run
by ted2112 HSM team writer
In the best-selling novel Logan’s Run by the Sci-fi powerhouse team of William Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, society exists to be pleasurable. The fictional world of Logan’s Run reflected the real-world youthful ideals of the late 1960’s, in which it was written. Games and leisure are the rules of the day. Everything you need to live a happy life is provided, that is until you turn twenty-one. The youth revolution has triumphed and even death is pleasurable. In your final day you are given a euphoric, pleasure inducing drug that kills you. Simply put, in the world of Logan’s Run there are no old people.
Sound familiar?
How many old people have you seen in Home? Allow me to answer that for you. None.
In Home we all have perfect bodies, amazing homes, amazing everything. We all share our youthful glow. We revel in a world of games and social activities. We are upon first glance a society of young people, much like the sci-fi world of Logan’s Run. We exist in Home to be young at heart and engage in the bounty of pleasure. Home is set up to be pleasurable — it’s supposed to be a beautiful place where rules are suspended and we all partake in a world diametrically opposed to the real world of rules, work and yes, even aging. A few bucks in Home can buy you an estate on the beach or a closet full of designer clothes. Try that in the real world. A simple move of the directional stick can shape a perfect face and body. In the real world nothing can stop the aging process, except maybe being frozen.
She’s really 65 years old
Now, I hear there are old people here, you just can’t see them. They’re disguised as that hot-bodied chick hanging in the corner. They take the form of that Sodium 2 ace kicking your butt around the industrial sector track. They are all around us, yet they look like us, because we all look the same. Age is irrelevant in Home. There are no old people. We are all young — or are we?
The one thing even a virtual world cannot hide is the behavior of the user behind the avatar. Now older players are hard to spot because they have the advantage of wisdom and experience. But then there are those avatars in the Hub who might look quite mature, until they open their mouths. You know the ones — no matter what they say, it might as well be, “I’m in the eighth grade.”
When we design our avatar, there is no option to look old. None. But, would people choose to look old if they had the option? And how would they be treated if they did? Would young players choose to look older, or would older Home players choose an avatar that reflected their true, real world age? Or, does a youthful avatar reflect a young-at-heart age that is timeless? There are already a great many older users here, but do you think we would look at Home differently if we could actually see them?
Our world celebrates youth, and the video game industry is no different. Just look at Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. She hasn’t aged a day in seventeen years. Mario is still looking good for the thirty years he’s been with us, even if his mustache is horribly out of style. Maybe it’s all that aerobic exercise he gets. To be fair, Solid Snake has aged with us. And Sora from Kingdom Hearts has grown older and taller between platform installments. Most characters, however, stay a constant and endearing age, beyond the reach of the aging process.
Old Solid Snake
I have grown five years older since I started playing on Home, yet my avatar hasn’t aged a bit. I wonder if Home is still around many years from now, when I am playing my PS8 in my nursing home room, will it still be reflective of me? Will Game Mechanics make a really cool and sporty wheelchair? Or will LOOT make their estate swimming pools with ramp access and rails for easy access? In both cases, I doubt it. Like Mario and Lara Croft, age has no weight in Home.
In short, that’s the aging cycle in Home. Like the people in Logan’s Run, we live a leisurely life full of games and fun. Yet we don’t kill our older population when they turn twenty-one, or at least I don’t think we do. But, I do know that user of all ages reside in Home without prejudice. We may grow out of Home, but we will never grow old in Home, and maybe that’s what attracts us to it.
April 29th, 2013 by ted2112 | 7 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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Great read Ted. I remember Logan’s Run, when it first came out I went and saw it at the movies. Back then you couldn’t just wait and get it on DVD or blue ray, or even VHS. Oops I guess I am showing my age.
There are many more users in Home who are older than most people thinks. Though the vast majority are younger my whole club is made up of older users. We are all young at heart and love Home for all of the various activities it provides us, dance is a particular favorite. Games play a part, but not nearly as much as the social aspects of Home do for us. I doubt many would make themselves look older if they could, but it would be nice to have that option for those that might. It would be good for machinima as well.
Yeah this is great! And it would make a great machinima.
Nice Ted!
Great read Ted. I am guilty of the ‘perfect body’ idea, but at my age of 45, and really having salt and pepper hair, I did opt to make my avatar walk the realm in gray hair and beard, (my beard is really VERY gray).I also did put a few wrinkles. A couple friends have referred to me as ‘old man’ with love, and I’m cool with that. Don’t know why I chose to depict myself that way, but I do remember making my avatar when I first came to Home and I made him very young. The first thing I did when I saw this ‘kid’ that was half my age on screen was to think “who am I kidding, that aint me!” I changed him to the ‘old man’ and have been happy ever since. Leave me alone on the body issue, this place is still fantasy…LOL. I’d never make it in “Logan’s Run”, I hate to run.
I created sevral avatars when I first started out in Home. One was the real me, and another was the “perfect me”.
Yeah, go figure, but “perfect me”won out!
On the other hand, the two avatars were not completely different. I’m 44, but generally look younger in rl. Since I started using Home, I also lost a lot of weight and got in shape, so “real me” ended up looking pretty good too! No doubt, though, on Home all my avatars have awesome hair, all the time. That’s a tougher order in rl!
I suppose the only thing that gives away my age is that I tend to dress modestly! Like all Home female avatars, I am inudated with immature pervs who hit on me in public spaces. Knowing that many of these pervs could be in Grade 8 adds an extra “ick” factor. Even the idea of getting hit on by someone in their 20’s is a bit creepy. So, perhaps subconciously, I avoid those wild Konami outfits (although the only real sure-fire way to avoid that attention is to be a male avatar, or bring out the ol’ turkey outfit!).
I tried to look old but settled for gray short beard and something on my face which I don’t remember. I think all my avatar basic faces (nor counting hair are the same).
As for hair styles, I change them but I have some which are as realistic as I could get them.
I usually wear a baseball cap and yes hair on top is thinning ha ha ha and it’s fairly long in real life. And occasionally I wear a cowboy hat but not often.
Now the sci-fi character, nm on that one. It’s for fun.
I believe we can come reasonably close to how we really look but as much as some of us would like. As to weight and height, I dunno. It’s a lost cause. I only guess at my height. (5’9″ or so)
As to the Logan’s Run</em, I loved the movie and the TV series as a story but not the thought. SONY's Home has it’s own story where even if someone is old they can gallivant all around. Remember “I can walk in “?
Great article!!! I chose to make myself look young and have the perfect body on Home. Since Home is like living in a fantasy world, why not look the part!!! My friends on Home know who the real me is but it’s fun to look different! The only annoying this is being in public spaces and getting questioned about my age. I usually try to avoid the question but get weirded and creeped out because I know they are younger than I am. That is why for the most part I hang out in private spaces.
Ahh, Logan’s Run. A utopia where we are spared the ravages of age for our own vanity -- and other’s gaze. It’s not an ideal I like if I’m honest. I”ve now hit the “30-Something” point and have only a few “GUH! I’m oooold” moments heh. A Home friend of mine likes to playfully call me “old man” (usually when we’re in the company of girls we just met LOL) and I just retort back with “little boy” haha!
I’ve given my avi the same smile lines and forehead lines I’ve been skillfully concocting for the last few years though, and just like RL, they’re only ever prominent when in a damn club like X7 or Singstar lol.
I really have no issues with getting older, sure I’m not ecstatic about it, but it’s something that comes to us all eventually. Besides (and this may just be the artist in me) I find some weathered faces to be fascinating, they can tell the most amazing stories without a single word. I’d say the ability to age your avatar in Home is fine as it stands; you ever pushed those “wrinkle” bars right to the top before? Try it, you’ll be surprised.
The weird thing I found myself asking after having read your article Ted was ‘If I had the choice in RL, would I stop my aging as I am now?’
And y’know what… I’m not sure at all if I would.