That's right friends, I'm here to talk a little bit about the recent death of a well known friend of ours in the Haloverse. Rookie. Now, community uproar aside over comrade Mickey's hesitation, and community uproar aside over supposedly bad writing, what I'd like to talk to you about today is the uproar itself.

Because you have to ask the question. Why is everybody upset?

Logically, you could say that people are upset over shitty writing. That's fair. Everybody has their point to make. But why, THIS particular set of writing? Because let's face it. All across the internet, there is bad writing. Or, correctly said, there is unrefined writing. It's everywhere. And people don't get upset about it. They don't get mad at it.

So, why the uproar over this?

I'll tell you why. It has nothing to do with the writing itself. It has nothing to do with Mickey's freeze up. It has to do with the fact, that a character we know, is dead.

And this is the strange part. From a character standpoint, we know little about the Rookie. As a character, Rookie is undefined. We know he served in some skirmishes prior to joining Buck's squad, (Dirt) and that's it. Now, I'm aware that not everybody particularily cared about the death. Some said "meh" and that was that. But others didn't. And this is mainly what and who I'm adressing here.

The Rookie, from a character standpoint, is a blank slate, completely. And yet, at the same time, you have people who are upset over his death. People arguing about it for the now obvious and varied reasons. But the point is, they're arguing. They are arguing, using whatever points they can to justify why Rookie should not be dead right now.

Which, in itself, is denial. People often go through stages when somebody dies. Denial being one of them.

Which again, cements the fact that despite Rookie being a blank slate, as a character, people cared for him.

And that is today's question. Where do you find care for a blank slate? Or more importantly, how?

Through a very strange manner of characterization. Through a very seemingly hit or miss way of telling a story through immersion. For while Rookie had no defined character to love or laugh with, Rookie had something else.

A shared experience.

Through the majority of the game, Halo 3 ODST, we walked through the boots of Rookie. And at first, you might say that as you played through ODST, you didn't feel like Rookie. You felt like you. You were out on the streets of New Mombassa in the night. You were alone, and on your own. You were the one who went through fights that had you gripping the controller because you'd already died once before on Legendary.

And yet, at the same time, we can appreciate subtle hints that you weren't you. Other characters calling you Rookie, reffering to you by a name that wasn't yours. Watching Rookie in cutscenes, and then, being immersed again in his boots in gameplay.

Rookie's fights were your fights. And then, at the end of ODST, you stepped out of his shoes and said goodbye.

But the memories are all still there. Rookie is a special kind of character. He's not a character that can make you laugh or cry. He's not a character with for lack of a better term, character. But he's an immersive character.

He's somebody you shared an experience with. Somebody you got to know on a very personal, yet impersonal level. On legendary, when you cleared those tough fights, when you finally succeeded, Rookie succeeded. Except that Rookie only ever had one life. Meaning that he did his fights in one shot with no failures. Both making you, as a player feel invincible, and Rookie, as a character himself, seemingly invincible.

So, to essentially see him die, in one shot, at the snap of a finger. To be reminded that Rookie was only ever Human. To be reminded that Rookie was somebody else, those fights that you watched, were his, those memories and those experiences of yours, being his.

And then, boom. Immersion broken.

You were no longer the Rookie, and the Rookie was no longer you. But you still have all those memories of his fights.

So at the point of Rookie's death, he became something more. He became a character separate from you. But all the same, a character that you knew very well in person. Can we say that he was a good character, that was loved because of his character? Or hated? Or anything else in between? Maybe not.

But as an immersive character, he was. And the reason why everybody got all up in arms over his death, which is the central reason for all arguments at this point, is because like it or not, we're saying goodbye.

We're saying goodbye to everything that we and Rookie accomplished together.

We're saying goodbye to a blank slate who never spoke, cried, or laughed.

And at the end of the road, we're parting ways with Rookie as an immersive character, and saying hello to a real character, because at the time of his death, it was just him, and him alone.

No checkpoints, no respawns.

Just Rookie.

Quote from: Sandtrap on March 05, 2015, 10:06:37 AM

No checkpoints, no respawns.

Just Rookie.

I'd wager your avatar is the more appropriate reaction. Otherwise I have no idea what you're trying to say here.

Mickey is a faggot

Quote from: Plotmaster | Fluid Druid on March 05, 2015, 10:33:14 AM

Quote from: Sandtrap on March 05, 2015, 10:20:47 AM

Quote from: Plotmaster | Fluid Druid on March 05, 2015, 10:12:54 AM

Quote from: Sandtrap on March 05, 2015, 10:06:37 AM

No checkpoints, no respawns.

Just Rookie.

I'd wager your avatar is the more appropriate reaction. Otherwise I have no idea what you're trying to say here.

That last bit blew my mind.

I mean...there's just Rookie.

There's just Rookie.

No Fry. No Futurama. No meme.

Just Rookie.

I like him because he was a character that showed his personality by his movements and reactions

Except he doesn't.

1v1. New Mombasa. Rookie only