In Legion's recent thread, What has gaming done for you?, lots of our community members threw down really thoughtful and insightful responses. One particularly poignant one that gave us both pause was one from Tae-Rai, and I hope she doesn't mind my quoting it here:
It has given me a chance to be a hero, an observer, a friend and the chance to be something better then what I am. I have saved people, vanquished villains and tamed the mightiest of creatures. I've assassinated the corrupt, purged the land of evil, explored planets far beyond my reach and become something I could never even DREAM to become. What has gaming given me then?
Hope. Hope that I will become something more than I am now.
This really resonated with both Legion and myself. This comment got us thinking about the connection between gaming and real life in different ways. He wondered what characters people most identified with and what it was about those characters that makes us look up to them, and you can check out his discussion here. I was thinking along the lines of what powers people might wish they could have to help influence our very real world, and about the things we could accomplish given an extraordinary power. Between those two things, that seemed like way too much ground to cover in just one discussion, so in this thread, I’m asking you:
If you could pick any single "power" from the Elder Scrolls universe to have in real life, what would it be? I think the various schools of magicka, a few perks, and some of the racial abilities could lend themselves very nicely to this. If you'd prefer a power from any other game, feel free to drop that down too, just be sure to specify to avoid any confusion.
How would you use this power for good in real life? What problem do you seek to fix with it?
So tell me, fellow bloggers-- what is your power and how would you use it to become a hero?
Lol, that was a joke.
Bad is a subjective point of view, actually. Even in D&D morality descriptions, the "Evil" morality is described mainly as "selfish".
In that aspect, I was referring more to the fact, that if I have Dragonborn powers, for example, I would use them initially for my personal gain. After I've gained enough I might consider using them for the benefit of my friends, etc.
And come to think of it, Bend Will probably seems the most useful in the real world.
It would be cool to be able to use the Illusion school, I could become invisible))) Would be vey useful in the RL situations, when I want people to forget that I exist.
But to be honest, the features that I'd really want to borrow from my game characters are the strength of will and the wits. Because being a dumb blonde sucks((
Hmm, this does make a good discussion. Hmm, for me, aside from shock magic, so I can become, in essence, a living battery, I'd also have the genetic modifications given to a Witcher, without my hair turning completely white, as well as the ability to revive from the dead ala Talion of Shadows of Mordor, with some augmentations from Deux Ex. I'd basically used my enhanced body to go out and try and fix the world. I'd probably stop any local crime, help people with their problems, etc.
Oh Overhate. And here I thought you were just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. The point you raise about helping yourself and helping those closest to you is an interesting one. When I set out to write this thread I was mostly thinking of overall good for humankind. You know, the superhero archetype. But it's also true that even heroes are finite creatures.
Why thank you, Chris. I like the idea of using shock to be a battery; you could power a generator or a town like that for some time. Perhaps on a regular basis it could help to cut down on energy consumption and fossil fuel use. Sun spells could ALSO be used to power solar generators in this same way.
I like your crime fighting spirit though. What would you call yourself?
A Son of Coldharbour?
I'd be a vampire, too. But I wouldn't kill anyone. I'd use my vampire charm to influence leaders and politicians to do what I want politically (in certain countries). Like severely limiting welfare. In a capitalist country with very few government welfare programs, lazy people and their families will die out, leaving only educated, hard-working people.
That might sound harsh, but overpopulation is a looming threat, and there are too many people in "1st world" countries getting paid for doing nothing.
I also think that wars are necessary. I don't believe in world peace, because that means the extinction of many cultures and languages (ie. Ancient Rome). Different beliefs, religions, etc. are always going to clash, it is human nature.
Once a country or alliance gets too powerful I would to something disastrous to them and start helping worse off countries. If a country or alliance gets too powerful, they become Rome 2.0, but probably on a global scale.
With my immortality and vampire charm, I could shape the world. For as long as I wanted, at least...
This might get deleted for being too political, but I feel like there was no other way for me to answer the question. This is honestly how I would use a power from a video game for good in real life.
If you could pick any single "power" from the Elder Scrolls universe to have in real life, what would it be?
Magic, racial abilities completely disregarded as I dislike them.
How would you use this power for good in real life
I would heal myself and the people I care about. Everyone else can kick rocks.
Only someone who likes mankind as it is will use eventual superpowers to help it. If you don't like it as it is, you'll most likely use your powers to, as the Institute would put it, "redefine" it.
For example: if you're a racist, you'll eradicate all other races so that only yours will remain.
If you hate gambling and driking you'll eradicate all gamblers and alcohol in the world.
If you're a puritan you'll eradicate all "sinners", so that only "pure" people will remain.
This is actually connected with the other topic of accepting reality vs escaping from it via gaming. A superpowered human would no longer need to escape reality if he dislikes it, he now has a real chance of changing it.
After all, as Friedrich Nietzsche would say, we all seek to enforce our will over the others, one way or another.