Gamers and Goths

As many of you already know, White Wolf is suing Sony over its new Underworld movie for copyright infringement, claiming that Underworld's characters, theme and setting are based on White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade® and Werewolf: The Apocalypse™ roleplaying game series. While the lawsuit itself is rather ridiculous, it did make me think about the intersection of goth culture and gaming.

During the Austin Game Conference last week, I went with some friends to the Elysium Nightclub to see the Crüxshadows perform. I had never been to a goth concert before but I had nothing better to do and was desperate for entertainment. Surprisingly, I rather enjoyed it and will mostly likely be attending their next show in SF. Upon entering the club, I was immediately impressed by the amount of games they had. In addition to the pool tables you would expect in most bars, there were two pinball tables (with the suitably gothy themes of Dracula and the Adams Family) and a whole section devoted to classic arcade games (which were not noticeably gothy at all unless you consider Joust somewhat intimidating). Who knew gaming was so prevalent in the goth scene?

After a little digging around, I was able to find official Sims skins for the Crüxshadows' lead singer and a full featured Underworld Half-life Mod. Anyone else know of other examples of goth gaming?

Comments

[ClockworkGrue]

I would point out that a family known as The Goths (the male is Mortimer Goth... I can't remember the woman's name) have been in every version of The Sims for every platform.

walk slow
ClockworkGrue

[Brain From Arous]

I can't imagine anything being improved by the involvement of "Goths," who will soon overtake Trekkies as America's most embarassing subculture.

Whether or not it's lifted from White Wolf's poseur-a-thon VAMPIRE games, the UNDERWORLD movie is going to suck like, well, Lestat de Lioncourt after a long sleep. The preview scenes alone damn it:

* John Woo-style gun ballets choreographed by people who don't have a fraction of Woo's directorial skill.
* Shiny leather bodysuits and "urban goth" fashions. Vampire clan or opening act for KORN? You make the call.
* Slow-mo backflips a la THE MATRIX. Because THAT camera trick is still as fresh and interesting as it ever was.
* The frosted blue and black pseudo-German Expressionist photography that Tim Burton made popular in the first BATMAN movie.
* Oh yes - we musn't forget the eardrum-smashing, MTV-ready, "hip" aggro-rock soundtrack.

What we won't see:

* Artistically-inventive narrative elements.
* Any original story or character ideas.
* Smart and memorable dialogue that doesn't read like, well, bad Vampire fan fiction.
* Characters and conflicts we give a rat's ass about.

In sum: Loud, cliched, stylish and stupid. It should be a big hit. :)

[sladelink]

A good deal of games come from Goths or people who are interested in the music, although it isn't anything someone would really notice. If you go to a typical Goth party up here in the Marin/Sonoma North Bay region by San Francisco and start asking people their occupation, the majority of responses would be "QA Tester", "Game Programmer", "Web Designer", or "Lead Artist". They already have plenty of influence in our games, but it's not the sort of thing that's generally announced at press events.

On another note, I wouldn't put Goths in the list of America's most embarrassing subcultures, because 1) It's not American (rather was actually referred to as "positive punk" when it debuted in the 70s in England) and 2) Suburban cowboys still hold that spot.

Oh, and of course Underworld will suck. It's about werewolves fighting vampires in tight black leather and/or latex, and looks like it employs every possible film cliche known to man. Did anyone need to read a review?

[Brain From Arous]

Good point about the suburban cowboys, although I think "Whiggers" hold the all-time title for most embarassing American subculture.

Think about it: an SUV-load of White kids dressed like Crips and Bloods, on the way to the local Mall with Mom's VISA card, playing bad rap music at glass-cracking volume and speaking in ghetto slang. Does it get worse than that? Can it?

[PreacherBoy]

"Anyone else know of other examples of goth gaming?"

Who cares? :D

[Jake of 8bitjoystick.com]

Castlevania. DUH.

[illovich]

I think Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick (or whatever it's called) has all of the elements of a goth(y) game -- victorian setting, magic with a k, long winded characters, etc. It's sort of short on vampires, but come on, vampirism is only part of goth. Goth is really better described by byronesque victorian sensibilities, than vampirism anyway.

Maybe I'm just saying that because of the movie Gothic, but I guess it is kind of true. Anyway.

Shoot! Time to close up, I'd write more but I have stuff to do! I'll come back if/when I think of more.

[manpurse]

silent hill, fatal frame, and heck, even devil may cry spring to mind. all feature the perks of gothiness: lovely classical tracks, baroque influences, and HIGH FASHION! woo. :D

personally, there is a lot of tiny influences in many games, especially if you consider "dark and dreary" to mean goth. look at lulu, from final fantasy x. or the vile tribe from the lunar games. i wish i could give examples that weren't japanese import rpgs, but that's what i play. :D;

ddr doesn't have gothic music. goth music can be hard to dance to, depending on the style you like.

on a side note, there needs to be more werewolf/vampire protagonists in games... and angst. lots of angst. XD;

[Random Element]

Just thought I'd drop a comment on the Cruxshadows themselves. Very few so called "Goth Bands" have the musical or performance chops that the Cruxshadows have, which is most likely why you enjoyed the show so much. As reference, I am about as Goth as Bozo the Clown, but I recently saw a Cruxshadows show (again at Elysium in Austin) and they blew my ass away. They could be considered a little pretentious and campy, except for the fact that they are so damn sincere in their performance and they also have talent, unlike 95% of the so called Goth bands out there. So if you're a hard core Goth or just someone with nothing better to do on a Friday night, I suggest them highly. Also, their shows rate very low on the intimidation scale (SOME people consider Goths to be scary and threatening, I think they are for the most part very harmless and fragile fashion victims, but good people), so even the least Goth person can enjoy their shows. My sister (who is a partial Goth) likens them to a bunch of people who met at a Music Magnet High School (Interlochen for those who know the midwest) and felt that their talents in music and performing would be best suited for dark, brooding, wholesome Gothi music.

[elsoph200]

I went to see Underworld and rather enjoyed it. Then again, I like the old Bella Lugosi classics, or maybe some Vincent Price. there is something to be said for variances of the old classics. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but until evil people stop wearing black from head to toe, the classics will remain classics. The stories do change, but your mind has to be open to more than computer circuitry and anime.

[elsoph200]

I went to see Underworld and rather enjoyed it. Then again, I like the old Bella Lugosi classics, or maybe some Vincent Price. there is something to be said for variances of the old classics. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but until evil people stop wearing black from head to toe, the classics will remain classics. The stories do change, but your mind has to be open to more than computer circuitry and anime.

[Michael]

the classic video games were ironic cyberpunk refs, imho. cyberpunk's often associated with industrial, though not goth.

[outsider]

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[kuwang]

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