Monks & Konami

The picture above is from BBC's picture of the day, but it makes me laugh -- it's kind of wierd to equate monks with children, given that I see them more as massive damage-dealers in Everquest and masters of the ultimate aerial kick :)

Anyway, just as a small thought-of-the-day, Simon Carless linked to an an interesting article on unwanted affection in Konami's Lifeline [PS2]

It starts off innocently enough. Rio looks to you for guidance, asks you a few questions about your lost girlfriend. Then she starts telling you how lucky Naomi is to have a guy like you. After that, she talks about how lonely she is, how glad she is that you're there with her. How difficult it is for her to open up to people. How much she depends on you. Cue romantic strings. Not to give too much away, but it isn't too long before she starts seriously hitting on you, in between bouts of alien destruction.

. . . Lifeline doesn't offer any choices for Rio or the player. What if you're just not ready for that level of cyber commitment? You can't turn her down, because you're never given the choice: you can insult Rio all you want and at the next cutscene she'll still pour her heart out to you. Whether you like it or not, love is eventually in the air, and it gets a little uncomfortable for those of us who aren't looking for it.

The full article is well worth a read -- the author (Monica Evans) brings up some insightful points on gender bias that apply not only to video games, but also to anime and manga.

In any case, It's around 3 AM right now, and me & R. and T. are heading out soon to Univ. Washington at St. Louis for the NIH grants thing -- wish us safe journeys!