I like zombie films. I played Resident Evil 2, and that’s a great game. I enjoyed the Resident Evil films (Heresy!). One of the things I like about post-zombie film analysis is deconstructing the actions of the characters in the film. I even bought The Zombie Survival Guide for fun, and because sometimes I think about what I would do in the event of a zombie infestation.
For instance, and this shows you how exciting my work is, I have thought about what would happen if I was at work during a zombie outbreak. How would I escape from my zombie-fied co-workers? I figure that the use of cubicle walls may be a valid way to avoid zombie hordes. How would I get out of the office? Cubicle walls allow access to the ventilation system via the ceiling. I’m a fairly small, light person, so air ducts may be a good option. My sense of direction is pretty good as well. What would I use to put zombie-fied co-workers out of commission when I encounter them? I know where the fire axe is on our floor, but I could always use a stapler or something. Once I got out of my building, how would I get out of the city? I think I’d have to steal an abandoned car. Where would I go? I’m thinking home, but after that, I don’t know. Somewhere remote and defensible. Where the hell is the nearest gun store? I honestly have no idea. I live near the NRA‘s national headquarters. Maybe they have guns there? It might not be a good idea for me to use a gun to put down zombies, anyway, because the only thing I know about them is that you shouldn’t point them at people, and this isn’t exactly helpful when you need to point them at undead people. So, fleeing is my first option, and the use of a bludgeoning weapon is my second option.
In light of my fascination with the zombie genre, the prospect of a zombie MMOG is an exciting one. Exanimus:
Exanimus is an online massively multiplayer game created in a world where the dead live and roam the earth eating the flesh of the living. While most of the world is dead, there are small pockets of survivors that exist in barricaded cities across the globe. Players of Exanimus will have the option of playing as a living survivor or as one of the dead roaming the earth. Exanimus will allow players to experience a MMO based in a horror genre by creating a dark and visually “intense” environment.
Exanimus is expected to be rated “Mature” and not intended for anyone under the age of 18.
I haven’t been able to find any more concrete information about the game, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.
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I’d try it.
Problem is, how would they “limit” the actions of the zombie players to reflect the, well, loss of intelligence often associated with zombification?
I’m a zombie movie fan, too. Love RE and the classics. I was freaked out by Night of the Living Dead (the original B&W version) when I was a kid, and sometimes I plan my escape as well. Of course, whenever I fly, I anticipate the plane crashing. Whenever I’m in a public place, I fully expect some sort of disaster. When I was a kid, whenever I watched a movie in a theater, I believed with absolute certainty that the ceiling would fall in on us, and that I’d have only a few moments to protect myself or escape, and that I’d be one of the few to do so because I was constantly vigilent by watching the ceiling (at least while waiting for the movie to begin).
Is that paranoia?
Perhaps not, if I lived elsewhere in the world…
I’m interested to see how they implement this as well. Zombies function on instinct, which is a sort of intelligence. As long as they don’t allow zombies to operate machinery or weapons, and as long as they don’t make them able to run as fast as they did in the Dawn of the Dead remake, then the genre should remain intact. I hope.
I would also be interested in seeing how many more people want to be zombies, versus survivors. The strength of a zombie faction is in numbers, superior strength, and superior durability, but the strength of survivors would be weapon use, agility, and ability to undertake complex tasks. How would PvP work?
How quests would play out for the zombies is another interesting aspect. I can imagine that players might get frustrated playing a zombie if all you can do is try to eat people.
Could be a one waiting to fail, or could be a unique and cool MMO.
I think there’s a zombie mod game for CounterStrike where the game begins with one zombie (everyone is a human player), and the zombie tries to kill someone. If the zombie “gets” another player, that player turns into a zombie, eliminating more and more regular players and adding more zombies. The game ends when the last “human” is killed by the zombies.
The limitations are that zombies cannot use guns or any other weapons or devices other than a knife (which I think just replicates an improved hand-to-hand attack), and the other players get everything. It’s interesting to watch and see how quickly the gun-toting players are eliminated, despite their advantage. I think the “scary” factor might have something to do with it, considering the look and sounds of the zombies, and the fact that they can swarm you without much warning. I also believe the zombies are very difficult to kill (need headshots or something, like many of the movies).
fun!
That’s awesome. My friends and I always work out scenarios of what we’d do if zombification struck.
More dangerous scenario, however, is those zombie flash mobs (http://crypto.nsa.org/zombies/) that people do. What if a zombie flash mob showed up at the mall while you were there and you mistakenly thought they were real zombies?
My fellow law students are evaluating whether that would be self-defense.
JJ, that’d be a good separate post in itself.
What year are you in?
Taken any criminal law yet? Fun stuff.
My take: if the defendant had reasonably believed he or she was in danger of being seriously injured or killed, and (depending on what state this is in) there was no reasonable means of escape, self defense would be justified. So, it’d be a case-by-case issue. For instance, an elderly woman who happened to carry a small pistol for defense and who reasonably believed she was under attack (regardless of whether the “attackers” were dressed up as zombies or not, and regardless of whether she believed they were zombies), would likely be justified in shooting one or more of the attackers if she thought that was necessary to fend off the attackers.
However, if a middle-aged man were “attacked,” but knew without a doubt that the attackers were just a theater group having fun, but he used deadly force to “defend” himself anyway, his self-defense argument would fail miserably.
Those are black and white examples, but there’s a nice grey area I’m sure you’re more interested in with your law school friends. Perhaps it comes into play when a defendant testifies that he, “actually believed they were zombies and that they were trying to eat [my] brain.” I’d love to see Law & Order episode on that one!
Psyae–
Haha- 3rd year at Akron U. I was thinking it’d ultimately turn on how reasonable the belief that you were being attacked was– like you said. For me, having played all the RE games and watched Night of the Living Dead countless times, it’d seem like i could reasonably believe the dead had risen or what-not. Maybe somebody who loves capcom that much isn’t the ‘reasonable person’ anymore though, heh.
I would write a law review thing about zombies and the law if it wouldn’t be immediately unpublishable.
I once had I conversation that ended with: “Don’t worry I’m sure we aren’t the only people who have planned for the coming zombie hordes.” I’m glad to know I was right… I hope this studio isn’t getting in over their head. This could be a really good MMO.
Emm Brin you know guns are big and have recoil? Right? Also aiming is difficult as recoil increases the angel and automatically raises the gun.
I know cos I was almost in the army!
Also you know zombies arent real!
Skanderberg: Yes, many guns are big, and they are difficult to aim. When I was at the firing range for the first time a couple of months ago, I was overcompensating for the recoil — aiming too high. I got the hang of it after a little while, but the whole experience was a little boring. We were in a big group, and I think I got to shoot about 3 or 4 times.
The people I went with got the staff to bring out an MP5 (don’t know if this is exactly the same model as the one they had), and they were taking turns shooting it. Watching was kind of dull, and honestly I don’t think that shooting it would be much more interesting either.
The technical aspects of guns are interesting, but actually shooting them, wasn’t as exciting as I was led to believe. One of my friends was super excited that he was present at my first time at the firing range — more excited than I actually was. He’s threatening to bring me to another firing range when he makes a visit to my area. *sigh* He’s also threatening to take me paintballing.
hehe, firing ranges are boring, I imagine never been near one.
But guns are a bit boring only used guns for hunting, or shooting at things.
The real moral of the story is be honest to your friends, I would love to go paintballing the only way of killing people legaly. What joy!
Paintballing could be fun with the right group, and if they don’t take it too seriously.