Hard Lads
June 21, 2020 1:09 PM Subscribe
Hard Lads is a new, free downloadable masculinity simulator by Robert Yang (Windows, Mac, Linux). Based on the viral video British lads hit each other with chair, Yang describes how his game echoes it in revealing “how straight mate energy is actually quite fragile ... [and] that queer love is also the force that honors masculine vulnerability, and so only we have the power to reclaim these lads.”
Previously by Robert Yang on Metafilter:
Previously by Robert Yang on Metafilter:
This is so, so great but now I’m also intrigued to know what else has featured on yerfatma’s back-channel channel!
posted by Lesser Spotted Potoroo at 2:40 PM on June 21, 2020
posted by Lesser Spotted Potoroo at 2:40 PM on June 21, 2020
Even if you're not interested in video games per se, Robert Yang's accompanying blog post (linked above) is definitely worth the read. Funny and profound.
To give you (more of) a taste:
"Like a lot of adolescent masculinity, there's something exaggerated and try-hard about all this. Here I'm inspired by the fundamental awkwardness of early Quantic Dream games like Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) and Heavy Rain. These games use mimetic analog inputs like holding the thumbstick upwards to open a door. But most of these interactions aren’t actually analog, they’re binary. [...] Quantic Dream’s auteur figurehead David Cage has long offered an unconvincing design rationale for this commitment to mimed pseudo-analog input. Supposedly it offers a more realistic player performance in service of greater cinematic immersion. Imagine Heavy Rain's input tutorial, where you slowly rotate the thumbstick to set plates on a dinner table. Is that realistic or immersive, or even intuitive? To me, it mostly just felt silly, awkward, and unnecessary... the perfect input method for performing masculinity."
posted by bigendian at 3:26 PM on June 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
To give you (more of) a taste:
"Like a lot of adolescent masculinity, there's something exaggerated and try-hard about all this. Here I'm inspired by the fundamental awkwardness of early Quantic Dream games like Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) and Heavy Rain. These games use mimetic analog inputs like holding the thumbstick upwards to open a door. But most of these interactions aren’t actually analog, they’re binary. [...] Quantic Dream’s auteur figurehead David Cage has long offered an unconvincing design rationale for this commitment to mimed pseudo-analog input. Supposedly it offers a more realistic player performance in service of greater cinematic immersion. Imagine Heavy Rain's input tutorial, where you slowly rotate the thumbstick to set plates on a dinner table. Is that realistic or immersive, or even intuitive? To me, it mostly just felt silly, awkward, and unnecessary... the perfect input method for performing masculinity."
posted by bigendian at 3:26 PM on June 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure what the experience of that would have been like if I'd seen the video first but it sure was art.
posted by PMdixon at 6:05 PM on June 21, 2020
posted by PMdixon at 6:05 PM on June 21, 2020
Just kissing is a lot less stressful.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:15 PM on June 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:15 PM on June 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
It's my day off, I know what I'll be playing: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Hard Lads.
posted by Fizz at 4:36 AM on June 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 4:36 AM on June 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by yerfatma at 2:16 PM on June 21, 2020