There is something about me that makes me really, really, really love playing games where I get to control people (i.e. RPG’s, The Sims, etc.)…which is why I have become super duper obsessed with the game “Black & White 2”. This habit somehow insinuates that I have a complex of some sort…but I wonder which one.
An inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. It is often unconscious, and is thought to drive afflicted individuals to overcompensate, resulting either in spectacular achievement or extreme antisocial behavior. Unlike a normal feeling of inferiority, which can act as an incentive for achievement, an inferiority complex is an advanced state of discouragement, often resulting in a retreat from difficulties.
Or is it…
Narcissism is a defense mechanism related to the splitting defense mechanism. The narcissist fails to regard other people, situations, or entities (political parties, countries, races, his workplace) as a compound of good and bad elements. He either idealizes his object, or devalues it. Things are seen in black and white; the object is either all good or all bad. The bad attributes are always projected, displaced, or otherwise externalized. The good ones are internalized in order to support the inflated (grandiose) self-concepts of the narcissist and his grandiose fantasies, as well as to avoid the pain of deflation and disillusionment.
The narcissist pursues narcissistic supply (attention, both positive and negative) and uses it to regulate his, often, fragile and fluctuating sense of self-worth.
Wikipedia seems to say that I have an inferiority complex–but I used to have a superiority complex until I realized two weeks ago that it is not normal to have a hemorrhoid at 24 (I knew I should have changed toilet paper brands sooner).
Which makes sense because if ever there was a game that let me carry out “spectacular overachievement” it would indeed be Black & White. Picture it…
In the game, you get to be a god to these oppressed Greeks who have been decimated by the Aztecs (somewhat strange, considering Aztecs were from Mexico…which isn’t too close to Greece as I recall). Anyway, you save some refugees and relocate them to a distant land where you have to rebuild their civilization and then eventually take over the world. You can do this either by being diplomatic–essentially a good god–or you can do this by killing and pillaging–which is obviously the bad god. And since the world is almost completely interactive, EVERYTHING you do affects your goodness/badness ratio.
For instance, I accidentally de-hutted one of my worshippers. He was asking me to move a boulder off of his property, but because I wasn’t too savvy with the mouse, I ended up dropping the boulder on his grass hut. Then all these red “EVIL” words started popping up around the broken hut…which I suppose means I have become a bit more bad ass. Whatever…it was funny as hell.
I think the best part about the whole game is that you get this pet–which I suppose is like the middle-man (or middle-beast, I guess) between the people and me. The beast runs around and helps the citizens…but you have to teach it things first. Like…when you first get the animal (mine is a wolf…I picked him because he dances) and it needs to go take a dump, it immediately runs towards a villager and says “I’m going to poop on the villager!” But I was zoomed far away so I couldn’t reprimand it…by the time I zoomed in, this old woman was surrounded by large, animal feces. I had to smack my wolf around to teach it not to poop on people…
(…Wish my parents had taught me that though. It probably would have saved me a couple of friends. WER-WER.)
absolutangel64 