Very seldom do people who know me not know what it is I truly enjoy doing. Most people can tell you that I enjoy playing video games and that I love football. Other people who know me even better can tell you that I do enjoy reading, however, that’s if I ever force myself to pick up the book I’ve been reading for the last year. I do enjoy writing as well, but like reading, I never make time for it. For example, I last updated my blog two weeks ago, however, in my defense I had a very busy and messed up week last week so we won’t get into that. I will say, however, that my supervisors must hate me.
So feeding off the fact that I’m an avid gamer and I have a gamer score that many people would consider to be ridiculous, I would like to talk a little bit about an experience I had this weekend that involved a game. It’s not a game I’ve ever played because it hasn’t been released, nor have I ever seen game play for it. The name of it is “Dead Island”, and it’s a zombie apocalypse that takes place on a vacation island. At first sight I thought to myself, “Oh lord, another zombie game,” because modern society has become overly obsessed with apocalyptic stories that involves zombies. Don’t get me wrong, I love zombie games, movies, and even Rob Zombie’s music, but I was wary of the game’s announcement because every zombie game or movie that comes out tends to be very cliché.
The modern day zombie is nothing like that of what a zombie use to be or what it’s supposed to be. I looked the word zombie up in the dictionary and this is what it gave me, “the body of a dead person given the semblance of life, but mute and will-less, by a supernatural force, usually for some evil purpose.” That describes what I always thought zombies were, dead corpses that punch their way out of their dark and lonely coffins buried beneath the earth and from there walk around feasting off the seemingly helpless brains of the living. They walk slow, they can’t talk, they have no brain function to think coherently nor do they have enough intelligence to operate motor vehicles, weapons, or the slurpee machine at the local 7 Eleven. I need to sidetrack here for a second. Why do they eat brains? I just described how dumb and slow zombies are, are they eating brains because they think they might gain some intelligence? Hmm, just a side thought.
The modern day zombie doesn’t fit the description of what a zombie is and instead we have the cliché zombie (also known as the infected) that we see today. What do I mean cliché? Here is a typical zombie movie/game/book.
Scenario one: Some moron eats an infected piece of meat that was apparently mixed with rabies and he becomes sick. No doubt he goes to the hospital and starts chewing on people when he can no longer control himself. By biting other people, the disease is spread. This sets off a chain reaction of people eating each other and infecting absolutely everyone. The government tries to quarantine the area but it’s already too late. The military gets wiped out because they’re either stupid or overwhelmed. I’m going with stupid. Four to six survivors manage to do what the military can’t, kill hoards and hoards of zombies while they struggle to get to whatever destination they think is safe.
Scenario two: Some idiot doctor(s) creates a deadly biological agent that eventually breaks loose and infects everyone who comes near it. Few people are immune for unknown reasons and the government frantically tries to find a cure. This doesn’t happen because it simply spreads too fast and before you know it everyone is infected minus the few random people who are immune. Like in scenario one, these people dominate hoards of zombies on their way to a place they hope is safe.
For some reason I can never help but to put myself in these situation. Instead of traveling across the country, or giant city, why not find a safe haven built out of concrete? Block off all but one entrance that you obviously keep locked and possibly reinforced. Stock the shelter with food, water, and ammo that can last an army for years and wait for all the infected to die from starvation. Sounds like a plan that’s a lot safer than traversing long distances with an outcome that will most likely be negative.
Why did you need that explanation of zombies you ask? I suppose you didn’t, but it fits in with how I felt when I first read about “Dead Island” being a zombie game and how cliché it will probably be. Now the story may follow the same lines of the typical zombie game, but this game is an RPG (role playing game), meaning it will allow me to be more adventurous in my zombie slaying adventures. I was so thrilled with the idea to have an awesome game genre spiced up with a little bit of freedom that I told my fellow game buddy who I always chat with about games (my Uncle). Of course he goes and looks up the official game trailer for this game and told me that I HAVE to watch it and tell him what I think.
After a day or so goes by, my computer finally agrees to work for me and over come with boredom because I was stuck at home while my wife and daughter got to visit my family (thanks a bunch Air Force); I decided to watch the video. I’d just like to note that, that was a very long sentence, or at least it seems like it to me. I went to youtube, typed in “Dead Island trailer”, and watched the whole three minute video. What exactly was my emotion after that? If anyone who reads this is a parent, especially of a little girl, you’ll probably know where I’m headed with this “feeling” I had.
After I became a father to the most beautiful little girl in the world, my whole view of children changed. It started slow at first, but as time goes on and the more attached you get to your child, the more severe it is, or maybe it’s just me. The feeling I get can only be described as worry for my own child and sadness for every other child. The first time I felt like this was shortly after Kaleigh was born, my wife and I were watching the news about a man who threw his four children off a bridge to their death in the shallow waters below. Normally before having a kid I’d feel sad, but this was different. Part of me was angry, another part of me was sad, another part of me was worried, it was like my emotions were playing tug of war with my stomach. I felt utterly sick at the thought of someone taking the life of their helpless children who look up to them for comfort and protection.
More often than not, my heart is broken when I see bad things happen to children in movies, games, and more realistically, life. I won’t describe the video at all; instead I’ll post the youtube link so you can watch it for yourself (if you dare).
The melancholy of this video actually kept me awake last night as I put myself in the shoes of the parents. I couldn’t help but wonder what I would do if I were in that situation or any zombie situation. One thing I can tell you, I wouldn’t let my damn kid wander around by herself while we were on vacation because there are scarier things out there than zombies.
So this game and it’s heartbreaking video brought back another thought that I often have and could be the very reason I was having a hard time sleeping last night. Now we all know that Jesus is the only “zombie” so to speak and he’s probably not going to be evil. This being said, I don’t fear zombies, I do however fear the “infection”. How farfetched is it to think that some moron scientist out there is actually experimenting with an agent that can cause this type of reaction in people and next thing you know you’re fighting for your life against a bunch of sick and messed up people. In that situation you’d even have to fear the living and what people are capable during chaos and lawlessness. How would I defend my family? This is the garbage that rests inside of my mind keeping me awake and I wonder why I don’t have my degree yet :).
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