As I write this I’m watching the Argentina-Nigeria World Cup game and gearing up for the England-Sweden game to come. The World Cup always gives me a taste of the rest of the world as well as reminding me of the places I’ve travelled to. It highlights the differences along with the similarities of the human race. Lately the Internet has done the same thing for me. Only there can I enjoy a debate over world politics with an Englishman, a German, several Americans, a Canadian and other various Europeans. We may differ in how we look at life and the world but we are all motivated by the same things, our knowledge of right and wrong through our individual experiences, our search for enjoyment and the seemingly world wide love of the Star Wars series of films. We also all seem to have a sense of humour and this is where I will link this intro, which seems to have nothing to do with Republic- The Revolution or computer games in general, to that subject. It’s a stretch I know but lets see what comes of it.

What is considered funny varies from person to person and can’t just be put down to SNL is the American sense of humour and Monty Python is the British sense of humour. But funnily enough we all seem to laugh at a toddler hitting his father in the nuts with an Action Man doll. Maybe because it’s not happening to ourselves.

I think it’s sad though that computer games haven’t really tried to hard to use humour to a large extent. Sure there have been a few titles and even the occasional moment in many games that could only be termed as “Easter Eggs” but rarely has a game come close to the day to day humour that we generally have in our own lives. But this is one thing that caught my eye when I read about this new game that we are all waiting for. The AI seems to work in a way that allows strange and sometimes amusing things to happen. I think we’ve all read here on RepRev’s page about the Novistranian fellow who came out of the crowd and attacked the preacher who was making a soap-box speech in one of Elixir’s earlier demos. This kind of stuff should happen when the AI is good enough to allow these individuals to evolve in reaction to the things that happen around them. There has also been a whisper about Elixir creating some characters who may surprise and amuse us with their antics and I for one can’t wait to see how. Talk about how some of the violence may be treated in a humorous way will also create some interest from most of us.

One thing that does make it hard to use humour in games appears when we play the game for the second or third time. Hearing the same jokes over and over again can get old quickly and could take away some fun from even the best of games. Hopefully Elixir will show us an AI that won’t turn out like a sitcom rerun where you can see the jokes and the action coming long before it arrives.

Joecorp