Tuesday, December 2, 2008

THE World or YOUR World

Okay, so I'm posting a little too often for my own good. Ahh, what the hell, I'll progress out of this stage sooner or later...heck, the moment I get lazy I'll probably return to the 1 post in a week format. Whatever. I promise this post will be short.

Forgive me, but for those of you who aren't in the know, I am one heck of a fantasy fanatic and a romantic idealist. Incidentally, those two go very well hand in hand because what's fantasy without romance, and what's romance without a little idealism (essentially fantasy without the swords).

Getting to the crux of the matter, a commonly recurring scene in RPGs and other fantasy-related (actually, it sometimes happens in sci-fi) novels, movies or any other media you care to name would be when the main character is forced to choose between saving the world or saving his/her loved one.

Generally when playing RPGs, you really don't have a choice - the game always forces you to save your loved one, even if she has a personality that would make Margaret Thatcher look like an obedient schoolgirl. But she usually doesn't, so good for you. In the end, after saving the girl, you proceed to utterly beat the crap out of the main villain and save the world.

Now, the thing is, would this actually happen in real life? Would you really save the person you love, or save the world and everybody in it? Well, to be honest, this is a really tough choice. Let's take a look at the list, shall we? I just love lists.

Save your girlfriend/boyfriend:
1. Live happily ever after.
2. That's about it, really.
3. Oh wait, there's a chance that the world might be destroyed. Who cares about that?

Save the World:
1. Everyone else lives happily ever after.
2. Actually, that's about it too.

Well, that wasn't much of a list, but still...essentially it boils down to whether or not you're selfish or not. Now, be honest with yourselves...how many of you would destroy the world so that you can live happily ever after? Future villains have this choice easy - destroying world means that you can live happily ever after. It's no wonder that Evil is such a good choice these days.

For the rest of us, though, this is a difficult choice. Humans weren't made to be altruistic people - anyone who thinks so is just deluding themselves. In fact, the complete opposite is true - humans are completely and utterly selfish bastards, seeking to shift the blame onto other people, being greedy, arrogant...and let's not forget lust shall we. After all, that's why you're saving the girl in the first place.

Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh. Humans were built for survival. Sure, we don't have hard scales, sandpaper-like armour, special abilities or anything like that. Nevertheless, we have the ability to reason and think through our actions. We are smart, using all the resources at our disposal to eliminate the enemy - and perhaps our strongest advantage is that we're ruthless. We'll stop at nothing to achieve our goals. This is another thing that's pretty important - heroes are as ruthless as villains...it's just that a hero's goals are supposedly for the good of all mankind.

In the end, because we're so selfish, we want to save our loved ones. No matter what anyone says, your loyalty to your loved ones far surpasses anything that the world can offer. So, interestingly enough, RPGs actually got it right. At least, they got it right for me, heheh. There really are some people who would save the world, rather than live a life of happiness all by yourself. Okay, sure, there's still a lot of stuff to be settled, but I promised that this post would be short. Too late.

Just a parting shot, though. There are, in fact, other situations in which someone would save the world instead of your loved one. No, I'm not talking about the times when he/she is one ugly son-of-a-walrus, nor about the times when saving her probably means you're going to get beaten to a pulp.

Rather, there are times when saving the world means that you're going to get killed. Okay, you say to yourself, I'm fine with that. Me versus the world, the world obviously wins. Because I'm an emo teenage hero, so I don't mind dying. But if your boyfriend/girlfriend isn't a son-of-a-walrus, then he or she will be forced to live the rest of eternity without you. Which would really suck if you were in her shoes. So...would you save the world and die and leave your loved one to weep/wait for you for all eternity?

Being selfish people, I think the answer would be yes.

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