#Spec Ops: The Line

[kineticpenguin]

What emerged over the course of these denials, half-admissions, and rationalizations was the same rhetoric we saw with the US military four years prior. The IDF claimed that they were using white phosphorous for smoke screens. Human rights organizations claimed that the IDF's reckless deployment of white phosphorous over densely populated areas caused numerous, agonizing, preventable civilian deaths. These statements don't necessarily factually contradict each other. Their conflict instead grows from whether you give more weight to stated intent or observed result. The reasoning of a commander behind an artillery cannon, or the ashes of a civilian under a sky set ablaze. And this, this, is very specifically what the white phosphorous scene in Spec Ops is about: Not just player agency, not just poking at the tale of other military shooters, but an interrogation of the spectacular failure of intent as a rationalization for harm.

[taumaturg-iv]

Mae and her problems with mirrors.

[tumblingxelian]

Both Agent Walker and General Ironwood are really similar characters I think.

Both are well respected and relatively well liked military men who take great pride in their military and are subtly to overtly dismissive of civilian elements.

Both are men who want to establish communication with the rest of the world, but they made communication harder on themselves. Ironwood by closing Atlas off & Walker by refusing to go backwards.

Both are men who very much want to be heroes, to be saviors but whose skills and personalities lead them to choosing violence and force as their first response to problems.

Both are men who hold another ally in incredibly high regard, (Konrad & Ozpin) but whom they turn on when they need a scapegoat.

Both are men who cannot, will not , admit when they are wrong; they are instead, excellent at justifying whatever immoral decision they make. Be it shooting refugees or shooting their own citizens.

Both are men who directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally cause mass death amongst civilians. Walker by his general penchant to shoot first, as well as using the White Phosphorus and destroying the water; Ironwood by cancelling the evacuation, shooting down evacuation ship and trying to bomb Mantle.

Both have narratives heavily defined by their desire to be a hero and their unchecked, unrestrained bullheadedness leading them down a path of murder and death. One they refused to admit they've been on until seemingly or at least potentially realizing it before they die.

("Was it? None of this would've happened if you'd just stopped. But on you marched. And for what?"

"No, you have sacrificed everyone else! You closed the borders, you squeezed Mantle until it broke!")

They're also both meta commentaries on the military industrial complex, military adventurism and military as saviors narratives.

So uh yeah, wow, there were even more than I realized.

[sexualsportswear]

You're no savior. Your talents lay elsewhere

[carcinisedcrabthing]

Quixote has a gamer moment

[powerin]

i am the wrong audience for “games that make you play as the bad guy” because i will simply put my controller down and let the mc be killed

[mogainnercircle]

✵ Our enemies believe that they alone dictate the course of history ┈

[ ID in alt text ]

INTUSCALWALKER / INTUSCALKONRAD INTUSCALADAMS / INTUSCALUGO

[ PT: intuscalwalker / intuscalkonrad / intuscaladams / intuscalugo ]

Intuscalwalker - Subject's internal self is Captain Martin Walker from Spec Ops: The Line Intuscalkonrad - Subject's internal self is Colonel John Konrad from Spec Ops: The Line Intuscaladams - Subject's internal self is Lieutenant Alphanso Adams from Spec Ops: The Line Intuscalugo - Subject's internal self is Sergeant John Lugo from Spec Ops: The Line

A pack of Spec Ops: The Line-inspired intusui terms, since we've been replayin' that masterpiece of a game.

┈ but all it takes is the will of a single man. ✵

tagging @radiomogai @obscurian @intusui

[paganminiskirt]

This is definitely Jacob’s most brutal and present video so if you watch it make sure you’re in the right state of mind beforehand

[theparavoidgrey]

old art: games edition (2020-2021)

Bill Overbeck (4/19/2020)

Original Description: Based on his look in The Sacrifice comic made by Valve and Michael Avon Oeming.

Our Mutual Fiend (7/22/2020)

Original Description: Prepare for unforeseen consequences.

Lost to Dubai + alt. version (3/17/2021)

Original Description: This is Captain Martin Walker, requesting immediate evacuation of Dubai... Survivors... one too many. Captain Walker from the aftermath of Spec Ops: The Line.

[zevranunderstander]

ok like I know I am over the top obsessed with video game history but just so you understand how absolutely heartbreaking it is that Spec Ops: The Line got taken down for licensing problems (apparently the music license of the game ran out and it was pretty much a commercial flop, so no one bothered to renew anything and 2K (the publisher, not the developer) took the game down on all platforms)

and in general it's insane that we can lose a complete video game just like that, but I need you to understand what kind of video game we lost with this takedown, because this game is so historic in terms of video game development I am so deeply heartbroken about it getting taken down

like. this game came out in 2012 and was marketed as if it was like any other generic post-9/11 shooter. like. it was intentionally marketed as a Call Of Duty-esque game, where you play an American Hero™ who's shooting the Brown Terrorists™ and this game hooked in the people who usually buy these games, right?

but then, instead of being what it promised to be, it slowly started to deconstruct the whole genre it was pretending to be, by turning from this idealized "fun" version of war into the actual reality of war and suddenly the players had to deal with war crimes and the reality of american imperialism and questioning why there even *is* a genre of games that is just pushing a narrative about american exceptionalism and of course this made the game kind of flop because it wasn't what it made itself out to be but it became such an iconic game in the time afterwards that I want people to be more angry about 2K taking the game down

[kineticpenguin]

Walker's lucky because he could have his "should I shoot myself" crisis being all dramatic in front of his reflection in a big window he was pointing a gun at without anyone calling the cops

[jeff-the-innkeeper]

I am unreasonably enraged by spec ops: the line being permanently delisted over a fucking license expiry

like. we really live in a world where a beautiful piece of art can just get disappeared overnight because nothing is allowed to exist without a million layers of bureaucracy to make sure it will generate profit for the people in suits who 1. are already rich and 2. DIDNT EVEN MAKE THE FUCKING GAME

[jimquisition]

Is a game worth playing if it doesn't get good until you've played thirty hours of it? Inspired by Final Fantasy discourse, I tackle this thorny issue with the grace and balance you've come to expect!

[gwarden123]

I'm playing Spec Ops: The Line, of all things in these times, and I'm not far in at all, but it's really pretty so far. Good use of colour and lighting. And maybe it's because I haven't played that many modern military shooters, but the helicopter section at the beginning actually didn't feel boring, nor the somewhat long cutscene directly afterwards. Maybe because they had some interesting shots for me to look at and didn't just expect me to push forward at a tediously slow pace and listen to inane bullshit at the same time?

Also, there's an interesting respecting-the-troops-y vibe right from the beginning, with the way Walker almost sneers at the fact that the presumably civilian listener was probably safe at home when the sandstorms hit Dubai and "only cut a check". I know the general thrust of the story, so I'm guessing this is deliberate, but it'll be interesting to see what they do with this, and especially how it's reflected in gameplay.

[laniusbignaturals]

How exactly does one make contact with the people prepared to turn out Martin Walker from Spec Ops: The Line. Do I have to leave out a can of cat food. Is this a pspspspspspspsps situation.