Monday, September 10, 2012

Still Afraid of the Dark

I have an old TV.  Yes, the heavy-as-hell, not-completely-flat kind.  It's held up pretty well, but the one problem is that the picture is getting rather dark.  I find that's not a big problem when it comes to watching TV - it's pretty rare that the plot depends on the viewer noticing one detail in an unlit room.

Where it does become a problem is in video games.  That's where you might miss something important in the dark.  You never know what baddies may be waiting for you in that pitch black hallway, so stick to the brighter rooms.  In racing games I've learned to keep to the lighter side of the street.  Or just remember where the guardrails are hidden.

All of this reminds me of the computer game Zork, in which you couldn't stay in any dark room for more than one turn, or you'd be eaten by a creature called a Grue.  Thirty years and countless technological innovations later, and I'm still trying to avoid virtual darkness.

So that's what an esoteric geek I am.  The situation didn't remind me of that one Vin Diesel movie.  It didn't even remind me of that Doctor Who episode with the carnivorous microbes in the shadows.  No, it reminded me of a text adventure written in the seventies.  Consider that the next time you wonder if you've become nerdy because you saw The Avengers .

No comments:

Post a Comment