Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list • Hacker News Board

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#121

Post by loa_in_ » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 9:38 PM UTC

RangerScience wrote: post #67

This is amazing. There are other games of this quality and artistry, but IMO no other games with the kind of impact TWOM has. There's something special that happens when you play TWOM that isn't possible in other mediums. It manages to actually create circumstances where you feel like you're making hard choices. IMO, only two other games accomplish something comparable. Portal (as a masterpiece of gaming in every res…

Superluminal - a game with unique mechanic, but the puzzles have an over-arching story that ties psychology with the challenges.

The Talos Principle - a puzzle game that looks promising and it's on my list since after I heard some in game dialogue. Touches on identity.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#122

Post by dllthomas » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 9:43 PM UTC

zaksoup wrote: post #100

caymanjim wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never claimed it didn't happen, and I never claimed my experience was representative of the entire country. I asked a question and relayed an anecdote.

Fair enough. I went to school in a predominantly evangelical suburb in San Diego county. The same parents who staged a national day of prayer on public elementary school grounds were also in a group that sued the district over their morning yoga for children program [0]. Why was it important for you to verify my experience and the details of it and relay an anecdote that was counter to my own anecdote if not to impli…

> Why was it important for you to verify my experience and the details of it and relay an anecdote that was counter to my own anecdote if not to implicitly refute my experience?

Maybe it was an expression of surprise and genuine interest.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#123

Post by elcapitan » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 9:50 PM UTC

jccalhoun wrote: post #101

occamrazor wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Kampf” means “battle” and can also have, like in “Mein Kampf”, the metaphorical meaning of “struggle”. “Krieg” means “war”. E.g. WW2 is Weltkrieg 2, not Weltkampf 2. Having not played TWOM I don’t know which translates would be more appropriate. The GP is however most likely a joke (and not a bad one IMHO).

It about trying to survive in a city in a fictional country during a war (similar to the Yugoslav Wars). So I think that krieg is appropriate but I haven't taken German in nearly 30 years so I'm rusty!

It would be "Mein Krieg", not "Mein Kampf". Source: I'm German.

Also, "Kampf" would be active fighting, and this game is about people who are in the opposite situation and become subjects of violence.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#124

Post by YeGoblynQueenne » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 10:23 PM UTC

To be honest, when I first played This War of Mine, I wanted to throw the controller. The thing is, as your characters' health decreases, becaue they get wounded or the are hungry or sick, etc, they start dragging their feet- literally. They take ages just to go from one room to the next. So play suddendly morphs into long stretches of just pushing a stick (or a button, I guess) to advance at a snail's pace.

I fully appreciate that this is meant to get you into the spirit of the game, but in the end it just ends up breaking immersion completely and makes you wonder what the hell you're doing in your life, pushing virtual people around a virtual house for hours on end.

I gave up on playing the game after a few tries, when I realised this was going on. I picked it up again a few months later and I enjoyed it much more, precisely because for some reason I didn't experience the same slowdown. I don't know if the game changed, possibly I was more aware of the things that could make my characters slow and managed to avoid them- but I'm not 100% sure.

I've had similar experiences with other games. Sunless Sea, forced me to push a virtual boat around a virtual sea in what felt like real time, because it was the game creator's vision that travel should be slow and you should go over the same empty tracts of sea again and again and again and again, always at a teribly slow pace, even with the most expensive engine upgrades. I didn't pick that one up again, after I found out that this was actually a design feature (I think I read an interview with the creator, or some thread in the game's forums on steam?) (edit: I think this was the thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/304650/discussions/0/14832329...).

Merchant of the Skies, that I've been playing a lot recently can also be tedious though, honestly, not that much. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, well I guess that was a walking simulator and it's my fault for playing it for as much as I play it. The list goes on for a bit.

Just, don't take away from my time to live and give me nothing back in return, mkay?

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#125

Post by atq2119 » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 10:31 PM UTC

zanmat0 wrote: post #111

goda90 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a different gameplay experience, but I highly recommend Valiant Hearts for another emotionally stirring experience about people going through war.

Seconded, an absolute masterpiece of a game that was. I would really love to have a save feature in TWoM, I feel like its sorely missing.

Not being able to save is kind of the point though, isn't it? You don't get to save when you're stuck in a bombed out city under siege...

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#126

Post by selimthegrim » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 12:41 AM UTC

grugagag wrote: post #89

q3k wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't like reading books and tend to skip even very important titles That's because the list of mandatory [1] reading in Poland is 90% haphazardly thrown together nationalistic martyrdom bullshit with terrible state-mandated interpretation. I used to _hate_ literary analysis, partly because of the works we were studying and how we were forced to interpret them. Then, years after leaving school I've discovered that…

Yes, same story in every country on the eastern European block which either creates nationalists for the ones who are okay with the material or makes students abhor literature analysis and even literature in general.

Danilo Kiš basically ran headlong into this.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#127

Post by lubujackson » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 1:01 AM UTC

RangerScience wrote: post #67

This is amazing. There are other games of this quality and artistry, but IMO no other games with the kind of impact TWOM has. There's something special that happens when you play TWOM that isn't possible in other mediums. It manages to actually create circumstances where you feel like you're making hard choices. IMO, only two other games accomplish something comparable. Portal (as a masterpiece of gaming in every res…

Papers, Please is my favorite example of how games can teach and inform by putting you in someone else's shoes. Especially because it is so simple and direct.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#128

Post by Minor49er » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 4:05 AM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #96

Minor49er wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bible, Homer's Iliad, and Shakespeare's works are some of the most important ones in Western culture. I wouldn't say they're unapproachable at all. They may be more difficult to read than a modern teen fiction novel, but they contain archetypes and language patterns that were foundational for works that came afterward. Thinking about it now, Beowulf should be added to this list. That's another great way to teach…

Are you sure the inclusion of "The Bible" of which there are actually several has nothing to do with your own personal faith? How do you even go about that without dealing with issues of church and state? Whichever holy book you choose at least 50% of constituents will believe you chose the wrong one. If you teach it as history you will be doing a poor job of history without substantially more sources and discussing…

"Are you sure the inclusion of The Bible ... has nothing to do with your own personal faith?" Yes. Much of Western culture has been deeply rooted in The Bible, from its stories to its values.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#129

Post by mamon » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 11:38 AM UTC

zaksoup wrote: post #26

mamon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the GP, but I think that there are many such titles, that's why schools in Poland have mandatory reading lists :) You cannot understand culture and tradition without reading some classics,starting with Bible, Homer's Illiad, or Shakespeare. And of course in Poland we mostly focus on Polish writers. You know, before journalism was invented novels served pretty much the same purpose as newspaper reports - there are…

Not to start a flame war over book choice but forcing kids to read the Bible, Homer's Iliad, and Shakespeare are probably what is causing such marked disinterest in the first place. There are so many interesting and valuable works of writing, fiction and non-fiction, that can captivate and entertain modern children that aren't unapproachable tomes translated from ancient, dead languages, or written in Iambic Pentamet…

>> Not to start a flame war over book choice but forcing kids to read the Bible, Homer's Iliad, and Shakespeare are probably what is causing such marked disinterest in the first place

In my experience what's causing young people disintrest in reading is that noone teaches the physical skill of reading correctly.

I mean, I never really took any speed-reading courses, but still, when I take a test my speed is usually 400-500 wpm. I read somewhere that typical high school student reads about 100-120 wpm. If I were to read a lenghty book, like any of Dickens of Tolstoy works at that speed I would probably also give up very quickly.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#130

Post by mamon » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 11:44 AM UTC

ceceron wrote: post #117

michaelmrose wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure the inclusion of "The Bible" of which there are actually several has nothing to do with your own personal faith? How do you even go about that without dealing with issues of church and state? Whichever holy book you choose at least 50% of constituents will believe you chose the wrong one. If you teach it as history you will be doing a poor job of history without substantially more sources and discussing…

You can always analyze Bible as any other book. In Poland (which is mainly catholic) I've read Bible in school only: 1) to compare the description of biblical creation with the greek mythology (just comparative analysis, without implying the creationism, rather otherwise) 2) next to some famous poem based on the biblical story to understand what is the poem about. I'm always surprised that any school would teach crea…

I would also add 3) analysing the Bible as the source of many literaly genres.