Comments on: Onion Headline Syndrome

By: Skirmish Density | Kill Ten Rats

Skirmish Density | Kill Ten Rats — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:44:07 +0000

[...] from the fun little bites of play. Finally, I think I have found a good middle ground. Zubon is right, in part. Onion Headline Syndrome can definitely be experienced by attributing skirmishes to what [...]

By: moondog548

moondog548 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:30:35 +0000

I’d say doing skirms over is more like going back to the Onion the next day to read the next batch of headlines rather than reading out the whole article. Bite-sized carnage ftw. They get exponentially more zany with other folks too.

By: Zar

Zar — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:49:04 +0000

On the flip side, people read the Enquirer, Globe, Sun and other weekly rags just to figure out how they came to the conclusion on the headlines. Proof yet again that balance (Yin/Yang) exists in the universe. “Scientific proof and pictures of the Yeti in this weeks issue” (Scientists have been unable to prove that Yeti’s do not actually exist and we have a picture of what an artist’s rendering of a Yeti showing might actually look like)

By: yunk

yunk — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:28:29 +0000

I don’t watch Smallville, really. It’s not on my DVR or anything.

By: Ravious

Ravious — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:20:04 +0000

Great analogy!

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:17:31 +0000

I completely agree on the onion reference and I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with things like skirmishes and torchlight. But I would argue that at least the act of killing things in Borderlands is actually fun and no different to any other fps. The problem that a lot of MMOs face is that the basic fight mechanics are boring so the only way to drive players onward is by rewarding them with goodies for doing the boring ‘click on enemy and AFK kill them’ scenario 1000 times.
I’ve been doing the same thing in fps’s since Doom but on a basic combat level it still hasn’t got boring – borderlands manages to wrap up that gameplay with a nice psuedo-MMO layer metagame.

By: Zubon

Zubon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:53:05 +0000

This is what brought me to the topic, although at the last minute it turns out not to be an example. I think it has a great opening:

In the comic book that [Human Target] is ostensibly based on, Christopher Chance isn't just a bodyguard, he's a master of disguise who protects people by actually assuming their identity and luring their would-be killers into striking so he can spring a trap. It's an aspect of the character that [the writers] used to explore complex themes of identity, loss of self and betrayal in the incredible (and extremely underrated) Vertigo run... ...stripping away the theme that defined the character in the comics ... begs the question as to why they took the name at all. Sure, it's a great title, but does a Vertigo series that was canceled for low sales really have the name recognition that brings in viewers?

and then goes into mock examples of in name only comic book shows. The examples are okay, but you get the joke well before reading them all. And then the last one is a home run.