Forums > MobyGames > Games with Humor
Indra was here (20755) on 5/31/2008 8:01 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
or something like that. I really want a game group with this theme, since bumping it up to a sub-genre is to difficult (already been discussed). Too lazy to come up with a tentative description and limitations right...unless some can propose something and I'll work on that...
Version 1.1
Games that explicitely use comedy or humor as an integral part and as a major element within the gameplay.
Comedy or humor for the purposes of this game group shall be defined as:
[note: need definition of comedy here]
To qualify for this game group, the spesified game must:
- Contains comedy and humor in explicitely almost all parts of the gameplay. Gameplay in this regard may refer to dialogs, animations, combat sequences, or other elements common practice in gameplay.
- Troubleshooting: If it is unclear or debatable whether or not a game should go in this game group, then it should not.
Reasoning: A game with humor/comedy, must beyond reasonable doubt be identifiable as such.
Limitations:
- Games with some or minor form of comedy/humor which does not represent the majority of the gameplay should be excluded from this game group.
Some examples are: [pending] - Games identified by the developer or publisher to be intended or promoted as comedy/humor, but does not "deliver" in accordance to above: "represent the majority of the gameplay" should not be used as a consideration.
Some examples are:Keef the Thief .
Proposed games:
Monkey Island 1.
Changelog: (ordering from recent to earlier changes)
Depeche Mike (17455) on 5/31/2008 9:26 PM · Permalink · Report
Humor is too obtuse a description...intentional? unintentional? I've thought about this too but I always think of games that I find funny that others may not and vice versa...
DJP Mom (11333) on 5/31/2008 9:32 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Depeche Mike Isguder wrote--]Humor is too obtuse a description... [/Q --end Depeche Mike Isguder wrote--] :) I think you might mean obscure, Mike. That is the biggest sticking point, though - is there such a thing as a game that is universally seen as funny? Or would the definition have to go with whether the developer intended it to be humorous? What about games that are unintentionally so (Zero Wing?)? This thread about it just kind of fizzled out...
Edit - a wonderful quote from WildKard in that thread: "One goal of imagination is to irritate librarians as they attempt to categorize it." LOL!
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/1/2008 2:26 AM · Permalink · Report
I think it's much easier if we say "comedy".
Mobygamesisreanimated (11069) on 6/1/2008 8:25 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Игги Друге wrote--]I think it's much easier if we say "comedy". [/Q --end Игги Друге wrote--] I agree, and I don't think it would be much of a problem to decide which games belonged into this group. It's not about what anyone personally thinks is funny. It should be handled in a similar way as films. However, I already said that in the last thread and it went nowhere, as usual.
tarmo888 (5258) on 6/1/2008 8:30 AM · Permalink · Report
we don't have to find a consensus if game is funny or not.
we just need to categorize which games include black humor, sarcastic humor, political humor, irony, parody, running gags, wordplay, and so on...
and make groups like
* Humor: Black
* Humor: Parody
* Humor: Wordplay
...
Mobygamesisreanimated (11069) on 6/1/2008 8:53 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start tarmo888 wrote--]we don't have to find a consensus if game is funny or not.
we just need to categorize which games include black humor, sarcastic humor, political humor, irony, parody, running gags, wordplay, and so on...
and make groups like
* Humor: Black
* Humor: Parody
* Humor: Wordplay
...
[/Q --end tarmo888 wrote--]
Or we simply decide whether it's meant to be funny at all and put it in the "comedy" group.
Shoddyan (15004) on 6/4/2008 5:43 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start tarmo888 wrote--]we don't have to find a consensus if game is funny or not.
we just need to categorize which games include black humor, sarcastic humor, political humor, irony, parody, running gags, wordplay, and so on...
and make groups like
* Humor: Black
* Humor: Parody
* Humor: Wordplay
...
[/Q --end tarmo888 wrote--]
Humour: Ragdoll Physics
Humour: Funny looking monsters
Humour: Translations
Humour: Voice Acting
*Humour: Every problem solved with Violence
...
Depeche Mike (17455) on 6/2/2008 3:52 AM · Permalink · Report
I meant obtuse
St. Martyne (3648) on 6/1/2008 5:17 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Indra Depari of the Clan Depari wrote--]or something like that. I really want a game group with this theme, since bumping it up to a sub-genre is to difficult (already been discussed). Too lazy to come up with a tentative description and limitations right...unless some can propose something and I'll work on that... [/Q --end Indra Depari of the Clan Depari wrote--]
The biggest problem I see is that there is a huge amount of kiddy games. Do we label all of them as "comedy"? If we don't, than we have to come up with a pretty neat description to separate, say, Psychonauts, which is not a kiddy game, but obviously a comedy, from the platformers present on the N64.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 6/1/2008 9:44 AM · Permalink · Report
I remember seeing you hashing this out at excoriating length in the wiki and thinking that you'd gone off your rocker. No one needs a games database sorted to separate the sarcastic games from the ironic ones. Programmers often throw weird humour in to their games just to add some levity to the draining process of writing it! It's hilarious when you click on sheep in Warcraft until they explode, but that doesn't make the game a comedy.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 6/1/2008 12:51 PM · Permalink · Report
I think if a game is overtly putting humor into a game, like Leisure Suit Larry or Secret of Monkey Island, it should have a "comedy" descriptor.
Alaka (106107) on 6/1/2008 3:47 PM · Permalink · Report
The problem with adding comedy is that it neither deals with gameplay (ex. action) or setting (ex. sci-fi). It would be akin to adding romance, which would then contain any game with a gung-ho protagonist out to rescue his beloved princess. Sorry for restating the obvious.:)
Comedy in games should be limited to how the dialogue in a game is written. If you start expanding from that you can start judging a lot of games as a comedy. For instance, Super Mario Bros. - a plumber eating mushrooms and stomping on turtles is kind of funny in an absurd situation type of way, if you get what I'm saying.
I'll have to think on this some more. :)
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/2/2008 12:42 AM · Permalink · Report
Just as movies with an action hero saving a girl is not a romantic movie, a game with a plumber eating mushrooms is not necessarily a comedy, however absurd it may seem to some in the audience.
Alaka (106107) on 6/2/2008 6:04 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Игги Друге wrote--]Just as movies with an action hero saving a girl is not a romantic movie, a game with a plumber eating mushrooms is not necessarily a comedy, however absurd it may seem to some in the audience. [/Q --end Игги Друге wrote--]
But if the action hero is saving a girl because he has an affection for her, why is that also not romance? Movies can combine genres also...take the newly released movie Sex and the City. I've seen it being labeled as a romcom aka a romantic comedy.
I understand what your saying about super mario bros. and it is a good point. But my point is you could technically label it a comedy game because the situation being presented can be found humorous.
I just suggest judging a game for its humor content by its written/spoken dialogue as it will for the most part be easier to tell if the game was made for laughs or not. Of course, I'm sure there are probably flaws in my reasoning so please continue on with the discussion. I just wanted to throw in my opinion. dang, this is a tough one to figure out. :)
chirinea (47495) on 6/2/2008 6:44 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start ALAKA wrote--]I just suggest judging a game for its humor content by its written/spoken dialogue as it will for the most part be easier to tell if the game was made for laughs or not. [/Q --end ALAKA wrote--] Well, lots (if not most or maybe all) games with dialogs, even the most serious ones, have a joke here or there. Are we supposed to consider those part of the group?
tarmo888 (5258) on 6/2/2008 7:00 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start chirinea wrote--] [Q2 --start ALAKA wrote--]I just suggest judging a game for its humor content by its written/spoken dialogue as it will for the most part be easier to tell if the game was made for laughs or not. [/Q2 --end ALAKA wrote--] Well, lots (if not most or maybe all) games with dialogs, even the most serious ones, have a joke here or there. Are we supposed to consider those part of the group? [/Q --end chirinea wrote--] yes, dialogue.
yes, but not into one big general comedy group, into specific comedy type/genre group.
Alaka (106107) on 6/2/2008 7:25 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start chirinea wrote--] [Q2 --start ALAKA wrote--]I just suggest judging a game for its humor content by its written/spoken dialogue as it will for the most part be easier to tell if the game was made for laughs or not. [/Q2 --end ALAKA wrote--] Well, lots (if not most or maybe all) games with dialogs, even the most serious ones, have a joke here or there. Are we supposed to consider those part of the group? [/Q --end chirinea wrote--]
That is a good question. My feeling is if there were to be a comedy modifier or group it would have a description like: These games contain what is meant to be humorous dialogue/situations throughout the breadth of the entire game. Thus eliminating games that aren't meant to be comedies even though they may contain a joke or two.
tarmo888 (5258) on 6/2/2008 8:30 PM · Permalink · Report
example (based on movies): lets say we have to games "Mars Attacks!" and "Scary Movie", they both have parody and black humor in them, but we allow them to have one humor group by primary theme, so "Mars Attacks!" will get "Humor: Black" and "Scary Movie" will get "Humor: Parody"
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/2/2008 6:52 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start ALAKA wrote--] [Q2 --start Игги Друге wrote--]Just as movies with an action hero saving a girl is not a romantic movie, a game with a plumber eating mushrooms is not necessarily a comedy, however absurd it may seem to some in the audience. [/Q2 --end Игги Друге wrote--] But if the action hero is saving a girl because he has an affection for her, why is that also not romance? Movies can combine genres also...take the newly released movie Sex and the City. I've seen it being labeled as a romcom aka a romantic comedy. [/Q --end ALAKA wrote--] And you have a problem with that? If movies can handle that classification, so can games.
Alaka (106107) on 6/2/2008 7:35 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Игги Друге wrote--] [Q2 --start ALAKA wrote--] [Q3 --start Игги Друге wrote--]Just as movies with an action hero saving a girl is not a romantic movie, a game with a plumber eating mushrooms is not necessarily a comedy, however absurd it may seem to some in the audience. [/Q3 --end Игги Друге wrote--] But if the action hero is saving a girl because he has an affection for her, why is that also not romance? Movies can combine genres also...take the newly released movie Sex and the City. I've seen it being labeled as a romcom aka a romantic comedy. [/Q2 --end ALAKA wrote--] And you have a problem with that? If movies can handle that classification, so can games. [/Q --end Игги Друге wrote--]
I see what you are saying, I think. I actually agree with the stance that games can be both genres at the same time, like action and comedy, but as you see action is defined by gameplay and I think that comedy should be defined by the dialogue contained within the game.
I think the main contention with what I think is that if the game contains any sort of humor at all it should be labeled a comedy but I tend to disagree with this point. For example, just because a drama movie throws in a joke or two throughout an hour a half movie doesn't make it a comedy drama movie. A comedy drama movie would contain elements of both comedy and drama throughout the entire movie. I hope this helped clear up my points for you. :)
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/2/2008 10:06 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start ALAKA wrote--] [Q2 --start Игги Друге wrote--] [Q3 --start ALAKA wrote--] [Q4 --start Игги Друге wrote--]Just as movies with an action hero saving a girl is not a romantic movie, a game with a plumber eating mushrooms is not necessarily a comedy, however absurd it may seem to some in the audience. [/Q4 --end Игги Друге wrote--] But if the action hero is saving a girl because he has an affection for her, why is that also not romance? Movies can combine genres also...take the newly released movie Sex and the City. I've seen it being labeled as a romcom aka a romantic comedy. [/Q3 --end ALAKA wrote--] And you have a problem with that? If movies can handle that classification, so can games. [/Q2 --end Игги Друге wrote--] I see what you are saying, I think. I actually agree with the stance that games can be both genres at the same time, like action and comedy, but as you see action is defined by gameplay and I think that comedy should be defined by the dialogue contained within the game. [/Q --end ALAKA wrote--] There is no dialogue in Wizball, but it's apparent to anyone that it's a comedy game.
[Q --start ALAKA wrote--]I think the main contention with what I think is that if the game contains any sort of humor at all it should be labeled a comedy but I tend to disagree with this point. For example, just because a drama movie throws in a joke or two throughout an hour a half movie doesn't make it a comedy drama movie. A comedy drama movie would contain elements of both comedy and drama throughout the entire movie. I hope this helped clear up my points for you. :) [/Q --end ALAKA wrote--] I didn't think anyone would need to have this explained.
tarmo888 (5258) on 6/2/2008 11:06 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Игги Друге wrote--] There is no dialogue in Wizball, but it's apparent to anyone that it's a comedy game. [/Q --end Игги Друге wrote--]
ok, dialogue is a conversation between two or more persons. does Wizball contain any humorous narration? i couldn't find any hints of humor by just reading that short description.
just a simple reason why MobyGames needs humor groups - if i am a new visitor of MobyGames and i haven't heard about Wizball being a comedy game, how should i find that game?
Alaka (106107) on 6/3/2008 4:40 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Игги Друге wrote--] [Q2 --start ALAKA wrote--] [Q3 --start Игги Друге wrote--] [Q4 --start ALAKA wrote--] [Q5 --start Игги Друге wrote--]Just as movies with an action hero saving a girl is not a romantic movie, a game with a plumber eating mushrooms is not necessarily a comedy, however absurd it may seem to some in the audience. [/Q5 --end Игги Друге wrote--] But if the action hero is saving a girl because he has an affection for her, why is that also not romance? Movies can combine genres also...take the newly released movie Sex and the City. I've seen it being labeled as a romcom aka a romantic comedy. [/Q4 --end ALAKA wrote--] And you have a problem with that? If movies can handle that classification, so can games. [/Q3 --end Игги Друге wrote--] I see what you are saying, I think. I actually agree with the stance that games can be both genres at the same time, like action and comedy, but as you see action is defined by gameplay and I think that comedy should be defined by the dialogue contained within the game. [/Q2 --end ALAKA wrote--] There is no dialogue in Wizball, but it's apparent to anyone that it's a comedy game. [Q2 --start ALAKA wrote--]I think the main contention with what I think is that if the game contains any sort of humor at all it should be labeled a comedy but I tend to disagree with this point. For example, just because a drama movie throws in a joke or two throughout an hour a half movie doesn't make it a comedy drama movie. A comedy drama movie would contain elements of both comedy and drama throughout the entire movie. I hope this helped clear up my points for you. :) [/Q2 --end ALAKA wrote--] I didn't think anyone would need to have this explained. [/Q --end Игги Друге wrote--]
I unfortunately never had the pleasure(or displeasure if the game sucks) of playing Wizball. Could you please tell me what elements of that game makes it a clearly evident comedy game since you say it lacks dialogue.
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/3/2008 5:06 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start ALAKA wrote--]
I unfortunately never had the pleasure(or displeasure if the game sucks) of playing Wizball. Could you please tell me what elements of that game makes it a clearly evident comedy game since you say it lacks dialogue.
[/Q --end ALAKA wrote--]
I may be confusing it with its follow-up
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 6/3/2008 8:50 PM · Permalink · Report
I may be confusing it with its follow-up , but it features toilet humour and purely nonsensical puzzles.
So something like Nelda Nockbladder or pretty much near any Jeff Minter title would qualify as humourous solely on account of their intense strangeness?
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/4/2008 1:05 AM · Permalink · Report
I'm a bit uncertain about the intergalactic llamas.
Shoddyan (15004) on 6/4/2008 5:50 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Игги Друге wrote--]
[Q2 --start ALAKA wrote--]
I unfortunately never had the pleasure(or displeasure if the game sucks) of playing Wizball. Could you please tell me what elements of that game makes it a clearly evident comedy game since you say it lacks dialogue.
[/Q2 --end ALAKA wrote--]
I may be confusing it with its follow-up
Cathair-Moustache puzzles count as comedy?
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/4/2008 8:45 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start WildKard wrote--]
[Q2 --start Игги Друге wrote--]
I may be confusing it with its follow-up
Shoddyan (15004) on 6/4/2008 5:48 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]I remember seeing you hashing this out at excoriating length in the wiki and thinking that you'd gone off your rocker. No one needs a games database sorted to separate the sarcastic games from the ironic ones. Programmers often throw weird humour in to their games just to add some levity to the draining process of writing it! It's hilarious when you click on sheep in Warcraft until they explode, but that doesn't make the game a comedy. [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]
Baa-Ram-Ewe
Blizzard's always been good at making me laugh. Obviously you have Warcraft/Starcraft where crazily clicking units results in some false voice clips (not to mention the disco track in WC2: BtDP and the Metal track in WC3: TFT), there's also a whole lot of cow nonsense hidden away in Diablo. In World of Warcraft, there's enough quests have objectives or descriptions that take you through some some pretty silly stuff. Pretty much anything that invokes the /dance command is silly, including several monsters. And even the Lost Vikings used to make me laugh, since they start talking amongst themselves about all kinds of profound topics when you've retried a level often enough.
Not a single one of those is officially a comedy. But I've had a lot more laughs with them than playing Simon the Sorcerer and in fact, if you take away all those games' SERIOUS content, you'd probably end up with something in the style of Simon.
Indra was here (20755) on 6/2/2008 8:37 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Added draft description (verson 1.0). Trash at will.
See original post at start of thread. All changes to description will be made there.
Indra was here (20755) on 6/4/2008 5:31 PM · Permalink · Report
As there is no input, I guess this means this group will be pending indefinitely.