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More entertainment, but with less violence?
UncleChet
N00bLancaster, PARegistered User regular
N00bLancaster, PARegistered User regular
Good evening. Not sure if I should point this here or over to D&D. I'm feeling violence overload. In almost every form of media that I consume. TV, Games, Comics, Movies. I'm just FULL. I simply feel like my brain and my sensibilities are being overwhelmed daily with the evils that we as a people do to one another. I can't watch the news, network TV is pretty much a no go. Just about every video game I own (minus maybe Ni-No Kuni, which, while it has "battles" it's not, to me, very violent.
Outside of food TV and well, I'm not sure what else. What can I do to get some "fun" going on? I own Wii U, PS3 and a pretty good gaming PC with all the tools that a gaming PC requires. I have an SOE gamer pass, I have about 200 or so steam games, but I just can't find contentment.
Outside of food TV and well, I'm not sure what else. What can I do to get some "fun" going on? I own Wii U, PS3 and a pretty good gaming PC with all the tools that a gaming PC requires. I have an SOE gamer pass, I have about 200 or so steam games, but I just can't find contentment.
I'm sometimes grumpy and random, feel free to overlook the strange man in the corner.
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I find much of what is out there on TV to be complete garbage, so I watch very little. For me it's not just violence that I don't want to see, but also shows that revolve around people being relentlessly miserable or just plain dicks to each other, which eliminates most reality TV as well. One of the two shows I do watch is Switched at Birth, which is dramatic but pretty nonviolent. I guess it's kind of a teen drama thing, but I find ASL and the overarching issues present in it interesting, and I make no apologies for enjoying it. I found it on Netflix, and the new season just started recently so much of it may still be available on ABC's website if it were to turn out that that's your thing.
One of the puzzle games I got recently is Botanicula, which is adorable and fairly peaceful.
But let's start at the beginning instead of the end: what do you find "fun?"
Everything at http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/ is pretty amazing. Also, what about Journey or Flower for the PS3?
Ceres, What is ASL? We watch a bit of TV, but mostly things DVR'd like old series, and of course, Adventure Time.
I could also i guess get back in to things like Plants Vs Zombies. I'm a big MMO player, but Meh, I'm really falling out of fashion w/those these days.
I guess I really broke my brain picking up a copy of COD blops 2. Man, those first 4 minutes were just gore.
I really like PVZ.. there are some really fun tower defense games out there, and that is definitely one of them. I beat the whole game years ago, but someone recently gifted me a steam copy with achievements so I've been going through and trying to get those.
As for PC, I just finished Antichamber, it's quite good. I wouldn't say it's too terribly hard. I also liked Defense Grid.
edit: Which isn't to say it's not a great show. Just if the idea is not to think about people killing each other for a while, murder mysteries aren't great for that.
+1 to all of the above. After Fallout 3 I burned out on most ultra-violent entertainment and moved to on better things. And in the long run I feel like I accomplish a lot more. Because if you think about it, all those “achievements” in video games are intended to be knocked out by kids sitting on the couch, so they’re not really much of an achievement.
Can't recommend Botanicula enough. It's distilled joy and one of my top three games of 2012. And there's a browser demo.
Nifflas' games are good, too. Each game is some combination of exploratory platformer and puzzle platformer, though they're all extremely atmospheric and relaxing with low time investments. Within a Deep Forest (kinda hard), Knytt, Knytt Stories, and The Great Work are all free. NightSky, Saira, and Knytt Underground are paid, but there are demos on the site.
Have you tried Parks & Recreation? The first season was alright, but Season 2 had a tone shift that made it excellent. Every main character is a good person at heart (even if they sometimes act with selfish motives) and it's my feel-good show of choice. I leave almost every episode with a big, stupid smile on my face.
If you like Adventure Time, check out Gravity Falls on the Disney Channel. It's suitable for children while still being really entertaining for adults.
And ever since I quit WoW I have so much more time to spend with you guys.
Quantum Conundrum comes to my head immediately. In fact i'd really suggest taking a look into the Steam library. There are a lot of games that are off of the trodden path of violence and explosions that are released there.
read books
or even just watch non-violent (read: most) movies
Video games are a medium in its infancy and most video games are pretty infantile. Luckily you can entertain yourself with more mature stuff instead of feeling forced to find nonviolent games.
but whatever, some random fun nonviolent VIDEO GAMES all available for free, on Steam, or on GOG.com (with a few exceptions):
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
Analogue: A Hate Story
Many (most?) Twine games
Digital: A Love Story
Mainichi
Cart Life
Slave of God
Hotline Miami (j/k)
Perspective
Proteus
Thomas Was Alone
Kentucky Route Zero
Dear Esther
Sim City
The Sims
The Stanley Parable
To the Moon
Audiosurf
Chime
Cogs
SpaceChem
1000 Amps
But basically just check out Live Free Play Hard each week. That usually has more non-violent games than it does violent games.
Granted, most of the results tend toward the gruesome end, so that may be a turn off. The best part is that they keep the inter-character drama to an absolute minimum. There's maybe 5 minutes of camera time in the house (everyone sitting around moping about whoever lost last time), the rest is devoted to showing the artists sculpt, cast, paint and apply their makeup prosthetics. Maybe 10 minutes of the judges reviewing the creations and then declaring the winner and loser of the round.
Top Gear (the British version) is entertaining. There is some dickishness between the hosts, but it has the feeling of good-natured joking between long time friends. The US version of the show is getting there, but it's still got a way to go before it stops feeling so scripted.
If you like Psych, you may also want to look into Monk. It's similar, except that the almost supernaturally observant detective is massively OCD with every phobia in the book, (and probably a few that aren't in the book), where as in Psych the ASOD is pretending to be psychic. Monk's cases do tend more toward the violent end of the spectrum. Both of them play pretty heavily off of the Sherlock Holmes formula, but they tend to keep it a bit lighter.
Really, if you can't stand anything on TV, it may be best to get a quality bike and just go riding for an hour or two instead of watching TV. Bring along a book and find a park and read for a while when you get there.
How inherently offended are you by the concept of magical pastel-colored ponies learning lessons about friendship?
I love psychonauts! There's violence in the sense that you punch things, but not in the sense that there's blood and guts and murder and darkness. Its just a really really fun game where you run around inside a crazy psychic world.
Also, PUZZLE AGENT. So good, so fun. I like it a lot more than professor layton because I think the game is zanier and the puzzles are more fun to solve. I felt like professor layton was just puzzle after puzzle after puzzle and they're so fucking hard augh but in puzzle agent I felt like even the puzzles were zany and weird and not scary
I'm a mega fan of telltale, so I think Monkey Island or Sam and Max are always awesome. Might want to stay away from the walking dead though
Basically I think puzzle games and action adventure types will be your best bet (which is lucky, cuz those are the best kinds of games =3)
There's also a game on steam which I haven't played but looks ADORABLE called triple town. I dunno if adorable things call out to you and you just can't resist them, like I can't
For example, Starcraft 2 could be considered a violent game by some standards, but has very little gore and has options to disable what gore it does have.
I'm informed that Big Bang Theory is also good, but I haven't watched it personally.
As for games, immediate recommendation for Sim City 4. Mellow city building game that rewards you for being a good mayor, with a brilliant soundtrack.
You were horribly misinformed.
If you want an amazing couple days of webcomic reading, look into Achewood. Some of the most brilliant comic writing I've seen in ages. Starts off a little rough, but eventually becomes something else entirely.
Something sorta like Parks & Recreation, Portlandia, pretty funny show. I watched most of season 1 and the first episode of season 2 and I've enjoyed what I've seen of it.
Portlandia isn't that funny...but take this with a grain of salt, because I live in Portland, and most of the jokes are either false or so overblown as to be not funny
They did one really good gag, which was the "Stick a bird on it", and basically everything else has been "Huh? Have these people ever been to Portland?".
The best one is when they're trying to make a sign for the timbers game
Although a great comedy which I think far outstrips big bang theory would be IT Crowd, it can be pretty understated in its british way but I'm a big fan. I've also been meaning to watch the Mighty Boosh which I've heard is funny
I disagree with the relentlessly miserable part. It's not 100% happy, but it doesn't beat you over the head with hopelessness.
Season 1 & 2
Azumanga Daioh, a cute anime about female friends in Japanese highschool.
ROFL, I'm acquainted with the brony concept, but am not one m'self. Sorry still reading the thread but this comment demanded attention
We (my partner actually) watches both downton abbey And upstairs/downstairs on netflix. Me, I find nothing but misery in it.
As for some of the mentions, Wow, there's a Lot of books to catch up on. I have a nexus 7/kindle app but most books I own are like star wars etc.
I Did pick SC2 back up and I'm trudging through the campaign of it, simply because it lets me exercise my mind a little. I Do have to admit to the fact that my abhorrence with violence in the wide world currently is only exacerbated by my OCD which, due to my Other issues, has to go un-medicated. It seems I can't even listen to NPR on the way home from work w/out them playing 911 tapes of gun range shootings and allowing for no preceding announcement.
This thread has Lots of great stuff in it though, and I'm going to be dipping in to it frequently as my whims change to try to get the best of the best out of it.
Thanks ya'all!
Aaaaand there goes my only suggestion. Well, I double-suggest Journey. Its short, but amazing.
You haven't seen this season yet, have you? I have experience with ONLY this season because I've overheard my mom watching a few episodes, and I can tell you that on some of these points