Kosmonaut said:
Chefe said:
That's impossible as they don't speak, express no emotions, and have no other actions besides succumbing to gravity.
Just like Gordon Freeman and Cloud. The only one that defies gravity is Cloud's hair.
Cloud? Cloud won't shut up. He's one of the most emotional characters ever.
Gordon shoots things and he's a scientist or something.
Tetris blocks fall. Occasionally they are turned in one of four directions to interlock with identical blocks. There is no way those stupid little things are more interesting than actual characters like Gordon and Cloud.
Unless...
The tetris block could represent the oppression of communism. Each block is a citizen, virtually indistinct from one another in any way except their jobs, expressed in how they fall and where they fit into the communist world. They may have different colorings, but they are all the same. The player takes the form of the government, placing each citizen by force into their designated roles. When the government screws up, it is the citizens who pay the price through death (screen wipe), while the government continues on with a new batch of job slaves. When the citizen fulfills its role with its fellows (creates a solid line) it dies and is eliminated - forgotten forever except through its contribution to the economy (the total score). As each block falls and is manipulated, you can feel their anguish and their despair. They are utterly hopeless and their lot in life is fixed from birth (the little box on the right hand side that tells you what's coming next).
You look at the top row. You need one of those short T blocks. However, a Z block is dispensed from the Tetris orphanage. That Z block is not meant for that hole, but there is no other citizen available, and so he must suffer in an uncomfortable position because the player (the communist government, remember) says he must fulfill that job. That position is where he will stay until death. Whether that death comes from old age (line is cleared) or a government meltdown (game over) is irrelevant. The end result is the same. He will either be derided for not fitting into the hole or he will be forgotten.
You look at that block in that uncomfortable position. There is nothing that can be done. You can feel his pain of having to hold up so much. He seems to long for the sweet release of death. But you, you have a way of looking at him as a troublemaker. He is sitting there and messing up the playing field. You put him there but you still blame him for the failures of your government. You look for the quickest way to put him down, to snuff him out. And that is how all citizens are viewed by communist dictatorships.
Such is the lot in life of the Tetris block.
I think I see what you guys were talking about. I'm sorry. I had no idea. To deny these blocks the rights of characters is to deny them humanity itself. So much do we owe the Tetris blocks, and so much do they give. A character who's emotion is forced shut by oppression is still a character. Perhaps... perhaps that character is deeper than those who wear their hearts on their sleeves.
