HALO HERO’S JOURNEY
Does the story behind Halo matter to gamers?Published 2007 on MSN, http://halo.msn.com/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=5558090
The Halo Hero’s JourneyDoes the story behind Halo matter to gamers?
By Char Easter
We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us — the labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path. … — Joseph Campbell At midnight on September 25, 2007, Halo 3 was released to its eagerly awaiting fans, who spent over $170 million buying copies the first day. I talked to some of the fans in line at the Midnight Madness event in New York City’s Times Square, attended by celebrity rappers, sports stars and a Halo-branded Hummer. But behind the event’s glitzy, star-studded surface and sales stats that caused spikes in the stock market, a humble gamer believes. Halo is a war game with bleeding-edge realism and detail. The gameplay is single-focused — kill the enemy and obtain the weaponry and vehicles that best facilitate that goal. When you are armed with an endless supply of guns, a tribal soundtrack and aliens shooting at you, the survival instinct takes care of any nonviolent ideals you may have had, and you find yourself relishing the kill. So is that it? Shooting? I assumed it was, until a single fan standing in the Best Buy lobby showed me that the role of Halo is of a much higher order. William (XLordRevanX), 17, stood wide-eyed amid the chaos of the press and celebrities of the Halo 3 launch in Times Square. He had taken the train with his mother, Cathy, from their home on Long Island. I asked William if he would like to meet any of the Bungie staff, pointing out Frank O’Connor, Bungie’s writing lead. Bungie is the game developer behind Halo, and if you don’t go to Bungie.net on a daily basis, you probably don’t play Halo. Both William and his mother said meeting Frank was the highlight of their year. It was obvious that Frank was as much of a hero to William as the hero mythology Frank helped craft in Halo. William pulled a Halo graphic novel out of his pack for Frank to autograph, which was my first clue that the Halo story itself is a significant force in the Halo phenomenon. The “Halo universe,” as coined by Xbox, has the cult appeal that “Star Wars” inspired. William represents this culture as co-founder of a group dedicated to Halo and sci-fi topics such as “Star Wars.” Like “Star Wars,” Halo depicts the classic mythological story arc, with humans fighting against their oppressors. In “Star Wars” the oppressor was the dark side of the force, the machine or the system. In Halo it is aliens who threaten humanity, and according to mythologist Joseph Campbell, humanity is the heart. Halo’s mythical hero gives humanity hope. But unlike most stories where the audience identifies with the hero, in Halo, every player is Master Chief, who fights in a series of mythic battles against the aliens. Master Chief is a faceless soldier in uniform: Petty Officer John-117. He is the everyday guy who made a difference, who inspired a race to “Finish the Fight.” Campbell believed that myths deal with the transformation of consciousness via trials and revelations. The stories express a truth that can’t be expressed with words and capture our hearts because they are about an invisible plane supporting the visible. The Halo game satisfies Campbell’s reference to “trials and revelations.” But the Halo videos use his idea of the invisible plane — aka “the force” in “Star Wars” — as a major theme. In a play on reality, actors playing war veterans reflect back on the Halo battles and how Master Chief kept them going against all odds. One of the videos literally translates that theme in its title, “Believe.” “Myths are the edge, the interface between what can be known and what isn’t,” said Campbell. To make his point, he recalled the famous “Star Wars” scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi reminded Luke Skywalker, “Use the force, Luke” and how it inspired theater audiences to break out in applause. Campbell said those experiences showed that “this thing [myth] communicates. It’s in a language that is talking to young people today.” According to Campbell, the hero’s journey is a fundamental experience everyone has to undergo. Is the Halo story a modern manifestation of that classic myth? Here are a few testimonials from the gamers I met at the launch event. They tell it best. Kyle (in line at the event):I’ve followed the story since Halo 1. It was really awesome to follow through with what was going on inside the game. At the time I finished the first story, I wanted more. A friend of mine soon told me about the Halo books that were out at that time. So of course I went and picked them up. The first one, “The Fall of Reach,” was more of a prequel, [showing] how the Master Chief had started his Spartan life and other missions that the Spartan II Project dealt with. I was entranced into the story. Then there was the second book, “The Flood,” which was the whole first game, plus more in text form. It was really nice to read it, as I had visuals already in my head. Unfortunately for the last book, “First Strike,” I had started to read it, but midway I somehow lost it. But it had already detailed what was going on and gave a good picture of how the last game was going to be played. That was really the only way, other than playing the games, that I followed the story. I never traveled to Web sites or forums to see how other people depicted it. I liked to have my own standing on a subject and for it to not be contested or changed. Jason Moore (in line at the event):Well, I’ve played the first two games, so I had a basic grasp on the story line. Later, however (as in today), I was pointed towards a very informative thread on the official Xbox forums that laid out the history of the Halo universe really well [http://forums.xbox.com/14748829/ShowPost.aspx]. I’m the type of gamer that hops right into a campaign or story mode before ever getting into the multiplayer aspect of a game, so I really appreciated the lengthy exposition. Even if a game has great multiplayer features, but a weak single-player experience, it pretty much hurts the game’s overall “score” or rating in my eyes. I was very surprised after reading to find such a rich universe in the Halo series. Halo 3 is a great game, but where the story is concerned, it pretty much expects you to know what happened. But for some people, all they care for is killing aliens and skipping cut scenes. Charles Lowell, CEO, GameOn Leagues, http://gameonleagues.comI’m the dork who always carefully reads the manual, especially the backstory, prior to engaging in any actual gameplay. Of course, most other gamers with just a fraction more of a life than me will immediately rip open the packaging, pop the DVD in the tray and start fragging away. But hey, I’ve always been like that. The story has always been an integral part of the game experience for me. It comes down to this: While I enjoy simulated violence just as much as the next guy, it’s never been enough for me to run around killing people and aliens at random. I have to know why I’m doing it, and the Halo story arc provides ample motivation for me to keep doing it again and again and again. There are two things about the Halo story that set it apart from other FPS games. The first is Master Chief, who is, quite simply, a badass (it’s always nice to be in the role of a laconic-witted badass). But the real hook for me was the Flood. It might be my propensity for zombies in general, but the Flood really struck me as something special: hyper-powerful, hyper-aggressive zombies with a truly shocking appearance. They gave me nightmares for weeks. It was like Tetris syndrome where you see geometric shapes falling behind your lids every time you close your eyes, except instead of squares and L-shaped blocks, you see hideous Flood zombies leaping out at you from the darkness. Looking back, I was so horrified, so revolted, that I felt the need to know more about them. I needed to know where they came from, and about their repulsive life cycle, as if somehow that knowledge might give me power over an enemy before whom I felt so vulnerable. If I’m honest, it was to learn their story that prompted me to scour the Internet and read all the speculation as to their origins and motives. I never went so far as to purchase a novel (although I came pretty close), but I did read a lot of fan fiction on the Internet and every last morsel of reference I could dig up on the Flood. As Campbell might suggest, in the game where every player is Master Chief, William, Kyle, Jason, Charles and all the other gamers are not just following the hero’s journey, they are the hero.
Photo of Jason Moore in line at Times Square by Char Easter upper right.
Published 2007 on MSN, http://halo.msn.com/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=5558090
