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I've wondered this for a long time. I'm going to quote Wikipedia now:
"The identifying traits of fantasy are the inclusion of fantastic elements in a self-coherent (internally consistent) setting, where inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme.[2] Within such a structure, any location of the fantastical element is possible: it may be hidden in, or leak into the apparently real world setting, it may draw the characters into a world with such elements, or it may occur entirely in a fantasy world setting, where such elements are part of the world.[3] Essentially, fantasy follows rules of its own making, allowing magic and other fantastic devices to be used and still be internally cohesive.[4]"
That sounds exactly like TSW, but it seems people like to claim TSW is, in fact, not fantasy. Some even claim it to be science fiction and that's especially strange. I've seen a lot of posts like that lately and I guess I'm wondering if it's just people trolling GW2 or has the genre definition of fantasy changed to "medieval fantasy" all of a sudden.
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There are no character levels in the game, this is a fact, there is gear and weapon levels, but no character levels. There no classes in the game, there are over 500 abilities, but no defining classes, don't confuse classes with roles, I.E. a Warrior is a class, a tank is a role.
They are adding 9 auxilery weapons, which has it's own wheel, and if that's not enough, abilities from mobs will be learned via kill x number of mobs achievements, Funcom has created something unique, no MMO has made a sandbox out of abilities, Ragnar is gonna pull it off.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Effectively though the QL is a level. It's just not a traditional way of looking at levels.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Yes. For many people, depending on what era of RPGs you grew up with, the 'medieval' is implied. Can be confusing for the youngins.
It's a gear level, not a character level. They stated no character levels, which there aren't.
We call it "gothic horror" instead, or almost every single book would be fantasy. Technically you are right but the genre needs to be more splitted up than that or people would be confused.
Sure, you can call MMOs computer games but being more specific helps.
i see TSW as a dark fantasy mmo. It doesnt have to have elves and orcs to be fantasy as long as it has other fantastic elements
EDIT: as Loke666 said, Gothic horror also fits the game.
I would also call it gothic fantasy or horror fantasy. Just personal ideas taht fit my impression of the game after experiencing TSWs setting / plot / theme
Because it's all REAL!!! Anyone one who doesn't thing that bigfoot is real and is on the side of good is just fooling themselves and blind to reality! The Secret World is the reality everyone ignores!
Either that or it's because there are no elves..... have it have elves for a game to be fantasy.
Seriously? Most likely the time setting current times makes some people think it's not fantasy.
Oh...no, have to go.... zombies at the door, need to clear the way before taking the kids to the bus stop..........
Orson Scott Card said it best "If there is a dragon on the cover it's fantasy, if there is a space ship its science fiction."
What is TSW filled with "Zombies" "Monsters" that makes it either horror or urban fantasy. You take urban legends and ask, what if they are true?
I personally would catorgorize it as Urban Fantasy with both sci-fi and horror elements.
I can't remember any MMO using the Urban fantasy genre before which makes it unique. That is what I like about it. Great setting.
Actually, Dark Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and so forth are widely recognized subgenres---- at least in literary circles, and even in the Tabletop RPG hobby. Unfortunately, it's become obvious that the MMO masses are only very basically educated or not avid readers to begin with.
Then at WorldCon several times, Card would go on to discuss the science-fantasy subgenre.
Star Wars is Space Opera, same as Star Trek, character driven and set in space, but with very little science (fiction).
Who cares? Most people on this board can't even come close to identifying this stuff right.
TSW is modern fantasy not science fiction.
A bunch of people think a game with Renaisance styling and robots and mega-lasers is somehow medieval (Guild Wars 2).
Fact is large number of people on these boards wouldn't know history if it bit them on the ass and don't know the difference between hard science fiction, soft science fiction, and fantasy.
Star Wars is a fantasy with soft science fiction ornamentation written as a space opera.
Star Trek is hard science fiction written as a space opera.
Buck rogers was soft science fiction written as a space opera.
and we got Cell phones,.
I would still probably catagorize TSW as Urban Fantasy.
When I think of Science fantasy I think of Star Wars,, a princess locked in a castle that need saving, young hero with a destiny guided by an old wizard. With he help of a lovable rogue they face an evil black night who once apprentenced under the old wizard.
Where is Urban Fantasy is Modern times with a Magic twist.
Either way I am not sure who is saying there are no fantasy elements to TSW, just that it isn't the typical high fantasy setting, (Elves, Dragons, Evil Wizards)
TSW has magic and swords (Fantasy) It has Cthulhu type monsters (Horror) and it is set in modern times, (Urban)
TSW is a mixture of things put together in a way that is fun. I have some criticism for the game but the setting is not one of them.
The genre could of been anything, the game needed a hook. The game didn't have that hook, even if it had been ordinary fantasy with goblins, elves and all that it still wouldn't have drawn the players. There is no hook, there is nothing new it's all been seen before in some form or other.
There's a guy on the TSW forums that will insist that the game is of the Super Hero genre if you ask him. I mean, you get powers, you fight bad guys. You have a secret identity. He wants funcom to release capes and masks and unitards so it will be even more like what it already is.
Speaking of tards, it's not a fantasy game, either. Just because there's this thing called "Urban Fantasy" that shares an 'f' word with another genre, doesn't mean much. Yeah, it's got magic and shit in it. If you really want your genre categories to be so broad that "it's got magic and shit in it" makes something fantasy, then that's your problem. You end up with there being like, 4 possible genres.
In the end, there's only one criteria that matters. if somebody comes up to you and says "What's the setting of The Secret World?" and you answer "It's a fantasy game," then you're being a misleading nincompoop. You can argue semantics and technicalities all you want. In the end, that's all that matters.
My point is, the OP is setting up paper tigers. Who is arguing that there are not fantasy elements in the game? It takes a little from everything, that is the point of the game.
Fantasy has a specific meaning when it comes to genre. It means Dwarves, Elves, Dragons and princesses. If a person says it isn't "Fantasy" that is what they mean.
Fantasy and Urban fantasy have to different meanings.
They OP is trying to say, because people say it isn't a "Fantasy" setting, they are some how saying there are "No fantasy elements to it" that is just wrong.
Who is saying there are no fantasy elements ? Who is the OP dissagreeing with? Where are all these posts making this claim?