by Adam78
davypi wrote:
Adam78 wrote:
The promise: A game based on the Mayan Calendar. I don't know much about this topic, but it's been in the news a lot lately! This invokes in me the expectation of lots of mysticism, supernatural happenings, cults, and primarily impending doom; the end of the world is nigh! Exciting stuff.
Most of your post is interesting and spot on, but this part is a complete misinterpretation on your part. The game itself makes no such promise. In fact, the Mayan calendar does not predict the world will end in 2012. It is simply the end of a certain type of cycle in the calendar. The Mayans may have believed that this would mark a point of significant change in the world, but exactly what kind of change is not specified. The calendar itself does not stop and continues to make claims about future dates. So, in realty, you're criticizing the game for reflecting reality instead of being "thematic" to the inconsistent and inaccurate overhyped bu11$h!+ perpetuated by the media. But, hey, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
The reality: The Mayan Calendar is a game about cycles of time, phases, and divisions (26 ten-day periods presumably making up a single year). There are no untoward events, no impending doom, and precious little feeling or spirituality or supernatural goings-on. The gods are entirely benign.
And, of course, this is the truth. Calendars are just numbers and time doesn't stop just because the odometer rolls over. Mayan gods were largely benign and any rewards you earned from worship were because you put time and work into something, not the result of divine intervention. (Its also possible you may be confusing the Maya with the Aztec who, relatively speaking, were more warlike.) So, in this respect, the game is truer to the real world.
According to the rulebook the gods we are dealing with are:
Brown Temple: Chaac
Yellow Temple: Quetzalcoatl
Green Temple: Kukulcan
A very brief glance at google tells me that Quetzalcoatl is the Aztec name for Kuklcan (the feathered serpent) so those two gods are actually the same entity. The Mayan tradition has him as some sort of god of the sky, fertility, and related to Venus.
Chaac is the Mayan god of Storms, enemy of Camazotz the "Death Bat God". Sounds like a bad-ass.
In the game, Chaac appears to be the "God of stone", Quetzalcoatl appears to be the "God of gold", Kukulcan seems to be the "God of wood". Hardly exciting, engaging OR accurate.
With regards to the accuracy of the Mayan predictions, I heard numerous interpretations on numerous programmes over the final months of 2012. Even with the most benign interpretation, the calendar predicted a period of great change. This is in no way depicted in the game.
The purpose of my original post was not so much to accuse the game of inaccuracy, as to work out why I personally found it disappointing. My expectations from the media-coverage of the Mayan calendar will be similar to others picking up this game, and the chances are that other players will also be surprised to find very little in the way of mysticism or untoward events.