Final Fantasy and my response to street solicitors
[Note: Those opposed to knowing anything about a game before playing it probably should not read on unless already familiar with FFX-2.]
This past weekend I started a game of Final Fantasy X-2 with my little brother. Stephen wanted me to do the Luca mission so he could see how the city was doing since X, so I obliged him and went to discover “the truth behind the music.” Most of the mission is a flashback, but, as usual, the player has to actually complete the memory. Yuna is dressed as a moogle, and at one point in the mission someone hands her balloons and says she needs to hand out ten of them to the people in the plaza in order to promote the concert.
Without Stephen there (he had already gone to bed) to point out the painfully obvious tenth person seated right next to one of the kind people who had accepted a balloon, I spent twenty minutes talking to people repeatedly in the hopes that their response would change on the fourth or maybe seventh try. No luck. The little child running around in a circle wouldn’t take two, and the grouchy engineer only said, “Do I look like someone who wants a balloon?”* So I gave up for the night, and in the morning it took Stephen about ten seconds to find the other person. He’s got younger eyes.
Anyway, one of the people who accepted a balloon did so with a comment about having to fill quotas. Yesterday, as I hurried past a Quiznos Sub sign and a man thrusting a coupon at me, I realized that I should have taken the paper from him. It wouldn’t have mattered to him if I ever looked at it; he only needed to hand out a given number of them and probably shouldn’t have gone home until he did. I don’t imagine that most solicitors on the street really care whether the coupons and ads they hand out do anything. They were just given the job of standing on the street corner in the increasingly cool New York fall handing out papers. So I’ve decided, thanks to FFX-2 that I should take whatever people eagerly present on the streets, not necessarily because I’ll actually use the coupon later, but because they just need to get rid of a certain quantity of papers.
*Not necessarily exact quotation.
November 9th, 2005 at 1:51am
Ah… FFX-2. I remember playing through that flashback… Finding the last person was a hassle for me as well… At least you experienced a minor epiphany about the difficulties of fulfilling quotas… Yay.
When I played through that section of FFX-2, I thought about the difficulties posed by jobs requiring a person to wear a mascot uniform… People being obnoxious for no good reason… Feeling hot and sweaty for most of the day… Limited, awkward movement depending on the type of mascot uniform… Methinks I couldn’t do it.
November 9th, 2005 at 9:17pm
I think it’s funny how a video game leads you to these insights, but I also see your point. Another reason to take papers is that you can recycle them.
November 9th, 2005 at 11:41pm
Oh, I didn’t even consider that, Steve. I’m glad you mentioned it, though. It reminds me of Connelly’s class; maybe you’re turning in to him. At least most of the people in the game are nice, even if real humans aren’t.
–
You simply don’t play enough video games, Christina. They can make you realize all kinds of things. After all, didn’t riding the horse around in Zelda make you want a horse? And that’s true; papers in recycling bins are better than papers on the street.
Did you realize we’re even on the number of blog posts now?
November 11th, 2005 at 7:06pm
Well, why can’t the people (who get paid for) handing out papers on the street just hand out a few and then take the rest to a recycling center? Who would know?
But yes, video games (and anime, for me) are a great learning resource :). I must admit I watch more anime than play games, but I learn all sorts of things from anime.
November 12th, 2005 at 2:43am
Hmm, I don’t know. When I had a paper job ages ago, I was supposed to hand out some large quantity of sample papers every week. My mother and I just took the extras down to the recycling bins, though. Maybe that’s what a lot of the people on the street do, but at least I can help them get rid of some papers.
I understand what you mean about video games (and anime), I’m just having a terrible time thinking of a specific example to mention right now. Sorry!
November 14th, 2005 at 6:18pm
I agree with you about accepting things from solicitors, except when they are religious people, because they are doing it willingly. The Jews for Jesus in Philadelphia have been cloning themselves to increase their numbers so they can hand out more tracts. They’re everywhere!
November 14th, 2005 at 9:59pm
Oh, yes, that is a problem. Sometimes you can’t tell what someone is handing out flyers for until you end up listening to them tell you about Jesus, and then you have to say that you aren’t interested and hurry away. I hope the Jews for Jesus don’t overrun the city.
November 15th, 2005 at 1:05am
Don’t worry about Jews for Jesus… Worry about Jehovah’s Witnesses!
Hmm… Thinking about all these religious people handing out fliers reminded me of something I read before Halloween. Ha, a little late, yes, but relevant nonetheless… Apparently, because Halloween is the Devil’s night and leads all children to practice witchcraft and Satanism, some Christians decided they should spread the word of Jesus via Trick-or-Treating. They give out religious tracts along with candy so little kids can read them and find salvation through Christ. Yay…
Scary (yet absurdly funny) examples I read:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1053/1053_01.asp
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0032/0032_01.asp
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0063/0063_01.asp
Check out some of the other tracts on that site if you thought those were bad. ^o^