Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 June 29

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June 29

What are the standard video game character types across all genres of games, but not including pervert or adult games?

You have this list of character archetypes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_characters but it doesn't answer my question. It's more for TV and Movies.

Why should it be any different for video games? The difference lies in the viewer's interaction with the characters, not the character types. I don't think there's a standard, or the stories would get very boring, as they would in TV or movies. They can't all be paladins or killbots. But some sort of "hero" works for most player-controlled characters on quests. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:29, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

I take it you aren't a gamer? There are definitely character types in games. You can't play too many video games without running into the same types of characters over and over. In some genres this is so obvious that certain things become a notable cliche. The article you have already looks specifically for TV and movies, what with characters like The Grand Dame, and I'm more interested in researching character types specific to video games of all genres minus, you know, hentai games and whatever other weird stuff.

I'm not a hardcore gamer, but a longtime one. Of course there are characters. I just doubt they're any different from TV, film, novel or comic characters, aside from the part where you make them move. The article you linked says they recur "in many works", and many of the specific examples are video game characters as well. Darth Vader, Tony Montana, Atalanta (I just finished Herc's Adventures recently as Player 2).

Can you think of a game which doesn't use characters from this list? If so, maybe this question has a different answer. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:47, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Are there any characters in Tetris, for example? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:00, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Or Flight Simulator? Or Sudden Strike/Blitzkrieg, for that matter? 24.5.122.13 (talk) 00:29, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Or Pong. Nature's purest battle, between whatever Player 1 stands for and Player 2 longs to destroy. Should have specified "games with characters", I guess. InedibleHulk (talk) 17:32, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

The Spy, The Infiltrator, and The Amnesiac aren't listed but they are character types in games as well as TV and movies. There is also The Mentally Unstable Woman, like American McGee's version of Alice.

As far as common stock characters in computer games, the player's character is often variously an action hero, angry white male, anti-hero, bad boy, battle-axe, Byronic hero, detective, farmer's daughter, feral child, hero, hotshot, knight-errant, legacy hero, lone vigilante, outlaw, paladin, reluctant hero, superhero/supersoldier, swashbuckler, or Tarzanide (sometimes more than one of these); whereas the opfor may be variously composed of alien invaders, black brutes, killbots, mad scientists, monsters, outlaws, redshirts, space Nazis, space pirates, supersoldiers, swamp monsters, swashbucklers, or zombies, with their evil bosses represented variously by bad boys, battle-axes, black knights, crones, dark ladies, evil clowns, femmes fatales, hags, mad scientists, monsters, outlaws, rakes, space Nazis, space pirates, stupid superiors, supervillains, swamp monsters, swashbucklers, town bullies, treasure guardians, or tycoons. 24.5.122.13 (talk) 02:51, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Cool, thanks.

For example, let's analyze the characters in the Command & Conquer franchise (which, incidentally, is the only video game series I play which actually has characters other than a supersoldier player character and a bunch of redshirts filling the roles of both squadmates and enemies): Stalin is a villainous tyrant (as he was in real life); Gradenko and Kukov are both stupid superiors; Nadia is a typical femme fatale; Kosygin is a professor character who ends up being a lone vigilante against Stalin; Von Esling is a colorless paladin; Tanya, by contrast, is a hyperbolic battle-axe and tomboy; Einstein is portrayed as an absent-minded professor; Romanov is an evil clown; Yuri is a black knight and mad scientist who also happens to be an esper (and uses it to further his evil plots); Boris is a supersoldier; Eva and Zofia are both girls next door; Carville is a Miles Glorious; Dugan is a stereotypical Jewish lawyer; Kane is a supervillain/tycoon; Seth is by turns a contender and a stupid superior; Greg Burdette is a yokel who's tricked into doing Kane's bidding; Gen. Sheppard is a paladin similar to Von Esling; Mobius is an absent-minded professor similar to Einstein; Morelli is a girl next door; Havoc is a typical hotshot and supersoldier, as are the rest of the Dead-Six (Deadeye, Gunner, Hotwire and Patch); Sakura is a femme fatale; Mendoza and Raveshaw are both supervillains; Elena Petrova is a mad scientist; Slavik is a black knight; Vega is a villainous rake; CABAL is a Nod killbot; Umagon is alternately a battle-axe and a damsel in distress; and Michael McNeil is a knight-errant. 24.5.122.13 (talk) 02:44, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Correction: Gen. Carville is NOT a stock character of any kind, and Mendoza fits better into the Miles Glorious category rather than that of a supervillain. Also, Vega is an outlaw as well as a rake and a villain. 24.5.122.13 (talk) 01:19, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Celebrities donate game-show winnings to charity

Oftentimes, when celebrities appear on TV game shows, they donate their prize money to charity. In cases like this, does the game show pay the money to the celebrity (who must report this as income), and then the celebrity donates the money to charity (and can thus declare a charitable contribution)? Or does the game show itself just directly give the donation to the charity (so that the celebrity has earned no income whatsoever in the process and, presumably, the game show itself declares a charitable contribution)? This refers to the USA. Does anyone know how this typically works? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 15:46, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

I believe they plan and announce in advance which charity they are playing for, and that the money goes directly there. Of course, charitable contributions are tax deductible, so they could do it that way, but it would be a hassle for the celebrity, and if they didn't give it to charity, as promised, that might cause legal problems. Better to just give it directly to the charity. StuRat (talk) 16:51, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Not answering the question, but coincidentally, yesterday I was reading this blog from someone who had appeared on Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in the UK. He says that the show gave the option of donating the celebrities' appearance fee - which he says was relatively small for WWTBAM - to the charity on top of the winnings. (The situation is a bit different in the UK as prize money in shows of this type is not taxable.) AndrewWTaylor (talk) 20:35, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

If you win a lot of money (or any amount, for that matter) on a TV game show in the UK, you are not taxed on the winnings at all? Is that how it works? Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 22:51, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

In IRS equivalent terminology, it might be considered a "gift" rather than "income". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:46, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

I guess that makes sense. I'm just surprised that the government would pass over this chance to generate how many millions of dollars in tax revenue. What about lottery ticket prizes? Are those taxed as income, or is that a "gift", also? Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:19, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Just to be clear, in the USA lottery winnings and game show winnings are both taxable, i.e. not considered "gifts". A different story in the UK? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:23, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

I'm confused. I thought that your answer above (In IRS equivalent terminology, it might be considered a "gift" rather than "income".) was in response to my question about the UK immediately above that. No? Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 03:58, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, I didn't say it very well. All I meant was that the IRS distinguishes "income" from "gift", and I don't know what the equivalent terms for those two entities would be in the British taxation system. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:10, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

In the UK, you are not taxed on the winnings from a game, but you will be taxed on any interest arising from its investment. As the National Lottery website says, "National Lottery Prizes are not chargeable gains for the purposes of UK Capital Gains Tax and will not normally be assessed for UK Income Tax". Can't speak for other game show winnings though. --TammyMoet (talk) 08:50, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, HM Revenue and Customs seem to consider that it isn't taxed as income as long as winning money in game shows isn't your profession: you are an amateur. See, for example [1]. They don't want the headache of people claiming back deductions and expenses for entering these things. The only relevant stuff I can find on the HMRC website is that unskilled games of chance, or semi-skilled games dominated by chance so that a player cannot reasonably use skill to reliably win, tend to not be considered income to tax, whereas skilled games can be. There's a lot of stuff about how to work out tax and deductions if you're a professional athlete whose income is from prizes in competitions, and fragmented specific stuff about gambling machines and horse racing and bingo and such like. 86.129.13.205 (talk) 09:23, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

As I understand it, Canada is the same as Britain in this respect. While there has never been a Canadian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire as a regular series, in September 2000 there was a short run of just two Canadian episodes with all Canadian players and a Canadian host. (I was one of a couple of thousand who passed the automated qualification test—WWTBAM used to be one show where contestants were chosen strictly on test results—but for some reason my name wasn't among the 10 or so that were drawn to actually get on.) The prizes were denominated in Canadian dollars, which at the time were worth only about 2/3 of a US dollar each, but it was claimed that this was pretty much offset by Canadians' winnings being non-taxable. (However, it occurs to me that the games were actually played in New York, because they didn't want to construct a new set for such a short run, so I wonder if the US might not have been able to claim tax on those winnings after all! I suppose the saving condition must be that the payments were actually made in Canada.) --70.49.171.225 (talk) 07:01, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

In the UK there is very little tax deducted from wealthy people and, if you are clever and wealthy, no tax deduction at all. Thincat (talk) 10:50, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Same in the US. The Golden Rule is that "Those with the most gold make the rules ... and they make those rules so they can keep all their gold and then take it from others who have less". StuRat (talk) 19:25, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:40, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Hands & feet sport

Are there any sports that allow the players to touch the ball with both the hands and the feet (as opposed to either one or the other)? --66.190.99.112 (talk) 18:48, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Rugby, American Football, Australian Football, Gaelic Football. Widneymanor (talk) 19:09, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Association football, if you include goalkeepers. Ice hockey players may use their hands or feet to stop or redirect the puck on the ice, though they may not score by deliberately throwing, swatting, or kicking the puck into the net, they may swat, catch-and-drop, or kick at the puck in other situations (they may not hold the puck in their hands for any length of time, however). --Jayron32 23:11, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

And obviously association football (soccer) players who are executing a throw-in, and also when they position the ball for a penalty kick, as we were seeing yesterday. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:37, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Kickball, for one. And as far as I know, in baseball there's no rule against one fielder kicking the ball (accidentally or on purpose) to another fielder, but that would be a rather desperate strategy. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:35, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

That reminds me of an incident in tennis. Bjorn Borg's racket slipped from his hand and snapped when it hit the ground, being strung uncommonly tight. He returned the next volley with his foot, so his opponent did likewise, and Borg let that one go. —Tamfang (talk) 23:49, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

HurlingWidneymanor (talk) 07:15, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

UFC used to allow ball strikes, but not for years. Still legal to hit the balls of the feet with pretty much everything, though I can't see the point. Plenty of armlocks use all the limbs to move a ball and socket joint to the winning position. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:07, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

FIFA World Cup 2014

I was watching the game Costa Rica-Greece and something caught my attention. I don't know if I saw it correctly, but at one moment Costa Rica's goalkeeper seemed to take the ball out of the penalty area with his hands and then performed the goal kick with his foot. Wouldn't that have been against the rules? --2.245.218.102 (talk) 22:40, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Technically, a goal kick is taken from the six-yard box after the ball has crossed the goal line (outside the goal). However, it is indeed an infringement for the goalkeeper to touch the ball with his hands outside the penalty area. The linesman (sorry, "assistant referee") must have been unsighted - _not_ the first time that's happened. Tevildo (talk) 23:07, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Inattentive officials? Wow, that bites. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:29, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

How could this be overlooked? All other players (from the same and from the other team) were very far away. The goalkeeper was alone and had the ball. Shouldn't be everyone focusing on him? --2.245.218.102 (talk) 23:40, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

I watched the game too, and if what you saw happened toward the end of overtime then I think you witnessed an indirect free kick taken by goalkeeper Keylor Navas outside his penalty box. Once the ball is back in play, i.e. once he kicked it, he wouldn't be allowed to pick it up with his hands outside the penalty box of course, but all the time you saw him carrying and placing (or dropping) it where he was supposed to take the free kick, the ball hadn't been in play yet. ---Sluzzelin talk 23:39, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, it was indeed during overtime. --2.245.218.102 (talk) 23:51, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Guest actors in a particular music video

In the Reba McEntire Video "Kathy's Clown" there are four guest actors from TV Westerns seated at a table in the Saloon playing cards. I have identified three of these men as Paul Brinegar of Rawhide, Buck Taylor from Gunsmoke and Johnny Crawford of The Rifleman. The fourth man, a very large fellow sitting at the far left of the table I cannot identify. There is no mention of any of these actors in the Wikipedia description of the video and I can not find any source to find the names. Can you answer, "Who is the fourth, very large actor at the card table in the music video 'Kathy's Clown' by Reba McEntire?" Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.161.0.169 (talk) 22:41, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Can you find a youtube link? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:28, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Here is a YouTube link: Reba McEntire - Cathy's Clown. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:22, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

At 1:28, pardner. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:53, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

One of the comments says Harry Carey, Jr. is seated at the table, and it does look like a later photo of him. If so, he's put on a bit of weight. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:02, 30 June 2014 (UTC)