Sacrifice. Lack of individualism. Selflessness. These are not themes that a 6 year old should have to deal with, but this was exactly the situation that I was put in when my family bought our first computer back when the screens were as fat as they were wide and floppys were the order of the day.
Here I was, with my Blue Power Ranger action figure with the flip-changing head in one hand and the power to control which of my blue robed wards were destined to live or die for the benefit of all the other Lemmings.
The basic idea of the game was simple enough: lead your huddled masses from one side of the map to the other. One quickly discovers that to reach that goal, lives will be lost for the greater good.
Is there a wall standing in your way? Strap an explosive to a Lemming and bring it down.
Lemmings keep walking off a cliff in a catatonic trance? Assign a Lemming to stand there with his arms out, preventing his brethren from falling to their doom. The catch? He will never be able to reach the goal. He will simply stand there for all eternity, a beacon of guidance for his race.
At my ripe age of 20, I can look back and see how much the game asked from you. You had to learn that you could not save them all, that some had to be stepping stones for the others, to give their lives to the cause.
What disturbs me the most is that as a 6 year old, I had no problem with this. I blew up that Lemming, no questions asked.
My question is: how the hell did I turn out normal?
Or maybe this was some sort of training program for the forthcoming zombie invasion in which Redeker’s Plan must be instituted to save a select few at the cost of millions of Lemmings lost.
I really hope I am not a Zombie-bait Lemming though. The parachute Lemmings looked like they always had so much fun.
Link: http://nerdgulp.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/lemmings-was-way-over-my-head/
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