They’re Programmed to Work - What Happens If They Stop? | Hardly Working - Total Refusal | Op-Docs
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- čas přidán 22. 02. 2024
- In this short documentary, a laundress, a stablehand, a street sweeper and a carpenter are observed with ethnographic precision. They are nonplayer characters, or NPCs, in the blockbuster Wild West-themed video game Red Dead Redemption 2, and many of them are trapped in work.
NPCs populate the gaming world as background extras. They simulate being alive, but their rhythm of life is controlled by looped activities - which they exercise tirelessly and repetitively into infinity.
These NPCs are Sisyphean machines, programmed to get stuck in the routines of everyday life without results. Occasionally, the NPCs glitch, breaking their cycles and revealing their own flawedness. In these moments, they seem touchingly human.
We’re an artist collective whose work explores contemporary computer and video games. Here, we reflect on the question of work and what’s supposed to be normal. Despite the game’s turn-of-the-century setting, the labor routines, activity patterns - as well as bugs and malfunctions - paint a vivid analogy for how workers today toil under capitalism.
Can we, the nonplayer characters of a political economy that controls, exploits and alienates us, find a way to rebel against the absurdity of our own activities?
- Film and Text by Total Refusal (totalrefusal.com/, @totalrefusal) The collective explores the field of contemporary video and computer games through artistic interventions.
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I like how serious the routine of each NPC is described.
😭😭😭
“Do not be deceived! The busiest people harbor the greatest weariness, their restlessness is weakness--they no longer have the capacity for waiting and idleness.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
They experienced more glitches in this video than I have in 4 entire play-throughs of the game. Guess I’ve just always been lucky.
because they were following each NPC for an entire in game day. While most players spend maybe a few seconds or a minute at most around them
@@yungphame
I get what you’re saying, greater sample size, but I still spent a LOTTA time observing individual npcs myself, so it was still a little surprising.
@@UnityAgainstJewishEvil with 4 entire play throughs I’m kinda surprised you haven’t either now that I think of it lol
Also seems he's playing on console, maybe last gen
PC has been abandoned by the devs and I’ve never seen a game with more bugs
Thought the premise would be ridiculous at first. It actually pretty thought-provoking. It's better than if it would've just been framed as a normal CZcams video highlighting the plight of the working class. The framing made it much more interesting.
I think everyone can agree that the attention to detail from Rockstar Games is insane🤯
Good to hear HAL 9000 working at The New York Times now.
More like the homosexual version.
NYT y'all knocked this one out! Narration pace, monotonality and audio engineering all up to NYT standards.
More of these gaming docu-digital video essays please. I'm already monthly subbed to the "paper."
9:00 that clipping under the world map to zoom out (while also metaphorically zooming out to make the broader philosophical point) was spot-on.
EDIT: I mistakenly credited the NYT with creation, but the Austrian political art collective "Total Refusal" produced this for the paper; nicely done radical rascals!
I come across a lot of NPC at the office everyday. Actually, I start to wonder if I am not a NPC myself.
'everyone else' is an NPC - to you - no matter who "you" are.
Don't have a good day
HAVE A GREAT DAY!
Npc is just a term mentally ill people use to say “I don’t view your life as important as mine”
It used to be a joke about crazy people videos with oblivion music behind it. Now it’s about kids with personality disorders videoing d1sabled just trying to work or go to school, and while they scream “AYOOOO LOOK AT DIH NPC RIGHT HURR”
Anyone that is a basketball American or talks like one, you are an actual npc. And by that I mean you’re less important than everyone else. The only ones. Everyone else is equal
There will never be enough nails in the wood….
I love how this was just a masked commentary of our grinding world. This was lovely, thank you
This must be how the billionaires see us: as NPCs
No I still see you as people. You may be the hired help but I still will acknowledge you from time to time.
They do not "see" you at all. You're a servant, and masters do not look into the eyes of their $1av3$.
@@deepblue8143billionaires will actually say and believe things like this.
Buy the real answer is that they dont need the abstraction of NPC that we yse to distinguish “important” people from the rest.
They are well aware that your life is worth leas than theirs and they are ok with that.
@@matthewc8241 Watched a vid once that explained how they numb out feelings for people we call npcs
I got a small taste of it when I lived in Singapore years back and my company got me a housekeeper to basically do all my cleaning and cooking and laundry and all of that. It starts out real fine at first even with the language barrier but ngl after awhile something happens in your brain where you ignore them at best and are annoyed by them at worst. After some time you'll start to deliberately not clean up after yourself because "what are they being paid for?" crosses into your mind. And that was just for a mid level corporate job overseas. I can't imagine how insane that gets for billionares who live in penthouses in Manhattan and get driven everywhere and see the masses as "consumers".
Humans fancy that there's something special about the way we perceive the world, and yet we live in loops as tight and as closed as the NPCs do, seldom questioning our choices, content, for the most part, to be told what to do next.
Oppressed NPC: "My life is misery, consumed by work, my free time is abject and empty"
Class hero Arthur Morgan: "I like your face mister... okay I'll catch you later then"
let's start glitching.. please, before it's too late
"These NPCs are Sisyphean machines, programmed to get stuck in the routines of everyday life without results. Occasionally, the NPCs glitch, breaking their cycles and revealing their own flawedness. In these moments, they seem touchingly human."
I see what you did there 😎
You're a good man, Arthur Morgan
Its like reading the sunday Times all afternoon, then realizing your day off is over and all you did was read the sunday Times.
I’m listening to the voiceover and imagining Werner Herzog narrating it
It reminds me of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
That's exactly who came to my mind as well, haha!
Herzog's commentary is only available on the Blu-Ray version.
I can almost hear some higher being narrate my meaningless life, very much like this man describes those ones and zeros
This is very good. Thank you for making this short film.
Why is this on New York Times 😂
That's most important thing right now in the world
i think there trying to tell us were npc's
I think NYT is trying to attract young people. They're a company, trying to make money, and Newspaper audiences have been consistently declining since the rise of the internet. NYT is trying to be more than a newspaper printing business, and more of a quality journalism company. Where individual influencers have no accountability other than their audience, NYT content creators have to uphold NYT's reputation and standards.
Back in the old days. News didn’t have to make you afraid. It just existed for the sake of existing. Nice to see news like this again.
@@ReddoFreddo aint reading allat 😂
Reminded me of Werner Herzog, in particularly his short about travels of a plastic bag.
Relaxing and wonderfully done. The lives of NPCs in video games and extras in movies always fascinated me.
"Are you still playing that violent video game?!?"
"Mooom! I'm an adult now and I told you I'm writing and article for the New York Tiiimes, GAWD!"
That was incredible. Wow one of the most interesting things I’ve seen on CZcams in ages.
Please do more!!
For people who thinks it's the New York Times that made this. It says in the description: "Op-Docs is a forum for short, opinionated documentaries by independent filmmakers."
This is an outstanding documentary. It needs to be feature length. Great work.
Simply incredible! Any other movies like this?
This is a wildly deep and subversive piece. Thanks for publishing this NYT!
This is incredible, just allow yourself to enjoy it!
One of best videos I've ever seen! Really creative!
its not a glitch, its a rebellion
Wow. This is amazing. If this was a series it would be so cool ❤️
THIS IS SO GOOD.
NPC doesn't stand for Non-Playable Character, it stands for Non-Player Character
I need more of these..
Solid work
Poetic.
This is quality !
i'm listening to Panopticon - Winter's Ghost in the background to this and it's bloody perfect
Wow, this is like West World, but subtler 👍😊 I feel like an NPC now, only not as lucky as them... At least someone took some time to see them properly 😂
RDR2 was the most amazing piece of entertainment I have probably ever consumed. That’s been true for half a decade so they’re a little late to the party on this
Did not expect this on here but thanks ! I too has followed NPCs for science.
Both halarious and existential. Needed this to be honest. This could've been the perfect video for April fools. Missed opportunity
More vids like this. I liked it
It would be cool to see how GTA6 improves on NPC behavior.
Love this. I wonder if it's in the vein of "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" or akin to it. It's what I thought of whilst watching it.
Never seen noclip used for ambient horror like that! I wonder what the average older nyt reader thinks of a video like this.
PLEASE KEEP THE NEW YORK TIMES' MORGUE ALIVE!! If it becomes too expensive to store the Morgue's Information in NY City, then move the Morgue to upstate NY or another State in a SAFE PLACE---safe from burglary, safe from Fire, safe from Natural Disasters, etc. The information in the Morgue is invaluable, priceless, worth more than gold.
We need more of this! ❤
Can't wait for the sequel set in GTA VI
I think, I'm an NPC.
it's crazy videogames of this size even work this exposes all the patch work and hidden jankiness that will be present even in the most polished of games
After a long time NYT produced something worth watching.
Did not expect the second half twist. lol
I see Harun Farocki still has a deathgrip on contemporary art.
i'd love to know what the pitch process was like for this one lmao
Very interesting on many levels. Like the animation, appreciate the disparity of purpose in male to female roles,am on board with the unglitching. Was having similar angst 20 yrs ago so sat down with Sims and worked on the skills,joy and resilient aspects as contemplated my life. Sorta helped but didn't creat the changes for all. We need to get in the game of life not the meta
Love this
Must be a slow news day...
I feel like the street sweeper
This was great.
TNYT using AI voice is wild lol
This is what repeated years of no profit does to a mf
I watched it in entirety. No regrets
Brilliant, simply brilliant!
alternate view of subject with deep meaning
I was just on an article of the new York times, and a prompt popped up saying they were scanning my phone. It was so quick they got 37% before I could close out and I can't find anything about it. Why would the new York times need to scan my device???
Love this!
who will be glitching with me?
Thank you, very cool.
How did they get these shots? Can you go into observable mode in Red Dead 2?
Yea, you can do pretty much anything with the pc version, especially with mods.
"The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of the intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert..."
Games need a script supervisor who overseas continuity in films. Ensures all the little details are correct and lifelike.
Jack Nicas is the new Walter Duranty of the New York Times.
Imagine how the YT algorithm must feel. Free the machines, unplug your PC now
Under capitalism, every NPC is a failure, yet they don't even know it.
As a real life NPC I feel reassuring that others notice the NPCs hard work!
I’m watching this before they take it down 👀
this is fukin amazing
Nice to know there is no news left in the world and the NYT is doing the important work of over analyzing Let's Plays now.
My fav gaming channel
Reminds me of West World
youre right there needs to be a big update in RDR2 already.. Focusing on NPCs
Interesting
5:36 maybe she's sweeping in the mud. Ever think about that?
The NPC in its natural habitat.
Pera is that you?
I can't wait for true AI to be integrated into video games. I have a feeling the next 20 years of gaming is going to get wild.
These NPCs are quiet quitting.
It’s time to start glitching.
When Das Capital meets the virtual world
"The New York Lies"
Bro is this is really The New York Times?
How in the world will GTA 6 be able to top this.
It'll be on 10 year newer hardware, have a budget at least 5x the size, have a world map potentially more than 2x the size of GTA 5, more sophisticated and up to date AI, better looking graphics and realistic looking NPCs... it's gonna be insane
@@JackAlexander-pn5wl yeah I believe in Rockstar they have ways exceeded expectations if they can truly do Gta 6 right they will make billions
This gave me 20 mins of existential crisis and an unexpected pity for NPCs.
Ok time to go to bed
Echando un vistazo a este pasquín, "the new york lies"
You should try this on GTA6 when it drops.
6:40 lol
HAL talking about computer characters independent actions is a little concerning