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Blunt versus Piercing Damage 👊🔪
4 years ago
General
Question about types of damage in fiction -- blunt versus piercing. Why one is downplayed a lot in its consequences and not the other?
I've thought about this after one of my friends tripped while playing volleyball and hit his head on the concrete. He lost consciousness and had to be taken to the ER and stay there for a while... It was serious.
This may be a small pet peeve of mine, I don't like when fictional series treat blunt hits less seriously than stabs, especially martial arts shows [but also thrillers, spy films, etc.].
Nobody ever gets hit by swords or knives [depending on the series/cartoon's rating], but being hit with a bat and hammer is okay? Even if they get sent flying and slam into walls, or simply collapse and hit their heads on the ground over and over? Is nobody else bothered by this?
I mean, since they're breaking reality with bludgeoning damage, why not go all the way and have consequence-less stabs and impales too.
TLDR; Why does piercing damage have to be realistic but not bludgeoning, I don't think that's fair.
If your answer is "It's fiction, it's not meant to be realistic", then why not go all the way? Make stabs unrealistic too-- no compromises! All or nothing! Let people sleep off stabs too!
... I may just be in a bad mood.
I've thought about this after one of my friends tripped while playing volleyball and hit his head on the concrete. He lost consciousness and had to be taken to the ER and stay there for a while... It was serious.
This may be a small pet peeve of mine, I don't like when fictional series treat blunt hits less seriously than stabs, especially martial arts shows [but also thrillers, spy films, etc.].
Nobody ever gets hit by swords or knives [depending on the series/cartoon's rating], but being hit with a bat and hammer is okay? Even if they get sent flying and slam into walls, or simply collapse and hit their heads on the ground over and over? Is nobody else bothered by this?
I mean, since they're breaking reality with bludgeoning damage, why not go all the way and have consequence-less stabs and impales too.
TLDR; Why does piercing damage have to be realistic but not bludgeoning, I don't think that's fair.
If your answer is "It's fiction, it's not meant to be realistic", then why not go all the way? Make stabs unrealistic too-- no compromises! All or nothing! Let people sleep off stabs too!
... I may just be in a bad mood.
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Maybe some writers/developers have a lack of experience with concussive-type injuries?
There's a game I play called Caves of Qud that balances slash vs. blunt damage by giving blunt weapons a strength-based chance to daze, with a further chance to stun after a daze is applied.
You can also "slam" a dazed unit to send them flying (through certain obstacles/units) which also knocks them unconscious for a significant amount of turns.
In that way blunt provides a passive method of "crowd control" which plays pretty elegantly.
In another I've seen blunt balanced by providing bonus damage toward robotic units.
But yes, I agree it's kinda disappointing that blunt always seems to pull the short stick in favor of slashing/piercing damage.
Interesting game mechanics... And yeah, so unfair imo
And with a stab wound you immediantely visually see the injury and blood comming out and it just LOOKS more serious. With blunt damage the damage is often intern and you can't really see it. It's less grafic and in visual media you wanna show the damage.
That would be my guess.
Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to be mean but my pal almost died from just tripping :/
The human body is more fragile than this and to act like a bludgeon to the head or a scary event doesn't have lasting impacts is ridiculous and honestly a bit misleading. Like, seeing media has an impact on you. If you watch your friend get hit really hard by something you might be a little less concerned because TV depicts it as simply inconveniencing. You see things like that on America's Funniest Home Videos where people get hit and it's treated like slapstick comedy. There was even one video where someone got kicked in the chest by the rear hooves of a horse and it was accompanied by a laugh track. An event like that can literally put you in cardiac arrest. It feels so prolific in media when its after-effects aren't shown at all. It's definitely worrisome.
I may be reading too far into this hahaha. I took a media class that was super eye-opening that discussed concepts like "perceived crime", "perceived harm", etc. so I'm usually one to look for meanings like these, even if they possibly don't exist.