Pages

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

the difference between a zombie and a ghoul

I was wondering about this the other day after playing Fallout 3 at my brother’s because there are lots of ghouls in the game but no zombies. Some of the ghouls are sane (albeit horrific looking) and you can talk to them, trade with them, and get information from them. But other ghouls – mainly the ones who live in the abandoned subways – are like zombies, mindless killing machines. And like zombies, the only way to kill a ghoul for sure is to shoot it in the head, otherwise, there’s a good chance it will re-animate and come after you again. Thankfully they aren't too hard to kill - unless they come in a swarm, then you better have something semi-automatic or run.

Anywhere, for those who care to know:

A zombie is a reanimated corpse or a human who is being controlled by someone else by use of magic with some media renditions using a pandemic illness to explain their existence.

A ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights. The term is first attested in English in 1786, in William Beckford’s Orientalist novel, Vathek, which describes the ghūl of Arabian folklore.

There's also another fun game my brother has called Left for Dead, in which you're in a zombie infested city with three companions and you have to find/fight your way to safety. This is a multi-player game so my brother and I can play together. But I still like Fallout better.

So, do you prefer zombies or ghouls?

7 comments:

  1. Zombies, ghouls, creatures of the night, I love 'em all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Um, I prefer Van Helsing! My husband and nephew play these games; my brain isn't geared for gaming but I love to watch. So cool that you play!

    I have goodies for you over on my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I LOVE fallout games. I'm still working through New Vegas. I don't care about the terms, but I like when they mix it up a bit. I don't know if you watched any walking dead this year, but I loved their creativity to call them "walkers" or "geeks." Made it more interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I haven't played games in soooo long. I used to be hooked but now I'm hooked on writing.

    Maybe I'll go take a break and play with my son for awhile.

    P.S. I like zombies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmmm... I prefer the old Voodoo version of zombies as humans drugged by a witch doctor or voodoo priestess, interred for 3 days or so, and then dug up -- whereupon they are solely under the control of their creator. (They don't eat flesh, unless ordered to, I guess.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chris, I so wish I had known about The Walking Dead before it started - both my son and I want a stagger on role :)

    Kim, if that game was at my house I'd be playing it all the time. There's a good reason it's at my brother's :)

    wc, thank you! I'll collect my goodies shortly :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. We play L4D all the time...I love killing zombies. It's satisfying. ;)

    Wow, you've been doing some fun research!

    And yeah, we watched the Walking Dead, too...but towards the end of the season it dragged...all drama, not enough zombies. we have a long wait for next season, but I hope they get back to the zombies.

    Happy 2011! (sorry, I'm so late...I'm catching up.)
    Love,
    Lola

    ReplyDelete

If you're interested in my blog I'm interested in your comments.