Monster
Monster have been widely used to represent the unkown, uneasing and unnatural subjects of our own culture in a specific embodiment. They can be found in different archives, from past and present days, such as myths and folklore, or even more in our current pop culture as we'll see further; like books, movies or even videogames. During history, monsters have been considered a metaphor for humanity's fears, from dragons in medieval legends to spirits guarding forests, and some other gruesome beings. As our society evolves, our monsters also do, defying boundaries and even morality sometimes.
Etymology
The word Monster, comes from Latin monstrum, which means "warning" or "omen", and at the same time, it derives from monere, which means "to advise" or "to warn". In early history, the term Monster was used in ancient Rome to refer to supernatural embodiments or something that creates "divine displeasure". In modern days, it can be used to refer to beings that defy nature, not in a precisely fearsome meaning all the time.
Pop Culture
Monsters have been considered a pillar of our Popular Culture for centuries, at first with literary works like Dracula (1897) or Frankenstein (1818), marking the era of Gothic Human-Like Monsters with a focus on their feelings and intelligence that led to a tragic narrative for them. After that, we had bigger variations in them. After the rise of cinema as mainstream entertainment media, we had an important evolution for Monsters, for example Kaiju films, with Godzilla (1954) as example, being the embodiment of post-war anxieties, and the growth of Slasher films, leading to a more visceral and psychological narrative with monsters like Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers.
The last big step and evolution in Monsters usual tropes came with videogames, where Doom and Resident Evil served as as a starting vessel of human fears that you could fight in these interactive experiences, and then Silent Hill created Monsters with deeper meanings and a bigger focus in being vulnerable to them. Getting to modern days, where Dark Souls or even Sci-Fi sagas like Mass Effect, take monsters further than mere antagonists, bringing to life embodiments that can resemble to Lovecraftian literature era, with intricate designs, a really deep lore and even hidden meanings that reflect unease and fears of our current society.
CrushOn Usage
In CrushOn there are a wide variety of bots and different scenarios using Monster tag, rather than Monster Girl, they are often focused on Horror and unease. Some even let you roleplay as the Monster in the interaction, and there are also some others that have an RPG focus or more sandbox scenarios based on different IPs with monsters on it
Based on H.P. Lovecraft works, Rakim al-Hazred puts you in the skin of the best friend of the cultist, who recently took charge of the cult and with that, he starts to feel the presence of a dark entity within him, starting to take control. Credit goes to BlackVelvetCake, who created this bot.
In this scenario, which is considerably inspired by the Metro franchise of novels and videogames, you get to wake up on a train, being tied up and two German soldiers near to you. Metro, The nuclear world sets a good sandbox scenario where you'll be able to encounter different monstrous beings as some of the secrets in these halls get unveiled. The credit goes to KojARA who created this bot.
In Haunted Mansion, you'll be in a RPG scenario, where you get inside of this mansion with your friends, but suddenly they leave you alone, having different encounters with a varied sort of monsters and spirits that you'll have to interact with and survive with them while you keep roaming through this eerie place. The credit goes to SkifchaOneLol who created this bot.
See also
References
- Evolution of Monstrosity in Literature, Gale Review, 2019
- The Evolution of Monsters, Hive Blog. 2022
- Player Vs Monster: The Making and Breaking of Videogame Monstrosity, Game Production Studies, 2023