Deus ex

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Deus Ex is an excellent roleplaying game, id prolly get dx2 but my comp too crap

anyway, can anyone please tell me what "deus ex" actually means???

 

Deus = God
Ex = From

Literally, it means "God From" (I'm assured by other Latin-speakers that it DOES NOT mean "From God"). One can only assume it's meant as an abbreviation for "Deus Ex Machina", a term from Greek plays which describes a bit where the gods come down from heaven and fix everything.

In case you were wondering, it's pronounced "day-us ex", not "deuce ex" like most people seem to call the game. Just in case anyone here is guilty of that ;P

It's an excellent game - played it all the way through just recently. Very impressive.

 

Deus Ex Machina was used to create the entrance of a Greek god in a play. It can termed 'enter the god' as well, though that of course, is not a literal translation.

 

There were two mechanical devices which were part of the ancient Greek theater. One device is the ekkyklema 'a wheeled-out thing', a platform on wheels rolled out through one of the doors of the scene, on which a tableau was displayed representing the result of an action indoors (e.g., a murder) and therefore was unseen by the audience. The other device is called a mechane 'theatrical machine', a crane to which a cable with a harness for an actor was attached. This device allowed an actor portraying a god or goddess to arrive on scene in the most realistic way possible, from the sky. The mechane deposited the actor on top of the scene so that he as a deity could address the human characters from an appropriately higher level. This device was not exclusively limited to use by divine characters, but was employed whenever the plot required any character to fly. On the other hand, not every god arrived on scene by means of this machine. The Latin phrase deus ex machina, 'the god from the machine', is often used to refer to the appearance of gods by means of the mechane in tragedy.
This phrase is also employed in a pejorative sense in modern literary criticism to refer to an improbable character or event introduced by an author to resolve a difficult situation, which would fit for the game.
This secondary meaning of deus ex machina developed from the practice of inferior ancient dramatists who introduced a god at the end of a play in order to untangle a badly snarled plot.

 

Cool - I have always wondered about that!

 

It's also a favorite way for poorly written shows and movies. Star Trek has had a serious problem with this.