your dumb ass:
randy pitchford is covered in a thin slimy film! he's a greasy pervert! he's a little creep!

reality:
the year is 1999 — randy "anti US hegemony" pitchford directs the first expansion to half-life. you play as adrian shephard, a villain sent by the USMC to assassinate all witnesses to the black mesa incident, including gordon freeman. but before you can be briefed your helicopter is shot down and you're left stranded without heads or tails of your sinister purpose

knowing you play half-life like everyone else under the sun and that you'll gun down civilians without care, pitchford creates a ludonarratively consonant scenario that incorporates known player behaviours into narrative conceits with trademark grace; one where the participant likely fulfills much of adrian's goal before they're told what it is. pitchford provides commentary on the military's success with breeding more aggressive, violent soldiers, understanding that in WWII only 15-20% of polled soldiers reported firing their weapons, whereas this number raised to 55% in korea and 90-95% in vietnam due to manufactured contempt. blending these two ideas he bridges the gap between player and character and entwines the two in an inseparable double helix mirroring both participants; nature born of accursed nurture

you and shephard are funneled along a narrower path; shuttled from combat encounter to combat encounter, and granted "tacticool" tools to make the violence more thrilling than the previous game while puzzles and horror elements are sanded down extensively. you command other soldiers who speak in garish barks and exist solely as expendable resources, the setting is treated with a heightened parodic touch, and gordon himself is depicted as "employee of the month" despite it being his first day, lampooning his impossibly grotesque ubermench status

eventually your arsenal is overtaken by alien alternatives, more explicitly showing shephard as being more monster than man, the futility of his battle, and the lack of freedom he has by design. he's then left detained where he can do no harm nor receive it, and g man closes out the game by saying "I'm sure you can imagine worse alternatives" — an acknowledgement of the struggle many veterans experience upon returning home, and the lack of support they're given from their government once they've outworn their intended function

randy, I kneel