A strange game. The only winning move is not to play…
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I once had to read Barth and Bultmann, and no it’s not.
Those poor old Macs. Eep! Eep!
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I really can’t believe folks keep tossing around Tetris as an example of an apolitical game. You’re going to tell me with a straight face that a puzzle game featuring standardized blocks being arranged in monolithic towers is magically completely independent of influence from cold-war era Soviet society? And even if one were to somehow grant that sort of gobsmacking leeway, you’d run up against Pajitnov’s own story of the game’s origins in his own hobbies and toys he enjoyed as a child, or how the licensing shenanigans around the game made it ubiquitous, and how the particular USSR-style idea of whether an idea is something that can be profited from played into that…
I get the instinct to pretend there is such a thing as apolitical, because then you don’t have to question anything or doubt anything or change anything, because all that stuff is hard, and challenging, and forces you to re-evaluate dangerous things like your own self-identity. It’s really understandable that you’d resist having to do that if you are able. But swimming in circles doesn’t help anyone.
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Like I mention before, Society prefer conversations to be apolitical since those always brings up arguments; especially with a two party dominated system here in america.
** Politician seeks to blame a social problem on video games **
Gamers: How dare you try to censor this! Games are art!!
** Someone seeks to analyse video games through a cultural perspective, the same way films and books are **
Gamers: Why are you doing this?! It’s just a game!!
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How is anyone forcing anything on you? You can choose which games to play or not play, you know. NO ONE is forcing anything on you and the fact that you think they are is preposterous and completely illogical.
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My issue is with people telling me that I need to pay attention to the context of existing games or else I’m somehow “doing it wrong” or socially irresponsible.
This is a straw man. No one is telling you this You’re making this up.
And you’re putting YOURSELF on guard. That’s all on you. Also: WAAAHHHH, you might be confronted with something outside of your straight-white-male little box, and may feel a little uncomfortable or might actually start to think about something outside of your little box, OH WAH WAH WAH.
Why are you being so sensitive? Why are you getting so offended by people merely creating the art and content that they want to create? Calm down. It’s just a game. You can play something else.
Wow. This is so completely contradictory. Your lack of self-awareness is astonishing.
So, let me get this straight: You complain no one is coming up with solutions and yet you refuse to let yourself be confronted with things that make you uncomfortable or think about life experiences outside of your own little world (even though these “things” have been pretty vague). DUDE. THE SOLUTION IS DISCUSSION. The solution is facing the inequalities, sexism, misogyny, racism, etc., in our culture, and that includes in video games.
You are claiming no one has a solution, which is a lie – while refusing to actually participate in the solution.
How convenient for you.
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More word salad from you… This whole pseudo-philosophical ‘splainin’ gets so boring.
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What a disingenuous argument. You know who also agrees with that statement? Anita Sarkeesian. Leigh Alexander. PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE WITH A BRAIN, including all of the people you imagine, in your thin-skinned worldview, are judging you and making comments about your moral character.
And if you’re going to spout a bunch of horseshit about people judging you for playing a game, at least pick a game someone might ACTUALLY criticize you for playing, like a military shooter or prostitute-killing simulator. Not fucking Zelda.
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Calm down.
…just calm down.
You know, Japanese Games usually guilty of objectifying women (HyperDimensional Neputa, Samurai Bikini Squad, Dead or Alive), as much as Western were guilty of depicting Graphic Violence (Doom, Mortal Kombat, Hotline Miami); and sometimes, it goes the other way.
What they fear though is that said group would get rid of any offensive material for the sake of making a safer environment for the victims of wars, domestic violence, and rape. Some people wanted to do whatever they want and video games pretty much offer that opportunity; despite how artificial it may be.
Who said what now about trigger warnings? What are you responding to? Who are you responding to?
You tone troll and then don’t even bother actually responding to the points made in the comment you replied to. This is a total non-sequitur. I even did a CTRL+F to see if anyone in this thread had even mentioned trigger warnings before you did and … nope.
But to your random point, video games should have sufficient descriptions of what they entail on the box and the website, and most I’d say probably do (I’m not sure why they wouldn’t? People want to know about what they will potentially be playing…). Ratings are good insofar as they can provide a perhaps general idea, but they are also inconsistent. Anyone who is going to be purchasing a game likely has access to google.
Please define your terms: What is a “trigger warning”? And in what context? You never say. Additionally, how do they “get out of hand”, and specifically what role do victims play in “trigger warnings getting out of hand”?
This whole discussion has nothing at all to do with “trigger warnings”, though, and that’s what is so utterly confusing about your comment.
Someone has thin skin. Zelda is a “girl in distress” game, 90% of the time The Princess or her stand-in needs to be saved by the Link, a male. I only use that as an example because it is what I’m currently playing. I don’t play military shooters (boring), and I probably wouldn’t play a prostitute-killing simulator if one existed (unless it was tongue in cheek enough).
I’m sorry to burst your bubble, my world view isn’t thin skinned. I don’t know where you got that impression. I’m just looking at an argument made, and giving my opinion. If that differs from yours… That is fine. Plenty of space for differing opinions out there. My point was’t “people are judging me”, but “sometimes someone can play a game and not take it as some sort of profound reflection of gender politics”. Me playing Oracle of the Seasons isn’t a political act. And I view people who want EVERYTHING to be a political act at all times as a bit misguided. Its their right, obviously, but don’t expect me to play along.
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Okay, trigger warning is bad example.
Still, it’s the fear of activists taking away what make video games fun; that’s what drives GamerGate. That and GamerGhazi was constantly pushing their buttons.
Hate to burst your bubble, but since Gender role is the major part of human society, Gender politics will be in just about everything as long as Sexual Diversity exist.
Now you’re just trolling.
I might be double posting, I’m sorry if I am, this is getting unwieldy; this forum really needs to be threaded.
Obviously I cannot universalize my experience, I have my individual perspective on things, and can’t really escape it firsthand. But I’m pretty sure people can enjoy things that might be from a context that is objectionable to them. I think this view risks making people constant victims. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be conscious of the biases around us, that we often take for granted. People can enjoy things, and be aware of their historical context, at the same time. I love Philip Dick, but understand that his view of women is very skewed. Same with Tolkien, same with Nietzsche.
The first bit contradicts the second bit.
Or maybe more pointedly, lets unravel that “misguided” bit: in what way is you playing a “girl in distress” game not political? Because if it’s just because you don’t personally see it that way, I would like to introduce you to this novel idea that goes sometimes by the name of “Actions Have Consequences.”
Yeah, but part of my point is that this is like preferring magical unicorns. We all prefer the reassuring fictions to the fact that horses are not magical in the real world.
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You probably don’t need to explain gamergate anymore. This post:
offers the most compelling explanation I’ve heard so far about why people freak the heck out feeling the Gamer identity is under attack. Although to compare gamergate to a hate group is probably giving gamergate too much credit - it’s not even a group, just a shibboleth for identifying foes
Well thank you. Now that The GamerShit gone to rest, then lets talk about Politics in Gaming; especially how ideology can be found in just about EVERYTHING.
Yeah, pure mathematics is pretty clean, but once you get into things with human characters it’s going to be pretty fraught. I’ve been reading Mary Anne Mohanraj’s posts about identity in sci fi - I wasn’t aware of whatever happened in 2009, but apparently the authors of science fiction had some kind of collective freak-out about race. Anyway, she’s got some pretty fascinating things to say on the topic, most of which would be equally applicable to video games
one core take-away is that good characters have background, and even a white character should have a background that’s more fleshed out than “generic white dude”. But also that when you are creating a character, it’s worth asking if there’s actually a compelling reason why that character has to be white, and that if you don’t specify or hint about race, then your readers are going to assume white
to quote the title of this discussion, you can’t just keep politics out of it
