yeah, also the right also is good at attracting people who are usually outsiders with a sense of community, and the people who consider themselves "gamers" were usually people that weren't the most popular people. The right took the identity of "Gamers" and pushed it up with their characteristics, and boom! gamer nazis.
Men on the internet? Completely missing the point of antiwar media in favor of the aesthetic? They would never
good shit. played the original, now I'm replaying the Re-Mars-tered version
I’m replaying the Re-Mars-tered version
...That's Guerilla, which isn't the same as Red Faction 1. Just so you know, unless I'm reading you wrong?
I think I got it automagically somehow because I had the old version on steam
if you've already played through the original, it's the same afaict except the graphics and textures are better
it was solid fun in my opinion, if you can get it for 10 or 20 bucks I'd say worth it
This is because
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"Gaming" as a hobby centers around buying and consuming commodities. A "gamer" can flaunt their class status through conspicuous consumption (ie building the fanciest PCs). Their habits and opinions are shaped through consumer behavior ie "gaming journalists" as high priests telling their congregations what to buy.
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Game play is almost never integrated into the story and as a result the stories told by games (such as they are) rarely leave a lasting impression on the audience. Also they are mostly ridiculous escapist fantasies. Games produce impactful "high art" far less frequently than media such as film and literature.
Maybe there's something to this but I really think it's just down to the scene being so male-dominated
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no GTA6
This right here. There should have been a GTA6 two fucking years ago and they should be working on GTA7 by now but nooo god forbid we actually give the people what they want lest they start to expect that
Yup. Although, I don't entirely blame the consooomers in this situation. They aren't helping, but it's Rockstar's fault for creating microT's in the first place instead of a new game.
Because the right spent time and effort subverting and hijacking gamer movements and spaces while the left sat there and went "pffft, fucking gamers, who gives a shit?"
And now we're all sitting here with our shocked Pikachu faces.
Listen, Jim Sterling is doing their best to reverse course please give them time.
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People base their politics off their material conditions not their media consumption
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Most of these are way lib-ier than people give them credit for. Bioshock wasn't about how Libertarianism is bad, it was a misanthropic screed about how the purity of Libertarian society is ruined by the inherent corruption of human bias. It was also very "both sides" and people routinely forget that the real bad guy of the game is Fontaine and his pro-union uprising
People base their politics off their material conditions not their media consumption
I would argue that one's material condition informs one's media diet. And the material conditions of the artists inform the content of the media. These aren't independent attributes.
Agitation is, at its heart, about producing compelling media that resonate with an individual's material condition. And video games that are relatable can provoke a reaction in the player that encourages sympathy toward a certain group or cause.
I do not think it is a coincidence that so many Americans have a visceral distaste for both Fascism and Communism (often even conflating the two) given the volume of media they consume that portray these ideologies as Evil.
Bioshock wasn’t about how Libertarianism is bad
I don't know how you read that any other way.
It was also very “both sides” and people routinely forget that the real bad guy of the game is Fontaine and his pro-union uprising
The character Fontaine voices token agitation while simultaneously exploiting and betraying his accomplices. The protagonist has the opportunity to repeat the cycle of violence - overthrowing Fontaine as Fontaine overthrows Ryan - or break it, with his treatment of the weakest and most exploited characters playing a pivotal role in that decision.
Isn't saying "the purity of Libertarian society is ruined by the inherent corruption of human bias" a longer way of saying libertarianism bad? Also that's a bad take on Fontaine, IMO. 95% of the game Ryan and rich people are the bad guys and when Fontaine is revealed he's presented as a gangster, not "unions bad." I'd have to replay it to be sure, but it was a piece of anti-capitalist gaming much more than it was a "both sides" shit you see in The Last of Us 2.
My point is that the game often presents Libertarianism as conceptually sound but flawed in implementation rather than conceptually flawed to begin with. These games are deeply nihilistic in the same way an Elizabeth Warren socdem is, condemning all the consequences of capitalism but never upending capitalism itself or providing any kind of alternative. Fontaine is a gangster using worker frustrations over their exploitation to his own end and is presented in the exact same way Bane in The Dark Knight Rises is.
when I played it as a kid, I came out thinking Libertarianism is a good idea.
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There are no leftist Steve Bannons who have spent years invading and propagandizing the space.
You know how Bannon got his start? Investing and managing a WoW gold-selling company. It was there he realized an entire generation of young (mostly white) men were just sitting at home not being organized or radicalized so he filled that void.
I dunno, explain how Paul Ryan's favorite band was Rage against the Machine.
Easy, Paul Ryan is the type of person who listens to music with lyrics but doesn't listen to or process the lyrics in any way. RATM is/was probably his workout music
Because people believe it's bad for your art to use political terms. It's not. If you tell a story about how capitalism is bad you should use the word capitalism.
This is how I feel every time I see things like X-Men or Detroit: Become Human. Just say racism is bad. Quit worrying about being "subtle".
X-Men has told some pretty fucking good stories. It's a much better oppression allegory than Detriot. I agree that we need more stories that are just about how racism is bad explicitly, but there has been some genuinely good shit in the X-Men comics.
The main problem with X-Men is that mutants are actually dangerous. There aren't any black people that emit instant death auras or shoot fire out of their hands so the racism allegory doesn really work. I mean, why the fuck wouldn't people be worried about mutants when they can just be born with the ability to kill everyone around them even if unintentionally?
Honestly, there's like, five total mutants that are inherently dangerous (as opposed to mutants who are bad because they are bad people and use their powers for bad things). And I agree that it was a bad idea to make mutants that are inherently dangerous, at least for the civil rights metaphor. It does sort of make it messy. But I think the general thrust of it is still good? Because none of those characters are particularly prominent? Except Rogue, I guess, but she has ways of managing her powers without causing harm.
Like I get your criticism, but I stand by my point that some X-Men stories have been good.
Infinite was pretty bad too. They both-sides the Vox Populi so blatantly. "Oh geez Fitzroy's just as bad as Comstock!" even though only one of them slaughtered natives, worked as a Pinkerton, and formed a death cult. The Vox are only guilty of the same messy uncomfortable shit that any revolution has to contend with.
Yeah, it's primarily the dialogue between Booker and Elizabeth (which happens several times) where they go "oh they're both tyrants and bad". Just rubbed me the wrong way
How is beating beaten to death with a club noble? Also, tons of communists have been cruel and cowardly hypocrites, Sophia Lam sucking doesn't make communism bad just as much as Beria being a kiddy diddler doesn't make communism bad
No but in art the representation of the people who believe an ideology is the representation of the ideology.
eh, not really. That's reductive
Also as he was being killed he was repeating the core tenant of his ideology, a true believer to the end
Fat load of good it did him innit?
He literally dies a slow and painful death on his knees pathetically reciting garbage randian philosophy in the burned out and flooding ruins of his dream. A dream that has utterly failed specifically BECAUSE of his objectivist philosophy preventing any improvements to society to prevent shit from collapsing
i didnt mean the people making the games at all. the op is talking about mostly left wing themed games. but still i gave like a 7 word answer, its not going to be nuanced
Ill go against all the media crit here: I think it’s mostly that most self IDed “Gamers” are straight white dudes with disposable income. Obviously plenty of working class non white non dude people enjoy video games but they usually don’t build an entire identity around it, nor do they usually have the time and cash to get as into it as the GAMERZZZ do.
Class interests tend to override propaganda.
I've seen rightwing/antisemitic takes on deus ex, really bummed me out. There's just no way to reach some people.
The conspiracy theory aspect of Deus Ex really ruins any kind of left-wing interpretation if you don't or can't look at that as it being a video game where there can be a bad guy responsible for everything that you can shoot in the face. The good guys being what amounts to a secessionist second amendment-focused right-wing militia also I don't think helps
Yeah, it was definitely r slash I'm 14 and this is deep material when I was 14 and first being exposed to ideas like the illuminati, etc.
Replayed it last week and it did not hold up to memory. Of course there are powerful monied factions who want to control the world, but it's not a hidden conspiracy or the fault of (((the others))) - they just do the shit right out in the open, no need to hide behind shadowy organizations.
Lmao, who reads the lore? Gets in the way of installing 60 mods and constantly crashing the game
Confused as to how mod culture doesn't make leftists
I mean it's literally what we want, the open source dream, or it was before modding became a cottage industry
Modding is indeed a great example of why "people won't do work without monetary incentive" is extremely wrong.
I'm always wary about making that point though, because it makes it seem like we want an economy that just operates on passion projects alone, which is obviously not going to be functional. I usually just point out all the nameless researchers and scientists who do most of the innovating but never become billionaires as evidence that no, one person does not need to have wealth equal to the GDP of a country for people to have cool toys
