A reader makes a plea to gamers to just enjoy video games for what they are, rather than an excuse to get angry on social media.
Youve probably already noticed but the Internet can be a pretty unpleasant place. 20 years ago the idea of having the entire history of human knowledge in the palm of your hand wouldve seemed like an impossible dream; one which if it was ever made real would surely be the beginning of a modern utopia, where instant access to people from anywhere in the world would usher in a new era of peace and prosperity where it was impossible to deceive or lie and communication between different groups would defuse conflicts before they ever began.
As you know, thats not what happened.
It turns out a lot of people dont like it when facts dont agree with their preconceived notions of the world, so they just get new facts that do. Instead of social media encouraging you to mingle with people of all creeds its much easier to just enter a bubble where everyone agrees with you and you can demonise anyone that doesnt. Rather than starting a new age of peace and understanding the modern Internet has create a post-truth world where nobody listens to anyone unless they already know theyre going to agree with them.
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You may be wondering what any of this has to do with video games, but I suspect you already know. Although Ive been describing the Internet in general I could also be describing video game fandom specifically, which follows all of the above to the letter. And that hurts. Not only because its all so illogical and unnecessary but because video games themselves are so trivial. Thats not a criticism though, thats their main appeal.
Often youll hear online people complaining about keeping politics out of gaming, as if gaming is some hotbed of political debate and satire. The truth is, of course, that almost no game has anything to do with politics at all and those that do, like Ubisofts Tom Clancy games, are the most likely to pretend they dont – in an attempt to make sure they dont put off any potential right-wing customers.
What the politics in gaming complaint usually comes down to is not having women or minorities in prominent roles, when really there are very few games making that effort anyway. Ignoring the fact that thats an incredibly bigoted and self-centred way of looking at the world theres very few games where this makes any kind of difference. If its a multiplayer game – like most popular games at the moment – youre usually free to play as whoever you want anyway. If its a story-based game then there are still very few prominent female characters and even fewer persons of colour.
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Those wanting to keep politics out of gaming are, I suppose, trying to keep it that way. Although I think rather than trying to close the door before the horse bolts theyre actually just outraged by the tiny increase in diversity weve seen in the last five years or so. Which begs the question of what theyd be like if there was actual fair representation for everyone.
As Ive already outlined, none of this is unique to games. You can see it in other fandoms on the Internet just as you can see it in what passes for mainstream politics today. But since its my primary hobby it upsets me when the most common thing people argue about in games is whether there are too many women or whether one game vaguely implying that being a neo-Nazi is a bad thing is an act of political correctness gone mad.
God forbid anyone get upset at the few things that matter in gaming, such as publishers shameless encouragement of gambling in the young and vulnerable or their terrible treatment of their own workers. Or we could even maybe not get upset about anything at all and just talk about how video games are really cool and, in theory, a very positive way to spend your time.
The Internet brings out the worst in everyone and I think, now that were past the Read More – Source
