Here we go, something I've been drafting for a long, long time: how the US-centric approach to video games and their history / culture basically gaslights us who come from other realities:
https://felipepepe.medium.com/the-gentrification-of-video-game-history-dfe11f1e08ae
AKA, why LAN Houses, PokéTibia & Bomba Patch rule.
https://felipepepe.medium.com/the-gentrification-of-video-game-history-dfe11f1e08ae
AKA, why LAN Houses, PokéTibia & Bomba Patch rule.
Comments
Very happy that got over 5k likes and started so many discussions, but it's clear it's now atracting big accounts with no interest in the topic who are just scavenging for engagement.
Got stuck on this for ages because I'm sure there's a term for this, but I couldn't find it and felt dumb posting it without knowing :P
It's a very broad term for "unequal treatment of knowledge perspectives"
https://bsky.app/profile/cadensia.bsky.social/post/3letqa3a3es27
N64 was outselling PSX in my local environment, but that's not the average story. 😅
(I think the loose definition of "influential" might be a problem)
Like, of course people are going to boo you out of the room if you say something like “Doom wasn’t actually that big of a deal”
That’s crazy!
I mean, even Nintendo's own first 3D game was outsourced to Argonaut, lol
Mario 64, was one of these things I was really eager to try as soon it could be emulated, In fact I think I played it in really poor emulation conditions.
Still must be fought off by the other side.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silencing_the_Past
2: Corporate curated, PR generating histories, tend to steamroll anything else, regardless of language.
https://mediatheory.net/cultural-hegemony/
I'll take a loot at Jesús Martín-Barbero, makes sense that he's Latin American too lol
And thanks for sharing the article btw, that was a great read 👍
In general, it's the tension between cultural memory (Jan Assmann) and history. You can also relate that to the invention of tradition (Eric Hobsbawm).
Loved the article, though.
It definitely feels like something which would have an existing term...
https://youtu.be/l2SQgjYmVYY?si=rUtJdBbkvwI4fPbg
In Brazil some became local legal distributors for US companies, fighting pirates. The moment they cut us off in the late 90s, games were too complex and we didn't have the know-how to do our own.
They had Atari STs on one side of the wall, and Amigas on the other; the games were pretty obv pirated, I recognized some of them since I owned A500 myself.
Most games were usual fare of the era, since English-language games were "hot", ergo desirable
Great article. Every bit of testimony and celebration of the games that brought people togther fights that ignorance and homogenised idea of games history.
perhaps the word you seek is Cultural Hegemony, as conceived by Antonio Gramsci.
Well, at first I had to put up with it all in shades of green cos I didn't have the colour monitor til a few years later. :P
lembro de um moleque corajoso que ia todo dia na locadora jogar um daqueles rpgs de ps1 que era uma torre gigante com geração aleatória
mas a maioria ia só jogar futebol msm
Um tio meu teve uma locadora em SC por uns anos, nas minhas férias lá, eu acabava acompanhando o gameplay de uns amigos: praticamente assisti Metal Gear Solid como se fosse um filme(do jeito que o Kojima idealizou) entre outros de PS1, PS2 e DC, haha
eu lembro que aquilo ali me deu um nervoso pq nunca gostei desse tipo de jogo, eu gosto de coisas com narrativa, achava aquilo aberto demais
achava doideira o mlk vir todo dia e jogar uma grana lá pra ficar o dia jogando aquilo
ou pior, continuava do save da pessoa
Also, I am a very, VERY bad writer.
I, a U.S. born citizen, had no idea that things had developed so differently in other parts of the world. I just... wasn't thinking about it.
Or at least they were common in the Canary Islands, where I lived as a teen. The Islands have been for a long time the cultural bridge between Latin America and mainland Spain.
Cause it is mostly evil thing, that leads to unethical monetization ways and less concentrated game experience due to an involvement retention necessary.
Even living in the states, our physical copies were few and mostly hand-me-downs 5-10 years “out of date.”
But we had a home computer that could run web browsers, emulators, and RPG Maker.
Thanks for sharing your own perspective and highlighting how much is missed!
I think "erasure" might be too strong a word, though, as it implies (at least to me) intention when it seems like it's just a case of Americans writing about Americans for Americans.
Rather, I think it's best to just take it as it is, an American perspective, and remember it's just one among many.
(You guys totally should, though! It really broadens horizons.)
For example, from academia to game publishers, everyone was following closely the development of free-to-play in Asia. They downplayed their numbers and influence while copying their ideas.
At least that can be chalked to entrenched companies doing everything they can to stop new entrants from competing.
The cost of a video game for her was extremely prohibitive. It was an eye opener for me.
Probably why the franchise became much more niche after the DS.
The N64 though?Yeah relevant to only to specific people.
Saving for another day
If you were writing a video game history book, though, I would expect you to do research, not just base it on your memories.
I would start with the excellent series "Paralelos": https://www.redbull.com/br-pt/serie-paralelos-narra-pirataria-de-games-no-brasil
Then "Destravado", on the impact of major consoles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJLx-ZMNCnk&list=PLTFO-hPawXIHXxR3FhPUjnccIikwsttfG
Then "Primeiro Contato", about Brazil's PC industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkcDuZ63y2g
Signed a Canadian Gringo.
Some even took it personal 🤣
"Paralelos"
https://www.redbull.com/br-pt/serie-paralelos-narra-pirataria-de-games-no-brasil
https://www.b9.com.br/shows/primeirocontato/
Tinha de SNES, Mega Drive, Gameboy Color/Advance, PS1, PS2, mas de N64 não lembro de ter visto pirata... Pode ser só observação seletiva, já que eu não tinha o console.
That time I even didn't knew ISS was the original game.
And unless you're nerd enough to know about localization, you'll never know that the same Mon had different names in other languages.
If there was a way to setup the default country for the names and availabilities...
Still remember selling most of my packed lunch every day to save up for Super Mario Bros 3. I remember the day of purchase and walking home, seeing friends on other side of road and yelling out "I GOT IT!"
Also my parents werent really really the type to buy their kids a console so i either, played them at a cousin´s house or the local casa de juventude
another thing to note is that several educational games and girl target game dont get enough discussion when it comes to game history.
It was never released officially.
I'm pretty sure the US-centric history has broken the brain of some people.
One of the reasons why I wrote this is that the rise of "influencers who read Wikipedia" in Brazil means young Brazilians are being told we all had Gameboys & traded Pokémon at school, like in the US :/
Then you open youtube and see people talking like it was the most normal thing ever.
Because I remember there was certainly hype for GTA 3 in the Netherlands. GTA 1+2 where very populair with my friends and schoolclass. Maybe not in sales but they played them.
Curiously they DID have good sales in the US - but it was all for education - almost nobody bought them as home computers, so no US games scene.
Meanwhile in Japan - the MSX!
And in Europe the bedroom coder did somewhat continue through the 2000s, it’s how I got into software and games development.
As I get older I find the less commercially polished and packaged products are no less “real” and often more interesting in many ways.
#brazil #cybercafe #gamestudies
Um real a hora:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ZAEhuZpjA
#Venezuela #cybercafe #gamestudies
#cybercafe #gamestudies
https://x.com/scarytoilet?lang=en
People reminisce about what can remember, so US media will focus on things people remember in the US, which is the same for Sweden and every other country
What is being removed?
More varied retrospectives out there are quite often not English language videos, but they need some equity too.
I'm taking YouTube as a format where a prevailing culture of opinion exists (US with Nintendo consoles).
Throw in an algorithm that shows you only related videos (and even less of, say, Portuguese/Swedish videos) on the topic, and non-US game historians get lost in the noise.
I wouldn't put it past YT to do that, along with their demand for frequent videos and 'content' like they're running a TV station.
tldr; Algorithms do hurt culture, yes
I know YT is American af, they think their users work for them and need to meet quotas (no regular videos = no pay etc).
A certain movie review website used to host their videos on Blip, which was a popular host site, but that closed in 2015
It's great if you're selling American culture, but sucks if you're a normal person interested in having a broad view of the world :/
It feels like every day where I learn something that's totally new to me but common knowledge outside the US.
https://youtu.be/cGXZs2VaY20
Question - I got slightly confused re: regions vs modes of production question. Ie the US/Japan centricity is often due to stuff like patent issues, engines, hardware requirements, public / private investment etc.
Baw and well that's just incredibly generous, thank you! 🙏✨😭
Both are erased. So I think it's a mix of more representation abroad, with channels not mediated by the US, backed by stronger, less submissive awareness of our own history
& gosh, peak US central is only coming w/ GTA6 arnd the corner, eh! 🫣
But they got globalized before local scenes could fully develop (high entry barriers), so it's a unique situation
As a Spaniard I see local game history converging to "we played NES in the 80s and N64/Pokemon in the 90s". Many influencers push a very Nintendo-centric (Wikipedia) view of things. It will soon be forgotten that PS1 PRINCO and PC CD-Mix games were way more popular than Mario. :)
The more stories we get from different corners of the industry/world, the better
Of course IGN isn't talking about a clunky-looking mobile game with 150,000,000 players. It's not played by the english audience of IGN.
So no, the language is not that
https://bsky.app/profile/pseudandry.bsky.social/post/3l5kninstkg24
These are real games because they were made with the permission from the devs. We don't consider fan-edits of films real releases either and that's totally fair.
Garry's Mod, one of the examples, outright disproves this claim. Counter-Strike itself too, arguably (or at least 1.6, the final version of the 'mod').
To paraphrase Mr. Satoru Iwata: On his business card he may be a corporate director, on his mind he may be a game developer. But on his heart, like all of us...he's a gamer.
I mean, I drew this exact comparison with my best friend IRL after he got an used Xbox One (his first console) a few days ago.
That is exactly the sort of industry-enforced formalization and sanitization which I reject and you are defending here.
3/4 mods you gave as examples were published by Valve, they embrace this culture because their employees began as modders. If HL2 was made by Konami, Gmod would be viewed the same as Bomba Patch.
Dota did not recieve permission by blizzard. Theres now dota 2 by valve but it was already a game before.
Same with team fortress, stanley parable, dayz, etc. The """permission""" allways came after the fact that it was and is a videogame.
1) Get permission from the devs who made the game you are modding
2) Remake it as an original game from scratch.
Dota 2 has the two in the name for a reason, is the sequel to dota.
The longest literary work in history is a Smash Bros. fanfic, yet no one considers fanfic real literature.
My personal view is I hate this, but is why people see some stuff as real or not.
To come back to later. 🙂
Why people are so influenced by other peoples writings and opinions. Of course US people write from US-centric point of view. But why it has so much influence on those who come from a different background.
And yes, I know that some outlets hire people from other countries, but most of the big and old ones did not. Like, can you name a single big one that this 10 years ago?
It's called "Modo Historia" (Story Mode)
https://www.youtube.com/c/ModoHistoriaPodcast
Às vezes, fico pensando se este não é o videogame mais vendido do Brasil.
Fico pensando, também, se haverá um videogame mais novo que o ps2 e com mais impacto que ele. Acho que não.
Up until I was 18 years old, all the PC and console games I played were pirated. Original disks were just too expensive.
Gaming is still considered a luxury here but Steam had made games more affordable.
game culture around the world is the absolute coolest thing to learn about
I don't think the 4th rule applies as much in this case. Imo, it is more to do with their structure and the platform (that is more popular in the regions you listed).
Continued below..