apologies in advance for game dev discourse, but anyway: i think it's worth interrogating games' power fantasies and the messages of game mechanics, but i also think that saying "gamers are the way they are (politically) because the power fantasies rot their brains" is simplifying things too much - ThreadSky

ponett.dog • 3 days ago

apologies in advance for game dev discourse, but anyway: i think it's worth interrogating games' power fantasies and the messages of game mechanics, but i also think that saying "gamers are the way they are (politically) because the power fantasies rot their brains" is simplifying things too much

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miscu.bsky.social•3 days ago

need people, especially younger audiences, to realize that media is demonstrably really, really bad at implanting new ideas into someone's head. all it can do is reinforce what's already there. you're not going to suddenly join the imperialism fandom by playing a call of duty game

glairedaggers.bsky.social•3 days ago

Frankly I could go even further and say I think "we just need to make sure our media instills the Correct Values to ensure that people are good & upstanding" is an actively harmful mindset that borders *dangerously* close on fascist propaganda, albeit often unintentionally.

lordlicorice.thisisnotatrueending.com•3 days ago

ponett.dog•3 days ago

to me the implicit corollary of this is "if we made more games that convey The Right Messages And Values it would fix people." call me cynical, but i just don't believe that's how art works. i don't think ethical media consumption is going to save us

ponett.dog•3 days ago

if anything i think it's just worth interrogating these things for the sake of the art itself and coming up with new ideas

noahrules.bsky.social•3 days ago

no disrespect but disagree.

no one said "ethical media consumption will save us" but if there's a game with the direct message that racism is bad and it gets at least one to stop making racist jokes then its done its job

sure its not alot but it helps, especially in these times

zoeoftheapocalypse.bsky.social•3 days ago

I'm in agreement with both.

I get that it's not going to fix everything, but at the same it does go a long way.

I think when it comes to art, it'd be about perspective and making people understand and reflect on it.
People who already "hold good ethics" aren't exactly going to change their minds

zoeoftheapocalypse.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think it'd be down to just making "doing the right thing" feel cool and allowing those games to flourish in a general audience, but at the same time yeah not every game has to be wolfenstein.

zoeoftheapocalypse.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think also there should be just more games willing to talk about events/society for how it is. and/or how it could be.

byobattleship.bsky.social•3 days ago

It's important to think about what your game's message is and what lessons people will learn from it...but also it's not like games are magical mind control devices that can bend society to their creators' will.

monroah.bsky.social•3 days ago

Art sometimes can affect culture but it would do people better to realize that art often reflects the *current* culture more often than not.

If there's a message in art, it comes from somewhere

virtualmarmalade.bsky.social•3 days ago

yeahh i agree it's pretty clear to me that the arrow points like
society -> culture -> art
not the other way around

mrrald.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think the existence of turmoil in fandoms such as Steven Universe or Undertale proves that the messages conveyed in art won't magically fix the behavior of those who experience it

toblo1.bsky.social•3 days ago

As a fan of those two media specifically, yeah that shit was *RAMPANT* in both. Still is in some places.

SU got the worst of it but even to this day I still get flashbanged by the occasional "Asshole Whos Misinterpreting Every Theme In Undertale To Justify Bashing It And Its Fans" type on YT.

regnsloja.bsky.social•3 days ago

i'm used to fandoms, but the SU fandom seemed shockingly vicious

mrrald.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think it's the result of the target audience mingling with adults and they were all aggressively looking for hard antifascist messages during the trump administration in a show that was trying to teach pacific conflict resolution to little kids

mjosmurphy.bsky.social•3 days ago

or, ah, the cartoon/property that inspired SLARPG

magicdoogies.bsky.social•3 days ago

I will also point out that "ethical media consumption" is just a leftward rebranding of how Conservatives and fascists view art. If someone is a passionate racist I guarantee the steps that got them there happened were long before and far more influential than being a CoD fan.

agape.bsky.social•6 hours ago

I remember when Richard Garriott tried that back in 1985, with Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. Players rejected the idea of a game where the object was to be a decent person. Endless attempts to kill Lord British in subsequent Ultima games made it clear that the games' messaging wasn't driving it.

el-grumpo.bsky.social•3 days ago

If that were the case all the "racism is bad" fantasies would've fixed it. Meanwhile I still get slurs and deportation threats just for going by EL Grumpo in games

moomanibe.bsky.social•3 days ago

yeah I've been in games too long to truly believe that you can force people to take the right things away from your games haha

lordlicorice.thisisnotatrueending.com•3 days ago

no, it was totally the Sega Does What Nintendon't campaign in the 90s turning gaming into an ideological battlefield

this is the one singular reason that Things Are Like This™ with no other possible factors or sources

fatraccoon.bsky.social•3 days ago

Incel Programming Must Die.

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