This afternoon at 4pm my time (central time), the FtB gang is going to have a conversation about video games.
We know where it’s going to go. You can’t talk about social justice and video games without the horror that is #gamergate rising up. Maybe we’ll get trolls!
Who knows, though, maybe we’ll just get into how much fun a game can be.
Seeing the Minecraft video my first reaction to the troll problem was: “Don’t build bridges”.
Then I realized the other implications of those three/four words.
You may be surprised to hear that there has actually been an awful lot to talk about on the topic of social justice and computer games since gamergate. Large companies creating and covering up sexual assault and harassment and toxic workplace environments, union busting, developer crunch (a culture of overwork to the point of exhaustion), systemic mistreatment of devs, pay gaps and reduced promotional opportunities for women and minorities…. and then there are the “legal” abuses such as microtransactions and gambling mechanics preying on and manipulating children and people with mental health problems, the false promises of “games as a service”, patent absurdities, abuses of copyright law, large companies buying out and destroying successful developers to increase their market share, mass layoffs at times of record corporate profits, etc. etc.
There’s so much more than gg although I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, lol.
=8)-DX
Since I’m playing in an experimental cliffs and caves world on the xbox one this will be interesting.
You should check out “Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution” sometime. It’s kinda glitchy but still you may find it interesting.
we done it! we talked about blideo bames.
I think this video missed the boat when talking about minecraft worlds. The “private” servers are just flat out not about “entertaining” someone else. The are not “story driven”. The ones on youtube its almost entirely trying to entertain an audience. If the “story” called for a sort of collective, everyone shares, world, and they thought this would created enough interest and entertainment, they would happily do that, but… how much of an audience would this get them?
So, the default is probably going to be what the “audience” understands, which, in the case of Hermit Craft, as an example, leads to both collaborative building, and competition, and even wars, depending on what takes their interest at the time, and seems like it might entertain their audience. But, because they are making videos “for” that audience, and getting money from it, that is what they do.
On the other extreme you have some of the exact same bloody people, in some cases, playing the online version of Stardew Valley – where the closest to “competition” you get in it is who wins the egg hunt during the “spring season” in the game. It is otherwise totally cooperative (though the game itself has commerce, etc. in it, where your ‘farm’ makes money by selling stuff you grew, got from chickens, fished, mined, etc.
Basically, almost all of it is, if you are watching it on some place like youtube, and they are making money from it, you are probably not going to get peace, love and plants (despite this being the “theme” of Mumbo Jumbo on Hermit Craft this season. lol)
Ok, and to be clear, the other aspects, like villages. Well, you don’t have to “kill” them any more, but kidnap them, scare them half to death to build an iron farm, etc.? Yep, definitely. lol
Who’s the guy with the blue shirt and the glasses? I’ve met him before somewhere lol…