When I went to school, it was all “duck & cover” and preparing for nuclear war » « A curious omission

Thank god for James Stephanie Sterling

I’m a pathetic excuse for a gamer — I’m not very good at the vidyagames, especially not the ones that require fast twitch reflexes — but still, I have to watch all of James Stephanie Sterling’s videos about games and the gaming industry. Watch this one and you’ll see why — let’s all call out those cowards everywhere who whine about not being political, not realizing that the luxury of pretending to shun political positions is in and of itself a political position.

I totally agree that one of the defining characteristics of conservative and centrist liberals is craven cowardice, desperately hiding from the consequences of their bad ideas.

When I went to school, it was all “duck & cover” and preparing for nuclear war » « A curious omission

Comments

  1. lotharloo says

    A bit OT but I personally recommend watching YT channels that are mostly devoted to indie games. I personally like “Errant Signal” which I think is pretty good. E.g., the last episode is about a game called “Hyperbolica” an adventure game designed in hyperbolic space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrMrMO2wjZA

  2. brucegee1962 says

    I have a broad definition of politics: it represents our collective attempt to answer the question “how should we live”? With that definition, people who complain about anything being “too political” look pretty silly.

  3. Mark Dowd says

    It’s a bit narrower than that. Politics is “how should we live together with other people?”

    If you’re living on your own, a totally secluded and self-sustained life, there’s no politics. But as soon as you get into contact with just one other person, you’ve got politics.

  4. robro says

    Thanks for posting this one, PZ. Bracing and motivating. I’m not a gamer but the same could be said for a lot of big corporations that pay lip service to equal rights in one breath and then donate large sums of money to politicians and other organizations trying to take away those rights.

  5. seachange says

    #3 Mark Dowd
    bweh? Saying those words is weird, to me.

    Gamers that are being talked about here don’t know how to farm, chop wood, or build a house. But they do feel that they are secluded and on their own and work hard to maintain that illusion.

  6. Ada Christine says

    i watch their videos every week because despite everything they haven’t let up on the scathing and necessary criticism

  7. mmfwmc says

    You should check out Hardspace Shipbreaker. It’s a cool game, and the plot is fighting an exploitative corporation with the powers of unionization.

  8. birgerjohansson says

    “The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”
    Plato

  9. Alverant says

    I’ve been following her for years and on her patreon since the Escapist days (or after she left Escapist, it’s been too long) despite my declining interest in video games. It’s sickening that a medium that’s so popular and has so much potential is being run the way that it is.

  10. lochaber says

    wow.

    lots of righteous vitriol, delivered in a sometimes humorous manner, there.

    I feel like I’ve heard that youtube channel recommended before by people I respect and/or agree with, but I think this is the first I’ve ever seen any of their videos. I’ll have to check out some more of their stuff when I get some free time on a weekend…

    thanks for sharing

  11. masa12 says

    I’m sorry, but I stopped caring about wannabe “gamer rights” activists like Sterling years ago.