Culture Wars General - KiA Diet Coke Edition

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Fuck anyone with that facial expression.

Or better yet, don't, because then they'll claim you raped them.

 

[Rand /pol/]

Why do people complain about politics in video games, especially when video games have always had political elements, atleast in the last couple of decades. COD4, Bioshock, Fallout, etc. all were political games (or had politics as a major element of its story or whatever) and they're all considered classics. It seems to me when people complain about politics in games it's either because A) the political side of the game wasn't handled well (in which case, why would that mean politics in general shouldn't be in games?) or B) the politics or viewpoint the game supports differ from said group-of-people's own viewpoint.

 

[I Love Beef]

Wait, didn't we already have a thread like this?

 

[Pixy]

Because it doesn't agree with their point of view? Also when it's blatant virtue signalling shoved down gamers' throats instead of a decently done take on a certain issue. There's also the cases of randos taking decent games and claiming that said games somehow advocate some far-fetched political stance.

I wouldn't know, since I've rarely played any of those 'political' games.

 

[Neozeonian]

It's because politics in games these days have all the subtlety of a fat man dusting fine china with a sledge hammer and it's usually only done for woke points and not to the benefit of the story. It's not just games either but almost all modern media.

When people say they don't like politics in games what they really are saying is that they don't like poorly executed propaganda.

 

[Picnic_Boy]

When I turn on my GameBoy I get confused because it doesn't tell me who to vote for.

 

[Recoil]

Because people play games to escape reality, not to have it rubbed in their faces.
You should be all for separating entertainment and politics, Randy. When you smash the two together, the resulting art is usually shit and the audience gets turned off to your cause because propaganda doesn't work the way it used to, out here in the information age.

 

[Rand /pol/]

Because people play games to escape reality, not to have it rubbed in their faces.
You should be all for separating entertainment and politics, Ron. When you smash the two together, the resulting art is usually shit and the audience gets turned off to your cause because propaganda doesn't work the way it used to, out here in the information age.

Name your favorite games and I guarantee you I can find atleast one that involves politics in some way.

edit: also who tf is ron?

 

[Recoil]

Name your favorite games and I guarantee you I can find atleast one that involves politics in some way.

That's irrelevant. That's like saying "Name one POC woman in the 90's comics industry." There were many, but they were operating within a meritocracy so their presence was organic.

Of course there are loads of games that involve politics, but the games that win fans and marketshare are games first and foremost, not ideological vehicles. Leftists aiming for muh representation don't seem to realize the importance of prioritizing mass appeal above agenda peddling. They're motivated to spread the word of their church, as opposed to being motivated by the satisfaction of producing quality via hard work. Modern leftists think they can brute force the culture with shame, fear and other petty emotional thumbscrews. They give us white fragility, toxic masculinity, all things that are inherently negative. They want to make people feel bad. Look at Greta, FFS.

Problem is, complete access to information has rendered this age old strategy of mass indoctrination completely obsolete, completely irrelevant. You can't just push ideas with lies nowadays, not like you used to be able to back in the 1980's and below. Saying that 'everything is political' does not excuse the left from having a complete lack of style, panache and understanding with regards to the human animal. You're all fucked because you have no flow.

 

[Rand /pol/]

That's irrelevant. That's like saying "Name one POC woman in the 90's comics industry." There were many, but they were operating within a meritocracy so their presence was organic.

Of course there are loads of games that involve politics, but the games that win fans and marketshare are games first and foremost, not ideological vehicles. Leftists aiming for muh representation don't seem to realize the importance of prioritizing mass appeal above agenda peddling. They're motivated to spread the word of their church, as opposed to being motivated by the satisfaction of producing quality via hard work. Modern leftists think they can brute force the culture with shame, fear and other petty emotional thumbscrews. They give us white fragility, toxic masculinity, all things that are inherently negative. They want to make people feel bad. Look at Greta, FFS.

Problem is, complete access to information has rendered this age old strategy of mass indoctrination completely obsolete, completely irrelevant. You can't just push ideas with lies nowadays, not like you used to be able to back in the 1980's and below. Saying that 'everything is political' does not excuse the left from having a complete lack of style, panache and understanding with regards to the human animal. You're all fucked because you have no flow.

"IF GAME TALK ABOUT POLITICS IT PROPAGANDA HURR TEH LIBTURDS HURR GREAT THUNBERG HURR!"
It's like I'm talking to a caveman.

 

[Recoil]

"IF GAME TALK ABOUT POLITICS IT PROPAGANDA HURR TEH LIBTURDS HURR GREAT THUNBERG HURR!"
It's like I'm talking to a caveman.

I'll take that as a tacit affirmation of defeat.

 

[Rand /pol/]

I'll take that as a tacit affirmation of defeat.

I don't even know what you're trying to say. My point is complaining about politics in games is stupid because politics has always been in games, some of the best games have been political ones, and the people who complain about "politics in games" are only complaining about women or gays or whatever in games not politics in general. Holy shit this like trying to explain calculus to an amobea.

 

[Recoil]

Holy shit this like trying to explain calculus to an amobea.

 

[I Love Beef]

I don't even know what you're trying to say. My point is complaining about politics in games is stupid because politics has always been in games, some of the best games have been political ones, and the people who complain about "politics in games" are only complaining about women or gays or whatever in games not politics in general. Holy shit this like trying to explain calculus to an amobea.

For fuck's sake man, do I have to intervene and explain this to you again, you thread duplicating baiting jackass?

I like JRPGs for how they do resonate with me for how they bash corrupt religion, including the ass ends of Christianity, but they did work at the time and are timeless due to how religious fanaticism and zealotry is not just central to one era, and how these games make use of a neverending vice of something that exists to not just provide mores and aesops, but is a legitimate inspiration to use to make a story out of to entertain first and foremost.

For example, I know that Japan doesn't exactly know much about the West's diehard Fundie Christian cults, but Aum Shinrikyo and everyone going apeshit over Nostradamus at the time helped to let people know that something outright fucky was going on.

As what my buddy Recon said, it doesn't work these days, I do agree with that. What I'll add on is that people these days for the most part are not taught or encouraged to be spiritually intune or use their brain and imagination, and I think the War on Terror era churned out a lot of autistic metaphorical water brained dumbasses who think the USA is the only fucking place in the universe. This leads to faggots who cherish "realism" like how a spoiled two year old demands their mom's tits all the time, and is what ruins the suspension of disbelief because they can't just make a fucking story, but a propagandic mouthpiece for their bullshit ideologies and beliefs to force onto others.

 

[CatharticShitHead]

I swear. We already did this in another thread that got pruned. Alright. So here's the main reason why peeps get pissed over politics in games.

Getting an idea shoved down your throat in a messy and not really done well way is a good ass way to get people angry.

It's a reason why people despise Jim Sterling's pseudo intellectual fatass. Or Anita Sarkeesians jewbitch ass. If there's a political message either being forced by its developers or political exceptional pundits like Sterling or Sarkeesian, then people who just want to play vidya will get angry.

Now. If it's done well and it has a good point, then that's another story altogether because I guarantee people play those games and don't even think about the political implications. They just think about the game at first. Take Metal Gear for example. Whole ass franchise is very political, very anti war in some entries. Yet people don't think about that on the first run through.

So when it's done well, no one really notices until they want to. But when it's done horribly, everyone knows and it pisses off a bunch of consumers because then it means that it's not a game to them anymore, it's a really shitty PSA to do whatever the game is preaching at you to do.

 

[Fagnacious D]

This one is aimed at the table top / pen and paper crew.
According to some Dark Sun would be career suicide to adapt into D&D 5e these days according to some. Effectively it's a mad max in a fantasy universe. Things are extremely brutal. Bad things happen a lot! Such as, slavery, the murdering of children, rape and genocide.
Here's a quick blurb from the wiki about Dark Sun to give you a general idea on the world

Spoiler: The World of Dark Sun according to wikipedia

Athas is a devastated world, the result of magic run amok. Most of Athas is an empty desert, interrupted by a handful of corrupt city states controlled by power-mad sorcerer-kings and their spell-wielding lackeys. The brutal climate and the oppressive rule of the sorcerer-kings have created a corrupt, bloodthirsty, and desperate culture that leaves little room for chivalric virtues common to fantasy settings (hence why paladins are excluded).[19]:5 Slavery is commonplace, gladiatorial duels provide entertainment for the elite, and death permeates the culture. As rain falls only once per decade in some areas, water is more precious than gold. Due to the scarcity of natural resources, few wizards have access to books made of paper pages and hard covers; instead, they record their spells with string patterns and complex knots. Metal is also rare, affecting both the economy and the quality of equipment. The ceramic coin, made from clay and glazed in various colors, is the primary medium of exchange, worth about a hundredth of a gold piece. Weapons typically consist of obsidian, bone, and wood, and are prone to breaking. Only a single dragon exists in all of Athas, a monstrosity whose appearance heralds disasters of catastrophic proportions.[10]

Arcane magic draws its power from the life force of plants or living creatures, with the potential to cause tremendous harm to the environment. As a result, wizards and other arcane casters are despised and must practice in secret. Psionics are extremely common with nearly every living thing having at least a modicum of psionic ability. Due to a scarcity of metal, weapons and armor are made from natural materials such as bone, stone, wood, carapace or obsidian.[19]:119–120

Athas has no deities and no formal religions other than the cults created by the sorcerer-kings.[26]:17 There is some contention within the source material as to whether or not there were ever deities in the setting. The AD&D source material seems to suggests that there weren't ever any gods involved with Athas, while the 4th edition setting leaves the option open more explicitly stating that the gods were destroyed or driven away by malevolent elemental spirits.[19]:208 Clerics and druids instead draw power from the Inner Planes/Elemental Chaos.

Should the time stamp not work start at 2:30
A lot of people seem to be in favor of a more child friendly these days. It feels all to reminiscent of the 70s and 80s where the right wing religious said that D&D would lead to devil worship. Replace devil worship with become bigoted (racist/sexist).

 

[huckbeine]

Name your favorite games and I guarantee you I can find atleast one that involves politics in some way.

edit: also who tf is ron?

It all makes sense now !!! Every game is political. I didn't know that Fate/Stay Night was about a bunch of multinational immigrants wanting a better life in Japan and this motherfucker Shirou wants to make Japan great again by booting out these illegal immigrants!

or wait, the Taimanin Asagi games are about a peace-loving orc race, who just wants to love women and just immigrating into the world and the homophobic/transmisogynist taimanin pigs are killing their race!!

 

[ZMOT]

video games have always had political elements, atleast in the last couple of decades. COD4, Bioshock, Fallout, etc. all were political games (or had politics as a major element of its story or whatever) and they're all considered classics.

so what are the political elements of pong? an allegory for the cold war? tetris an introspection into communism dropping literally commie blocks on you? donkey kong picturing the struggle of italian immigrats in the construction sector?

inb4 "hurr those don't count". is fortnite just an ancap simulator? dota a deconstruction of the bipartisan political system?

 

[Safir]

tetris an introspection into communism dropping literally commie blocks on you?

 

[huckbeine]

All these hentai games are actually a subliminal political message that promotes Japan's PM Shinsou Abe's right wing political stance and encourage people getting married and procreate to increase Japan's population