What's truly considered apolitical in videogames?

[UE 558]

I don't think the government censoring corporations about violent and sexual content is nearly the same as the government or corporations censoring private citizens. Sure, preventing a multinational corporation from publishing something (within reason) is a problem, but not nearly the same existential issue that allowing corporations to destroy websites and individuals on an ideological basis. That said its not like there's anything we can do about it.

More or less. We’re not talking about Null getting buttfucked by the US government in this thread, we’re just talking about KIA faggots and REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEera faggots

 

[Diesel Boogaloo]

An example of possible "propaganda through mechanics" is Democracy 3 which is rather unbalanced unless you engage in socialism. This of course is not a real economic simulation and purely balanced around the developers own feelings. The developer has been asked if he tried any of the rebalancing mods available, and he said he hasn't, and he doesn't seem interested in re-balancing the game as to avoid one economic policy system being obviously OP.

What sucks is that there are very few state-level political simulation games that go into enough detail to make the game at least a bit immersive. The only other games I can think of are the Eversim games, which are overpriced pieces of buggy shit. At least they have goofy 3D character models to laugh at:

Spoiler: Ronald Drump

 

[Y2K Baby]

Alright, gamers?

 

[UE 558]

Alright, gamers?

>has comments removed on all of his discussion videos
>is from britanistan
>looks like a bugman
>makes galaxy brained shit like this

>retweets galaxy brained shit like this

Spoiler: Gay rant about nothing

Like I said, I hate post-2015 GGers, but I also hate these bugmen. And I don’t care enough about him to watch his video, judging by his twatter, he’s probably a bugman who’ll use the classic “everything is inherently political” argument while ensuring he makes it sound like “everything” only caters to his political views.

God forbid I come out of a game with a conservative or center-leaning view (like pulling libertarian shit out of MGS5 or pulling or neocon shit out of Deus Ex)

He also wrote this masterpiece

What Gamergate should have taught us about the 'alt-right' | Games | …

archived 17 Mar 2019 05:24:40 UTC

archive.fo

I was right, he straight up shat on people unwilling to put propaganda in their games at the end of his video, fuck him.
A game like RDR2 or Deus Ex makes sense to have political overtones, they both critique American/Western civilization, but a wacky game like DMC or EDF5 doesn’t need fucking Trump or Bernie stand-ins

Matt Lees on Twitter: "Hold onto the reins. https://t.co/k3lgIycqn3"

archived 14 Nov 2016 16:12:11 UTC

archive.fo

 

[Y2K Baby]

God forbid I come out of a game with a conservative or center-leaning view (like pulling libertarian shit out of MGS5 or pulling or neocon shit out of Deus Ex)

How is Deus Ex neocon

 

[Secret Asshole]

The problem is....NOTHING. You can make politics out of anything. The problem is the way they teach the humanities these days. I can type you up the gender politics of the fucking first game made on the Oscilloscope in 1958 if that's your deal.

The real question to ask is 'is this game actually overtly political?' I.E. Was this intentional? Cultural critique markets itself on making any viewpoint interpretative. You give me a game, I can culturally critique it and give you a summation of probably any political point you want to make or pander to. The real thing you should be asking yourself is: Do you put any stock in politics in video games by outside sources?

The answer should always, ALWAYS be 'lol no'. Because outside sources for video games are always unmitigated trash. In fact, that's my advice for politics in any arena. Its all unmitigated trash pushed by trash outlets designed to tribalize you to one viewpoint (typically progtard in creative fields) where pandering and getting as much of the market are the two most important things. If something is overtly political in a videogame, it will be very, very obvious. Games have never, EVER been good about doing subtle political overtones. Its going to hit you in the face with a hammer. If you have to question 'Is this political?' 9 times out of 10, it isn't. If you read it on a gaming website, 10 out of 10 times it isn't.

 

[Niggernerd]

Fighting games with Big cahuna anime tits and a sick ost.
Shits cash

 

[UE 558]

How is Deus Ex neocon

My point was that if that was my interpetation of say, the Illuminati ending of DX1, that bugman in the video would get pissed

The problem is....NOTHING. You can make politics out of anything. The problem is the way they teach the humanities these days. I can type you up the gender politics of the fucking first game made on the Oscilloscope in 1958 if that's your deal.

The real question to ask is 'is this game actually overtly political?' I.E. Was this intentional? Cultural critique markets itself on making any viewpoint interpretative. You give me a game, I can culturally critique it and give you a summation of probably any political point you want to make or pander to. The real thing you should be asking yourself is: Do you put any stock in politics in video games by outside sources?

The answer should always, ALWAYS be 'lol no'. Because outside sources for video games are always unmitigated trash. In fact, that's my advice for politics in any arena. Its all unmitigated trash pushed by trash outlets designed to tribalize you to one viewpoint (typically progtard in creative fields) where pandering and getting as much of the market are the two most important things. If something is overtly political in a videogame, it will be very, very obvious. Games have never, EVER been good about doing subtle political overtones. Its going to hit you in the face with a hammer. If you have to question 'Is this political?' 9 times out of 10, it isn't. If you read it on a gaming website, 10 out of 10 times it isn't.

There’s obvious political allusions in MGS2, all the Deus Ex games, both RDRs, and all the Bioshocks but they’re just that, allusions, not the crux of those games’ stories. You can easily ignore said allusions and just enjoy the stories at face value. The issue is that the bugmen don’t want politics to be handled like they were in the games I mentioned, they want elephant shit like Gone Home or Dear Esther where the devs want their games to push their agendas in an extremely blatant fashion

 

[UE 558]

Fuck this bugman, I like being a villain protagonist. One of my favorite characters is Kain from Legacy of Kain. In the original Blood Omen, Kain is a low-down, vengeful, murderous, genocidal piece of shit and last I checked, the game didn’t turn me into a serial killer

 

[CrunkLord420]

Fuck this bugman, I like being a villain protagonist. One of my favorite characters is Kain from Legacy of Kain. In the original Blood Omen, Kain is a low-down, vengeful, murderous, genocidal piece of shit and last I checked, the game didn’t turn me into a serial killer

As someone who enjoys learning about military history. There is an implicit understanding that the average enlisted soldiers who fought are to be considered apolitical professionals. Soldiering is a career for many, and those who were drafted literally had no choice. This is also true for contemporary professional militaries like the US has, where you'll easy find many who personally disagree with the interventions in the middle east.

Basically, VICE/Waypoint is ignorantly pushing against the well established methodology which military historians use to discuss these things. Because, muh demand for propaganda in video games.

Like I said, they want every single portrayal of the Wehrmacht to be dripping with propaganda. You can't ever portray German soldiers just being soldiers. History is very grey, and to make extreme generalizations about the individual soldiers of entire army is ridiculous.

 

[Kyria the Great]

The problem is....NOTHING. You can make politics out of anything. The problem is the way they teach the humanities these days. I can type you up the gender politics of the fucking first game made on the Oscilloscope in 1958 if that's your deal.

The real question to ask is 'is this game actually overtly political?' I.E. Was this intentional? Cultural critique markets itself on making any viewpoint interpretative. You give me a game, I can culturally critique it and give you a summation of probably any political point you want to make or pander to. The real thing you should be asking yourself is: Do you put any stock in politics in video games by outside sources?

The answer should always, ALWAYS be 'lol no'. Because outside sources for video games are always unmitigated trash. In fact, that's my advice for politics in any arena. Its all unmitigated trash pushed by trash outlets designed to tribalize you to one viewpoint (typically progtard in creative fields) where pandering and getting as much of the market are the two most important things. If something is overtly political in a videogame, it will be very, very obvious. Games have never, EVER been good about doing subtle political overtones. Its going to hit you in the face with a hammer. If you have to question 'Is this political?' 9 times out of 10, it isn't. If you read it on a gaming website, 10 out of 10 times it isn't.

I mean this is sad as I feel this really limits stuff like rpgs which done right can truly explore the triumphs and faults of a certain idea, but considering the ideological monopoly that Left-leaning folks have over the Humanities and other creative fields, I don't think that will be happening anytime soon as too many people are too far up their own ass for their own good.

 

[UE 558]

I mean this is sad as I feel this really limits stuff like rpgs which done right can truly explore the triumphs and faults of a certain idea, but considering the ideological monopoly that Left-leaning folks have over the Humanities and other creative fields, I don't think that will be happening anytime soon as too many people are too far up their own ass for their own good.

Yeah, Fallout New Vegas would cause category 5 fag attacks from REEEEEEEEEEera if released now, RDR2 already did so by having the audacity to allow its manly, unshaven rogue of a protagonist to be a manly, unshaven rogue instead of being a “sensitive deconstruction” of that archetype like Dadtos

 

[Secret Asshole]

I mean this is sad as I feel this really limits stuff like rpgs which done right can truly explore the triumphs and faults of a certain idea, but considering the ideological monopoly that Left-leaning folks have over the Humanities and other creative fields, I don't think that will be happening anytime soon as too many people are too far up their own ass for their own good.

Absolutely. Lets say I wanted to explore the Roman concept of fascism. Whereas, in an emergency, you suspend the Republic and democracy and have this strong leader come in, control the situation and leave. Is that a good thing? How far can that concept be pushed? What kind of person would that have taken? For example, like Cincinnatus who gave up dictatorship after the crisis was over. Can this be a good thing? I'd NEVER be allowed to explore this idea in the modern gaming climate, even if if it does have historical precedent for happening and for good men to exist to have done it. I mean, the guy became a legend after doing it, so we're no longer allowed to broach these basic historical concepts.

Like you have this post-apocalyptic society ruled by a fascist dictatorship, because they're on the brink of destruction by their enemies in a war they didn't cause. So they had to spend democracy. Can that work? Can that be ethical? You'd never even be allowed to consider a 'yes' answer. (Starship Troopers doesn't count because its heavily implied in Starship Troopers the Book the humans started shit first). I'm talking about a legit morally grey situation. And when is the time to give power back? You'd get rainbow hairs and male sex offenders screaming you at the rooftops.

And forget exploring the concept of a dystopia ala 'A Brave New World' or 'Harrison Bergeron'. You'd NEVER EVER even get to try. (For reference, in Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut, everyone is 'equal': The pretty wear masks to make them ugly, the athletic are strapped down by huge weights, the intelligent have this implant that constantly gives annoying white noise so you can't think, etc. They will NEVER let you explore the concept of equality taken to ridiculous heights and the dangers this sort of thought brings.

Even fucking Equilibrium type deals, where you just start deleting people and objects from history because they were 'problematic'. These are concepts you simply would not be allowed to explore.

Games are incredibly strapped down creatively right now and politically, they can basically serve as propaganda or nothing. There's really no actual in-between with them. Because the developers who put politics in their games have no desire to explore. They have a desire to force their values on you and make sure 'Drumpf' never happens again. Like I said, games have 0 nuance with politics. Either they're pushing a narrative or trying to avoid one. Sometimes there will be subtle jabs here and there, but nothing really explicit.

I mean, a pixelated throwback 80s cop game gives them night sweats because its hilariously sexist and they want it removed from Nintendo's e-shop even though Nintendo said censorship was bad for business.

And lets face it, game companies are in this for money. They're only going to push a 'diverse' political agenda that gets them the widest possible audience. Remember, independent thought, critical thinking and logical analysis have been unironically called white supremacist many times.

 

[Night Owl]

Like I said, they want every single portrayal of the Wehrmacht to be dripping with propaganda. You can't ever portray German soldiers just being soldiers. History is very grey, and to make extreme generalizations about the individual soldiers of entire army is ridiculous.

It's funny. Even my Yugoslav partisan grandfather had no ill will against the regular Nazi soldiers and he'd seen some terrible shit around him. To him, they were just fighting a war, like he did. The only Nazis he loathed from the bottom of his heart were the SS and that was from personal experience.

 

[UE 558]

Absolutely. Lets say I wanted to explore the Roman concept of fascism. Whereas, in an emergency, you suspend the Republic and democracy and have this strong leader come in, control the situation and leave. Is that a good thing? How far can that concept be pushed? What kind of person would that have taken? For example, like Cincinnatus who gave up dictatorship after the crisis was over. Can this be a good thing? I'd NEVER be allowed to explore this idea in the modern gaming climate, even if if it does have historical precedent for happening and for good men to exist to have done it. I mean, the guy became a legend after doing it, so we're no longer allowed to broach these basic historical concepts.

Like you have this post-apocalyptic society ruled by a fascist dictatorship, because they're on the brink of destruction by their enemies in a war they didn't cause. So they had to spend democracy. Can that work? Can that be ethical? You'd never even be allowed to consider a 'yes' answer. (Starship Troopers doesn't count because its heavily implied in Starship Troopers the Book the humans started shit first). I'm talking about a legit morally grey situation. And when is the time to give power back? You'd get rainbow hairs and male sex offenders screaming you at the rooftops.

And forget exploring the concept of a dystopia ala 'A Brave New World' or 'Harrison Bergeron'. You'd NEVER EVER even get to try. (For reference, in Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut, everyone is 'equal': The pretty wear masks to make them ugly, the athletic are strapped down by huge weights, the intelligent have this implant that constantly gives annoying white noise so you can't think, etc. They will NEVER let you explore the concept of equality taken to ridiculous heights and the dangers this sort of thought brings.

Even fucking Equilibrium type deals, where you just start deleting people and objects from history because they were 'problematic'. These are concepts you simply would not be allowed to explore.

Games are incredibly strapped down creatively right now and politically, they can basically serve as propaganda or nothing. There's really no actual in-between with them. Because the developers who put politics in their games have no desire to explore. They have a desire to force their values on you and make sure 'Drumpf' never happens again. Like I said, games have 0 nuance with politics. Either they're pushing a narrative or trying to avoid one. Sometimes there will be subtle jabs here and there, but nothing really explicit.

I mean, a pixelated throwback 80s cop game gives them night sweats because its hilariously sexist and they want it removed from Nintendo's e-shop even though Nintendo said censorship was bad for business.

And lets face it, game companies are in this for money. They're only going to push a 'diverse' political agenda that gets them the widest possible audience. Remember, independent thought, critical thinking and logical analysis have been unironically called white supremacist many times.

And again, like I said, many of them were pissed off by RDR2, a game that doesn’t even take place in modern day and has a fairly diverse cast because they establish in RDR1 that Dutch loves taking in society’s undesirables, that still managed to piss them off because it had the audacity to have a masculine protagonist.

And they did a dumb drag queen joke with one of its side chars and this happened:

 

[Belligerent Monk]

Nearly all mainstream fighting games can be classified as apolitical.
Even those fighters with grand designs of world domination, your M. Bisons and every male in the Mishima/Kazama bloodlines, are devoid of any personal politics as we know them. For them its more like, "y'all hitches are weak. I am strong. I run this shit now."

 

[UE 558]

Nearly all mainstream fighting games can be classified as apolitical.
Even those fighters with grand designs of world domination, your M. Bisons and every male in the Mishima/Kazama bloodlines, are devoid of any personal politics as we know them. For them its more like, "y'all hitches are weak. I am strong. I run this shit now."

I like how you only said nearly

 

[Belligerent Monk]

I like how you only said nearly

Whatever. That ending isn't even really political. It's just race pandering. They truly believe that's what people wanted to hear.

 

[UE 558]

Whatever. That ending isn't even really political. It's just race pandering. They truly believe that's what people wanted to hear.

Just fuckin’ around, mate

 

[Nisse Hult]

Spoiler: explanation

There were two versions of Tetris for NES.
The upper screenshot is the Atari version, developed by FUCKING WHITE MALES.
The lower screenshot is the Nintendo version, developed by oppressed PoCs.

The Japanese are honorary Aryans.