Flush It Friday: The Gamer’s Plight
In this week’s installment of “the slow decline of Capitalism through the degradation of niche interests,” Sean Ghoulson laments the rot of a hobby she refuses to be associated with (but still takes part in)
Disclaimer: THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN A FEW MONTHS AGO – GAMER BULLSHIT IS EVERGREEN
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment, “gamers” probably deserve every bad thing that happens to them as a group. Far too long has the internet been swarmed with legions of manchildren who lay siege upon anyone who dares speak ill of their beloved toys. I remember the GamerGate days all too well (get a few drinks in me and we can have a deranged conversation about how GamerGate ruined society via the butterfly effect), writers and internet personalities (mostly women) were endlessly harassed for the crimes of mildly pushing back on misogynistic tropes in the medium and having the audacity to make a video game you don’t want to play. Ever since this collective brain-rotting event, the smelly masses of “gamers” are armed and ready to shit their pants at the first sign of Woke in their video games. So, as capitalism and corporate corruption erode this industry, I have a hard time feeling to bad for the same group that mistook social interactions for anonymous voice chat lobbies.
Yet, as you may or may not know, I myself play virtual toys to a degree that you could reasonably consider me a “gamer” myself. As my therapist often tells me, that level of self-hatred is unproductive at best. After all, you can’t reasonably paint every Homo sapiens to ever wield an Xbox controller with the same brush and the level of anti-consumer action being taken by companies like Sony and Take Two could constitute as collective punishment at this point.
For those not in the loop (thank your lucky stars), Sony’s announcement of phasing out physical games has raised the ire of every dude named Hunter you probably know—not to mention Rockstar’s unveiling of Grand Theft Auto VI has come alongside a steep price ($100 for the full game, $80 for the version with less features, already a dick move) and its own digital-only ambitions. Digital games carry with them heavy baggage; you don’t own your games when you buy them, you are merely paying for a license to play them, meaning said license can be revoked at any time. This, along with the prevalence of streaming in-and-out of the gaming world and corporations pushing hard for streaming games over running them locally, has sparked another discourse about the importance of owning your games.
Like other internet campaigns, this outrage cycle that regularly rears its head feels performative. The Stop Killing Games organization, dedicated to the preservation of games as art, was handed a loss by the European government earlier this year when their petition failed to result in legislation (if the EU isn’t going to protect your consumer rights, you’re fucked in America). Beyond this effort to change legislation, much of the movement has amounted to little more than digital bitching-and-moaning from the same people who would fork over their last $100 to play the newest GTA game. Microsoft has taken this opportunity to boast a program where physical games will provide you with a digital copy through the disc’s unique identifier, which has been met with rapturous applause. Let us forget, then, that Microslop, and their subsidiary Xbox, have regularly and recently made minor “pro-consumer” decisions that act as set-dressing for the same greed-driven bullshit that all these assholes market in. Be honest with yourself, do you really think Xbox isn’t going to hard pivot into you not owning your toys the first chance they get?
Genuinely, I don’t see much in terms of potential for the AAA game market at this point, it’s been diminishing returns and ghoulish malpractice since at least the early 2010s (probably since its contemporary formation). I’ve opted for a diet of ass-old games (I may not own my digital software, but I do own my custom firmware PS3 full of ISOs of questionable origin) and indie titles from teams that make toys for the reason they should be made—they’re fun! So, no, I will not be buying GTAVI, but if you want to be out 100 buckaroos, be my guest.
(If this article offended you, just remember: Comedy is Legal Again!) (Since writing this article, I am being tempted by Modern Warfare 4 because I’m weak and frail. Also, I am playing the Hellraiser game and it’s actually sick.)
LET US FLUSH!*
Brock Samson went to war on our earholes once more:
Toilet Radio continued the October Spooktacular with this flaming hot ‘sode:
Falx interpreted the entrails of the new Silvertomb record:
Was the new Insomnium album a crowning achievement? Was Stevo raven about it? Read on in this review:
Meadow Wyand was keen on the latest from The Keening:
365 premiered the latest found-footage tape from VHS:
Sean Ghoulson provided an invitation for Invultation with another exclusive premiere:
That’s a lot of dookie droppage! G/B/Us in the comments.
*All shiddy puns outside the main body of this FiF were crafted with absolutely no care by Roldy.
