Table of Contents
Where would we be without the MSM? Some recent highlights:
Oppression Olympics:
Polygon on politics in games: “I'm aware that I'm writing this in the wake of a very turbulent US election that has a lot of people scared. The anxiety I've seen hasn't been surface-level raging about pronouns, but about real, material things. Problems like 'what if I can't get my meds', and 'my state might not be safe to live in because I'm gay', and 'I need to figure out how to help my partner leave the US'. Politics is the mechanism by which we are impacted by the powers that rule our daily lives, and there's nothing that's more personal, or human, than that.”
Polygon on Twitch’s new stream labeling policies: “It's an improvement of sorts, if only because it removes the explicit politicization of reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights—human rights, in other words—and immigration, but it doesn't seem to have calmed the waters.”
TheGamer on He Fucked the Girl out of Me: “Queer people are especially susceptible to trauma that lingers, thanks to societal bigotry and the hoops we must jump through to secure our own happiness.”
Polygon on Barbie: “But Barbie stays one step ahead of that thought, because it’s all leading up to an expert commentary on how little girls will always realize, sooner or later, that the real world is run by men, and that its Kens have more power than its Barbies.”
The Nazis are Coming!:
Aftermath on Dragon Age: The Veilguard: “I guess my doomer-pilled concern about all of this is that as the American fascist project continues to grow in power and all of these platforms facilitate these ways of talking about things – conspiratorial thinking and whatnot – do we reach a point where [this becomes the default]?”
Kotaku on the 2024 US Presidential election: “Hey, everything sucks right now. There’s no getting around it, and we’re going to have to live with the consequences of this shit for the rest of our lives. So, if you’re feeling angry about things, like say, the rise of fascism in America, why not grab the Wolfenstein games and kill some Nazis?”
Polygon on Warhammer 40,000: “The alt-right began circulating Warhammer 40,000 memes during the run-up to the 2016 election, welcoming Donald Trump as god-emperor, humanity’s all-powerful ruler. At least some of these reactionaries intended to advocate for the kind of dictatorship featured in the game.”
Pseuds:
The Guardian on Rings of Power episode 1: “Sauron’s symbol, as seen on Finrod’s skin and elsewhere, distractingly enough, reminded me of the big E on Epiphone musical instruments. Is the dark sorcerer a guitar player? Perhaps he was a Beatles fan?”
Polygon on Immoral X-Men: “Sinister’s great passion has always been genetic tinkering, so it wouldn’t be a leap to presume that the reality we get will be the result of some villainous genetic modification. Is it really a coincidence that Immoral is just Immortal ‘minus a T’ — which happens to be one of the four letters in the human DNA code?”
IGN on Andor: “Andor is forced to use the meteor shower against the enemy while dodging it himself – a stark metaphor for nature itself being opposed to the Empire and its ugly regime bringing unbalance to the force.”
Elle on House of the Dragon episode 9: “At its open, episode 9 lingers on several tableaus that impart a pain beyond mere melancholy”
Reliable Sources:
Polygon on Warhammer 40,000: “Creators who challenge fascist ideas often receive vicious comments, especially if they do not present as straight, white, cis men.”
PC Gamer on Hogwart’s Legacy: “A cisgender gamer who opposes Rowling's views told me that although Hogwarts Legacy looks like the Harry Potter game he's dreamed about since he was a kid, he doesn't want his money padding the author's bank account, and also won't be buying the game. He hasn't ruled out the possibility that he'll play it in the future, however, saying he might be convinced to pick it up at a discount if he could be sure Rowling's personal profit were minimized.”
Hot Takes:
Vice on video game reviews: “We’re going back to the trenches with this one. So, it’s no secret. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the latest “DEI game” to be subjected to criticism with zero bearing on the actual game itself.”
Aftermath on Dragon Age: The Veilguard: “These days, when a big new game comes out, you can pretty much roll the dice on what kind of reactionary controversy it will produce. Are we looking at a moral panic over trans characters? Diversity consulting? Games journalists being too positive? Games journalists being too negative? Some other quibble that will be forgotten in a week, interchangeably swapped out like grains of sand dragged away by the unrelenting tide?”
Polygon on Secret Invasion: “In Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Skrulls are brought to Earth as refugees, but a particularly clever Skrull decides there’s no reason to be a refugee if you can just take over the planet you’re staying on instead — which, yeah, is kind of a weird way to present refugees.”
Polygon on Transplanar RPG: “Billed as ‘an all-transgender, people of color-led dark fantasy TTRPG show set in an original noncolonial, antiorientalist multiverse,’ Transplanar RPG has grown into an actual-play series with a tight-knit community of fans.”
PC Gamer on transhumanism: “And that need to feel enhanced will undoubtedly see companies out there poised to take advantage, which means one of the biggest arguments against transhumanism, at least for me, is coming back with a vengeance: The fear that all this expensive augmentation might alienate those on lower income brackets.”
The Multiverse of Madness:
Polygon on politics in gaming: “The strawman I'm constructing will tell you that we need to get back to a time when games weren't 'woke', and were instead about simple, grizzled tough guys tackling straightforward problems. Big dudes in armour! There ought to be a choir in there somewhere, and a badass one-liner that accompanies someone getting stabbed. That'll fix gaming, and then we'll never have to think about anything uncomfortable ever again.”
Forbes on Succession, season 4, episode 8: “Far-right extremists intimidating voters, burning down buildings”.
Gonzos:
Polygon on politics in gaming: “Which might surprise you, because if you're listening to the reactionary content mills of the information highway at-large, you might be told time and time again that politics don't have a place in videogames (if you're currently ankle-deep in making a reaction video and about to call me cringe—hi! I hope you're doing well. Imagine me waving enthusiastically).”
Eurogamer on Nobody Wants to Die: “I'm hardly the first person to point out that the last few years have felt increasingly like living in a cyberpunk novel - only without the ability to get shiny chrome replacements for my ageing knees. As a disabled person with a veritable laundry list of health conditions forced to rely on the underfunded NHS, the games' medical themes hit way too close to home.”
PC Gamer on Elden Ring: “Friends, it turns out that Hidetaka Miyazaki and I are basically the same person. Both of us, when people like our work, react with a kind of pleased befuddlement.”
Never Enough:
Inverse on Dragon Age: The Veilguard: “Keeping most of Rook’s options for discussing gender identity in the confines of Taash’s story also feels like the game corralling its gender feelings into one corner, rather than having them feed into every aspect of Rook’s story, as they would have in a more authentic trans portrayal.”
Inverse on Dragon Age: The Veilguard: “The inclusion of these options sets The Veilguard apart from other games, though I’d again argue that being able to make a canonically trans character should be the bare minimum for a role-playing game.”
Inverse on Dragon Age: The Veilguard: “The Veilguard’s options for playing the protagonist, Rook, as a trans character begin at the creation screen. There are no “male” or “female” body types. Regardless of your character’s appearance, you choose their gender identity and pronouns separately, though I haven’t seen anywhere in the game where your choice of gender identity actually comes into play. Otherwise, the only nod to trans identity is the ability to add top surgery scars to your character.”
Inverse on Dragon Age: The Veilguard: “The Veilguard makes me feel seen as a trans player, but blockbuster games can do better.”
Polygon on Dragon Age: The Veilguard: “As someone with weird gender stuff going on myself, I've got my own opinions about it—but the game's discussion of gender is, genuinely, very cookie-cutter. That's not inherently bad, and I know trans people who feel represented and affected by it, but the actual politics of gender in real life get weird and spicy and gnarled and complex—and Veilguard doesn't really care about them.”
Game Developer on JK Rowling: “Side note: if you pore over Rowling's work in her post-Potter detective books called The Cormoran Strike series, you'll notice that she really does have a weird habit of shoving characters from non-white or non-British backgrounds in stereotypical boxes (seriously Rowling why are you doing this it's so painful to read).”
What’s Love Got To Do With It?:
Rolling Stone on the music industry: “Donald Trump — the twice impeached former president, Jan. 6 coup leader, convicted felon, adjudicated sexual abuser, and man who mismanaged the 2020 economic implosion and coronavirus disaster that killed more than 1 million people in this country — has convinced American voters to give him another term in the White House.”
Polygon on reviews of Japanese video games: “At the time, Japanese protagonists were viewed as ‘girlish’ or ‘feminine’, and these designs were notably emasculated by the press in a similar way that both Chinese and Japanese men were emasculated in America in the 1800s and 1900s, respectively.”
Rock, Paper, Shotgun on Jagged Alliance 3: “Its setting doesn't sit entirely comfortably, not least as your employer is a diamond mining corporation.”
TheGamer on Barbie/Oppenheimer: “Barbie and Oppenheimer are more than just an internet meme that exploded into such virality that even the British PM (read: Tory scum) took part.”
Dice Breaker on Starbucks: “Anderson saw an opportunity to channel the frustration of watching the massive corporation squash worker collectives while also supporting those directly affected by the closings. Cosmic Latte, a one-page RPG that combines journaling prompts with dice rolls and timed rounds, reproduces the tense work environment behind the counter and [the] balance workers maintain between gathering solidarity and pleasing the corporate structure that governs their fate.”
Pearl Clutchers:
PC Gamer on Hogwarts Legacy: “But the fun of Hogwarts Legacy forms a unique set of conflicted feelings: I’m enjoying a game that’s an extension of JK Rowling, an anti-trans bigot who has spent the last few years applying her wealth and fame to promote an ideology that rejects and further marginalizes one of society's most vulnerable communities. “
Game Developer on Hogwart’s Legacy: “Not content to just have incorrect and bigoted opinions, Rowling has gone on social media to mock trans activism and express support for vocal transphobes.”
TheGamer on Forza Horizon 5: “Many returning Forza players were surprised when Forza Horizon 5 greeted them by name. The game pulls it from your Microsoft account so that it can properly say 'Hello'. However, for some trans players, this feature has led to the game deadnaming them - a painful experience.”
The Big Questions:
Polygon on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: “As the franchise prepares to make its return to screen life on Netflix soon, it’s worth asking the question: What does Scott Pilgrim’s fight against toxic masculinity look like in the world of today?”
Timeless Pearls:
The Washington Post on the Washington Post: “Democracy Dies In Darkness”
The Guardian on the Guardian: “Always free from commercial or political influence.”
Polygon on Polygon: “As journalists, our responsibility is to bring awareness to systemic injustice, hold the powerful accountable, foster transparency, and provide the public with the information and tools necessary to improve their lives, their workplace, and the world.”
ANTIFA
Submissions very welcome, here.
