The Perils of Social Commentary

Hi.

A few days ago I suggested I would try to write something more worthwhile than how I suck at FIFA. Hopefully, that last post achieved that. But, as much as I love just being flippant and cynical, I was very aware when writing the post that it would be insufficient. That I needed to be, of all things, sensible about this as well. Because, in my heart of hearts, I know this is something to not simply be flippant about

This is a subject that I have considered approaching for a very long time but which I had put off for two reasons. For one thing, I am completely unqualified. I am not and do not consider myself a games journalist. As much as I enjoy games, I am shockingly out of touch and cannot claim the extend of knowledge and awareness that a good journalist should have. But, miniscule voice in the dark that I am, I still care about the medium and things were bouncing around my head that needed to be said. I am speaking out now, after all this time, because reason two; that I was hoping it would all blow over quickly, is clearly not happening. Every day, I see new developments and new points of argument and they are all angry or hurt or scared and, well, it would be nice to work towards improving life rather than watching a horror unfold

Originally, this frustration at what is beginning to look like a never-ending shit-storm brought out the angry, sarcastic cynic in me, and I spat out the previous post in order to just vent my anger and then drop it in search of happier things. But, as I was writing, I realised I couldn’t. This whole thing has become far too sensitive. I totally stand by the content of yesterday’s post but I could see when writing it that it wouldn’t be enough. There are people in this mess that totally deserve an angry, sarcastic cynic and I totally want to fill that role. But, there may well also be passionate and caring people who have, in the face of anger, become more defensive than necessary. It has been very easy for me to form my opinions in this matter but, as important as it is to distinguish yourself from the horrible, I believe that bringing about change does not happen from behind a white tower. You have to reach out and hope that someone takes up the olive branch. So, yes, yesterday was me being angry but today I want to try being reasonable in the hopes of making a connection.

But before heading into this shark-infested pond, I should mention a few things. I wont be calling this issue by its popularised name because a) it is stupid and b) that is only a small facet of the events going on. It is a label, stretched to cover an unrelated argument to cover its real intentions, giving them undeserved legitimacy and a place to hide. People like labels. Labels provide identity, they provide targets and they provide simplification of complex ideas. But, if I have learned anything from this set of problems, it is that labels have become a lazy way of dealing with real and complex issues. I have been a part of this; it is through realising my mistakes whilst writing yesterday’s post that has led me to trying to explain myself better here. It is also the most compelling evidence I have towards suggesting that this label needs to go away so we can pay attention to what’s really going on underneath it.

I will start by stating what I consider the obvious: that what has been thrown at Zoe Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian and Brianna Wu, as well as everybody that has stood above the parapet and call for an end to the horrible treatment of these women, is borderline terrorism. I am firmly in the camp for ending hashtag hate campaign and strongly support feminism and the change and education of society required so that women can be as certain of their safety and prosperity as anyone else. I take this standpoint because I have heard endless cases of the obstacles and fears that women face and believe these stories on face value. I have no reason to doubt their accounts and I would rather I were called out if I ever wrong other people than insist that they accept I mean no harm when this might not be clear.

Conversely, I also understand how many may not be happy with the state of journalism in the gaming industry. Corruption seems to be rife throughout the world, let along news media, so I am willing to believe games journalism has its own set of problems. I cannot admit to having a full idea of the precise nature of these issues, just as I cannot really claim knowledge of what it is like to be a woman in modern society, but I will listen to anyone that wishes to talk with me and will believe anyone who can explain to me in a reasonable and productive way where journalistic integrity has failed in the game industry. It is vital to gain a wider image and to form an opinion from as informed a standpoint as possible. But, as part of this, it is to be expected that there is no guarantee that I will agree with you. This is the deal with freedom of speech. I give you a chance for your say, but I do not promise I will support what you choose to do with it.

I cannot explain, in any way, the reasoning of those operating in the name of this infamous hashtag. Those who actively terrorise individuals that speak up in favour of women are at an extreme so far removed from my standpoint as to be alien. I am as angry with them as I am with anyone that promotes harm towards any group on the single basis of difference. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find any promotion of harm to people that I would be OK with. But, again, this is not an opinion that requires much consideration. Being against hate and prejudice is, or at least should be, a basic tenet for society. The fact that people oppose this is distressing but unsurprising. The fact that such people have responded to feminist voices within gaming by throwing out death threats and proposing a massacre in order to attempt to silence them is terrifying.

The real confusion; the real struggle for reasoning, comes when considering those who promote the hashtag despite all the hatred that goes on under its banner. I do not understand why people would so vehemently protest the innocence of a label that is meaningless. Because it is meaningless now. Whatever potential benefit such a label may have provided was lost as soon as it was formed in the wake of false and sexist accusations towards Zoe Quinn. You may feel that you have nothing to answer for regarding the hate campaign that has been going on but you will find trust difficult to come by as long as you cling to the label that so much hate has been spread from. I want to trust you, to give you the benefit of the doubt, but for as long as you stick your cause to this label there will always be the hanging question of why you feel so reluctant to distance yourself from it.

Because I hate this hashtag, just like many others in the industry hate the hashtag. I am not going to speak for them but I want to put forward just why I hate it so much. I hate it because it is a convenient mask; a Gordian knot of words and beliefs that might never be unraveled. Those that have read or watched V for Vendetta have seen the power of masks – of anonymity – in the face of adversity. It is unifying, it is symbolic, it portrays an expansive idea instead of the expendable individual underneath. But a mask hides more than identity; it also hides intent. Under the mask, within the knot, may be a perfectly innocent person or message, or there might be a harmful beast with a terrorist threat. As a supporter of this label – this masked entity – you may have all the best intentions and innocent views in the world. But, that person doxxing personal info is also wearing a mask and the person sending death threats is also wearing a mask and, until you see how tainted the mask has become and drop it, you will only be a vision of fear.

Because, ultimately, the label has become nothing more than a fog of war that serves nobody but the arbitrarily violent. It clouds the hateful nature of that most vocal core of the group that managed to connect their perceived slights and active hate campaign against Zoe Quinn to a wider complaint with journalism whilst simultaneously confusing their outdated and selfish messages of spite with the much quieter arguments for change in games media. It’s an anger cyclone where two unrelated groups have been tricked into hating each other to provide a backdrop for misogynists to feel vindication and support in the truly horrible act of trying to silence women. And, the worrying and most frustrating thing is this: for every day that this goes on – for every voice under this deceptive banner that doubts or dismisses the abuse that women have suffered in favour of prioritising changing how people write words and assign numbers – that fog of hate and mistrust gets  thicker, the risk of female figure being driven away grows higher and the issue gets dragged on even longer without anyone sharing a single constructive word.

This has been most evident in Felicia Day’s post earlier this week. This is about as heartfelt and revealing as any comment on the issue has been because it is not just condemnation of actions or an announcement of mistrust. It is a lament. It highlights and mourns the fact that something that once acted as an ice-breaker and a connection between strangers is now a reason to fear and the grounds for hate. It is a call to remember games as a force of fun and creativity and a common connection for people who love the medium. Gamers are a community that have so often rallied against calls for game censorship from people like Jack Thompson on the grounds that the medium perpetuates violence. But now it bears an open wound that is at risk of being picked at further by these same campaigners because such a violent and misogynist force has become so prominent within the culture, installing itself as part of the debate on how the medium should grow.

This is the longest blog I have written in some time, if not ever. I have tussled with the topic for weeks, trying desperately to leave it be but I cannot do that. I have tried to find the middle ground but I cannot do that either. This is too important. The medium is too exposed right now. I want to be fair,;I always want to give people a chance and as sickened and hurt as I have been by what I have heard thrown at people just for being vocal women; as depressed as I was when I saw how a call for unity as passionate and as hopeful as Felicia Day’s still ended up with her private details being made public by those looking to perpetuate the fear, I am determined to offer a chance for those who want nothing more than a fairer medium but who found themselves committed to a rapidly muddied cause.

But this has become so very difficult for me to portray. Not because I do not know how I feel, because that should be clear from what I have already said. The problem is that it is hard to know who I am saying this to. I have, from the outset, failed to see enough of a problem in games journalism to warrant clinging to a hashtag of all things in spite of said tag’s constant connection with a group that have constantly made incredible aggressive efforts to silence their critics. But, if there are genuine concerns then I would like to know what they are. The problem is that, as long as these concerns run in tandem with voices that wish to block out legitimate social discussion from the entire medium under threat of violence, it will be impossible to know which voice you want us to hear.

“No Shit, Sherlock” Stories of the Month

(I meant this to be more regular. So, first “no shit, Sherlock” story is how I failed to do this and am now playing catch up.)

(Additionally, this month has been pretty much dominated by one, pretty gruesome issue, so this may make the following post seem like a themed special.)

1. Misogyny festers within angry, white, sheltered male teens.

Just as has happened in many other walks of life, misogyny has plagued the gaming industry this month. Unbelievably, sweaty male internet dwellers with no concept of reality or perspective have taken umbrage to individuals suggesting that an artistic medium could be used to highlight more than the glistening pecs of male power fantasies as they gun their way through lines of scapegoat-of-the-week bad guys and rescue women with the characterisation of a protagonist in a porn film, claiming that the creative medium is no place for subjective social comment and challenging claims of poor representation of women in the industry by pointing out the existence of Lara Croft and those cool PVC-clad assassin nuns.

2. People use the suffix “-gate” and think that it is appropriate.

Back when news media had integrity and standards (or, at least more than it does currently), American President; Richard Nixon, sparked controversy by using government resources to spy on the opposition national committee in their headquarters, part of a building complex which was called Watergate, as well as a whole host of other entities in a range of illegal activity that were all brought under a single case that was nicknamed for the original incident’s location. For some reason, ever since this day, media outlets have decided to coin the “-gate” suffix as some kind of clever tag for any “newsworthy” scandal. This has culminated in events this month where people angry at numbers assigned to qualify the quality of a video game have added the suffix to the word “gamer” and then made it a hashtag in the hopes that the combined force of all this gimmickry might bring about positive change. The success of this campaign varies depending on your personal viewpoint.

3. Hashtags fail to change the world for the better.

In constant use throughout the known world, the hashtag has become the symbol for a modern age. Unfortunately, despite all hopes, the symbol has yet to prove its use in any real context, serving instead to be, at best; a catchy banner that people can use to make important things more attractive to teens and, at worst; a big old target for people that hate you to come find you.

(I will freely admit that I have shared hashtags, full of hope that it strengthens a message to a point where someone important may actually take notice and try to fix things. However, as recent events have shown, all it does is create a label that people are far too willing to cling to without evaluation. Problem is, as I said, labels are easy targets as much as they are a rallying cry. There’s a reason people stopped carrying flags into battle.)

4. The genuine concerns of average people are hijacked and used to legitimise terrorist actions.

In a shocking revelation, some people have attempted to undermine the recognised standards of a Twitter flame war, possibly set out in a forum on Reddit, by looking to instigate calm and rational debate on a serious topic, only to have their cause and concerns used as a cover for people looking to make the lives of human beings a misery. Just like multiple religions and social actions before them, individuals looking to promote change in society have found their calls for change and betterment used to justify dragging the world back into the destructive mess it used to be when a man could go and butcher harmless people in countries far away from his own, claim women as prizes and laugh at impoverishment.

5. People trying to sell a game based on gratuitous violence launch trailer during height of incredibly contentious and violent crisis within gaming.

Latching on to a very recently exposed demographic in the gaming audience, Polish game-makers Destructive Creations launched the trailer for their new game this week, allowing players to fill the empty shell of a lanky, greasy-haired loner who is of the opinion that hunting down and causing violence to unsuspecting passers-by is a worthy and, above all, entertaining way of passing the time. Having seen a rising trend and devised a way of spinning money from it, this “new and groundbreaking” title will give all those angry, cynical loner-types the angry, cynical loner-type hero they have long waited for.

6. Giant, single server containing all the world’s data proves unsafe.

Further proving that people who center their lives around exclusionist internet forums are not prone to poor attitudes towards women, a member of an exclusionist internet forum has broken into the low-hanging fruit of a security risk that is the iCloud and made off with hundreds of pictures of countless naked women and one picture of a naked man as proof of how indiscriminate they are. These pictures have since been publicly posted to these aforementioned exclusionist internet forums to further showcase how they do not have shockingly poor views on women. Apple have, so far, declined to comment on why they thought making everybody store their personal files and information on a big, virtual piñata would be a good idea.

Have you met Sisyphus?

It is a fairly tired example, of this I am sure, but seeing as I am currently experiencing “one of those weeks” it is one that rests quite comfortably in my mind. An endless struggle with a constant hint of reward before the inevitable collapse into disappointment.

I am, of course, talking about the new FIFA game.

This year represents the first in about four or five years where I have not had access to the yearly FIFA update. I haven’t bought one since 2010 but my old housemate was of a mind to buy each and every iteration that came our way. I was, of course, helpless to resist. Nowadays, I just have to make do with the demo.

And, every year, I have exactly the same range of experiences. First, the build up; with promises of new developments and additional realism to physics and gameplay in order to produce an even more accurate football simulation. Then, the bedding in process; attempts to acclimatise to changes and master new techniques. Then, finally, the epiphany; the inevitable and far too angry realisation that nothing has changed, at least nothing important. The boulder falls down the mountain.

Because, let’s face it, FIFA is an absolutely atrocious football sim. It may be difficult to see this, behind the shining graphics and ever more realistic leagues and players. An entire Premiership’s worth of accurate stadia does not mask the fact that under the veneer, rather than a faithful representation of football, is something akin to that suicide mod of Mario 1.

I originally had a brief warning/disclaimer in brackets about that link being swearier than a Chris Rock act and that was going to be all I was going to say about that video before moving on. But I love that video; I love it because it is so royally unfair and it is so absolutely unplayable and, no matter how much the guy playing may sound like Ray Romano, you have to feel sympathy for him. I have to, in particular, because I know that his reaction is exactly like mine when playing a game of FIFA. Nothing could sum up my feelings on FIFA better than that video.

And, I know that this will easily meet with the reaction that I just suck or that bad workmen blame their tools or whatever. The problem is, I am so entitled to blame my tools. I pick up FIFA wanting to play virtual football but doing that leads you onto a hiding to nothing. Instead, you are learning to navigate the engine; trying to find the pattern that leads to the flag at the end of the course. Every update promises the tools to make more exciting attacking football possible and changes to physics to make contests more balanced. They do not mention the changes that keep AI opponents one step ahead of you like increasing the chance that your controlled player will entirely miss the ball on your own penalty box, leaving an opposing attacker free in front of an open goal. Or how the collision engine will leave your player sprawled on the floor after a collision, whilst the opponent just runs off with the ball, unphased and unpunished. Again, I’m sure someone will explain how I’m just doing FIFA badly and, I will admit, I probably am. But I can’t help if I expect better accuracy in a simulation after 20 years of trying.

And this all leads to the more serious problem with the game. Typically, if something is too difficult then you can just tone down the difficulty and build back up. The problem with FIFA is that stepping down a tier just becomes too easy. All threat is lost, all resistance weakens and you end up cruising to wins. This is almost as unsatisfying. In fact, it suggests the game is almost designed to be unsatisfying. So often are conceded goals simply impossible to stop, or the result of lucky bounces and convenient player positioning that just never seems to happen for you, so that a game where you feel like you have truly made progress is lost unfairly. I am stuck in limbo, never getting anywhere and yet still driven to struggle on. Strangely, I wonder how many of the devs feel the same.

Because, once you think about it long enough, you realise that they are in the same boat. A game comes out every year; far too short a time to really build up a game, especially when you are trying to recreate something as busy and technical as football, where you need 21 other sprites to react dynamically to a player character. So, instead, there are just tweaks which, on paper, may seem like a big deal but, in reality, are incredibly superficial. The major physics problems are still there; the AI balance is still all over the place. How frustrating must it be for a dev to see these problems but know that they have to wait for who knows how long because the priority is on adding sufficient sparkle to the next year’s game to be able to make it worth buying? You get that boulder to the top only to see it back down the bottom again.

Of course, the new games always get bought because the fans will always buy them. And so, the chain of events will continue ever more. And the problems almost become the impetus to buy the next one. This game had these problems but they have said they will be fixed in the next one which will have its own problems. And we will all forever feel frustrated because frustration is a powerful motivator. And it is super depressing but we’ve started now. We must carry on.

Next time, something worthwhile. I promise.