Over on Return of Kings, one brave gamer dares to ask the question of our age: What will the world look like after the inevitable triumph of GamerGate?
I know, I know, just humor him for a few minutes. Because he has a rather, well, revealing notion of what triumph will look like, and it’s not one that’s compatible with the #NotYourShield propaganda that GamerGaters use to disguise its retrograde goals. Greendestiny, a veteran of TheRedPill and KotakuInAction on Reddit, sees in the video game “war” a new opportunity for gamebros to become Game Men:
It is my personal belief that, after GamerGate, video games will evolve to become a tool for raising a new generation of men. Our current education system fails horribly at providing real information on how the world works, what motivates people, and how to get laid.
Our education system is a disaster! Can you believe that not one college in the United States offers a major in Getlaidology?
More importantly, it pussifies men and turns them into starry-eyed believers in the Disney variety of life and love.
Huh. You know, there’s a cultural critic who’s made some interesting videos challenging the sexist tropes you can find in Disney movies and elsewhere in popular culture. Her name is Anita Sarkee… oh wait. Never mind.
The entire concept of sitting quietly and reading is meant for girls. Boys need the fight, the challenge, competition, and a test of their strength.
So why exactly are you trying to convince guys of this in a post you expect them to sit down and read? Shouldn’t your blog post be a video game or an arm-wrestling contest or something?
Games were always learning tools. Now they can become a tool for learning greater masculinity.
If by masculinity you mean “the proper sequence of buttons to push that will enable you to pull off an awesome combo.”
To become real men, boys must overcome challenges and find the true strength in themselves. Whether this is done in a virtual or real arena is irrelevant. By creating games that are consciously aimed at presenting a proper challenge, we can collectively make the world a better place for the next generation of men. And possibly help them get laid more.
“Hey, babe, I bet you didn’t know you were sitting next to a Level 90 Fire Mage.”
But seriously for a second: Yes, video games do teach gamers certain skills, and even something about the value of persistence. But why are the skills involved in, say, shooting dudes with maximum efficiency in Call of Duty any more intrinsically valuable, or “masculine,” than the skills involved in doing this?
Oh, maybe the suit does keep him alive and functioning, and he needs to use the Dark Side to operate outside of the suit? Or his meditation chamber?
I find it hard to believe that medical science in the Empire can’t stop lungs from rotting.
@leftwingfox:
Oh wow. Now I know why that name was so familiar. I had the “Shadows of the Empire” game for N64. I always thought it was just a game spinoff, not something that was supposed to be part of the cannon.
Dash Rendar. Wow.
That game was so strange, with tight interior battles followed by huge jet-pack jumps and extremely breakable physics. I replayed the beginning so often that when I finally got past the first few levels, it felt like a whole different game.
That was also the game where you could do a weird debug-glitch/thing where you could become an abominable snowman. Good times. Don’t remember anything about the plot.
Yeah, unlike Star Trek or Doctor Who, practically everything published in any format for Star Wars was de facto canon. Was.
Oh wow. I remember the hover-train level, and even the boss battle against the silver droid with the tall head. IG-88D.
I need to find this game again and play it somehow.
Let me know if you do, huh? ‘Cause I’ve never played it, and I’ve always wanted to. I imagine we’d have to find an old N64 somewhere….
Prolly not going to be around much tonight (so what else is new?) because I just got done editing 48 pages of testimony for my boss and now my hands are going to fall off.
Who’s the genius who decided he could afford to standardize question marks as two key strokes?
Apparently there’s a PC version released in 1997. If I don’t end up digging up my old console, that’d be a good second bet. Wonder if it’s playable on modern operating systems…
https://code.google.com/p/mupen64plus/
Yes, that’s a Windows/MacOS/Linux cross-platform N64 emulator.
I haven’t had much trouble with Windows-native programs. It’s DOS native programs that I’ve had trouble running. 1997 sounds a little new to be DOS native, though.
Maybe it’ll show up on GOG, they’ve started posting Lucasarts games (woo hoo!)
Hey, Michelle C. Young, did you mention Planescape Torment? GOG sells a version that runs fine on my Vista machine for $10. If you’re okay with buying something you already own.
Okay, Jenora Feuer, now we just need a ROM….
Can’t help you there, I’m afraid.
There are a lot of free ROM downloads online. Sometimes they have huge problems with textures or other bugs, but other times they work quite well.
This is perfect timing, I’m actually just in the process of receiving parts for a new gaming computer (first computer I’ve ever built myself! Woo hoo!)
This monstrosity of power and energy efficiency’s first task is going to be to play an emulated game from 1997. And I am ok with that.
Apparently they didn’t have ultrasound technology either, if Vader’s surprise at learning Luke has a twin sister is anything to go by.
Yup, my copy of the 1996 WEG rules say that when you gain a Dark Side Point, the Narrator rolls a die and if the result is less than your current DSP tally, too bad.
You also get a bonus of 1D to any skill roll for each DSP you have. If you refuse this gift, the Narrator should increase the Difficulty by one level because you’re having to concentrate and shut out the insidious whispers of power.
If you turn to the Dark Side, you lose this bonus. So.
@Buttercup:
Curse you blockquote mammoth!
Happy birthday, Arctic Ape!
@Falconer:
Oh gods yes. Best part of the whole film, for me!
@Michelle:
Truth. He’s used to swinging an actual heavy sword in films past.
Oh, I just remembered something else about the charming Gaston: physical cowardice. In a battle that was down to him – a rebellion he’d encouraged, and a battle he’d fouled up from the start by bringing his ragtag troops in at the wrong time and wrong place – he actually threw down his guns and said he wasn’t going to play anymore, before fleeing the battlefield.
And historians wonder why Louis, whose reaction to bullets nearly hitting him was “It came closer to M. de ___”, despised him!
That’s actually a relief, even if he is still a nitwit! Strange, isn’t it – “therapist” defaulting to the counsellor variety. My bad!
Now that’s a use of the Force I’d like to see in action. Fribs could be a Jedi Cat, she has that power in spades.
@Falconer
Win.
Of course the Force works in all sorts of ways …
http://youtu.be/y1Zy9HttPx4
… but one does have to be careful with it.
http://youtu.be/7W6A2kvbigU
@Falconer:
He must have assumed the baby died with Padme and never bothered to “search” the Force for Luke or Leia. Also, he lost several limbs (and, presumably, a boatload of midi-chlorians) in that final battle, so his ability to use the Force would have been weakened. Though still relatively strong, in a Universe with a dearth of Force-users.
I never understood why they didn’t change Luke’s name, if they were trying to conceal him. Maybe Skywalker is a common name in the Empire, like Jones.
The galactic tabloids would’ve had a field day.
I would think it would be hard to conceal a twin pregnancy. Not just sizewise, but there’s more likely to be complications and morning sickness. I tried to keep mine under my hat at work until after the three-month mark, but I had to come clean at eight weeks when my manager caught me throwing up in the parking lot two days in a row. There was no explaining away that.
“@Cyberwulf
when people talk about how school is unfair to boys because they can’t sit quietly and read. Uhhh, isn’t this what school was like when girls *weren’t allowed* to go to school?”
You’re falling into the same trap Dawkins fell into with his “Dear Muslima” comment. Just because something else is more unfair doesn’t make the other thing automatically fair
I just had an image of you wearing a giant twin-hiding fedora on your head.
@kirbywarp: Yeah, Shadows of the Empire was an official Lucasarts multimedia experiment; basically they were testing the interest in Star Wars. There was the N64 game, a book, a comic, a soundtrack, and new toys by Kenner. I had the game, book and soundtrack, myself.
That bit was from the book, which I didn’t really like otherwise. Dash Rendar read like a bad fanfic author insertion. “I’m like Han Solo, but like, better, and all cool.”
Speaking of Return of Kings, a pro-gamergate blog did an interview with Roosh V. Be prepared to want to scrub your skin with industrial soap:
https://archive.today/crTmI
My favorite quote: “It would be like a female CEO who also have a love for sweater knitting.” LOL. Dude does not know enough knitters.
Actually, scratch that: he does. He does know enough knitters. He does not need to know anything more about knitters.