Games

Okay, I'm all for good, complete education, but blaming people not understanding media on "too much STEM" is a bit ridiculous.

aesthetics. people will perceive the aesthetics more than anything else.

startship troopers is a good example: it satirizes fascism but has the aesthetics of fascism, so thats what people perceive.

the boys was the same when conservatives liked homelander. he is the good looking blue eyed aryan with an epic powerful portrayal and those are usually the heroes.

I see a Helldiver I up vote.

For Liberty!

But on a serious note, something as obvious as "Managed Democracy" and quitting your job by signing up for "Early Biovat Reprocessing" and the characters literally saying things like "HELLDIVERS NEVER DIE!" Before being obliterated by a 380? It's satire. Satire is funny. Like hahaha look at stupid Facist regime, I'll role play along to get into the mood of the game because the idea is so fucking dumb it's funny with amazing gameplay.

It's willful ignorance at some point. I don't think media literacy has much to do with it. It's simply listening for what they want to hear, then ignoring the rest, just as real facists desire.

I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to play a game like Spec Ops: The Line or Bioshock and miss the political message

Neat stuff.

That part’s wild to me, when people are like “This villain in your story seems to have said and done bad things? So that means you agree with them, yes?” No! Of course not! It’s the literal villain in the story, man!

But there is no utilitarian point of art. It exists to express ideas and to tell truth. I think maybe a lot of people get upset because from their point of view, they are paying money, and they have this relationship where it’s like “If it’s not giving me what I wanted out of this transaction, then it’s bad.”

A lot of people are just... not so bright. I remember seeing the video of all those trump supporters rocking out to "killing in the name of" by rage against the machine. Waving a thin blue line and american flag around with the lyrics blasting in the background.

Its the same with that new game Helldivers 2. Zero awareness.

Maybe because most people experience the art? and don't feel the need to inflate their ego by thinking their interpretation or experience is the best way to interpret something?

this feels like a bunch of nerds sitting around complaining that gamers miss stuff, while not understanding that most gamers don't miss it. they just experience it and don't feel the need to externalize it.

It's more that when the writing is bad something is perceived as "political", as the insert of whatever political messaging is being used comes out of nowhere and smacks the player like a cudgel. That's what most gamers have a problem with, obviously there's a loud minority that rage about stupid shit like Jesse Faden being too masculine. But that's not what most people are talking about.

Games need to tackle these issues head on and fully integrate them into the world, not just tack on preachy dialog that doesn't make sense within the wider game world.

FF16 is blatantly about slavery and no one really complained, it's not exactly peak fiction, but they at least had everything contained within the world. FF7 is the same but with fossil fuels and much better writing.

New Vegas is the best example, it's simply written well and gives the player agency.

Death Stranding did a great job of both integrating it's themes directly into the world, and also tackling them head on without any remorse.

Helldivers is so ludicrously full on and absolutely dripping with it's pro fascist ideology that everyone knows what they're getting into from the intro video, and then the game starts adding texture and "are we the baddies" energy straight away.

Fucking Disco Elysium is near universally praised by the wider gaming audience, and I don't even think I need to explain how that one is political.

It's the same reason why most ideologically driven media is cringe as fuck. Christian media being a prime example, it's contrived slop that doesn't make sense within its own story. Like God's Not Dead and it's illogical legal system built on feels and Shapiro logic.

Who remembers the weird pro-life Doctor Who episode? That was bizarre and out of place. The characters stopped acting like themselves for the sake of whatever message it wanted to get across. It just felt really out of place.

The Last of Us Part 2, to label the most controversial example, had periods of good and bad writing, but focusing in on the "violence bad" part of it's messaging, it completely missed the mark. Giving the characters names that they shout was just hilarious, and having Ellie repeatedly kill dogs whilst Abbie pets them was just so hamfisted. Then making the gameplay violent and fun which just divorced it further.

TLDR: ~~Gamers~~ People love politics in ~~video games~~ media, they hate hamfisted preaching in ~~video games~~ media. Especially when it doesn't make sense in the crafted world

Don’t go to the article, it’s click bait garbage

I think this person means non partisan, because Metal Gear Solid is filled with political intrigue.

I kinda assumed people understood the messages behind Battlefield 1, Death Stranding, and Helldivers 2, lol. Most of the messages are telegraphed pretty clearly.