SoOoO Much to Say Part 7 in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

Alright y’all… between the Memorial Day Weekend and Work keeping me busy… this is kind of all being done at once. SO… I separated it out into various portions to hopefully make it easier to read. The best way to read this is Chronologically so… in the following order.

SoOoO Much to Say Part 1
SoOoO Much to Say Part 2
SoOoO Much to Say Part 3
SoOoO Much to Say Part 4
SoOoO Much to Say Part 5
SoOoO Much to Say Part 6
SoOoO Much to Say Part 7

BEGIN Part Seven

SURPRISE! Congratulations if you actually read all of that, I do appreciate it. Lots of Life Happenings, Work Happenings… lots of things about Anime and Relationships and Politics… but you did it! You made it through!! You read essentially the equivalent of 6 days of my life and if you took the time to do that? Of course I appreciate it!! So thanks!! All that’s left now is a brief Cracked.com photoplasty and we’re all caught up. :)

BEGIN Part Six

See… now I’m white and when the douchenozzle who started this asked his question… these are the things I thought of as well. When has the American Government ever oppressed people? Uhm… wow. Do you… do you honestly not History? THAT BEING SAID, I will echo the comment of a dear friend of mine. “To say that America has lived a perfect life is to be ignorant to a fault. To say that America has not done wonders for her people and the world is to be arrogant to a fault. The country is not a Sacred Bastion of Perfect Purity, nor is it an Accursed Cesspool of Irredeemable Filth.”

Leave it to the Conservative Religious Right to make damned sure that nobody is sexualizing children… by sexualizing Children and Child Television Characters

Satanic Panic is such a real thing in Nerd Culture as to be terrifying. DnD? SATAN! Magic the Gathering? SATAN! Pokemon? SATAN! Yugioh? SATAN! Anime? SATAN! Comic Books? SATAN! Video Games? SATAN! In essence, wherever you find “Geeky” or “Nerdy” pursuits… people are rabid to make sure you know how it is awful, is bad for the soul, and will lead to nothing but evil. And of course you can see that all of this is STILL going on today. But in a non-religious context what replaces the concept of evil or Satan? Let’s go through that and re-do it all. DnD? Causes aggression and violence in children! Magic the Gather? Causes aggression and violence in children! Pokemon? Causes aggression and violence in children! Yugioh? Causes aggression and violence in children! Anime? Causes aggression and violence in children! Comic Books? Causes aggression and violence in children! Video Games? Causes aggression and violence in children! So… yeah. Apparently, even when Geek is Chic… all of our shit still needs to be attacked constantly by people who don’t seem to understand it. ESPECIALLY if/when these Nerd Cultural items attempt to discuss, relate to, or deal with things that actually happen in the real world. Heaven for fend that Nerd Culture experience The Real World!

Because remember.... some of the Conservative Family First Program genuinely believe that “a woman President” is inconsistent with having “family values.” Short Hand? “A woman’s place is in the home and suggesting that a woman can have a job is offensive.” And yet these guys call Liberals snowflakes??

Because a show intended to teach science to kids had better not teach Science that is politically inconvenient. I mean… the overwhelming majority of scientists agree about the issue and discussing “climate change” isn’t exactly discussing “man’s impact on pollution” but wait a minute… The Magic School Bus and Captain Planet were all discussing all of that in the 1990s already… so maybe be pissy about something else, InfoWars Morons.

I remember this to this day as I was so furious when I discovered that this outcry was NOT bots and AI being sent to troll. This was REAL people claiming that killing NAZIS in a video game was “too political” because apparently we have to protect the sanctity of being a Nazi in America today. No. We don’t. We have to purge the existence of Nazis in America today. You realize we fought a war about this, right? Around 416,800 US Soldiers died trying to keep the Nazis from spreading… you do know that, right?!

Besides the sheer idiocy of this; I want to specifically point out THE YEAR of this commercial. 2013. I recently wrote about an “interesting” Supreme Court ruling and justification that came out ALSO in 2013. Do you remember? It was the Civil Rights Voting Act which protected Black Neighborhoods from voting restrictions that might make it more difficult for Black Americans to vote. The Supreme Court overturned provisions in that bill in 2013 ruling that “racism was largely over and such protections were no longer needed.” Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

URGH! I’ve had this discussion until I’m blue in the face. Let’s approach this from both sides of the argument.
Company: Games are getting more expensive to make so we need to make sure that the people playing all buy a copy of the game and all have a console so that our industry can financially survive.
Gamers: If I want to play video games with my brother, who lives in the same house, or friends, who are visiting me at my house, we should not be required to all have a TV and all have a console and all have a copy of the game and all have a subscription to internet accessible gaming. Before it was 4 friends, each with a controller, racing each other using the same tv. NOW to do the same on so many of these games?? We’d have to create a room with 4 TVs, 4 Consoles all internet connected, 4 copies of the game… it just… it seems stupid and like intentionally killing a WELL LIKED part of gaming simply to profiteer.

This is another Gaming Convention that has multiple arguments.
One: Sometimes a game needs to prove to investors that there is a demand, so a trailer will be released halfway through production to ease the investor’s minds.
Two: Sometimes a game may seem like it will be “ready for release in Q4” so a Q1 trailer will be released; but then as the finishing touches are added, a catastrophic error is discovered that requires a massive re-work.
Three: You guys are constantly bitching about giant day 1 patches and/or feeling like the people who buy the game first are simply being used as Beta Testers. So which would you prefer? Trailers for games that won’t come out for years and years? Or trailers for games that come out this year; but require years and years of patching and downloadable content before it is The Game We Designed?
Four: This is a classic move for when the developers know that the game is going to suck. They release a hyped up trailer, convince a few money men to give them some extra cash, and by the time they actually RELEASE the game, it is outdated shit.
Five: The biggest concern, so a really stupid thing about these, is that original hype dies. You show a trailer and the game doesn’t come out for 4 years? The console will be obsolete, the fans will have forgotten about the trailer, and if you release what you’ve been working on and it is for THE OLD system? You won’t sell copy 1!

All those arguments have merit. But still? I’m still miffed about the Trailer to Release gap on things like Final Fantasy 7 Re-Mastered, Beyond Good and Evil Part 2.

Perhaps the most frustrating is the Ambush Payment Required In App purchases. If it is a game that is designed so that every level is accessible but “considerably easier” with purchases… then fine. That’s okay. If I want to make something more convenient, I pay a price for it. That sounds fair. The ones that really bother me… just get to me deeply… are the ones where you play and get to level 10 or 20 and THEN they pop up a pay wall. Especially if the Ap Store calls it a “Free Game”. Like, I download a game. I play it for a few weeks and it seems fun, I’m doing well. Then I get to a part where I have to “unlock the next level”. So I look in-ap and I look on-line, and I’m trying to figure out what point total or what special move or what do I have to do to unlock the next level?! Turns out “you must make an in-app purchase of at least $50.00 to unlock the next level.” WHAT?! Okay… fuck you, the horse you rode in on, the barn the horse came from, and the barn’s owner!

This is valid as hell. SOUTH KOREA a place famous for video games has outlawed and regulated loot boxes as a form of gambling targeting children. Loot Boxes feel like an especial “fuck you” to video game players who grew up with “Character Unlocks.” Because… think about it. Take a game like Golden Eye for the N64. You really wanted to unlock Baron Samedi for the Multiplayer Fights. You just played the Story Mode, beat it, and unlocked the character. You wanted different characters or levels? Achieve special objectives. It rewarded you for playing the game by saying If You Want This Here’s How To Get It. Modern gaming is infinitely more devious and foul. For example… take Overwatch. Let’s say that I absolutely adore the Banshee Moira skin (or something that may work better for this example). To unlock it, I have to earn a certain amount of “currency” in the game during a specific time of year and use that “currency” to buy loot boxes. Now, I could play every hour of every day for a whole month and… since Loot Boxes are randomized… I might never receive this skin! OR I could play for a Saturday Afternoon, get a loot box and get lucky. Of course… I could also pay hundreds or thousands of real dollars and buy hundreds of loot boxes… and if I STILL don’t get the skin I wanted… spend even more hundreds or thousands of real dollars and buy hundreds of loot boxes.... do you see how this becomes a huge, morally corrupt, stupid, definitely gambling issue?