The march of time is cruel and relentless…

I’m guessing that’s why so many of us suffer cases of arrested development and remain children so often during “unprecedented times”

As I ponder which direction I should head next in the wide verse of gaming, but before I begin to move in the most enviable of directions available, I usually take a moment to reflect on recent projects, feelings, ideas and challenges that I was confronted with, before rushing along to the next engagement. This is a practice I think far too few of individuals ever consider, let alone practice, and is one of the big dividing lines between enthusiast and consumer, I feel. Of course, you have the addicts that exist within any context, who have the compulsion to just relentlessly abuse themselves through self-destructive tendencies that come from endless gluttony and untethered hedonism, and my heart goes out to those sorry spirits who are unable to regain control of their lives. However, they represent a small portion of the overall majority, which means that any individual who is otherwise of sound mind who has similar machinations, in there quest to consume as much as possible, without thought, without consideration, and without merit, are ironically distinct from the addict that I grant grace to, and these types of consumers are a massive plague on the face of it all, and represent the worst in common humanity I have come to loathe. I think in the world of gaming at least, it has helped to contribute to some of the most toxic aspects of the industry, as these would be the individuals who comprise the group known as “whales” that so many developers go after, especially in free to play titles, who they know will throw near infinite wads of cash and endless stacks of bills to get whatever they desire, as quickly as possible, all in the name of mindless self-indulgence.

I think overall, the gaming industry chases trends like any other body of commerce, so whatever is making the dosh and trending positive for creating cash cows will be the winner winner chicken dinner of the days in our immediate future. Ironically, it is the most selfish of us all who seem to tend to dictate the future of so much of our cultural landscape, as in many ways, since finance is the predominant language of development and “evolution”, at least, on a microcosmic societal level related to an idea like meme transfer and propagation, it will always be the loudest minority that seems to steer the ship forward. There are many great examples of where this tends to be true outside of gaming as well, but I need not toil outside the realms of madness of a virtual persuasion to elucidate upon my point.

Not that I necessarily had a strong premise to start from when I sat down to have this dialogue with you, but as I ponder about my own considerations now, I am struck with a sense of queerness thinking about the future of the industry with the Sword of Damacles hanging over our heads in the form of AI. If we infuse the very present reality of AIs encroaching visage, and then run with my theory about how the largest minority of stalwart consumers tend to morph the market, as it were, we may be in for a bumpy ride predicated on market trends and bottom line value systems. Since the industry always seems hellbent on the latest and greatest, while simultaneously being strangulated with costs, time, people-power, and the need to churn out products and concepts at astonishing rates, is it not these same chaotic whales of consumer whoredom that will invoke the digital virtual devil himself and release AI hell upon us all based on their gluttonous proclivities? I am a feared of the answer, as the burning cynic within me screams anguished cries of tumultuous anger from deep within my vessel, as if pained with the stabbing reality of the likely situation.

There is something called the “Overton Window“, which is essentially just a working theory adjacent to philosophical and political discourse, which talks about the range of issues or popularization of standards within the public sphere, depending on a variety of factors. One big way it is usually applied to society at large, is to understand the current state of health of the political landscape, in how a country leans left or right (for a ridiculously easy reducto ad absurdum example). Often times, the Overton Window will slowly shift to the right, and will continue to do so unless a culturally relevant zeitgeist backlash occurs. This is key in understanding the issue I put forth in gaming, as when the Overton Window shifts to the right, the idea of normalization comes into focus, as we consider the “new norm” and standards that occur along side the shift. Since the shift usually happens so gradually and glacially over a period of time, it’s hard to notice in the more intimate immediate of the everyday that it is happening, but due to this slow shift, what was center now leans even further into the extreme, and the previous extreme continues to dive straight off the cliff of radical insanity.

I’m guessing the big brained crowd amongst you have already started to run calculations and scenarios in your own head about how this relates and translates to gaming as a whole, if not all of tech and society at large, in that whatever our usage of it is now, and the conversation surrounding it is in terms of where appropriateness is concerned, is going to shift so wildly in such a little amount of time, the Overton Window for AI implementation and usage in most of our tech experience is going to look like an unending moving target of vastly swift proportionality and position, and the normalization of AIs usage along with it. Where many may be totally against the idea today and push back against it being the new norm, I think based on changing standards in the realm of finance and the realities of commerce, we are going to see a ridiculous surge of AI propagation over a severely limited amount of time, and the new normal will swiftly shift to the unfortunate acceptance of what will just become the everyday.

This isn’t pro-AI, by the way, I’ve gone on record a number of times espousing the horrors and dangers of the adaptation for sometime now, even feeling more vindicated thinking back to all the times a decade ago I was fixated on the eventuality, and my friends thinking I was catastrophizing about a future plagued by artificiality based on over consumption of Sci-fi media, but much of what I speculated turned out to be a sad reality in no time at all.

With the Overton Window consideration in regards to AI normalization in full focus, and seeing how just this year has played out, I think I have a feeling I know where this is all going. How the window shifts in the coming years will be an interesting, if not dystopic sight to behold.

The future will create Luddites of us all.

–Pashford