One must always look at the output of a system to see its relative value, this sentiment does not exclude the notion of society at large, the ultimate system of transactional nature.

From beyond the grave, the ghosts remain entertained at the livings collective failures

There exists this perverse sense of obtuseness when I consider deconstructing games, as I’m always compelled to discuss just about anything in relation to a title except the immediate moment to moment gameplay. Realistically, when you break down why, there is plenty of sense in this approach. No shortage of people exist on the net that discuss video games, and many of them mimic the tried and true go to of 1:1 dictation of how they progressed through the title, I’m guessing (charitably speaking) this is due to it being the most obvious of approaches, and the path of least resistance to boot, but definitely the least inspired. With so many playing the same games in the same ways, it becomes quite a tall order to actually stand out from the crowd, and deliver something worthwhile and or memorable when devising such realities, and the irony is not lost on me that my fixation on the “anything but gameplay” elements of the games I play, is ridiculously absurdist, though not without merit. I like creating this metaphysical wall through thought where a hole exists, and everything that surrounds the hole that I dictate upon, ends up making the outline of what the interactivity may look like, if thorough enough in my explicative pretensions.

I was going to leave the posit I just threw down in opening this article as a mere digression of thought or metaphoric sidequest to the rest of this article…but I feel as if a further elaboration is in order. In spite of my desires on the matter, I think there remains some slight hesitation on my behalf, in asserting the notion I currently have in mind, and projecting it right onto the screen, for reasons which will become immediately obvious hereafter. To my point, however, I think one of the elements I normally bemoan while reading literature involved with gaming, is…well, a lot of it just ends up being so pedestrian, there isn’t usually a whole lot being offered up conceptually speaking to kind of chew on. To further that point, and unfortunately, in a way that will certainly come off as inflammatory, but really just represents a harder pill to swallow then most others, is the notion that a lot of gaming media is just not concerned with subsisting on an ethos that regulates itself on the foundation of thoughtfulness. Anti-intellectualism is rampant in all walks of society, and I am aware that a basic write-up involving a preview/review etc is attempting to reach as wide an audience as possible, so the goal is not to posture intellectually, but the bar is so low, it makes one wonder how much of the industry even cares about the cognitive, especially if it becomes interruptive to the flow of finance.

I will take a quick moment to ratify myself here: I am not implying that everyone within the gaming industry or the fans of said industry are completely thoughtless or without intellectual merit full stop, but they sure as shit tuck it the hell back a lot of the time, and on a disturbingly regular basis, if there is anything truly going on under the veneer of simplicity they so regularly broadcast to the world, which you know…leaves one wondering how much of their “cognitive hand” they’re keeping close to their own chest. I’m afraid this article is not going to land; possibly come off as needless complaining, or even be accused of outlandish shit stirring, but I ultimately use this space to share thoughts on random matters about video games, and if that involves what I see as a general rot of intellectualism, or a persistently stagnant zeitgeist that props up certain voices, ideas, ideology, standards and practices, or the failing of any qualities just mentioned…I feel as if I wouldn’t be true to myself, and intellectually dishonest in avoiding bringing it up, out of concern it would upset people. Part of adult responsibility is not trying to win a popularity contest, and maintaining some standard of integrity and a personal value system, and I’m always afeared that too many in the realm would rather be dishonest if it made them laudable, vs honest and not regarded.

I guess I should also ratify the idea that society at large is basically like this, and the gaming industry is just a subset of humanity, so one would not be surprised to see that this smaller slice of the pie indeed, possesses the same ingredients of the whole pie, just in a smaller distilled portion, so this is certainly not a unique scenario where I think the hollow rot that haunts the zeitgeist of gaming as a whole is in anyway unique. The industry and its fans might have some eccentricity and their own jargon to speak of, but their flaws, which are many, will mirror that of the flaws that haunt all of society at large. I think many like to play the blame game of ideology, often pointing the finger directly at capitalism, belching aloud “look what you made me do!”, but I am fairly confident other sorts of ideologues, whether they be communists, socialists, fascists, marxists, anarchists etc are well within the realm of capability, in being just as flawed an individual as any capitalist, at least, it does not strain my imagination any to fathom such a reality. After all, they are human first, existing as empty vessels, but still possessive of all the horrendous trademarks that paint the potential future of follies for any single mortal person that has the misfortune of walking this cursed rock, they choose their identity, their flag, their passions after the fact, the commonality that often binds us is our insecurities, fears, and biases, sadly.

I’ve often borrowed an idea from Sartre’s book “Being and Nothingness”, where he shares an anecdote about a waiter he observed, who is so engulfed in the revelry of being a waiter, he has lost himself in the job, becoming more waiter than man in the process. This speaks to me, not about me mind you, as I often look around me, and see people defined by their work more than who they are as individuals. In some cases, much like the waiter, there are no individuals left to speak of in the role, being totally subsumed by the identity that they have lost themselves in, completely unaware of the transformation and loss of self that has occurred. My theory I detailed, back when I was playing Silksong, the one I referred to as “The Homunculus of Hobbyism”, has some relation to this notion, and the tragedy that occurs when one is merely made up of the things they consume, more so then any system of values that reinforce the metaphysical reality of an individual, left only with a forsaken psychic state of a lived experience abandoned, and one that has surrendered the very essence of the last of their humanity within.

To offer a counterpoint to my Words of Wisdom, in which I detailed the elements that “make us mighty”, I take this moment now, to think of the inverse of such a notion, the one that dictates that which is not mighty, and that would amount to something akin to an individual trading in their personal identity for the cheapened avatar version of themselves, the one that is more a collage of interests than a collection of ideas...a modern day ghoul of the consumer wasteland, left with nothing but the empty husk of what use to be a person, now replaced by nothing more than the urge to cease to be, in favor of the totem collection that represents the tragedy of ouroboros otakuism that has transformed them into a pile of action figures, broken dreams, and the nothingness that exists between.

There are fates worse than death.

-Pashford