Tag: pc gaming

  • Why are Gamers So Angry?

    Why are Gamers So Angry?

    Hey, dude raging in the voice chat, quick question: when did gaming stop being fun? No, seriously. When did the joy of playing a video game get sucked out of your life? I can tell you when it left mine. It’s when people like you started to become the loud minority of gamers that other…

  • 5 Things You Can Achieve by Abusing Game Developers
  • 5 Feel-Good Games to Help With the Winter Blues

    5 Feel-Good Games to Help With the Winter Blues

    Seasonal Affective Disorder – also known as S.A.D – affects about six percent of the population. As the days get shorter, reduced sunlight can mess with levels of serotonin – the neurotransmitter that the brain uses for mood regulation. This can lead to reduced energy, sleep troubles, feelings of anxiety or hopelessness, and other symptoms…

  • A Bestiary of Delphic Feels

    A Bestiary of Delphic Feels

    If you’re yet to read Nathalie Lawhead’s blog on her experiences showcasing interactive zine Everything is Going to be Ok at Day of the Devs, do that thing now, and come back. Yeah, me too. It’s this that got jammed in my craw the hardest: “What the fuck is this, what the hell, weird ass game,…

  • Wolfenstein 2: Do Nazi Lives Matter?

    Wolfenstein 2: Do Nazi Lives Matter?

    Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is not a truly great Wolfenstein game, but it feels like a rung on the ladder to one. It carries the franchise’s history like a millstone carved from a beloved pet rock.  Unflinchingly self-conscious; at once brazen and apologetic.  The Wolfenstein name is both a slashed Achilles heel, and the…

  • Empathy for the Devil: Destiny 2’s Manifest Destiny

    Empathy for the Devil: Destiny 2’s Manifest Destiny

    Previously we looked at plain toast, microwave burritos, and how Destiny 2‘s Guardians are basically Mussolini with blue mohawks. It was a grand old adventure, aside from all the brain aneurysms. This time, we go into detail about FashQuest‘s unfortunate portrayal of its alien races. If the idea that art created by humans might reasonably serve as…

  • 10 Gifs That Perfectly Describe Gamers on Live Chat

    10 Gifs That Perfectly Describe Gamers on Live Chat

    Let’s face it, almost all of the bigotry that comes from online gaming comes straight from the live chat. Whether it’s via text form or over voice chat, you always get a slew of gamers who just do not know when to stop talking. Sometimes you’ll find feminist-friendly servers, or at least a match full…

  • Don’t Make Love: Sex, Death, and Mantises

    Don’t Make Love: Sex, Death, and Mantises

    ‘At once victors and vanquished’ is a fairly unusual juxtaposition for a game. Often, you fulfil the conditions of a win state, get dragged along through the firework display of congratulatory cutscenes, cup your willing hands before you to receive the gold-hewn power star of definitive success. Tragedy is a peripheral concern like air and…

  • It’s Not Your Fault You’re Fascist, Destiny 2

    It’s Not Your Fault You’re Fascist, Destiny 2

    I’ve always found the term ‘hate symbol’ misleading. Symbols, like technology, plain toast, and Jaheira from Baldur’s Gate are true neutral. We can charge them with significance or repurpose them, the same way we can use microwaves to heat burritos or build death-rays. Unless you’re Geralt of Rivia, though, a sign with no context is powerless.…

  • Elizabeth LaPensée on Thunderbird Strike, Eco Terrorism, and Other Bad Behavior

    Elizabeth LaPensée on Thunderbird Strike, Eco Terrorism, and Other Bad Behavior

    Recently, the lobbying group Energy Builders released a statement accusing the 2D side scroller Thunderbird Strike of attempting to ‘encourage eco-terrorism or other bad behavior’. Naturally, the alarmist press lapped it up with all the predictable zeal of a Pavlovian pooch. Boundary-pushing design and unique auteurial vision is a major draw of the indiesphere, but rarely…

  • One of Stardew Valley’s Bachelorettes is Emotionally Abusive and that’s not Okay

    One of Stardew Valley’s Bachelorettes is Emotionally Abusive and that’s not Okay

    Abigail’s plotline in Stardew Valley begins rather innocuously. Abigail is nice and quirky. As you befriend her you play video games together, and play instruments in the afternoon rain. She’s never written as mean or controlling in these scenes. She’s painted as the edgy 20-year-old at odds with her parents. She’s, initially, an interesting character…

  • Gender at E3: PC Gaming Show

    Gender at E3: PC Gaming Show

    The PC Gaming Show at E3 showed off various bits of hardware and a bunch of upcoming games. Somehow, not one of these things was represented by women. Streamer Sonja Reed was given a secondary presenter role, but the developers interviewed by Sean Plott, who was given the the main stage, were overwhelmingly white men. There…