video game satire

March 24, 2015 4:58 AM

Does anyone remember a recent post (possibly on a Tumblr) describing a satirical, feminist-alternate-universe history of video games?

The piece was a satire originating in an alternate universe where the gaming hobby was focused on different tropes. (I believe, though I'm not 100% certain of this, that the implication was that gaming was primarily a female hobby in this alternate history.) The gist of the piece was a rumination on why violent video games never took off as a hobby, and the speculation was that a game in which you just solitarily murdered people over and over could never be as fun as games where you cooperate towards a common goal.

I believe I read this in the last few months -- I think it was an anti-#GamerGate piece -- but I apparently didn't bookmark it and can't find a link.

Thanks!

posted by gerryblog to Technology (5 answers total)

Response by poster: There may have also been some language about the technical impossibility of simulating violence effectively, to parody claims used to explain why games in our world are the way they are.

I really hope someone else remembers this.
posted by gerryblog at 5:07 AM on March 24, 2015

Response by poster: More I think about it, the more I’m sure there was something about how impossible it would be, from a technical perspective, to simulate even a single bullet or gun wound.
posted by gerryblog at 5:47 AM on March 24, 2015

Best answer: I think you're looking for Why So Few Violent Video Games? by Gregory Weir.
posted by aparrish at 6:08 AM on March 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: Yes! I was so close to the title, too, but kept doing variations on "Why Aren't There More?" Thanks!
posted by gerryblog at 6:11 AM on March 24, 2015

Ha! That's brilliant. I always found the wag-the-dog justifications for violence as some kind of 'fundamental game mechanic' flimsy, and this is a really neat poke at them.
posted by Drexen at 10:55 AM on March 24, 2015