tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post5483072766093121567..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Mass Effect and IdeologyPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-73860297028770288472017-03-05T23:27:20.956+00:002017-03-05T23:27:20.956+00:00I did play Mass Effect one, and actually made good...I did play Mass Effect one, and actually made good progress in it. Even if i did fail to romance Sheppard.<br /><br />You might also like to check out the new Telltale game Batman, for the Xbox one, it actually contains another 'love encounter', not too gory, but just enough.<br /><br />Plus the game is kind of like watching a video reel, i don't know if that appeals to you?...>John Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04409996658987374061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-30746049214688108602009-08-26T21:29:27.898+01:002009-08-26T21:29:27.898+01:00There was a game review in the socialist about a y...There was a game review in the socialist about a year ago if i remember correctly, but its the only one i've ever seen<br /><br />May give it a go myself at some point. Although I am writing a book review for socialism today which will mention a video game very briefly - but that probably doesn't count<br /><br />Oh why many haven't appeared in the socialist or socialism today - i wonder whether many of the party full timers play computer games that much. I mean, not that they wouldn't publish things because of that - but quite a few of the reviews get written by long standing comrades or full timers usuallyLeftwing Criminologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12369810078697007763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-57166773544412467892009-08-24T21:54:12.973+01:002009-08-24T21:54:12.973+01:00Don't get me started on Fallout III, Flip - th...Don't get me started on Fallout III, Flip - the whole premise of the game violates the laws of social physics! lol<br /><br />Simon, I feel a discussion of the role of individual personalities in history coming on! I remember reading something in past years (it wasn't Plekhanov's piece in case you were wondering) that said occasionally individuals become the focus of movements within society and are endowed with a certain significance. For example, on a mundane level the individual personality of Michael Jackson was very much a social product.<br /><br />The same is true of political leaders. Depending on historical circumstance there are moments in history where "great" individuals can impose their personality on ongoing developments. War time is one, revolutionary upheavals are another. Dictatorships are another example. <br /><br />I don't dispute the role of the individuality in history. But what I do criticise is the fetishisation of individuality as it appears in games like these.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-63703859067268492052009-08-24T21:44:38.547+01:002009-08-24T21:44:38.547+01:00Rob, yes, I think games probably would be boring i...Rob, yes, I think games probably would be boring if they were 'politically correct' from a Marxist POV. Well, Tetris, Klax, Bejeweled and Portal aren't boring but they're a bit limiting. But as you say, the fact we find these sorts of games entertaining reveals something about the stunting effects of capitalism.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-56713992414023475292009-08-24T21:34:49.146+01:002009-08-24T21:34:49.146+01:00I didn't mention the sex scenes in the hope so...I didn't mention the sex scenes in the hope someone in here would. But it does annoy me, why couldn't GuyShep get it on with Kaidan? Cat says she definitely would have been up for a slice of mano-o-mano. I mean, they do it in Fable II!Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-27496828815237171472009-08-24T18:24:48.624+01:002009-08-24T18:24:48.624+01:00I don't think the special role of the player (...I don't think the special role of the player (which is of course necessary to most games) necessarily equates to a Great Man conception of history.<br /><br />Take for example the role of Churchill and Stalin during WW2. Had the leaders of GB and the SU been completly incompetant then, material forces be damned, things could have gone rather differently. However, had Churchill and Stalin been entirely incompetant, it is unlikely they would have occupied the positions they did, and somebody more competant would have taken the position.<br /><br />Presumably allied high command making strategic decisions has a determining effect on the outcome of the war (just as true in a video game as in real life) but this isn't incompatable with the Materialist conception of history (even a strictly deterministic interpretation).Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17961828826925034002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-82868332379450184882009-08-24T15:13:44.388+01:002009-08-24T15:13:44.388+01:00May I suggest Fallout 3 would make for an interest...May I suggest Fallout 3 would make for an interesting lefty review.<br /><br />Although it does still suffer from the "Only You Can Save Mankind" syndrome which, as Rob said, may simply be a constraint of the medium, it does also feature many disparate groupings of people and feature a rudimentary moral system. Oh and it's also fun to play :-)FlipChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-83884687602446000642009-08-24T12:13:50.398+01:002009-08-24T12:13:50.398+01:00I was playing some thing on my brother´s XBox with...I was playing some thing on my brother´s XBox with lots of muscly people based on Norse gods. I couldn´t help but think of a bundle of Nazi wank-fantasies...JS.Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08402019478997760884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-84245421493667496562009-08-24T08:43:40.360+01:002009-08-24T08:43:40.360+01:00Well I'll tell you what. Next time I play a ne...Well I'll tell you what. Next time I play a newly released game, I'll be sure to email it to the editor of ST. We'll see whether it makes it into the magazine, to prove the SP is down with der yoof lol.Dave Semplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11876639425450919663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-89974817044662241422009-08-24T01:59:01.146+01:002009-08-24T01:59:01.146+01:00This is very interesting and (as a gamer) I do thi...This is very interesting and (as a gamer) I do think the Marxist left ought to say more about video games. One thing though, re 'the Great Man theory of history', it seems rather difficult to imagine an enjoyable game where this wasn't the case. Even strategy games (which one might think would avoid this) ultimately coalesce around the skill of the individual player, who is able to direct events.<br /><br />Given the specifics of the medium, I think a game that accurately reflected the constraints of necessity would be very tedious. Furthermore, I wonder if (even now) we have the technology that could accurately represent the dialectic of structure and agency.<br /><br />I'm wondering if there might even be a sense in which video games (with their Great Man theories and all) might sometimes represent some kind of utopian break with the chains of necessity.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08570084990430000647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-78091033540431647352009-08-24T01:15:45.226+01:002009-08-24T01:15:45.226+01:00Interesting point about marxist game reviews.
I u...Interesting point about marxist game reviews.<br /><br />I used to be a pretty heavy gamer and I have my suspicions that the prevelance of ultra-individualist sentiment so common within that sub-culture may not be a coincidence.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17961828826925034002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-91782508372084472732009-08-24T00:24:33.656+01:002009-08-24T00:24:33.656+01:00Nice post and interesting points about humanoid al...Nice post and interesting points about humanoid aliens and their mirroring certain human traits.<br /><br />Can't believe you mentioned the Asari and didn't touch on all the flak the game received when it came out for including a "lesbian" sex scene if you played as fem!shep. Claiming the Asari are mono-gendered as a get out of jail free card (whether to the right wing who see the scene as something that will corrupt children, or to the left/lesbians as a way to side step the obvious exploitative nature of such a scene in a video game aimed at 15 year old boys) when they're quite clearly presented as female bothers me.Han Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712303157876594146noreply@blogger.com