Writer, TF Finatic, Recohoster, and Game dev. Wasnt able to post here as much as I liked, but I'll miss it and all of yall. Till we meet again, friends!
I beleive wholesome games are going to go through a deconstructionist period and violent, edgy, schlocky games are going to go through a reconstructionist period
my theory revolves around a belief that no-one in the indie scene made anything edgy for a bit because devolver digital had a monopoly on pixelated blood; and then they made their public-facing image so obnoxious that no-one else wanted to do it.
You ever read a post about your worst friend's problematic fav turning out to be actually problematic? Or a news article about a company you're personally irritated by doing something generally terrible?
How often does the situation later turn out to be More Complicated Than That?
Don't get me wrong, the spread and discussion of bad things being done by ostensibly good actors is necessary to prevent worship and idolization of fallible individuals. But sometimes, in fact often, it'll turn out that callout post was padded with unrelated rumor, the original news source was taken out of context, or whatever the Main Character did today is still bad... but just not quite as bad as people were positing.
Yet this is itself useful to true bad actors looking to wiggle their way out of the consequences of their actions. "It wasn't as bad as you thought, you're all over-reacting, I never said X or did Y."
If you ever read something that makes you have negative opinions to an entity, and then later new evidence comes out that shows the entity still kinda sucks but isn't an actual monster, you gotta recalibrate your rage.
Is the thing you really want to be doing making fun of someone online for being cringe, using the justification of 'they're being problematic'?
If you thought a person said a slur in a drunken rant, and then it turned out they didn't use the slur but still went on a pretty messy public tirade while drunk- those are two different kinds of situations. One is a mask-off moment brought on by addiction, one is just about the addiction itself. Is it fair to be as angry as you would be at the first if it turns out to just be the second?
When a single news story about someone behaving badly comes out, especially on platforms like X, people will take it as a chance to aggregate every dumb moment the person has ever had, every ignorant or silly thing they've done in their entire online life, and turn it all into threads celebrating hate. Then if the core news story, the actually dangerous thing turns out to be bogus... who cares, right? Look at all this other shit that they did! Look at everything otherwise benign or just kinda weird things this person has done: it's just one lie being told. (The one lie that got people to care and pay attention and dunk-en-masse in the first place.)
This isn't about anyone in particular, I'm not subbing any chosts. This is about online behaviors which could easily be replicated on this platform if people aren't willing to call 'bullshit'. And, in the cases where a person you dislike for petty reasons actually doesn't turn out to be truly problematic, recalibrate your reaction.
You don't have to love someone to not stir up a hate mob on them.
If you don't know what Juneteenth is, here's a primer
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth
(yes I posted this last week but apparently I can't read a calendar and you're not allowed to get mad at me)
If you're looking to support a black person, I think I'm pretty cool. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, my dog is very cute, and I'm knowledgeable and passionate about a lot of things. I'm a professional photographer, writer, and baker. I've been a podcaster and streamer.
I create cookie recipes
https://ko-fi.com/theblacknerd/shop
Here's a piece I wrote about mental illness and the power to keep going
https://medium.com/@theblacknerd_23078/godspeed-you-black-nerd-a0909c405d34
Here's a piece I wrote about my blackness and the formation of identity
https://medium.com/@theblacknerd_23078/identity-invalid-cb65739b12f6
I used to be a freelance game reviewer. Most of the websites I wrote for are gone now but you can read my stuff on IGN and Paste
https://www.ign.com/person/GodspeedYouBlackNerd
https://www.pastemagazine.com/author/terence-wiggins
If you just want to give me a couple of dollars because you like me:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/theblacknerd
https://cash.app/$theblacknerd
Research has shown that some emotional AIs disproportionately attribute negative emotions to the faces of black people, which would have clear and worrying implications if deployed in areas such as recruitment, performance evaluations, medical diagnostics or policing.
