I don’t like this thread, it makes me feel old.
There are two major differences between what’s going on with Firewatch and YouTube video game videos in general and your linked example:
First, with video games, a lot of people have convinced themselves that the interactive nature of the medium makes recorded content using them “fair use,” though a lot of these creators should probably be deathly afraid of what could happen to their livelihoods if a gaming-related fair-use case ever makes it to court. With other media, this stuff is well-tested and the guidelines are established pretty thoroughly, and the Stormfront case is a very traditional example that would be an easy win in court for Universal if the C&D had gone unanswered.
Second, record companies are a much greater force than a given random indie game studio. Even the white supremacists know Universal would bleed them dry in the course of legal proceedings.
I’ve seen statistics that show similar channels to PewDiePie that showed 75% or more of Youtube views come from 19 and below and something like 50% were 14-17… might be misremembering the exact numbers on the last one. But it sort of makes sense. Who has time to watch hours of Youtube content a day? Not most adults (or at least adults whose jobs that aren’t around media consumption). There are huge Youtube stars you’ve never heard of selling swag and merch at meet and greets around the westernized world to throngs of teenaged fans.
downside of doing that is if he does anything at all inappropriate, both people get dinged. Happened to a guy awhile back streaming an afk streamer who forgot to turn off her cam. She popped back into camera naked to turn it off and they both got hit with the ban hammer.
Link to vid or pics?
She didn’t exactly back up that Polygon headline. But then, she probably didn’t write it.
Problem is, the more you say it the more you start to believe it.
I thin somebody from america 1950’s would completelly understand youtube culture:
- Radio personality.
Thats is there to it. You watch a youtuber for the persona. The Persona can be a idiot, but is your idiot, a idiot that make you laught. Maybe your idiot is good at videogames, or is funny, whatever. You like because it resonate with something on you that make you laugh at his jokes. Radio stars and Youtuber stars are one and the same thing.
I do not say racist crap, ever. Nor do I associate with anyone who does. But I see it almost every time
I play Battlefield 1…
Once you’re immersed in that culture, you become desensitized to it. That’s where things like the common “hitler did nothing wrong” bit came from, the need to constantly one-up on outrage and offense for the lulz.
I wonder if there is a psychological phenomenon wherein, if you say something ‘ironically’ or noncommittally enough times, it gradually becomes sincere.
Pascal I think actually made the point in describing his dubious Wager. He suggested that if you don’t have faith, just mouth the forms of prayer and belief, and gradually it will come.
I had a philosophy professor who called that the CYA theory of theism. If there could be a god, why take the chance of pissing it off?
It’s the particular technique Pascal offers (to the fair rejoinder, how do you fake belief?) that interests me. Can ironic Nazis become real ones just through repetition?
Sure, if you gaze into the abyss, yada yada. Makes sense.
It’s the dark side of “fake it 'til you make it.” We really must be careful about what we pretend to be.
Kjellberg’s mistake wasn’t his language, it was the face he accidentally showed his audience the reality of online games. The ease with which Felix Kjellberg dropped a racial slur, mixed with the exasperated “I shouldn’t swear in front of my parents” way he quickly apologized for it, made perfect sense. That’s how a large number of people act online; they just learn to hide it while streaming.
That word, that very particular and targeted racial slur, has been thrown at me in online games since I was 12 years old. It has never left my side.
This is how Kjellberg can drop the slur casually, and be completely unchallenged by his friend on the stream. The toxic soup of general voice chat is self-selecting. It’s the default state of gamer chat at the most accessible level: Only those willing to share or accept a base level of hateful language remain. Everyone else elects to leave. Can you blame us?
The problem isn’t even the people saying these things; not entirely. The bigger problem is that the systems and general audience for these games are taught to tolerate it. And soon they’re not just tolerating it, they find it normal. And once it’s normal, it’s OK to take part, and anyone who is rightfully upset or opposed to it is accused of upsetting the status quo. So here we are.
The general state of online chat is intolerable for so many people, and would cause incredible controversy if the full extent of player toxicity was acted out in any other venue.
I would absolutely love to play Destiny 2. It sounds fun, I love how Bungie shooters feel, and I had a blast during my solo Warlock run of the first game. But if my choice is between paying the better part of $100 to have slurs yelled at me by strangers or enjoying one of my many other entertainment options, I’ll choose the latter. And I’m not alone, and this isn’t just a gaming issue.
There are no comforting words in this situation. How do you tell someone that this is going to continue no matter what game they play? How do you argue that they should stay in that environment? Why would someone want to?
I don’t get it - I read the whole article because the point he seemed to be driving toward is this is why you don’t play online with strangers, I mean yeah, duh. But no, he says no more online for him, like it’s an all or nothing proposition.
Its very hard for adults with actual Iives and responsibilities to coordinate spontaneous gaming. I try and play with friends once a week but its been months because of schedule conflicts. When I play online with strangers I don’t use the mic and everyone is muted because I don’t want to hear any PewPewDie type idiots. Any game that requires speaking for coordination just doesn’t get bought.
I’m sure I’m not alone.
Yup. It’s very rare when I can coordinate an online “date” with a buddy.