… move away from vulnerable truths…
…. infantilisation, irony and self-aware projections…
…. and that soon it will be impossible to make criticisms of culture.
Satire will dry up, nothing will be controversial, there will be a constant “X is like Y with Z” appraisal of everything.

Borrowing from what has come before.

take 1. Fusion. Zorn. Two formerly separate expressions, binding them, put them next to each other and see what they say. Good. np.
take 2. Parody a. Trivialising a past medium or genre. “You know I know”. Insincere. Bad. p.
take 3. Reinvent. Imitate whilst injecting a horror that was not there previously. Waits. Lynch. Cactus. Catamites. Good. np.
take 4. The safe familiar. Retreading, possibly with rearrangement. Leech. Bad. p.
take 5. The clown. Ironic expressions using past styles. Bad? Without a doubt. P.
take6. Parody b. Use familiar form to make a point more accesible. Entertaining. Spitting Image. Something kind of sad about, the way that things have come to be. Neutral. np

meaning

An equation involving novelty and influence. Other parameters might include: technique, mood/atmosphere.
Meaning is not an aspiration of entertainment. It is said that Jack Kerouac ‘had no interest in trying to redeem the world, or in how to live the good life, or in telling a story. What he wanted was to capture in words what everything is like.’
We live in language. A deaf alien lands and sees a couple engaged in conversation, with opening mouths, glancing around, checking themselves. What it sees is the impression of two people simultaneously engaged in two different worlds. In fact their world is essentially single, and is belanguaged throughout.

language

“Super” as an adverb and rising intonation. Verbs used as nouns (not gerunds). Nouns re-purposed as verbs. Writing the word “period” at the end of a statement (the written equivalent of the bloody “inverted commas gesture”). Writing the word “wait” before a question as if to mimic a spoken interruption. When people reason using “…because X” (“because games” “because culture” etc). The accusatory phrase “I’m looking at you X”. The list goes on.

These could be brushed off as Americanisation but to say that would be an insult to North Americans. To be sure, there are worse things in the world. However, I feel that such infantalisations of language are indicative of a wider cultural dilemma.
Forgive me for positing possible response.
“I like it. It shows the flexibility of the language. There’s a logic to it too that makes more sense sometimes than the rules and exceptions to rules in English”
The flexibility of language can be beautiful. Recent examples; the coinage “wismical”, the un-prefixed “evitable”, verbs on verbs “keep on keeping on” “all we know is all we know”. The flexibility of nouns re-purposed (“summiting”, “shall we guitar”) et al are beneficial to intermediate learners as work-arounds but ultimately reduce language/ meaning. The etymology of “ascending”, the idea of play.

I’ve seen journalists use “because games”. Doesn’t this ignore the interesting part of the thought? “because games have their own intrinsic logic”, “because games are fundamentally flawed as a representational medium”.

There is an idea that such use of language is enthusiastic, even expressive. On closer inspection…

Average age of Gamers: 35

No problem. np. Problem. p.
That the average age of gamers is 35. np/p. It would not be a problem if the medium reflected this age. As it stands, these are 35 year olds playing entertainment made for a demographic 15-20 years removed. Perpetual teenagers. Domesticated by media. The crisis. p.

Moreover, an audience that expects to be pandered to. np. We only think we know what we want. p. Exhibit A) What you know you like, better in all the qualities you know you like. Exhibit B) Something that has never been seen before. Exhibit C) Something that you don’t like because it is unfamiliar. Which is best for progress? (see above - Meaning)

Infantilisation of Female form. A somewhat unrelated thought.

What started as a technique to represent foreshortening has now become the genre-specific style of 2d rpgs. Also can be seen in graphic-design popular in Japan. A useful way to show facial expressions on a character when the image space is limited. These proportions are like those of an infant. Sexualised characters portrayed in such a way are extremely common, results being worrying and strangely unquestioned.

The Hipster Dilemma / The Crisis

Tony Benn asked, “What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?”
The most exciting developments in art have been reactions to what has come before. The continual crisis, how to revolt. Now the trend weighs heavily on the ironic and the more insincere aspects of the post-modern. np… This combines with a joyful self-aware infantilisation. np. There is no reaction that can be made, it is all-encompassing with an impervious defense. p.

we are getting there/ are we getting there?

There are games called Gone Home and Depression Quest, a game called Actual Sunlight, A Dragon Named Cancer, Auti-Sim, and others. These are steps in a direction. I don’t mean to trivialise the themes explored in these works and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any of these games. However, they explore themes that if you haven’t experienced, someone you know has. Are these “safe” themes?

If Gone Home was about two men with an age difference of 30 years, it would have been a different game for reasons beyond the symbolic. If A Dragon Named Cancer didn’t have Christian undercurrents, that we will not be together in the Ever After. Auti-sim. Parents have been known to class themselves as the victims,”Oh poor me, I’ve had a dud. I blame the vaccination.” A sentiment that makes me fucking spit. Actual Sunlight involves possible suicide expressed compassionately. Refreshing and honest, no? yet the inclusion of suicide raised criticism.

Easy to be critical. Being critical is over-rated.

There is another direction, towards anti-capitalist games, sometimes labeled Punk games.

Pixel Art

(see Borrowing from what has come before.) Is pixel art a shield? Is it an anti-aesthetic? Does this border on anti-intellectual? What would Lisa Simpson say about Pixel “art”? Bart? I can’t believe that any might consider pixel art as expressive as oil paint, ink or water-colour (even acrylic, graphite or marker pen).

Recommendations.

I recommend disdain. Don’t be afraid to be introverted. Don’t fight for the consumer, remove yourself from the fight. Heed your speech, are you speaking with your own words? When making, the only important thing is the process. In 200 years nothing of your existence will be remembered. Read the comments to understand the extent of the crisis. Awards may be nice but they mean nothing. Ratings mean nothing. Feel your body. Recognise the authorities in your life and never stop questioning. Never, ever raise your voice in anger.