VIDEO-GAMING / LP SERIES PART 3 - lpers

Gaming & gaming culture receive a lot of criticism - & a lot of that is valid.  I criticize the culture & the players / fans, too, because it needs to be criticized.  Because the spaces of gaming / let’s playing / viewership of gaming/lp-ing are those of primarily privileged groups: white cis hetero able-boded males.  Usually in their mid 20s.  Sometimes they still live with their parents.  & a lot of the time they subscribe to a variety of isms / hatreds: racism; misogyny; transmisogyny; cissexism; classism; ableism; eurocentrism; & hella other things.  A lot.

When you frequent videos & the comments on those videos & the comments uttered during gameplay, you hear rape jokes.  You hear people calling each other female body parts aimed to insult.  You hear slurs people use in hatred to refer to homosexuals, or perceived homosexuality which is still lesser.  You hear racist slurs thrown around like they’ve lost meaning in our post-racial world.  You hear them bitch & moan about being in the “friendzone” because they’re “nice guys” who are entitled to women because they’re only objects & women who are gamers aren’t “real” gamers they are “fake” gamers who are worthless & should just fuck them already.  & then there's the fat-shaming & the slut-shaming & the women-shaming of every sort.  You hear &/or see shit you really didn’t want to see.  Because it’s immature.  Because it’s hateful.  Because it makes you want to kill people.  It can be a really bad scene.  It normally is a bad scene.  Gaming / let’s playing / gaming culture rightfully have negative connotations around them.

Even the people I follow aren’t perfect - & I follow people who are actually pretty well-known & have relatively good reputations [I do NOT just follow any damn let’s player because I have some standards.]  But even the people I follow are problematic.  markiplier has used tranmisogynist slurs aimed @ trans* individuals & has upheld cissexism / transmisogyny / patriarchy privileged mindsets when it comes to the gender of others.  I have messaged him, calling him out on a variety of matters, but of course… he will probably never take it to heart or respond.  Which is a shame because he’s my favorite & I’ll be covering him first when I start going over individual gamers.  But to look past his acts of transmisogyny would be to uphold the very things I’m supposed to be against.  I can’t make exceptions; even for Mark.  I just hope that one day he will learn from his bullshit.  I hope one day the entire gaming culture & community will wake up & act like “actual human beings” – y’know like actually civil & not hateful & spiteful & disgusting toward each other & others.  But that might never happen.  [check out my markiplier tag for receipts]

Continuing onward, raedwulfgamer & yamimash have also embodied eurocentric & orientalist mindsets when they mistakeningly assume one Asian language is the same as the other & proceed to mock it by making other “ching-chong” noises.  Because yes “ching-chong” is the universe Orient language.  Yes you are so funny doing so.  I love them both dearly, too, so it also really pains me to hear such racist filth.  & to see that no one else in their comment sections are calling such racism out.  It really is disheartening.  [yami & raed receipts]

pewdiepie has gotten criticism for his usage of rape jokes – which are not funny in any sort of context, no matter how miniscule the joke is.  “Dropping the soap” implies rape & it being in a jail-setting somehow normalizes it & makes it societally acceptable???  I don’t think so.  The “I’m getting raped!” to mean “Oh this is really hard & I’m not sure if I can pass this level” comparison is not okay.  Much like the “This is gay” meaning “This is stupid / tedious / incredibly difficult” comparison is not okay.  & much like the “This is retarded” meaning “This is stupid / not worth my time / worthless” is not okay.  All of these are used.  None of these are called out on a regular basis.  If you DO call them out, you’re labeled as “sensitive” or a “social justice warrior,” which have REALLY negative connotations & stigmas plastered onto them.  & if you insult the person throwing those insults with OTHER insults… you just look like a fool.  Like along the lines of “you’re a f** you little pussyshit i’ll r*** you up the ass & u will like it cuz ur a f**.”  But pewdie is actually one of the few youtubers who has apologized for his fuckery & has promised not to uphold / embody / stay silent on such crap again.  Even Mark, as much as I love him, has not done such a thing.  But more of that when I talk about pewdie in his post.

Moving on to less politically-fueled things.  Gaming culture CAN be a very wonderful thing.  It unites people.  It sounds really simple, but it’s really more than that.  People transcend geographic-ideological-gender-whateverelse barriers to be fans for this person.  Who’s just playing games.  & posting videos of themself playing games.  Again that sounds pretty simple & meaningless, but it’s not.

I don’t know the specifics of recording & rendering videos, but it’s a pretty labor-intensive process.  & quality / successful youtubers have multiple series / videos posting @ various times on a queue.  Sometimes every three hours, sometimes every four – but there’s always content going out to satisfy people.  It’s just like blogging.  You have to keep people interested & you want to get racking up those hits & subscribers.  & all of this effort takes a lot of time.  & all of this time takes away from other things the person could be doing.  pewdie has made a career of it, but other youtubers do not have the privilege.  markiplier is still going to college & raedwulfgamer has a very involved job.  It surprises me sometimes how they are able to crank out videos day after day after day.

But then again, it’s not about the subscribers or the views.  Those are just added perks.  That’s all just icing on the cake.  They make videos just to make videos & to play the games.  & they care about entertaining people & making their days better.  Because sometimes we want to be cheered up after a particularly stressful day.  & some of us have horrible lives that we want to escape from.  & some of us just want to laugh & have a good time because… it’s fun to have a good time.

On yami’s, on raed’s, on mark’s, on pewdie’s comment sections, you can scroll through people just singing praises.  A lot of them are just so happy that this lper exists to make their day – because they’ve had such a horrible day.  Or maybe they were really depressed & this finally helped them see that life was worthwhile.  Or maybe this inspired them to be a let’s player or involved in gaming.  Or maybe this made them laugh or scream or cry, depending on whatever game is being played.

Because gaming vids really do evoke a lot of emotion.  Even though I’m not playing the game… I feel like I am.  I AM experiencing the game.  When pewdie played Journey, when markiplier played LIMBO, I was right there with them.  I screamed when the spider killed mark billions of times.  & I cried when pewdie cried over the graphics & over the ending.  & when they play scary games, I scream @ the jumpscares right alongside them.  It’s an experience that’s beyond vicarious; you ARE playing the game right next to them.  & countless other people are experiencing it, too.  Sometimes millions of people.  Sometimes at the same time.  You are all connected by this little screen showcasing a little guy running away from monsters.  It’s an experience that’s really hard to explain. 

& yet it needs to be explained if you can’t understand it – if you look down on it.  Because it’s beyond just sitting down & watching videos.  You get involved with this person’s life.  You begin to care about them.  You have feelings for them.  When this let’s player says that they’re going through a hard time & won’t be able to put up videos, you feel empathy for their circumstance.  You comment on their video & hope they have a better day.  Sometimes the let’s player even responds back.  Sometimes you can have a dialogue.  Sometimes you can become friends.  Sometimes it can become more than viewer & youtuber.  Sometimes it can become so much more.

Sometimes youtubers & their fans can unite to do amazing things.  They can raise thousands of dollars for causes.  They can shed awareness on things no one talks about.  They can form networks to give each other hope.  They can reach out across countries & foster friendship.

Or they can call each other pussies in stupid comment wars.  That shit happens, too.