4. Gratuitous Helpings Of Cultural Ills Bum You Out
Theres nothing wrong with sexy girls being sexy: even digital ones made by hunched beardy guys in tech labs. Hunched beardy guys need love too! And, hey, occasionally ethnic minorities commit crimes which might be portrayed in an entertaining and informative fictional context (see Cinematic Oeuvre - Scorsese, Martin). Similarly, the angst inspired by gay people is something real, and therefore might be worth exploring through narrative art. After all, this is a major part of art's function in societyto help us think about things; figure stuff out. But hey did I just get awarded Style Points for slapping that woman in the face with a dildo? For that matter, why is every female character in this game a mother or a whore? Is that ironic (intention notwithstanding, is this not inherently paradoxical?) retro 1920s Zulu cartoon stereotype
really throwing down watermelons and spitting out the seeds like Kalashnikov rounds? Is everyone in this game of COD actually called You Frisky Sodomite, or is that too much of a coincidence? Man, it's just all so ...
dark and
desperate. And as you power down the old 'box or 'station, one hundred percent certain that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, the words of Lethal Weapons Roger Murtaugh start ringing in your ears: Im gettin' too
old for this sh*t. The fact is, games don't have to be 'fun' and art doesn't have to be 'pleasant.' They merely need to be engaging and meaningful enough to achieve any likelihood that anyone will pay bottom dollar in Steam sales. But a driven horde getting all Clockwork Orangey on a game whose popularity rests on its renown for delivering the highest yield of dreary -ist 'jokes' for your buck? Well, thank the Lord I'm an Australian, and can rely on our venerable classification board to protect me from alien probes (
Saints Row IV) and zombies (
State of Decay), and any other material that seeks to "depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified." Nice try, unreasonable adults. Move along, now. There's nothing to see here.