Alexander Graham Bell. One of the most accomplished men of our time. He invented the telephone, participated in the invention of the airplane, and had spent his life dedicated to helping the deaf with his work. If he were alive today, he would immediately see how much of a positive impact he made on the world
Alexander Graham Bell also spent 30 years studying sheep nipples
This is a funny fact I learned about Bell while at a museum dedicated to the man located in Nova Scotia. Now on the surface, this is pretty humiliating for someone as accomplished as Bell, but personally, I believe that if you spend your life helping to revolutionize humanity, I think you’re allowed to have some weird personal projects. And Bell is certainly one of the historical figures that earned it, good job, have fun with your sheep nipples
Elon Musk is like Alexander Graham Bell, but the opposite, as if his entire life has been spent doing nothing but studying sheep nipples instead of revolutionizing humanity, but no one is laughing and everyone is sad
And now he’s making video games
Now, does it upset me that Elon Musk now has more of a foot in the game industry than I do? Yes actually, it does (man can’t even play Elden Ring right). Am I just writing all this to poke fun at the world's pettiest billionaire? Also yes, but I also do have something to say that I hope will elevate this into something more meaningful than another Elon Musk rant
So Elon Musk has promised that he’s going to “make video games great again”. Considering he’s allied himself with the right wing crowd, this will most definitely mean that he’s planning to cater to the right wing crowd. The crowd that bemoans women and LGBTQ+ representation in gaming as “woke” and believe that the game industry has gone downhill for that reason alone.
Now, it should be obvious that representation has no bearing on a game's overall design or quality. Afterall, some of the most long running and beloved franchises in the game industry, such as Metroid and Tomb Raider, feature women as playable lead characters. But shouldn’t the opposite be true? If Elon’s games are going to feature only the straight cis male archetypes, then it shouldn’t matter so long as the games are good, right?
Well as someone who was born from asian immigrant parents, I can tell you with firsthand experience that it doesn’t have an impact on the design itself, but it’s important for a different reason. And to explain that reason, I’d like to share a small, personal story.
So back in 2021, me and my family watched Shang Chi in theatres for the first time, and seeing people that looked like me, hearing a language that I would only hear spoken at home on the big screen, was magical. I felt like I was being validated, and for the first time in a while, I was proud of being asian. I was never ashamed of it to be clear, I was always pretty neutral about my ethnicity, but seeing the on screen asian representation actually made me happy to be asian.
By eliminating diversity in games, or any media, you’re robbing so many people of that acceptance, that feeling that despite living in a world so full of hate, that whatever ethnicity they are, or whatever their gender identity is, or whoever they want to date, they are valid. They are accepted and loved, and everyone deserves to feel this way
So, after all the Bell appreciation, Musk bullying, and my personal Shang Chi story, what’s the ultimate takeaway I want to leave you with? Well overall, don’t support Elon Musk’s game endeavors. Out of personal spite yes, but also because I have full confidence that his games will do nothing but harm to the industry as a whole, and making them be financially successful will only serve to accelerate the damage (I didn’t even get into him using AI for his games, which is a whole separate can of worms). Also you’d be financially supporting Elon Musk, which legally isn’t a crime, but morally it is. His games are also going to be bad, I can guarantee you this, given Elon’s track record of not understanding the basic mechanics of things and tanking them as a result (Cybertruck, Twitter).
Instead, please support indie developers, since I sincerely believe that they’ll give you a far better experience, and also need all the help they can get with how saturated the market is these days. I’m going to link a couple games and developers I think are worth your time (also some videos that have indie game suggestions because I’m both too lazy to comb the video and paste their lists here and also think they’re also deserving of your views and support), as I believe that they’re the true saviors of video games
Wordlike: https://jsparxs.itch.io/wordlike
REVEREX: DX: REVEREX: DX on Steam
Nitro (Game Boy Color): Nitro (Game Boy Color) by Thalamus Digital Publishing Ltd.
Breach the Abyss: Breach the Abyss on Steam
Frootea: https://tumtumworlds.itch.io/frootea
Easy Delivery Co: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3293010/Easy_Delivery_Co/
Tidal Shock: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262890/Tidal_Shock/
10 Cozy Games with LGBTQ+ Representation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbjmgjB1cv8&ab_channel=CozyK
Gamings NOT dead: Strange and Colorful Upcoming INDIE GAMES #15 (RebelTaxi): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-nY_n5aqnU&ab_channel=RebelTaxi
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