Author: Eric

In the Absence of Virtue

~ Eric ~ Leave a comment

As I expected, I caught a fair amount of disagreement with my last post, but I was happy to hear it. I had a few really good conversations where people explained to me the positives of loyalty, and they definitely brought up some things I hadn’t considered. But ultimately they did not change my mind about loyalty being inherently virtuous.

That’s not because (as some people took it) I hate loyalty specifically, but rather that I don’t think any character trait is inherently virtuous. I was picking on loyalty last time mostly because it was on my mind, and it’s one I don’t think we question enough. But I’m happy to question the virtue of every supposedly positive character trait, including my own.

So now I will need to break that down and then talk about how we can behave in the absence of virtue.

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Replacing Loyalty

~ Eric ~ 2 Comments

I am skeptical about loyalty. I’m not normally one to inspire it, and when I have given it I have not often received it in turn. It’s important for me to say that because I realize it colors the argument I am about to make:

Loyalty is not an inherently positive character trait.

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Breaking Stereotypes for Better Settings

~ Eric ~ 2 Comments

My last post was a rant, so now we get to the follow-up on how to do better.

Specifically, I want to discuss how we can do better as designers. Private games are private games, and we don’t really need to discuss what you do on your own time with your own friends.

But if you’re designing and publishing or talking about your games on a public platform, then that is my concern. It’s everyone’s concern, because it’s public. What you contribute to gaming is part of the ongoing conversation of who we are as a community.

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No More Asia Slaw

~ Eric ~ 1 Comment

I’ve been debating with myself how I want to handle this, because what I have to say affects people who are friends of some of my friends. On the one hand, that seems like a place to walk carefully, but on the other hand that’s exactly the problem that perpetuates privilege: not speaking out just because you “know” the people. It perpetuates privilege because it leaves the task of criticizing people to those who are outside the group, people who are inherently less likely to be listened to.

So screw it – I’m going to be blunt.

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Criticizing Empire Like It’s The Last Jedi

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I don’t normally do this, but this time, I’m going to start with my conclusion. Because I want you to know where this is going before you get into the pointed jokey part. So here’s the main point I want to make:

You are allowed to like or not like any Star Wars movie. But it’s time for you to acknowledge that your preferences are emotional, not rational.

Those of you who hate The Last Jedi (even if you’re not an utter jerk about it) are doing so for emotional reasons. All the rational criticism you like to throw around is what your brain does to legitimize a decision you’ve already made. This is not an insult, it’s just how human brains work. We fool ourselves into believing that we make logical choices, but most often those logical chains are built to justify rather than to decide.

I’m going to show you how this works by criticizing Empire Strikes Back in all the same ways that many people have criticized The Last Jedi.

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Game Design and the Primacy of Personal Experience – Part 4

~ Eric ~ 4 Comments

Where Do We Go from Here?

The gaming community has gotten a little tense lately. I’m not going to talk about that specifically, but I will say that this last section suddenly became extremely relevant in my mind as I watched an entire local gaming community collapse in on itself.

I think the points I’ve tossed around in the previous parts can offer some things to think about, but I want to throw out just a few ideas for positive action in shifting away from focusing on our own personal experiences and growing our empathy as a community.

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Game Design and the Primacy of Personal Experience – Part 2

~ Eric ~ 4 Comments

I started Part 1 by mentioning the Backstory podcast by Alex Roberts. Since that one was a minor quibble, I think it only fair that I mention the podcast again in a much more positive light.

If you haven’t heard the episode with Jonaya Kemper, you need to go listen to it either right now or (if you’re not in a podcast-listening space) after you finish this article. You then need to go visit Kemper’s website and read and follow everything she does, because she’s amazing. This interview – and all of Kemper’s work – is a master-class in intersectionality.

That’s important because it is the topic for this part. Here’s a headline:

The Intersectionality Gap in the Game Design Community

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Game Design and the Primacy of Personal Experience – Part 1

~ Eric ~ 11 Comments

This is something I’ve been chewing on for a while, so buckle in – I have a lot of thoughts.

I had planned to start writing about this at some point in the coming weeks or months, but I decided to accelerate that timeline because of a number of things that I witnessed recently – negative responses to an awesome new gaming venture by people I respect greatly, a nice overview of a common gaming question that Phil and Senda did on Panda’s Talking Games, and a recent episode of Backstory, the wonderful podcast by Alex Roberts.

In that episode, both Alex and her interviewee, Jeeyon Shim, were largely enthusiastic about the topics they were there to discuss, but they fell into a common habit among gamers – they defined something they liked as the opposite or absence of something they didn’t like. This is a practice we notice easily in jerks who speak out against something like New Agenda Publishing, but we often don’t see that it can still be a problem in media and discussions that are otherwise positive and progressive. (Sometimes we even cheer along when we agree.)

Yet it is one example of an overall issue that I have observed in gaming specifically and geek culture in general – the Primacy of Personal Experience. Fandom cultures are particularly susceptible to it because they are built on personal preference and enjoyment rather than an external structure or overarching philosophy. It causes problems in every aspect of our interactions: our social engagement, our habits of gameplay (and game selection), our approaches to design, and more. However, it’s not something we can erase or escape. Instead we must become aware of it and find ways to work within it.

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Themes and Lore of The Last Jedi

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The Last Jedi has been around for a couple of weeks now, and everybody seems to have a strong opinion one way or the other. There have been plenty of good and even a few great articles written about how the disruptive nature of its narrative is a positive direction for the franchise, while some supposed fans have complained that it is too much of a departure, that it is somehow no longer Star Wars.

This latter complaint is the one I want to address, because I believe The Last Jedi to be VERY much in line with Star Wars lore and (more importantly) its thematic elements. Those who want it removed from the canon are not only ridiculous but also clueless about the fact that this movie continues traditions that are in every part of the canon.

I will not be addressing scene-by-scene questions that other people have called “plot holes” in the movie. I have found that multiple viewings with these questions in mind demonstrate that Rian Johnson already put the answers to nearly every one of them in the movie itself (from “why doesn’t Holdo tell Poe?” to “how does DJ find out about the shuttles?”). Nitpicking lesser details may be possible, but that’s true of every Star Wars movie, including the supposedly holy Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars has never been perfect.

Rather, I want to talk about two primary themes of The Last Jedi and how they relate to the rest of the canon. I will talk far beyond the 9 theatrical movies and delve into shows and books and games as well. You see, I like Star Wars. And I am tired of people who only like two and a half movies trying to tell everyone else what Star Wars is about.

[SPOILERS below for pretty much all of Star Wars.]

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