Reactionaryism in Games

　There is something that has been happening for some time already, all over the internet, but especially in the noxious environment that is Twitter. It's how video game news, somehow, is tied to some kind of "woke culture", that old games were better without it, and that it is a moral duty to be against these trends.

　What was supposed to be a game review or trailer is spun into narratives that, despite their far-fetched claims, are easily co-opted by the right-wingers. I agree that everything is politics, but there seems to exist some kind of venom, a vitriol that poisons any good-willed discussion into hatred.

　I can't prove it, but my theory is that all these frustrated posts seem to be manufactured to make others angry and frustrated as well, then direct them to become radicalized. That's what it looks like, when you see the kind of people that are the most vocal about it and fall easily into this narrative.

　And honestly, it's crazy that games that are perceived to be of bad quality, somehow lead to empowering the right-wing, and with such consistency that it can't be anything else other than deliberate machination. The fact that the "enemy" is this vague "general state of things", like the "ghost of communism" of yore, helps strengthen this hatred.

　Perhaps video games are the easiest place to gather the affluent teenagers and young adults, whose political opinions are still moldable, and this is why grifters use it to stir narratives like these. And when they're presented in a never-ending cascade of angry posts, this creates the perfect breeding ground for reactionaryism.

　There are better ways to engage in politics other than fighting complete strangers over video games. If some game does not please you, just don't buy or play it and move on. Play the games you like, or engage in some other hobby that enrich your gaming experiences.

　As Shigesato Itoi, designer of Nintendo RPG "Earthbound" once said in an interview: "lf you don't experience things outside of gaming, your ability to truly engage with games will fade." And I believe that the more developed and varied our experiences are, the less susceptible to falling into inflammatory arguments by online grifters we will become.