Fresh Links!

Just a small correction: according to the article it is Atari who initiated, rather than suffered, those lawsuits against Mystique–the small development house which was responsible for Custer’s Revenge, et al. By suing the developers of the controversial game, isn’t Atari in fact accepting responsibilitiey for the media developed for their system? It seems like it might have been the start of a kind of negative feedback loop: by taking legal action against Mystique, Atari was making a moral claim for the games designed for their architecture, as well as taking up a moral identity for itself as a corporation: ie “we are anti-sexist,” “we are anti-pr0n.”

I think there are all sorts of benefits for a large corporation that spends a lot of money on R&D in a capitalist state to keep its systems proprietary, allowing access only with a high entry fee. So I’m not sure I completely buy this argument about controlling the moral nature of media developed.

Just a small correction: according to the article it is Atari who initiated, rather than suffered, those lawsuits against Mystique–the small development house which was responsible for Custer’s Revenge, et al. By suing the developers of the controversial game, isn’t Atari in fact accepting responsibilitiey for the media developed for their system? It seems like it might have been the start of a kind of negative feedback loop: by taking legal action against Mystique, Atari was making a moral claim for the games designed for their architecture, as well as taking up a moral identity for itself as a corporation: ie “we are anti-sexist,” “we are anti-pr0n.”

I think there are all sorts of benefits for a large corporation that spends a lot of money on R&D in a capitalist state to keep its systems proprietary, allowing access only with a high entry fee. So I’m not sure I completely buy this argument about controlling the moral nature of media developed.

Well, I think it’s one side of the story. Thanks for the correction btw. I noticed that this morning when I reread the piece, but forgot to make the correction.

Well, I think it’s one side of the story. Thanks for the correction btw. I noticed that this morning when I reread the piece, but forgot to make the correction.

The erotic is certainly returning the gaming industry, as more and more games veer towards cinematic modes of narrative and representation. The gaming industry, like Hollywood, is the industry of expectations and desire. What I like especially about this article is maybe the last section, about Freud and play in adulthood vs childhood.

My personal take on high touch tech and pornography is that people tend to seek to populate new distributive channels (of information) with replicas or mimes of already existing social practices, products, and mores. Custer is a perfect blend of American racial fantasies, sexual violence, and narcissism; meaning, this is nothing new. When we play Custer we aren’t imagining, but rather remembering, and repeating that which we already know to ourselves. People in legally marginalized industries or groups especially (ie porn producers, political radicals, etc) desire fresh territory onto which to inscribe their own material values and distribute their own cultural products more freely. This “taking the real online” is really value-neutral: it could be independent game development, more local and specialized adult industries, or racial supremacists networking via the internet.

The erotic is certainly returning the gaming industry, as more and more games veer towards cinematic modes of narrative and representation. The gaming industry, like Hollywood, is the industry of expectations and desire. What I like especially about this article is maybe the last section, about Freud and play in adulthood vs childhood.

My personal take on high touch tech and pornography is that people tend to seek to populate new distributive channels (of information) with replicas or mimes of already existing social practices, products, and mores. Custer is a perfect blend of American racial fantasies, sexual violence, and narcissism; meaning, this is nothing new. When we play Custer we aren’t imagining, but rather remembering, and repeating that which we already know to ourselves. People in legally marginalized industries or groups especially (ie porn producers, political radicals, etc) desire fresh territory onto which to inscribe their own material values and distribute their own cultural products more freely. This “taking the real online” is really value-neutral: it could be independent game development, more local and specialized adult industries, or racial supremacists networking via the internet.

Well, sure but that’s almost always the case (sadly).