The Curmudgeon

I am planning to rent Red Dead Redemption, and I have kind of been hoping I hate it.

I know! That's a crappy way to approach a video game, but there it is and rather than hiding behind some artificial veneer of objective detachment -- not that anyone would really believe me anyway -- I'll just come out and embrace the fact that I usually wish companies like Rockstar and Activision would wither on the ripe vine.

Is it fair? Is it reasonable? Is it even justifiable? Frankly, I'm not sure.

I tend to be the kind of person who paints colors in broad strokes, and once momentum is carrying me toward a certain preconceived bias I am too often comfortable riding that wave of discontent straight through the breakers and on to shore. But, if I'm practical, realistic and for a rare moment unburdened by my knee-jerk reactionism, I have to wonder if Rockstar has really done anything but have kind of an inflated ego and a tendency to step happily into the mire of cultural controversy.

Maybe they are just the Quentin Tarantino of video games. Shameful self-promoters so wrapped up in the trappings of their own constructed image that they become almost caricatures of themselves, and yet at the same time irritatingly talented. I watched Inglorious Bastards with something very near the same kind of pouty reprehension that I have now, and in the end I was dragged grudgingly to something like a bitter admission that while the star of the film was clearly Tarantino, it was a fine directing job.

Of course, Rockstar isn't an individual. When I speak of the company, what I speak of is the aggregate of how they choose to portray themselves, but let's not pretend like companies don't end up creating identities. Let's also not pretend that Rockstar hasn't embraced controversy, and too often responded in a way designed to inflame and irritate. And, that all comes back to me sitting here kinda hoping Red Dead flops, subverting what I'm sure is the hard work of countless talented and otherwise innocent workers.

I don't necessarily like being this way, but I also don't think that I'm alone. I think a lot of people hide biases exactly like this, and worse try to pretend like they don't even exist. To me, that's actually a bigger problem.

Comments

That's a tough rabbit hole to go down. You take the recent stories of the terrible working conditions in the factories that make parts for Microsoft's first-party accessories. Do I buy only Mad Catz controllers from now on, knowing that they're probably just as bad and just haven't been found out yet? Do I write an angry letter to Microsoft on the off chance it will actually change anything? Do I give up on gaming altogether?

I'm not asking these questions because I have any answers, but because I'm honestly pretty conflicted about how I should be responding to the whole situation.

For shame Elysium! I can understand you accusation of Rock Star embracing the controversies they are pulled into, but I will argue to the death that they are doing this industry some good. They are continually pushing the industry forward as far as what is capable in a game (GTA 3, RDR, and probably LA Noir) as well as the recognition of video games as an adult medium, even if it takes controversy to do it? Am I upset at Rock* for being the focal point of stupid politicians? No, because they would have just found someone else to pick on in the video game industry (Mass Effect), and these controversies forces people to take a look at the industry and recognize it for what it is.

And you can't argue that they don't make good games. Smugglers run has been one of my favorite simple pleasures since it came out. Warriors is one of my all time top gaming experiences, which at the time was very unique. GTA 3 practically started a new genre over night. Manhunt provided an exhilarating spike in my blood pressure that has never been matched, not even in true survival horror games. And I have no doubt in my mind in the greatest of Red Dead Redemption achieving what only a few games have dared try: a great western experience.

hbi2k wrote:

That's a tough rabbit hole to go down. You take the recent stories of the terrible working conditions in the factories that make parts for Microsoft's first-party accessories. Do I buy only Mad Catz controllers from now on, knowing that they're probably just as bad and just haven't been found out yet? Do I write an angry letter to Microsoft on the off chance it will actually change anything? Do I give up on gaming altogether?

I'm not asking these questions because I have any answers, but because I'm honestly pretty conflicted about how I should be responding to the whole situation.

Consumer ethics is obviously tricky business, and I don't have all the answers here, myself. But from my own standpoint, I have plenty of other games I'd like to play as well, and paying full price for an unused title is something I'm already very careful about.