You may have guessed that we'd feel it necessary to comment on the most recent local news offering about videogames. I'm of the opinion that we've already illuminated their general practices with this ancient comic, created almost two years ago to the day. If there's a better way to characterize the essential mendacity and debauched ethics of that format, I know it not.
We did approach the subject matter though, with a strange comic, the sort of thing you might discuss in a private context but never within earshot of the larger society. Obviously, the prowlings of decrepit older men are vile on the face of it. But I daresay the scenario in the comic - at least, the one described in panels one and two - depicts a more or less universal truth.
As for Xbox Live, somebody did send me a picture of their dick once. Not their dick, really - more their balls. And I only saw the picture because they were on my friends list. Note my use of the word "were," which implies the past tense.
The reality - indeed, the reality that would melt their entire thesis into syrup - is that the Xbox in particular has a robust, modern suite of parental controls. It's possible that you don't know about them, either because you are already an adult, or because you are a young person whose parents don't know the vile and fibrous extent of the amoral shittiverse you're exposed to on a nightly basis. The exhausted mom in the video would be comforted to know that she has a comprehensive suite of tools at her disposal, a digital homunculus that can perch on the machine at any hour of the day or night, enforcing her will. She doesn't just have to hover in the wings and worry, which apparently constitutes the entirety of her current strategy.
Each morning now, when I arrive at the office, there is a wholly organic powwow which congeals around nine-thirty or so. The purpose of this event is to describe with incredible granularity the events of the prior evening's explorations of Mass Effect 2. I've longed for this kind of thing, and I haven't really had it since Knights of the Old Republic - also (not coincidentally) a BioWare title. The difference here is that the circle of people who can enjoy Mass Effect 2 is more vast than it's ever been. They just kept twisting shit off of it until they were left with much broader appeal as a game while simultaneously mastering some vigorous new form of narrative propulsion.
These conversations are a huge part of what I love about the game, and they're a direct result of letting people approach Mass Effect 2 on their own terms.
(CW)TB out.
