September 2014

So Titan is gone. There is a lot of speculation that this is due to Destiny beating them to the punch. I have difficulty with the idea that a company would spend a lot of money and years of development on a game and then dump it when a similar game was released. A game that is also only playable on consoles. I can’t tell you about Destiny because I can’t play it as I only have a PC. Perhaps Titan has been dropped because Blizzard has realised the MMO market has changed and a major release won’t pay for its costs. While a lot of money goes into the development of a major title, a lot more money goes into its release and day to day running while it’s up.

Maybe we’ll never know the real truth. But the really interesting story is what Blizzard is going to do with all that game development talent. A well known post from Elder Game back in 2009 explained the difference between a development team, (the A team), and the team that manages a live game, (the B team). Essentially the job of the B team is to keep the game running without screwing up the original vision of the game. I am sure that most of us can agree that the original vision of WoW has been well and truly screwed over the course of the last few years.

Nobody outside the Blizzard bubble knows what Jeff Kaplan is doing right now. Apart from him there are over a hundred other developers and designers that have been working on Titan for almost seven years. It’s a lot of talent. WoW has a new expansion in the works but its numbers have been going south for quite a while now. If Blizzard announced that the original team was taking over WoW again I think that would get a lot of people excited. I would be interested enough to update and take a look. And I haven’t even thought of returning to WoW for over three years now. Something to watch methinks.


A friend and I have had enough of tyranny and greed. We are unamused by the gradual erosion of our culture and its entailing ceremonies by the vacuous merchants and pretenders to those that have gone before them. For that reason we have decided to make a stand. We have drawn a line in the sand. It is symbolic but we hope for it to only be the start of numerous future additions to the Honorable Society of the Cork, (do not attempt to abbreviate the long and glorious title of our society with a pandering acronym – we will have nothing of that modern blight on the English language.)

The Honorable Society of the Cork does entirely what its name implies – we are lovers of the cork, that beautiful crafted shred of bark that holds back the perils of oxidation from the beauty of the wine within. Extracting it is a ceremony. First, one requires a suitable corkscrew. These come in many forms and guises. It takes skill to use one effectively. A skill that sadly is being lost even in the better bars and restaurants in Australia. For we are inundated by the tyranny of the screw-top. Here comes the waiter now bearing your precious bottle of wine. He presents it for your inspection. Passing this test he proceeds to … unscrew the lid with an unsatisfying crack. You taste the wine and accept the circumstances. He pours and leaves. The screw-top is not left on your table on a little platter for your enjoyment. It goes in the bin. The wine should follow it.

We of the Honorable Society of the Cork are cognizant of ceremony and tradition. We refuse to bow down to the ravages of “progress” and “change”. The screw-top is a travesty foisted upon an unsuspecting public by inferior winemakers who for years purchased the cheapest cork possible and then complained at the results. A self-fulfilling prophecy. But if screw-tops are so good, why do the best Australian wines continue to be produced with cork? Why indeed.

If you wish to join our society the rules are simple. You may only drink wine that has come from a bottle with a cork. Living in Australia, (and not having a Grange Hermitage budget), this means we drink only wines from Italy, France and Spain. This is not a burden, I may assure you. Think of the pleasure when you are out to dinner with friends and they order a bottle of wine that lacks the necessary appendage. The waiter opens it like a bottle of coke, offers the wine, and you refuse. ‘Are you not drinking at the moment?’ your friends inquire. ‘No,’ you reply as you order your very own bottle. Splitting the bill will be so much fun. Such anticipation.

And so it came to pass. I’ve been shouting it from the rooftops, while the vast majority of bloggers have either been ignoring what’s staring them in the face or going on the warpath to defend the indefensible. A week is a long time in politics. A week is a fucking shit-tonne epic on the internet. And this baby is about to hit a month and it’s only just getting interesting. Seriously, if you’re a gaming blogger, and you’re not talking about this, you’re not interested in this, then you’re a fucking fraud. Because bigger than this it does not get. It’s like being a blogger who blogs about the Berlin Wall and ignores the fact that people are tearing the motherfucker down.

Gamergate. Zoe Quinn. Social justice warriors. The takeover of games from within by people with ulterior motives. So many bloggers and gamers have stuck their heads in the sand, put their hands over their ears, and pretended that it wasn’t happening. A minority accused those of us who were prepared to stand up and say what was obvious as condoning bad behavior, racism, and misogyny. We knew better. We knew that the scumbags had taken over and the only way to stop them was to shout loud and keep on shouting.

You want proof? Read the report from Breitbart based on the insider-release of evidence that confirms that these so-called journalists were colluding together to set an agenda based on their own collusion with activists they agreed with. There are over 1000 comments on that piece and counting. What’s galling is the “journalists” involved don’t see anything wrong with their behavior. They’re so compromised that they think this sort of shit is normal and nothing to write home about. Well, a lot of people are writing, and making videos for that matter:

These are Marxists. And they are not harmless. They’re responsible for a few of the nastier moments in recent human history. These people use propaganda to ram their social Marxist agenda down your throat. They abhor creative freedom; they are only interested in controlling the medium to get their message across. Which is the first step. The next step is gulags for everyone who does not get into line. But don’t let me convince you. I’m sure that they were many people in Russia, and Cambodia, and Cuba, and North Korea that never thought this shit would fly. The only advantage we have is the internet. And thank fuck for that. Because we can call them out on their shit. And we can point a finger at the enablers. The Quislings. The ones who are happy to get on board and send their fellow man to the cleaners. Games sites like Kotaku, Polygon, Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer, and many more.

I know what you’re thinking. You just want to play your games. You want to be left alone to play your games. You don’t want to be bothered with this shit. This doesn’t concern you. Why should you care? There’s a new cool game coming out. This is all a bunch of crap.

Wake, the fuck, up.


Some sites that are doing a great job of covering this:

A big nod to The Escapist magazine which has redrawn its ethics policy in light of what has been happening. The only gaming website to do so:

I’ve been getting good mileage out of Damion Schubert’s stupid blog lately. And I’ve got some more good stuff to go on. In his latest post he’s crapping on about Anita Sarkeesian and how hard done by she is and how we are all so misinformed as she is really such a lovely person with our best interests at heart. Here’s a nice little quote:

“… Now because I want to save any of you from becoming sheeple who might be infected by an opposing view by actually watching and considering her work on its actual merits, I thought I would pull a USA Today and share what I found to be the four primary takeaways from her videos so far in easily digestable form:

1. Games should show more women capable of strength, agency and power in your game world, instead of being relegated to simply being background props or quest objectives that could be replaced with a sock monkey.
2. Game designers should be less lazy in reaching for the same, tired stereotypes – or merely xeroxes of male leads – but especially stereotypes showing women as disempowered, and find ways to depict more female characters in more interesting and unique roles.
3. Game designers should keep in mind that a lot of people (and not just women) have a viscerally negative reactions to scenes showing violence against women (particularly as many have first-hand experience with it), so maybe we shouldn’t just throw these scenes in casually.
4. Seriously, all the dead, spread-eagled naked women in games are kind of creepy.

So here’s the thing – all four of the above statements are absolutely, 100% true. As in, its hard to even debate them …”

Well, maybe it’s hard to debate them if you’re stupid. I think the four points are very easy to tear down into little tiny pieces. Let’s have a shot, shall we?

Point one is a logical fallacy. It assumes that there are no or very few women in positions of strength in video games. Playing Elder Scrolls Online, I have to say I’m sick of the sight of them. Every damn captain of a troop or leader of a band is a damn female shoving her tits in my face. Why can’t they get back into the kitchen where they being? So he and Anita want less women as background props or quest objectives because these could be done with a sock monkey? So who do they want more of in these positions? Sock monkeys? No, they want more males in these positions. Males are the new sock monkeys apparently.

Point two is point one using different words. My breakdown stands.

Point three is so stupid it’s funny. In a stupid way. You don’t want scenes with violence against women but you want more strong women in leading roles? In a fantasy game where everyone hacks at each other with swords?? Really? You can put these scenes in, but they can’t be casual? What the fuck does that even mean? Are they saying that these scenes can be in a game but only be epic? And once again, if we’re not bashing women with swords then I suppose that leaves us to bash men. But that’s okay. Seriously, if the hawt chicks just stayed in the fucking kitchen then this wouldn’t be a problem.

Point four is … oh for fuck’s sake, even I don’t know what point four is. What dead spread-eagled women? Does there need to be a quota for this now? Sure if we look at the real world then only men are being beheaded by ISIS, so I suppose by their twisted logic that’s okay then. But these are fantasy games. What happens to chicks in Game of Thrones? Nothing good. And the men? Nothing good either. Hard times, baby, hard times. But fantasy video games, or any video games really, are not acceptable milieus for this sort of thing because … because … they’re based on really nice historical times where everyone was really nice to each other?

Near the end, (if you can get that far), he says this:

“… Why she is doing all this? Because she believes games are important …”

And if you believe that then I have a very large bridge I want to sell you.

Damion Schubert is dumb. How dumb is Damion Schubert, you ask? Damion Schubert is fucking dumb. Surely he can’t be that dumb, you say? Really, he is so dumb he makes retarded people look like they’re ready to invent cold fusion. Now I know you’re joking, you exclaim. Nobody that dumb could even manage to tie their shoelaces in the morning, let alone work out that it’s unhealthy to breathe and eat at the same time.

Well, as proof, he did write this:

“… Most modern armed forces, including those in the US, now recruit women as well as men. So do most terrorist organizations – 15% of all suicide bombers in groups that allow women in. Female security guards are not particularly unique – heck, Bioware has several. There are certainly women in prison – nowhere near the rate of men, of course but certainly enough to give Orange is the New Black plenty of story material. In video games, all of these are non-existent, unless they also have a speaking role.

Yes, what I’m saying is that there is a feminist argument that we should be shooting more women in video games …”

Read it again. Go on, I dare you. That’s right. There’s not enough women blowing themselves up in video games. That is unless they have a speaking role first …

“You infidel pigs! I’m going to detonate this …!” Boom.

I wonder if he gets upset when he sees a WWII game based on, hell I don’t know, the battle of El Alemein, and he notices that no women are getting shot or blown to smithereens. Better get the SJW crowd onto that forthwith, I dare say. But Damion Schubert is not just dumb. He’s also a coward. Damion Schubert being a coward exhibit A:

“… Having more females with guns in your game will lessen criticism of other areas. Having the amorphous, faceless women of the world take roles like soldier, mercenary, guard, criminal, and cop – presenting a vision of the world where women can take positions of strength – will make it far less objectionable when you, as an artist, want to include that strip club or whorehouse. A world where women CAN choose a role of strength and power but some choose not to is… well, not just less objectionable, but also far closer to, you know, reality …”

You see, Damion Schubert, game designer, doesn’t really want women in his games in combat roles because it’s not that close to reality, [no shit, it took him a while – ED]. But because he’s such a spineless grovelling little white knight SJW gamma-male, he thinks that the best way to get his whorehouse women in his games is by giving the socialist equality agents a token amount of chicks-toting-guns. That way they’ll be happy, and he’ll get his crack-whores in his games where they belong.

Which means we now return full circle to Damion Schubert being dumb. Because the quota-loving femi-nazis are never satisfied. You can never give them enough chicks in combat fatigues, Damion. They will never be happy. And it’s fools like you that enable them in the first place. Because you’re dumb.

(Incidentally, I briefly considered that Damion’s post was satire. But then I realised that it’s not possible seeing as he’s incapable of first-level thinking, let alone second or third.)

A quick post here that is important and one which I will refer back to in the coming weeks. The topic is the definition of the term ‘gamer’. This is important as it has been hijacked by the SJW crowd and academia posing as game journalism in order to pit gamers against each other. First they announced that the term was dead, which was fantastically stupid and alerted a lot of people as to what has been going on behind the scenes now for some time. Now they’re trying to break it down and pit various sub-groups against each other. Divide and conquer is their motto.

So let us get it nice and clear right from the outset.

Definition of ‘Gamer’:

A person who plays video games as a hobby and interest.

That’s it. Simple, eh? Not so fast. The term ‘person’ is key. If you identify as anything else in this equation then you are not a gamer. You are a person with an agenda that is using the gaming industry to advance your pet cause. Some examples:

A woman who plays games.
A man who plays games.
A homosexual who plays games.
An Asian who plays games.
A liberal who plays games.
An old person who plays games.
A young person who plays games.

Need I go on? If you play games once a month or 24 hours a day every day of the year then in general terms there is no difference; you are gamers. If you play on different platforms, it doesn’t matter; you are gamers. If you play MMOs or first-person shooters, it doesn’t matter; you are gamers.

But if you announce that you are X and a gamer, it matters; you are not a gamer. You are the enemy.

I’ve been having an internet comment fight over at Spinksville. In the past Spinks and I have got on well. She’s pretty smart, and by the sounds of it a good gamer, and I like that in people. But now she’s bought into the whole “inclusion equals equality equals why can’t we all be nice to each other rubbish”, so we’ve been having a nice lowbrow little argument over at her blog.

But it got me thinking. Because at the end of her last comment she said:

“… I just find the saddest part of this is as gamers, we should be cheering when our industry expands and brings in new people to game with …”

As I said in my comment to this, why is more people necessarily a better thing? In my direct life experience, more people usually equals a higher suck ratio. More means more idiots, more people who don’t recognise a half-decent game, more trolls, and more mouth breathers. The very people that Spinks and her ilk complain about all the time. It reminds me of that newbie blogger initiative bullshit that they trot out now on an annual basis. Socials only feel comfortable when they are lots of fellow socials in their group. They cannot stand on their own. An extreme example is when a young teenage girl gets lured into prostitution. The vast majority of them then lure all their girlfriends in as well. It makes them feel better when they’re all in the shit together.

But more than that, socials want social recognition and confirmation that they are “good people”. They want social justification that what they are doing is socially acceptable. That is the most important thing to them. Gaming comes a distant second, and that is why I take the moral high ground on this issue. I know that some of my regular readers are getting sick of this subject, and decrying my “negativity”. But when the drums of war beat the only thing to do is get up and fight or run away. You don’t like my negativity, then run away. I’m not forcing you to read this blog.

There’s another reason why socials want more people in whatever their collective hobby is. When they mean more people, they mean more people like them. More people who have a social agenda first, and a love of the hobby second. They use collective mass to overwhelm their opponents. “See how many people want this!” they chant. One by one they take over the institutions that people set up from a love for whatever they were doing.

Spinks wrote: “… Games don’t have political screeds on their loading screens …”

I thought so too until I bumped into a male NPC with a husband in Elder Scrolls Online.

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