- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Controversial gaming opinion: video games are good.
What are controversial gaming opinions you have?
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
*Shrugs* What you described is not an empire.
Again, your structuring of a critique of American imperialism is like something a liberal would say.
- Location
- Georgia, US
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- He/Him
If you can't see how "a web of geopolitical influence backed by military force" is an empire that's your problem.
Whether that is "what a liberal would say" is entirely irrelevant to its accuracy.
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
Rule 4: Don’t Be Disruptive, or, "No. You are not gonna to spread this conspiracy theory crap anywhere else. Do not do this again."
But if it's what a liberal would say, it's probably incorrect. That's what I'm warning you about.
Also, that's not what makes an empire. Sending ISIS fighers weapons and funding and "moderate rebels" (Uyghur, Tajik, etc.) to Syria to topple the rightful government in that country would be an example of imperialism, which the United States did after they (probably) staged the false-flag of 9/11 in order to justify subsequent wars on Iraq and Afghanistan while ignoring terrorist totalitarian (I use this word loosely as I don't believe in totalitarianism) empires like Saudi Arabia, all of which we already do.
Otherwise, the multipolar order that Putin wants to bring about would be imperialism. It's not.
(I'm using the more colloquial definition of imperialism, not Lenin's, btw.)
- Location
- The Old Dominion
Honestly when I think empire, I think actual empires such as ancient Assyria's several empires, Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom, ancient Babylon's several empires, the Persian Empire in its various incarnations, Athens's empire, The Roman Empire, the various Chinese Dynasties, the Carolingian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Mongol Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Spanish, British, German, French, and Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
I'm saying that we're pretty much at that stage, but I understand.
When I think of empire, I pretty much use the Marxist-Leninist definition.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
And none of them had internet, whereas America does. Checkmate, leftists!
- Location
- Northern Hemisphere
So I've said this before but I have this fun little interpretation that MW1 and 2 are unintentional critique of unnecessary American military interventions in foreign countries.
What? Saudi Arabia's democratically elected leader has been deposed by a Western hating madman? Send in the Marines! Restore democracy! Save th-Oh no.
Well shit. Well lets go after the guy who sold the nuke. Let's end the Russian civil war while we're at it. No way this can-oh shit.
How about we go after this guy's flunkie. Even his own government hates him. Let's send of our guys undercover so we ca-fuck!
Well, it can't get any worse. Right?
MW3 doesn't really continue this trend but that's mostly because your time as an American soldier take place on US or NATO soil.
What? Saudi Arabia's democratically elected leader has been deposed by a Western hating madman? Send in the Marines! Restore democracy! Save th-Oh no.
Well shit. Well lets go after the guy who sold the nuke. Let's end the Russian civil war while we're at it. No way this can-oh shit.
How about we go after this guy's flunkie. Even his own government hates him. Let's send of our guys undercover so we ca-fuck!
Well, it can't get any worse. Right?
MW3 doesn't really continue this trend but that's mostly because your time as an American soldier take place on US or NATO soil.
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- Location
- Just passing through.
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- He/Him
...I'm sorry, the what now?
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
It's called a "false flag."
It's when a group (think: CIA or Mossad) stages an event in order for their own gain through covert means.
I'm basically saying the CIA (probably) did 9/11.
- Location
- I think somewhere. I might be nowhere though
Okay guys, this has gone way past a criticism of the presence or lack thereof of enemy Americans in gaming to being a political (and other) discussion. Let's move on from this before the mods get involved please.
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
Yes, I realize that we're veering too far from the original topic.
Let's get back on track.
KingseekerFreyr
Currently kingseeking...
- Location
- In a void!
Final Fantasy XIV is revolutionary in terms of MMO's and I am honestly shocked no one is talking about it.
Reveen
Castro-Trudeauist
Considering how people react when you do criticize colonialism? Eg, act like you're advocating for tearing the whole country down and pushing the white man into the sea. Not really.
America is a package deal, and a lot of it's justification for it's actions is wrapped up in the mythology of the country being a force for objective good in the world that fights evil and almost always tries to do the right thing despite it's flaws. Undermine the mythology, any of the mythology, and you undermine the idea of America as the hero.
Also shitting on the founding fathers pisses off nationalists. So you should do it regardless.
This doesn't mean much except that America's rep as DEFINITELY NOT AN EMPIRE is down to not much more than obfuscation and sleight of hand on the part of far more dissolute and complex geopolitical systems than the ones that existed before the radio and airplane.
Especially considering that actual historical empires were a hell of a lot looser than we assume. Its not like every satrapy in the Achaemaenid Empire had their brand name soldiers stomping around day in day out.
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TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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I'll do you one better: the MMO genre is NOT dying. If anything, it's best days are ahead of it AND it's better than it was in the 2000s.
@Reveen Let's... try to get back on topic before the mods get involved or anything; we're veering too far from just "unpopular video game opinions."
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I don't know if MW1/2 could be more intentional about its critique if it literally read you its themes on the loading screen. The whole thing is America fucking up by invading other nations and constantly stepping on rakes, complete with the reveal being the most paper thin "America invaded Iraq to show that it was still badass after 9/11" mask.
How so? I love the game and have been playing forever but its main claim to fame is just doing your basic leveling, dungeoning, and raiding extremely cleanly.
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
So continuing on with MMOs as they exist now... I love MMOs. I still play two of them (RuneScape 3 and Final Fantasy XIV) and quite frankly I would never go back to play the MMOs as they were in the 2000s compared to how they are in 2020. And seeing how the MMO community is reacting to MMOs, it's only /r/MMORPG (on Reddit) that seems to be incredibly negative about MMOs... and yet the rest of the MMO community seems to be thriving with new MMOs to play and different genres to try out, such as Guild Wars 2's action RPG or a Project Gorgon like MMO that uses questlines like Morrowind does.
There's more out there for everyone imho.
There's more out there for everyone imho.
- Location
- Somewhere!
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- She/Her
I'm playing it right now and I still mostly think FFXIV is a classic themepark MMO executed very well, and with an excellent story. The ones that try to push the genre forward, like the more actiony or sandboxy mmos, don't seem as popular? And they're not personally my thing.
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
I would try Project Gorgon.
I haven't tried it yet, but it looks really interesting and it uses quests where you basically have to figure things out, like Morrowind. Supposedly made by the same people that made Everquest.
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- They/Them
What's a themepark MMO?
TheColorPurple
I'm purple lol
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- He/Him
Think RuneScape, where you can basically do a bunch of activities (not just fighting and questing).
At least, I think that's the original definition for that.
Sightedjt
Everlasting Flames
The general way I see it used is in the sense of "An MMO that takes you to where the content and interesting stuff is by itself, good party finder / automatch in the base game" As opposed to the old school style that only worked in pre-modern internet where actually discovering the content is half the fun and you need to make each party manually because matchmaking doesn't exist. Most of why those styles don't work is that anything hidden will be posted online within minutes.
WoW styled quest hubs which kind of walk you through an area to see the sights before often topping off with a dungeon or other event then shipped you to the next area. Contrast with sandbox MMOs where its more about player created content or less Point A to Point B world (EVE, Star Wars Galaxies).
That said, I think MMOs are in somewhat of a secular decline; there's just less social oomph to them than the late 2000s and the big 3 are just way smaller than MMOs were at the peak (~2010). I miss a lot of the older ones, spent a while last year playing the City of Heroes Rebirth, but there's just so much more competition. It's telling that the two big subscription ones others than WoW had terrible starts and basically got bailed out by their parent companies for a while until they got fixed (FFXIV, ESO).
Reveen
Castro-Trudeauist
A lot of MMOs would be pretty rad if you retooled the mechanics, level pacing, and encounter design for a slightly more actionized single player experience. That's my experience with the game
Dungeon Lords, which was very obviously a budget MMO rejiggered mid-development into a single player game and the switch in design led to pretty fun, frenetic combat where it's just constant hordes of monsters, beatdowns, and magical effects. With even a bit of crude tactics to it due to an open levelling and skills system and lots of magic items.
Dungeon Lords, which was very obviously a budget MMO rejiggered mid-development into a single player game and the switch in design led to pretty fun, frenetic combat where it's just constant hordes of monsters, beatdowns, and magical effects. With even a bit of crude tactics to it due to an open levelling and skills system and lots of magic items.
I don't think your tab targeters really convert that well, but there's plenty of in betweens like PSO2
Reveen
Castro-Trudeauist
I mean, a big part of the reason why Dungeon Lords works is that they mapped attacking to clicking, and made it so that said attacks with just hit any hitbox in it's way including multiple enemies. If that's possible to do, then that's a good start. If it isn't then I wouldn't bother. It would also help a lot of they could find a way to attack run and attack speeds to a stat. The key point is that the more chaotic the new combat is, the better.
It wouldn't need to be 'good', being a better version of the already not all that good in the first place Dungeon Lords is enough.