Questions: We Don't Have Answers

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This week, Kelly returns to the show to challenge the integrity of an old, old, old talking point so often trotted out in the wake of mass shootings (in that impossible space between “let the families grieve” and “politicize the tragedy”). How to explain the epidemic of gun deaths and massacres in this country? I don’t know. Ms. Pac-Man? Even though war veterans will tell you first-person shooters don’t adequately capture the trauma of combat (despite developers’ best… efforts?) and the sleeve-worn biases of ’90s-born moral panic, we’re back with the soft reboot of “video games cause problems,” which fell upon perhaps a new generation of ears, this time uncaring, Fortniting.

In this episode, Donovan braves uncharted waters with two cohosts extremely eager to discuss video games. My hat’s off, and apologies in advance for the Lovecraft thing.

I can’t believe we didn’t actually talk about David Cage. And the Uwe Boll film Donovan was thinking of was, I think, Postal.

Startling Vox chart, vigorously engorged

Runtime: [01:32:43]

Opening Theme: “Time’s Scar,” by Yasunori Mitsuda (the greatest song out of a video game ever?)
Closing Theme: “Proto Culture,” by Del the Funky Homosapien (what else could it be?)

“HEADSHOT!”

Further Reading
“Call of Duty: gaming’s role in the military-entertainment complex” | The Guardian
“Guns and Games: The Relationship between Violent Video Games and Gun Crimes in America” | Arts and Social Sciences Journal
“House Republican mass shooting strategy revealed in leaked memo: Blame the left, minimize white supremacy role” | Newsweek
“Video Games Are Still Blamed For Gun Violence Despite Studies Showing No Connection” | NPR
“Two Iraq War veterans share their thoughts on CoD Modern Warfare’s depiction of realism (2019)” | ResetEra
“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Shooter” | Grantland (about Spec Ops: The Line)
“Ubisoft keeps pretending its political games don’t have politics in them” | The Verge
“No shit, video games are political. They’re conservative.” | The Outline
“How BioWare’s Anthem Went Wrong” | Kotaku
“Andromeda dev chalks up some of the game’s problems to a lack of diversity” | Gamasutra
“Being Bad in a Video Game Can Make Us Morally Sensitive” | Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
“There’s A Latinx Void At The Heart Of Video Games” | Kotaku
“What to do when Bolivia hates you” | GameIndustry.biz
“Always Sunny’s Rob McElhenney and Ubisoft unveil gaming sitcom Mythic Quest” | Polygon
“‘Mordhau’ and the Fantasy of an All-White Middle Ages” | Vice Games
“The Dark Side of the Video Game Industry” | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj
“Our Panel on Games Criticism!” | Fast Karate for the Gentleman

Next time on Question: We Don’t Have Answers…

Huh?