But teaching people to favour the consistency of imaginary worlds may also teach them to vilify disagreement and the entire practice of interpretation. At its nastiest, this mentality both facilitates and camouflages bigotry.
I mean… it’s a game. The RP in RPG is role playing. Isn’t part of the fun playing someone or something you’re not? I play the other gender in games because I’m not that gender. In Mass Effect I love playing renegade - punching reporters in the face even though I’m not like that in real life. This is the same stupid argument I’ve heard all the time. “Grand Theft Auto encourages violence”. No. It’s fun because we get to play this character who is so unlike ourselves.
In Halo I played a bioengineered soldier who was ripped away from his family to put down violent uprisings. Does that mean I think that’s okay in real life? Or was I playing a game that set that as a premise?
Do we apply the same scrutiny to movies? To theater? Just because we empathize or maybe even we admit that there is a part of us who want to speed through downtown Los Santos just for fun doesn’t mean that’s who we actually are.
I have committed unspeakable atrocities in Contra.
Agreed.
Also in 40k there are no true good guys.
Just a sliding scale of how bad do you want your good to be?
And your true bad guys, well that’s a whole other issue.
Almost like they wanted it that way, to get you to think about it. (Sarcasm to the author, not to you).
It’s like they felt guilty about it and decided to write a whole article about how they made them feel bad - and rather than taking the point that you’re supposed to feel bad doing it, and thinking on that they thought “Hey games should make me feel things like this”
Did you read the article? It explicitly discusses this point and how the presentation of it has changed over time.
Is this really all you took away from this article? The point of the article isn’t at all “Warhammer is fascist”, it’s a nuanced look at how the presentation and consumption of the product has evolved over time.
Does the author struggle with the concept of fiction?
Yes.
Space Marine 2 Is Too Busy Making You Feel Heroic to Show the Farce at Warhammer 40K’s Heart
I’ve long enjoyed Warhammer 40K, but so often the people who write fiction for the setting struggle to handle the black satire that sits at the heart of the setting.
The problem is there’s a non-insignificant sexist, racist, and toxic portion of the Warhammer fanbase that tend to think the Imperium is correct in its methods. Newcomers might play it and not understand what the setting is truly about.
I liked playing SM2, but they should do more against the racists fanbase.
