Rest in Peace to an absolute Pittsburgh Legend The city just won’t “sahnd”’as cool without him Donnie Iris (1943-2026)

You're arguing against a point nobody is actually making. Well, the phrasing of the argument is poor, but the ACTUAL argument. The problem isn't politics in video games. The problem is shitty writing and ham-fisted political messaging that ruins otherwise good entertainment. Most of us have absolutely no problem with political themes in games, movies, or television. We have a problem when writers sacrifice storytelling, character development, and entertainment to beat the audience over the head with their personal politics. Take Star Trek, for example. Star Trek is basically space socialism in a post-scarcity economy. Its practically a laundry list of political and economic ideas that most conservatives like me fundamentally disagree with. And you know what? I fucking LOVE Star Trek. Why? Because the stories are excellent. The characters are compelling. The writing makes you think. Some of the older episodes are preachy. Some are EXTREMELY preachy. Even when I disagree with the message, I can appreciate the storytelling. Here's another example: Hardspace: Shipbreaker. It's a game about being a blue-collar worker dismantling enormous spaceships for a corporation that has turned exploitative employment practices into an Olympic sport. The game is VERY pro-union. You could reasonably describe its politics as socialist or at least heavily sympathetic to organized labor. And you know what? I LOVE THAT GAME, TOO. The mechanics are fantastic. Cutting apart enormous spaceships in zero gravity, carefully extracting valuable components, and occasionally turning yourself into a rapidly expanding cloud of debris because you accidentally cut through a fuel line is genuinely entertaining. And the pro-union message? IT FITS THE STORY. You're playing an exploited worker trying to survive under an absurdly oppressive corporate system. Of COURSE labor organizing is going to be part of that story. The politics emerge naturally from the world, the characters, and the circumstances. I might disagree with some of the broader political conclusions, but I don't feel like the developers are wasting my time by including them. The politics are part of the storytelling, not a substitute for it. Now compare that to Dragon Age: The Veilguard, where we get clumsy lectures about gender identity and characters practically turning to the camera to explain the writers' political opinions. 🤖🤖That's not storytelling. That's a mandatory corporate diversity seminar with a fantasy RPG awkwardly attached to it.🤖🤖 And before you misunderstand me, there's absolutely nothing wrong with having gay, transgender, or nonbinary characters in a story. But for FUCKS SAKE, give them personalities, motivations, conflicts, and character arcs. Make them interesting PEOPLE instead of walking political statements. Making them just walking political statements insults them and the reader/player, too. Here's another example. Imagine watching Aliens, one of the greatest science fiction action movies ever made. Imagine, if halfway through the movie, Corporal Hicks suddenly puts down his pulse rifle, looks directly at the camera, and launches into a fifteen-minute lecture about the Second Amendment, the importance of civilian gun ownership, and why gun control advocates are idiots. I'd probably agree with the entire screed. I'D STILL THINK IT WAS FUCKING TERRIBLE WRITING. I came to watch Ripley fight xenomorphs, not attend an NRA convention on LV-426. The political message isn't the problem. The fact that you've brought the entire story to a screeching halt to deliver it, is. Good writers understand how to weave political and philosophical ideas into their stories. They create situations where characters confront difficult questions, make choices, suffer consequences, and occasionally discover that their beliefs were wrong. Bad writers stop the story to lecture the audience, then congratulate themselves for being courageous. Here's the really frustrating part: Ham-fisted political messaging doesn't just ruin the story. It cheapens the message itself. You can absolutely put politics in your video games. Some of the greatest games ever made are deeply political. Star Trek makes me think about societies I wouldn't necessarily want to live in. Shipbreaker makes me sympathize with a labor movement whose broader politics I don't necessarily share. That's what good art is SUPPOSED to do. It makes you engage with ideas, even ones you disagree with. Just learn the difference between telling a compelling story that explores political ideas and using a video game as a delivery mechanism for your personal manifesto. That's the distinction you dipshits keep missing.

Yeah, yeah, elections important, vote against the bad people, vote for the slightly less bad people. Trust me, I'm political. But stories are how we survive politics. That's why we need stories that aren't just politics. That's why it's such a bad thing to have our major entertainment built around telling The Message rather than an entertaining story that happens to have an underlying message. If you can only enjoy a story if you already agree with the message, it's not entertainment. It's just a sermon. But guess what. When you brag about starting the fires, eventually someone's going to come stop your next one.