I watched (in a second screen sort of way as I tended to some work) the Game Awards last night. Iβm not interested in talking about what the ceremony meansβitβs an obviously vapid affairβbut the powerful sweeping of awards by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was interesting to see. it also left me feeling a bitβ¦ odd.
Before I say anything, I wanna say that Iβm happy for that team and think they made a very cool game. very little if anything I am writing here is a judgement on the game itself or the quality of the experience therein. Itβs good! if you play it, I think youβll have fun.
But while Iβm often interesting in talking about games, Iβm also interested in how we talk about games. This is what made Horses fascinating to me and itβs draw me out to write again. Because as the night went on and Geoff Keighley talked about the power of indie games like Expedition 33, I couldnβt help but feel a bit uncomfortable. Something felt off, y'know?
In watching Expedition 33 get subsumed into Keighleyβs mainstream machine and the narrative picture he wanted to paint about 2025, I couldnβt help but frown. 2025 might be the year where indie games and alternative sub-genres outshine a flagging AAA space but I think we need to be honest about what drew Keighley to Expedition 33 and drove him to drag that game first and foremost into the narrative he was trying to build. Because when Geoff Keighley mentioned βindie gamesβ what he really means to say is βindie games of a certain scale and aesthetic.β This is what many people mean!
So I want to talk about RPGs and I want to maybe talk about budgets and I want to talk about respectability. Because for as impressive a story I think Expedition 33, it hardly a mistake that the indie RPG that supposedly redeems the genre is one which, national identity or not, chases so hard after AAA games and Hollywoodβ¦
I once had a plan to read at least one classic novel from (almost) every country, I keep forgetting about it but I really should do it, I usually end up enjoying them
Anyone has any non-western recommendations?
This was getting a bit out of hand with people sending asks instead of commenting, so I compiled everything that was sent to me under the cut. The rest of the recommendations are in the comments as usual. Thank you all for the recs!
And I saw that there are many lists online of a similar kind, but as Iβm mostly interested in classical literature rather than modern, and also as Iβd like to prioritize the books that have been recommended to me rather than ones I find online, Iβll continue to curate this list. Thank you again! βΊοΈ
I think everyone on tumblr would benefit from reading a book about history. Not even necessarily a book about gay or trans or queer history just. A book that transports them to a time and place that worked differently than the modern world does, portrayed with solid well-researched information. I swear I’m not saying this in a mean way either, I just think that a lot of people get very in their heads about very tumblr modes of thought so it’s good practice to expand your horizons by learning about different ways that the world has been and people lived in it.
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I’m not seeing a lot of posts with links to Minnesota Mutual Aid Funds so here’s a post
Extra info was provided by a local friend I wont name because shit is scary for our Minnesota friends. But here’s some valuable orgs and funds that are on the ground helping right now
Powderhorn Families - direct donation to families in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood so their rent and utilities are paid while they are sheltering in place during ICE deployments
Fe y Justicia - Latine aid organization that is managing rapid response in St Cloud
