I enjoyed this essay detailing how the discourse around academia and its language has been dumbed down by bad actors.
Helps me reconcile the issues universities have (pay-walling, elitism, negative incentive structures) with the knowledge that people shit the bed at any reading requiring context, history, etc.
>>3mt4lt73tak2b
great article. the bit about reading scientific literature through the lens of the humanities is something i found especially compelling. i confess to being imbued with a negative bias against secondary source reading after some bad experiences with rural high school english classes, but its felt immensely more rewarding to push past the kneejerk "curtains are blue" reaction and to be wrestling with theory for myself. i do wish it had gotten more into critiquing the "explain X or ill fucking kill you" memes rather than just the inter-academic reaction against theory, because i feel like the former stymied my critical thinking ability a lot more. the outright hostility never got to me as much as the self-defeating notion of being "too stupid" to understand.
in return, here's an article i really like:
https://felipepepe.medium.com/the-gentrification-of-video-game-history-dfe11f1e08ae
outlining the extent that official Industry narratives of video game history both sideline the gaming histories of the global south (and/or anyone outside Japan or America), and bury the unofficial histories of modding, ROM hacking, LAN parties, etc. in favor of a monolithic consumer image of "suburban kid gets N64 for christmas". i think about it often and i think it's essential to read for anyone who cares about video games.
and one more video game-related piece that's definitive to me (though some on here might know it already)
https://harmonyzone.org/text/monsterparty.html
an appreciation of the spider from Monster Party that says "SORRY, I'M DEAD".
a very brief but expansive essay covering games writing, text processing, the disarming effect of non-sequitur, and various ways the "subterranean rhythms" of gaming as a medium leak through both the affordances and limitations of the form.
>>3mt5nlr34u22b
i thought this guy seemed familiar and then i remembered i saw it in a fucking jontron video
>>3mt5mdlzeek2b
My brain is fried from staying up late to play card games but I appreciate your response and have those articles tabbed for later. I'll probably share thoughts on em soon.
>>3mt5nlr34u22b
I really enjoyed both of these! I feel like Monster Party fits somewhere onto the genealogy tree of Mother as a game series leading to Undertale/Earthbound.
It served as a nice companion to the video game history article.
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