Today, everyone is too close to their media of choice. It is not to criticize to say that we are close, in some ways such closeness is liberating. At the same time however, in the age of the internet and the emergence of Kickstarter, we are far closer than ever before to products defining who we are. The idea of speaking with dollars is, while not exactly new, it has taken on a rather insidious tone to every conversation with regards to media. In a sense, it is an argument trumping discourse and demand for change.
The idea is simple, and not new, but the implications are rather frightening. In effect, if we are supposedly speaking with the money we use to consume products, it implies the consumer also invests in the ideology the product promotes, and to take a modern example, would mean that those who purchase games from the Bioshock series support objectivism, either as a plot device or as an ideology. The new Tomb Raider, a game which impales females in ever-more horrendous ways is a practice the medium can get behind. Success becomes the new yard-stick of acceptable ideology.
To speak with purchasing power to a product whose final implications cannot be known, such ideological equations are unhelpful. Even if we are to view previews or reviews, we cannot know intent, nor can we fully know problems or solutions any piece of media promotes. Similarly however, we do not claim to promote certain behaviors of media we consume, but the result of an argument moves irrevocably towards such a reality if we are to claim our dollars as discourse towards media. Yet, in large part, we make such an argument because we are too close to our media. We wish to protect pieces of media from shame, from derision, and largely, from discourse, because it forces us to reexamine.
Examination of media is not difficult. However, examination requires the ability to gloss, the ability to pass over and likely miss moments in the media, not because we are actively looking to skip parts we do not wish to see, but because we cannot be arbiters of knowledge of all possibilities in media. Videogames are especially prone, given that their nature is to be explored, rather than linearly followed. From mechanics to artistic style to tonal qualities, videogames provide an overabundance of information, often so complex or subtle as to simply be missed. If we are to examine the causes of the relationships we form with media then, we must acknowledge that the media is available, and is open to different ways of seeing. Being too close to a media often prevents such critical examination, because reexamining often means we will find what we may not expect, and that much of what we expect may not mesh with our initial exploration.
Certainly, videogames are an evolving media, yet what they are evolving towards is also a result of those who play games being too close to their media. When one becomes devoted to a media, and aggressively defensive with regards to a different way of seeing, the media becomes closed. Not just closed to others, but closed to those who expand the initial creation. To have a discourse, we must be willing to be open and honest about our media, and regard others with a greater deal of respect than we might even demand for ourselves. Progress isn’t a one-way street, where barreling forward without others, and without regards to considerations proposed by creators can be ignored.
With progress in mind, we must be willing to start a dialogue which examines media critically with regards to such closeness. Stepping on these eggshells should be wholly unnecessary, and yet due to the culture of the media, these eggshells are exactly the problem we tend to ignore, at least until it’s our egg. The danger is a media which argues cultural significance due to purchasing power, rather than promotion of media and cultural growth. If videogames, especially major videogames, have shown us anything, it is how easy it is to slip into bubbles which will eventually burst, and our anxiety towards such a reality continues to grow. Problematically, no one speaks of its inevitability in an industry which creates moralist argumentation based on purchasing power. It is a media politic which revolves around economy, and due to such purchases, large or small, we are far too close to a media, which we should be ready and willing to step back and examine, and then, more critically still, reexamine.