The Good Place is a show about the bad place.
The train has been on its way since Xbox live launched back in 2002 and it has almost entered the station. Well, before that actually. Toxicity has been the unwanted passenger of gaming since the arcades. It's a visitor a third of the party hates, the other third refuses to acknowledge, and the other third considers the reason they show up to the party.
But the party is almost over for toxicity, and the practitioners of it will be the ones to see it out of the door, along with themselves, if the world is lucky. And all thanks to the mass cloning of Donkey Doug.
These geniuses logged onto a video game, hunted down, and killed players while yelling slurs and claiming to be "cleansing the wasteland." This earned these folks a lifetime ban from the game. Bout time.
And I know, I know. The internet will always be toxic the west cannot be tamed and freedom never truly dies and blah blah blah. Sounds poetic, till you realise the west was tamed and none of that is true.
The west was tamed by industry, which is the same thing that will tame the internet, and games are on the internet. The reason the banhammer is taking so long is that we gamers live in a vacuum sealed reality that doesn't understand the Galactus level power of money.
Here is how it is gonna work. Lootbox gambling forces government to regulate video games. Regulation means taxation, new laws, and harsh penalties for misconduct. Video Game companies now have to create things with the knowledge that the government may make them pay more money than they have in penalties for things they create or even worse will blame them for the actions of their player base.
So imagine if you will that this incident happens, the person that got killed in game sues Bethesda for not ensuring their safety, and the case goes all the way to the supreme court. Court rules for the plaintiff and Bethesda now have to remove functionality from the game and pay a shit ton of money which cripples the company and sends shockwaves of fear through the industry.
Game companies struggle to cover dev costs now. Does anyone think a game company is going to protect the trolls over their own assets? Bless your heart if you do. So the Trolls cry snowflake and say they will spend their money elsewhere. Ok, but where? Even Club Penguin has a "Trolls will be executed on sight" sign up. There are no inns to rest your head and yell at "F!#$."
And even worse, it's not just a ban from that one game, now you can't play any games from Bethesda that go online on that account. You are marked. Oof.
Game Companies figure, less money is better than no money. And then it happens. What happens is that more people end up playing their game because the troll exodus has created a better experience. A "Safe space," if you will. A safe space that only came into existence because the god-tier banhammer, loss of money, hoisted by pantsuit Odin (a.k.a. the government) stepped in. And that is how the west died.
Anyway, the Good place is a good show but I feel personally attacked by Chidi's existence. Two hours to choose a shirt is normal, confident decision makers are weird. Information is the one that farted, yeah I'm snitching. Also Jerbz.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : Games : Maheimer
