The Last of Us Part 2 is a game about being provocative on purpose.
You may have noticed that I rarely talk about video games in this blog about video games. I do it that way because I believe games speak for themselves. There is nothing about a game I could say that you wouldn't learn by playing it yourself.
Also, I secretly resent video games for ruining my life, but I can't stop playing them or working in the industry because I am terrified of the thought of who I would be without "grumpy video game guy" as my whole identity. What was I talking about?
Oh right, The Last of Us 2 and how I'm not going to talk about The Last of Us 2. I'm going to talk about how people are responding to The Last of Us Two. Which is, predictably.
Everyone is mad at the game because it is not about them. Many in the gaming community are mad because the game is about things that make them uncomfortable. They say it's about the story or some such, but that's a lie because they hated the game well before it ever came out. A bunch of elements of the story leaked, and they were like, "How dare they make me have to play this gay shit!" How dare they indeed.
Journalists are mad at the game because it's forcing them to play as a person that makes uncomfortable decisions. They are like, "I'm ok that the protagonists are gay, that's fine, I'll allow it, but why do the protagonists make choices I don't feel comfortable with and force me to brutally kill people and zombies and dogs all the time! Why are the developers forcing me to decide to play like this, or not play at all?" I know right? Fuck them.
For the record, I think the game is good and both arguments are... what they are. But at this point, we all expect nothing less from a community composed of 15-year-olds and 20-50-year-old 15-year-olds.
My biggest takeaways from the game are that if the world depicted in The Last of Us 2 is overly brutal to anyone, they should look hard and long at the state of the real world, think about its logical terminus, and make a choice, fast. And if I had a kid like Ellie or Abby I would be very, very proud.
Rip tc rip tb rip tall-t. Love is wise, hatred is foolish, get out there and do great things we believe in you. Also Jobs.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Fraternize
