Something I have noticed more and more over the years is the ever increasing prevalence of video games. As most anyone with even the slightest idea of video game history already knows, the industry started out very small and very niche.
Early on, in the 1980’s and before, this was perhaps the one time it could have been considered an actual “culture,” if not a cult of sorts. Things have changed however, and now the industry possesses millions upon millions of followers and consumers, with billions more in dollars funding it all.
It is interesting because it seems as though nowadays you have people of all types calling themselves “gamers,” from college students, tradesmen, teachers, military personnel, even husbands and fathers, etc. As much as I like Matt Forney, I have to call him out on his generalizations in regards to video games. The whole “nerd,” “geek,” “basement dwelling gamer” meme has been both overused and expanded to the point that it is now meaningless.
Case in point, these terms are now marketable, which should be a clear indicator that they are now without substance.
More to the point, however, is not only the industry, but the particular game mentioned in this article’s title: the Mass Effect series. Basically my thoughts on the series’ true significance can be summed up in a comment by a user named Cole left on Matt Forney’s post linked prior:
“The most recent DLC add-on for the game, Citadel, was specifically designed to feed into the BioDrones’ narcissism; it all but turned the game into a Japanese dating sim.”
Expect more games to go this route. Mass Effect is the harbinger of the upcoming meld between “Second-Life” investment in virtual characters and classic console gaming, where action-packed plot lines are riddled with romance and “you-go-girlisms”. It sucks for casual gamers who actually have a life and just want to blow away bad guys without constantly rolling our eyes.
I see what you did there, calling Mass Effect a “harbinger” (in-game gamer joke, please excuse it).
It’s noteworthy because this dovetails quite nicely with much of the predictions within the appropriately epic Misandry Bubble article concerning the “Four Horsemen of Male Emancipation,” which include:
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1. The Venusian Arts (Game)
2. Adult Entertainment Technologies of 2020
3. Globalization
4. Male Economic Disengagement and Resultant Tax-Base Erosion
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For all intents and purposes, factors 1, 3 and 4 have all come to pass and are currently having a significant impact on all developed nations, and then some. “Game” and its teachings are as prevalent as ever, globalization is now normal, even encouraged by some (link), and our current level of debt and dwindling tax-base has become a heavy point of political discourse. It is only number 2 on this list that has yet to fully come into its own. This may very well be the tipping point and should serve as a particularly interesting and insightful source of study over the next few years.
The thing is, Mass Effect 1 gained most of its notoriety and attention when it was leaked that the player could “have sex in the game.” There were even news segments from Fox (a.k.a. Faux) News calling it a “sexbox.” This was a libelous assertion at best, especially considering that upon actually playing the game, you quickly realize that it contains little more than a few cutesy, romantic conversations and a few seconds of watching your created avatar and another chosen character hugging in bed. Certainly not full blown sex of any kind.
What is funny, however, is that as the series went on, the “romance” aspect of the game started gaining more and more clout and attention, basically turning this originally sci-fi action series into a space opera by the end of the second installment. As Matt Forney pointed out already, by the end of the third segment and all of its DLC, it has basically turned into a westernized Japanese dating simulation, full of romance options, dating, cutesy couple conversations and “sexy” pixelated payoffs in the form of (what are supposed to be) arousing cutscenes.
I bring this up because as of right now the most topical and infamous point of discussion regarding this franchise is how poorly it handled its ending. While that is certainly an interesting discussion in and of itself, I do not think that will be its true significance in the end.
When all is said and done, Mass Effect will probably be remembered as the game that first brought the idea of advanced, sexual interactive technologies to the forefront.
Even one of the main characters throughout the series, a handicapped yet talented pilot named Joker, in Mass Effect 3 is dating a robot/android character named EDI, or as I like to call her, Sexbot:
They try to pass her off as a “rogue and highly advanced A.I.” that can even follow you on missions and help you shoot things, but lets be honest; in the game, she is your crippled pilot’s masturbator walking fleshlight mecha-tenga sexbot. It may be self-aware, but at the very least I just hope it’s self-cleaning…
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This is where factor 2 of the Four Horsemen of Male Emancipation finally comes into play. Here is an excerpt from the original article:
I have written in the past about how haptic, motion sensing, and graphical technologies would elevate video games to the premier form of entertainment by 2012. 3-D/holographic images with haptic interfaces and sufficient AI will make rudimentary ‘virtual sex’ a technology available to many men well before 2020, but by 2020 we will see this cross certain thresholds that lead to a dramatic market impact far greater than contraceptive pills and Internet pornography combined. A substantial portion of the male population will drift into addiction to virtual sex without even realizing it.
Now consider the current level of astounding next generation graphics, cheap, accessible and powerful home consoles/gaming computers, and other outliers such as 4K pornography and even the Oculus Rift:
All of the pieces of the puzzle are there, the ingredients needed to make something both new and very profitable are at hand. All we have to do is wait for someone to put it all together.
Combine this with places such as Japan having more than enough unwarranted propensity for shamelessly turning literally everything into a commodity of sorts and the future this all presents is inevitable.
What interests me the most is how women will react to all of this, not so much the inevitable and immediate (if not fruitless) backlash but the mid to long term effects on women. Despite the fervor over “alpha males” and their harems, women obtain the bulk of their power, resources and attention from the average man. The average man, who has and probably always will constitute the vast majority of the male population, whom of which has yet to create a truly substantial replacement outlet for their frustrated and under-nourished sexuality. It is the attention and dare I say perpetual suffering from these men that most if not all women garner their power.
What will these women do once the primary source of their power, the vast majority of unknowing simps and manipulated “beta males,” is eroded? Will these women get jobs that matter? Will they continue posting “selfies” on the internet even when the comments inevitably dry up? Will the few remaining “alphas” care to handle the drama and heavy figurative/monetary costs of managing large harems? Will women return to form and begin acting nice and feminine? Or will things such as artificial wombs eventually replace the otherwise useless female?
Why am I asking so many questions? Because I am a curious cat that sees nothing wrong with dying due to my own curiosity. I want knowledge and answers, and I shall claw for them regardless of the consequences.
The thing is, sex and love are not intertwined, and lust is often confused for love. Most women do not care how good of a father a man may be, it only matters if he looks the part, dresses the part, and is charming, sociopathic “dark triad” obsessions be damned. Likewise, the urge for sex within most men is merely akin to an itch that cannot be easily scratched, and will find whatever means necessary to scratch that itch, “love” and marriage be damned.
Think of it this way; bacon tastes good, chocolate tastes good, so it was only a matter of time before someone decided to put the two together to form one of the most indulgent snacks ever created, a.k.a. chocolate-covered bacon.
With that same line of thought; porn is popular, video games are popular, so now it’s only a matter of time before someone decides to really put the two together to form yet another one of the most indulgent “snacks” ever created.
Interactive porn will be our social chocolate covered bacon, and the bad cholesterol and diabetes will be the fallout, or something like that…
Whether or not this is a good thing remains to be seen. However, I personally predict that this will begin making headway by at least 2015, if not a little sooner. We can only wait and see, I suppose.
The Rational Hamster 