The Critical Gamer - We Won! Sony Reverses Course On Helldivers 2
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Good point, but literally everything moves back on the track without a motivated, coherent core, which didn't exist in the Skyrim debacle. All we had back then was a rabble of annoyed customers who figured one or two embarrassments were enough for the games industry to exercise better judgment.
In a sense, this is less about what the games industry notices and more about what normal people notice and support, because they are the battering ram.
Also, we often talk about the punitive culture used to keep libs in line, but they do a hefty amount of lovebombing as well. Neil Druckmann's cringy ramblings weren't applauded by Anita Sarkeesian (in the flesh!) for nothing.
The problem I see is with the gamers lovebombing due to its more unorganized inception means that it will peter out naturally and it is also interpreted by the devs in their own communications which will localize everything... as the acceptance of the thing not accepted.
And yes using the normal people as battering ram is what we need, the problem is that they will peter out unless you keep it in the news and even then it will eventually peter out since what they care about is very minor. All the previous battles they will not care about and only when it affect them or if they believe it is a cause that they need to be part of...
I do not know how to get people to keep battering unless it is using the goverment psyops, but not from a grassroots level.
I thought about this a little bit since you made some pretty good points, and I concluded you are correct that psyops through mainstream channels like YouTube bribery and news articles is the most reliable way to manipulate normies.
However, on a relatively free speech platform like X, influencer networks have become alternative loci of power. These people are coherent enough to coordinate an agenda, stick to it, and create intelligible pressure. That's the mechanism of control that we need.
This is distinct from the original GG approach which basically relied on populist momentum, a la that infamous quote about GG having no leaders. Unfortunately that view of the faculties of the average normie is a bit too rosy.
Basically, influence the influencers instead of appealing directly to the public.