When Playing A Good Game Benefits Bad People

The games industry is overflowing with talented, hard-working creatives, but there are plenty of people—especially at the top of the corporate ladder—who aren’t exactly upstanding citizens from a moral perspective. Sometimes, playing a good game lines the pockets of shitty people. How and when do you decide to engage with a work versus abstaining entirely? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we attempt to unravel that tangled question.

This time around, we bid farewell to the Aftermath Twitch channel—at least, in terms of using it to record the podcast—and turn their sights toward a pre-recorded, more-thoroughly-edited future (coming soon!). We also discuss Valve’s decision to massively increase the Steam Deck’s price thanks to “global logistical challenges” (read: AI and an incredibly stupid war) and how what seems to be the end of affordable consumer hardware might impact the games industry five or ten years down the line.

Then we talk about the latest Boots Riley movie, I Love Boosters, and how intensely good it is by virtue of embracing a singular vision—the kind film industry outsiders rarely get the opportunity to put on screen these days. After that, we dive into the weeds of what it means to play and enjoy a game—in this case, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies—despite thorny origins. Lastly, Gita and I debate the merits of two popular bands, Paramore and Sleep Token, even though both of our opinions are wrong.

You can find this week's episode below and on Spotify, Apple, or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can someday make millions of dollars and be able to afford 1.5 Steam Decks.

Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity):

Chris: People’s internal divisions of what they find in a company to be beyond reproach are very, very different. It varies from person to person. And for a while I was that—and still sort of am a little bit—with Konami. Because Konami had gym slaves, man. They did fucked up stuff. But I’m not gonna deny that Silent Hill F is one of the best Silent Hill games ever. Up there with Silent Hill 2.

I think that’s where I kind of fall with Zero Parades. You can acknowledge that the people who did wrong are still there. You can acknowledge that the people who perpetuated that, you would be giving them money. But you would also be giving money to people who are workers—or you would at least be benefitting the continuation of the workers who created something that I’m going to say stands on its own. I think that it’s fair to hold both of those things in your heart and to acknowledge the merit of the work.

Game’s good. The circumstances are bad. Hold two thoughts in your head if you have that problem, or don’t play it. But I have to simply acknowledge the validity of the work, and the validity of the work is good.

Gita: Hogwarts Legacy was mentioned in chat, and this is a different situation. Hogwarts Legacy came from a studio that was basically making tie-in games for the movie Cars and then started making a game for the most evil woman alive. The attempts it makes to try to extricate itself from JK Rowling’s politics only makes her politics feel even more oppressive in their presence in the game.

This is a different situation in which a really complicated set of hurt feelings, serious labor problems, and ideological differences collided and created a big mess in terms of the continuity from one project of the studio to the next project of the studio. Does this mean that the game is bad? Sounds like no.

Chris: Personally, [I think it’s good].

There are people I know who don’t play Marathon because of how fucking weird Bungie has been, and I respect that. It’s between you and who you are. I’m not a cop; I’m not gonna monitor what’s on your hard drive. Whatever your ethics are is what should be dictating your life. And if you’ve thought about it, then guess what? You’ve done more than 99 percent of the people who play video games. If you have thoughts about the consequences of your consumption, that is a really good first start.