Games

I know this is a bit of a meme, but there is no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism. It's entirely a question of where you choose to draw the line.

This applies to a lot of causes/principles I care about, but to illustrate with my stance on LGBT issues:

• If a company openly donates directly to anti-LGBT causes? I'd boycott them, no further questions needed.

• If a high ranking member of a company donates to anti-LGBT causes using their own (likely unethically obtained) funds? I'd boycott for sure unless their product/service is an absolute necessity.

• If a company is headquartered in a state/country that is anti-LGBT? I would definitely boycott as long as there is a suitable alternative.

• If a company pays/employs people who are anti-LGBT? Gosh, well, that's probably most companies. Is it possible to account for how every individual employee/beneficiary chooses to spend the money they make for their work? I have no capacity to make choices at this point.

Those are my lines.

When I shop at the supermarket, I have to accept that there are likely people working there somewhere with horrible beliefs whose income is financially supported by my patronage. When I buy clothing, I have to accept that there are probably products I've purchased that are made through exploitative labor practices. When it is within my means to spend capital more ethically, I will. But it is absolutely not possible for me to ensure that every dollar I spend goes to a worthwhile cause or to someone who deserves it.

The Good Place really illustrated this point well in the later episodes. In the modern world where everything is so much more interconnected than ever before, we need to redefine traditional ethics to better consider what is practical for normal people. And the worse your circumstances are, the harder it is to have that luxury of choice.

You have to pick your battles, and trying to track every terrible thing that every company has done is tiring and futile. Most the AAA games I've paid for recently are MS owned, which is arguable to boycott. Then there's things like free games from Amazon, does that count as buying, what if it's an EA game or from Epic game store? Really that's three terrible companies.

Play what you want, if a company is too reprehensible to you then don't buy their stuff. The more you think about the more miserable it makes you and has no effect on any of these companies.

Piracy.

Terrible people have produced magnificent "content" since Oog and Tharg first painted on cave walls. I love the work of Wagner, even though I'm not a Nazi. Fan of Lovecraft even though his standards are equally shitty. I adore American Psycho even though B E Ellis comes across as an utter tool. Picasso was a womanizing prick, boardering on paedophile. Great painter though.

Feel free to vote with your wallet, but if you become too sensitive to the moral and ethical views of people, or "some" of the people working for companies, you'll miss out on some masterpieces.

Having said that, I won't buy any Kelloggs products because fuck Kelloggs. Does that make me a hypocrite? Maybe a little, but we all need our lines in the sand.

Jesus... if you beat yourself up this much over games, how do you deal with stuff that really matters. Do you moralize over the gas you buy? Do you consider the cable company who gives you the internet connection, when you have only one option? Do you freak out over every single piece of food you purchase, and the supermarket you buy it from, and the television you watch?

Or do you only wax endlessly on video games? Play what you want to, or don't, but you're putting way too much thought into this, and if that's what you want to do, you've made your choice, but then perhaps you need to stop buying almost all video games, and read up on crunch, because almost every video game is made at the expense of their employees, and their mental health.

You do you. I'll continue to support companies who I think make a good product, and not avoid stuff like Hogwarts Legacy, or Balder's Gate, because I realize the majority of the money I spend to pay for those games go to the developers who worked extremely hard to give fans something special.

I am not from america but our youth imported your moral/ethical/politics discussion shit on games. And it is so anoying. As if any company would care about moral integrity. Have you noticed that most companies which supported pride month with a little rainbow icon did not in all the countries where this is suppressed and forbidden?

The whole purpose of most companies is to gain money. And they will do whatever is necessary and legal in countries they operate in. And it is a own "discipline" called localization to exactly knowing about their possiblities 🤷🏻‍♂️ And like others said: most companies are up to no good. Energy, gas, food, clothes, cars... Pharma...

My advice #1: play the games, pay as less as possible. My advice #2: The field of indie games is great. I rarely play AAA. But I also just care about gameplay and don't like stories in games anymore.

Some cool games: dead cells, children of mortar, ember knights, mario kaizo hacks, path of exile (is not indie anymore but great anyways), brotato, cassette beasts, cosmoteer, rimworld, elite dangerous, hades, rogue legacy 2, noita, stardew valley, subnautica, super meat boy and so far and so on 😉

Ahoy matey. Quite a conundrum ya have there. Th' winds be fair in times like this... may yer briny deep be bountiful!