Worth Reading: 10/20/2014

I'll keep this one short, since there's lots of other things demanding my attention this morning. But I want to thank the many folks who were civil, productive, and patient during our extremely long thread connected to Friday's staff letter.

I also want to underscore the countless hours our moderation team put into helping keep that conversation as calm as possible. Our site wouldn't work without them, and they don't get told that enough. Moderation is a thankless and largely invisible job that's only noticed when it's not functioning properly.

The next time you see a mod, make sure to let 'em know how much you appreciate them.

And so, the week begins!

You Should Read These

• "Inside Star Citizen's grey market" by Wesley Yin-Poole

Star Citizen might be the weirdest thing going on in video games right now. It's raised more than $50 million in crowdfunding, and that number ticks up every single day. Besides a few interactive modules, there's precious little evidence of Star Citizen being a real thing, but the community around it continues to grow, thrive, and as outlined in this piece by Wesley-Yin Poole, establish its own grey markets. Whether or not Star Citizen turns out to be a good video game is almost irrelevant--it's been a fascinating social experiment. Maybe we'll play it at some point, too.

"Drevan tells me of one high-profile example of this. The Vanduul Scythe, coveted and infamous within the Star Citizen community, is a ship originally sold by CIG for $300 during the Kickstarter campaign. It came with LTI included and only about 500 were ever given out to players. It is no longer for sale. Half a year ago they were selling "like hotcakes" for, wait for it, $2000 each.

Let's step back for a minute. The Vanduul Scythe is a virtual spaceship with virtual insurance that you can't use in the game yet. You can't fly it in the Arena Commander module. You can't admire it in the Hangar module, your spaceship garage. If you own it, you own the idea of flying the Vanduul Scythe around the finished game - a game, by the way, that won't be feature complete until 2016. I think Chris Roberts and his chums at CIG are geniuses."

• "Why Anything But Games Matters" by Ian Bogost

Though Ian Bogost's talk isn't explicitly about the events of the last month or so, it feels relevant. It's no longer a debate about whether games are an art form or a medium to be acknowledged in 2014, but that games have come into their own in the middle of a massive shift in how culture absorbs entertainment. Is it even possible to be "mainstream"? What does it mean to be "mainstream"? Would games gain anything from achieving this unicorn-like goal? Big and largely unanswerable questions for how we think about games in the years ahead.

"The truth is, the general public downloads whatever they heard about from a friend on the App Store, or whatever appears at the top of the charts. The truth is, games have so long wavered between affinity with Silicon Valley and jealousy of Hollywood that they have effectively found home in neither. The truth is, Minecraft is a game for children. The truth is, at the “smart general readership” magazine I write for, an order of magnitude more people read me when I write about the McRib than when I write about Flappy Bird. The truth is, we have to create our own small presses for games writing because you can’t sell a trade book on games like you can sell one on social media or even on Star Wars, because games are considered to have no audience.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a problem. There’s no reason any art form needs to be mainstream, and indeed it’s easy to argue why one shouldn’t be. But, it’s perilous for our sense of cultural place to be at odds with its reality."

If You Click It, It Will Play

People Have Complicated Feelings About Bayonetta

• Obligatory Spider Queen argues Bayonetta incorporates both male gaze and female power fantasy.
• Maddy Myers says intentions may take a backseat to her own entertaining interpretation.
• Ria Jenkins sees the character as an empowered woman brimming with sexual confidence.
• Leigh Alexander reflects on how her views have changed since the original game was released.
• Lana Polansky posits the confusing nature of Bayonetta is exactly what makes her interesting.
• Mari Shimazaki, a freelancer artist who worked on the series, explains some of her motivations.

These Crowdfunding Projects Look Pretty Cool

• Nevermind is a horror game that changes based on the way your body physically reponds.
• A disabled veteran is trying to raise funds for the game he's always wanted to make.
• Craft Your Beer could literally result in you getting to drink a beer you've dreamed up.

Writing From Giant Bomb's Community, Courtesy of ZombiePie

• BlazehedgeHog attempted to make his horror game. He shares how and why that didn't happen.
• BabaOReily heard someone held a "Push Dr. Tracksuit" sign during Raw. He made his own.
• Yummyle provides an extremely comprehensive reviews of The Evil Within.
• oraknabo examines the flaws to his favorite video games of all time.
• Someone burned the "musical" moments of the Bombcast onto a CD to create a Vib-Ribbon level.

Tweets That Make You Go "Hmmmmmm"

Oh, And This Other Stuff

• Steve Peterson believes we're on the cusp of reviews as we know them becoming irrelevant.
• Charlie Hall goes undercover with a group of Arma players who simulate real-life situations.
• Chris Kohler thinks Super Smash Bros. highlights many of the technology problems facing Nintendo.
• Marty Sliva explains how the new Dragon Ball game tossed him for a nostalgic trip.
• The Onion has breaking news on why guards walk the same paths in video games.
• Thomas Grip shares his in-depth thoughts (with some spoilers!) on Alien: Isolation.
• Andy Kelly puts the authenticity of Alien: Isolation, relative to the 1979 film, to the test.
• Jake Muncy points out the uncomfortable ways Splinter Cell: Conviction mirrors reality.