While gaming has featured plenty of gods, some good, some bad, and some with epic beards (#KratosLove), I have no issue with myth and fiction.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a Follower of Jesus Christ, but unlike many Christians, I do not see fiction as a threat to reality. I enjoy exploring different lore and mythologies to see what myth and legend have in common with the reality of the one true God.
That being said, gamer culture has created its own pantheon of gods, which, while no threat to the one who abides forever, can be detrimental to gamers physically, spiritually, emotionally, and even financially, and despite their wickedness and deception being clearly shown to all, in much the same way many Evangelical Christians in America have blindly followed a man with no Christlike qualities and exalted him to near godhood, gamers follow their self made gods to whatever ends it may lead them.
Now I have your attention, let’s explore this pantheon of evil, these false gods of the gaming industry.
While Streamers, Influencers, and Gaming Journalists are not “gods” in the traditional usage of the word, their influence over the daily lives, behaviours, actions, and choices of gamers worldwide is frightening.
How often have we seen gamers driven to rash and often illegal actions simply on the word of a streamer or an influencer who riled up Twitter or Reddit users into a frenzy over some piece of news that was not only blown radically out of proportion but often was untrue, partially untrue, or taken out of context to create controversy, uncaring of whose lives they made worse by doing so?
And yet, millions of gamers worship at their alters daily, giving them their love, time, attention, devotion, dedication, loyalty and often finances, money earned at the expense of others who make their income by peddling lies and vice.
Don’t get me wrong; not every content creator is some ambiguous evil entity out to destroy the souls of mankind and become rich while they do so.
However, there are enough content creators who put fame and fortune above truth and honesty that it is perhaps the greatest problem facing gamers today. What’s worse, most gamers are not even aware they are being manipulated by nefarious forces while focusing their attention on ultimately unimportant issues that these peddlers of vice are using to fill their wallets at the cost of their follower’s spiritual, physical and mental health.
I know what many of you think: “But what harm is being done?” And that is a very good question, with an answer, or multiple answers, as to why content creators without a conscience are one of the greatest threats facing gamers today. Very few gamers have any idea what danger they are in.
While many accept telling lies as “just something people do”, it is far from innocent, especially when the lies cause people to think poorly about another person. Or, in the case of gamers companies, how often have you witnessed content creators spread a lie, or even create a lie purely for engagement, only to back down once they were exposed, despite doing huge harm to the victim of their lies along the way, we have seen share prices tumble, developers lose their jobs, and popular franchises die due to content creators spreading false news purely for the sake of engagement and profit, regardless about what you think about lying this is what Jesus Christ had to say about it.
How often have you witnessed a YouTuber or Gaming Journalist misuse a quote to make a headline that reads very differently than what was said only for engagement?
While some call that good marketing and business sense, it is nothing short of lies, especially when many internet users base their opinions on such titles without bothering to see if they are true.
I can already hear some of you saying, “Who cares? It’s only a lie about x company or x game?”.
Jesus summed this up perfectly when he said we should treat others how we want to be treated. Unless you would like people lying about you, making your life worse, and possibly impacting your financial and mental health just to make themselves richer, I suggest you actively unfollow and avoid content creators who make their money by hurting others and spreading lies. Otherwise, you are as bad as they are.
I have found myself blocking many such people over the last few months, as frankly, I do not wish to add even a single view or click to a website or creator who has such little regard for common decency, the word of God, and the lives and livelihood of others.
How often do we see content creators “stirring the pot,” trying to flame console wars, start conspiracy theories, stir controversy, and generally rile up gamers so they can become the figurehead and main source of information for whatever the current “hot issue” of the day is, from blockchain to AI, subscription services to Sweet Baby Inc., and Diversity in games?
Many content creators will happily take whatever side of the issue that gets them the most fame and money, and they show little concern for the trouble they cause, with some less stable gamers resorting to death threats, physical assault, online harassment, arson and even attempted homicide due to the lies and misinformation they have been fed by content creators who would rather make a quick buck from making gamers angry than using their position to tell people to chill out and present any legitimate grievances they may have in a calm, collected, and most importantly non-feral manner.
On the extreme of this, we see entire websites and groups dedicated to harassing (and even threatening) developers who incorporate minorities or female characters in non sexually exploitive roles in an attempt to force them to leave the market or produce games where non-white characters are rare, and female characters only exist to serve as eye candy for male gamers.
I must preface this by saying that when I refer to e-girls, I do not mean girl gamers in general. There will be more female gamers in 2024 than ever, and they like the same games male gamers do (despite right-wing content creators trying to say otherwise).
However E-Girls, they are a problem, and they make life worse for just about everyone, but mostly for female content creators who are trying to become established but find themselves unable to get ahead unless they launch their career off the back of a male streamer or show as much skin as popular E-Girls.
This is sick and twisted. Can you imagine a world where male streamers couldn’t get an audience by their skills alone? And need to piggyback off female streamers or play Call of Duty half-naked to get views?
While some say this is just E-Girls making their own choices, and I agree with that, we have the right also to say they are a blight on the game industry and make life harder for actual female gamers who just want to be treated the same as everyone else, and not get sexually harassed or verbally assaulted every time they turn on their microphone.
Gaming should be a place where everyone can fit in and where people are not prejudged by gender or ethnicity. Yet here we are, almost two decades after online gaming became mainstream, and female gamers still find themselves trying to establish a foothold in a male-dominated hobby despite making up almost 50% of the total gaming community worldwide.
Damage to female content creators aside, “booby streamers” know their audience and act and dress in a manner to entice men and boys to open wide their wallets and drops their pants; this is little more than digital prostitution on a massive scale and daily causes millions of young men and women to become dangerously addicted to sexual content, often well before they are old enough to know any better.
Am I taking this too seriously? No, When we are talking about people who are using their influence and position to enrich themselves while harming others, lying without conscience, and goading people (many of whom are minors) into the sins of lust, envy, hatred and even murder, I do not think it is even possible to take this issue “too seriously”. Neither does God, with Jesus saying this in Matthew’s account of the Gospel.
Again, Let me stress that not every Streamer, Influencer, or Gaming Journalist is a threat to gamers or has some Emperor Palpatine-level nefarious plan underway. If you are a streamer who doesn’t lie, spread gossip, fear-monger, or create content meant to enrage instead of enlighten and inform, congratulations; I am not talking about you.
However, when hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of young and impressionable gamers, are being misinformed and driven towards anger and hatred, and in some rare cases, homicide every day, it is well past time that we make a stand and let these self-centred and destructive content creators and media personalities know that we will not tolerate their attempts to drag gamer culture down to hell with them, both figuratively and in many cases literally.
All Artwork Has Been Created With AI, And Any Resemblance To Any Content Creator, Website Or Brand Is Purely Coincidental.
