tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5917430.post8194431106140624834..comments2023-10-31T13:15:07.875+00:00Comments on Subversive Puppet Show: If the Play's the Thing...Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01891504714516423410noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5917430.post-41312970550888150132012-01-18T23:09:05.857+00:002012-01-18T23:09:05.857+00:00Hi Jason,
Interesting post. My response would be...Hi Jason, <br /><br />Interesting post. My response would be two-fold:<br /><br />1. Yes, you are correct that the thing Sample criticized in his post is connected to a larger issue. But I guess I don't understand why having a targeted discussion that is also connected to a larger issue isn't appropriate. People do talk about the paper that the first edition of Moby Dick is printed on or, especially, the kind of ink Blake used when making his books. Platform studies, in fact, emerged as a kind of analogue to material studies and history of the book studies - which looked at the ways, historically and materially, books were produced. Further, Mark is speaking to a video games studies audience, so, it does have relevance in that specific context. <br /><br />2. I did use capitalism as a convenient shorthand for a complex problem. However, I was also employing a pretty basic argument about commodity fetishism that Marx uses in the first book of Das Kapital - mainly that the whole point of a commodity is that it makes invisible its means of production. Now, the commodity isn't unique to capitalism - and perhaps that's where my analysis was too simplistic. Then again, who's to say that capitalism is limited to specific states, or that global capitalism doesn't also exist in communist states. <br /><br />Anyway, I do appreciate the conversation, and I think your idea that we need to have a broader discussion of the places where our stuff comes from is quite accurate. I also felt that the comparison between Sample's argument and the foodie movement is quite apt. But I would suggest that a foodie movement for video games is needed. Designers and independent developers who won't use materials and distribution models that are oppressive. Does this mean I'll give up my Mac? I don't know, but I think these kinds of conversations should happen.Roger Whitsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09728434263500252895noreply@blogger.com