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This might seem like a slightly surreal milestone to mark the way
the political sphere has changed in recent times, but there’s more
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like Milo Yiannopoulos (who also recently toured Australia) delib
erately use the outrage, resentment and outsider anxiety common
among young men in the videogame world to recruit political con
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a nexus between disenfranchised young men interested in vide
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them towards politics.
WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS Videogame culture contains a great many normal people who
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actively campaign against it (such as, it now seems, 6NKEDMRSDHM’s
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tremists, and that fact is getting more evident by the day. 5("$
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controversial again. If you had separated yourself from the rest of who style themselves as jokers and trolls, to authentic white su
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surprising – but for different reasons. 6NKEDMRSDHM has always been a 5("$ FRQWDFWHG 9DOYH WKH 6HDWWOH EDVHG FRPSDQ\ WKDW RZQV DQG
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new iteration of the 6NKEDMRSDHM franchise has found yet another interest in either social commentary or regulating the platforms and
way to take bad taste to the extreme. The groundbreaking 1992 services it manages. The company has enjoyed immense creative
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6XUSULVLQJO\ WKRXJK ZKDW LV FRQWHQWLRXV DERXW 6NKEDMRSDHM (( agement), but this has also fostered big problems. Valve does not,
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the player no choice but to become a rebel. In the early 1990s, this
kind of material would have seemed absurd, even a little gauche, in
• • • • • • •
its potential trivialisation of horrendous world events. In more recent
times, on the other hand, some sectors of the videogame commu
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liberately political statements, so the fact that 6NKEDMRSDHM (( 3GD SNQ @MC OQDRDMSDQ ENQ TRSQ@KH@M BNMSDMS RSQD@LHMF RDQUHBD .YlHW @MC
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exceptional nature of current events. Yet the developers have, to
their credit, owned this position and happily taken on the role of the 3@Q@ )TC@G HR @ EQDDK@MBD kKL BQHSHB @MC BTQ@SNQ @MC NMKHMD DCHSNQ ENQ
videogame world’s Antifa (and cannily used it as a marketing tool). @QBGHUD @MC BK@RRHB kKL EDRSHU@K "HMDL@ 1DCHRBNUDQDC HM SGD 4*
Pete Hines, vice president of marketing at 6NKEDMRSDHM publisher
Bethesda, told 1NKKHMF 2SNMD: #Q +HY &HTEEQD HR @ KDBSTQDQ HM BNLLTMHB@SHNM @S SGD 4MHUDQRHSX NE
Technology Sydney as well as a freelance arts commentator and
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nications at Swinburne University of Technology. He is also a freelance
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