Frustrated and conflicted

Everyone is part of a community. Some people don’t even realize it. That group you talk to at the gym, the small friend group at work, and even just neighbors that happen to not despise each other makes them part of the community. A community is simply a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. A discourse community is similar with the added bonus of interests or goals aligning. In that regard, a DnD group is considered part of the bigger dnd discourse community due to their shared interests. I myself would be part of the “gamer” discourse community. More specifically the gamers that are dissatisfied with the current state of the games they play.

Said goal so to speak of this group is simply to improve the quality and state of gaming as a whole, or at the very least be loud enough to have a snowball effect to whatever the target was at the time. One place to start with this group is the reason why I consider myself part of it. For the majority of my life I’ve played games, 13 years as of writing this(I’m 18). So I have seen how games were affected by growing technology at the time. Myself and others also slowly came to the realization that the newer games seem to lose their soul as time passes. A sequel may not be as good as the first and wildcard indie game shows how low quality the professional games become. It became increasingly aggravating to see studios take less risks with ideas and make everything cookie cutter. This brings us into the interests aligning, one example of this was the battle royale phase of gaming. This was a phase where the new fad of games was players fighting each other in a free for all style in a massive map. The success of a few big names had everyone follow suit. It made every game feel the same, most were just blatant ripoffs with nothing new being brought to the table. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of what views would align with my own. Studios would deploy more predatory marketing tactics such as a battle pass and live service to make a quick buck. Why allow players to earn anything for free, when we can lock all the cool looking things behind a paywall? Along with that, let’s never release these things again so people will be forced to spend all their time playing our game to get it. Take advantage of FOMO because screw you and your time, you are nothing but a wallet to me, you’ll come back no matter the trash we pump out cause you have no choice. That is most professional CEOs of companies see their consumers. The worst part is that the higher ups of these companies have actually gone out and said this too. So naturally gamers would become very vocal about this issue and protest the only way they know how, online since that’s all we can do. The platform known as gaming is a bit like a dystopia, there are few that are willing to go against the big companies so we are just stuck with what we got. It is, however, quite amusing to see a one man team make a game that would outsell one of the most well known IPs with 100 times the budget. The only way to open their eyes is to hit them where it hurts the most. The wallet. Another example of lower quality in games is the attempt to include communities in the most obnoxious way possible. Nothing makes me want to drop a piece of media more than “look at me I’m a strong transgender woman” or something similar, it’s so on the nose and lazy it hurts. The worst part is that they are trying to accommodate the loud few that are problematic and will never pick up the game. They would rather rewrite games to fit an audience that isn’t there than produce quality. Race swap that person, make that one gay, take out all their faults and what makes them feel real for a shitty mary sue who can’t do any wrong. Not that I or the community have a problem with certain people or groups, it’s the fact that they would change something established rather than make something new. There are some quality pieces that do this, but that’s far and inbetween. Like-minded views are a key part of making a community and being part of it. Good thing it isn’t an echo chamber as there is always a target of scrutiny here.

Getting back on track from that rant I just made you read, a community I feel less in tune or a part of is COMD in city tech. COMD is the communication design major. There are many signs that I belong and many more that I don’t. One of them being my lack of creativity when compared to some of my peers. I consider myself knowledgeable on the basics and intermediate parts of the course somewhat, but there is always someone better, no multiple people that are better or able to get something across more creative than me. Another thing is listening to some professors talk and how foreign it is, which is weird considering I’ve done some of what is being taught before. Which brings me into why I feel like I do belong. My experience. In highschool I was in ACMA, the academy of communication and media arts. I have made logos, touched up photos and edited videos so I know more than most who went in blind. In fact highschool is the reason why I decided to choose my major as COMD. I don’t see my major as boring or too difficult for me to handle, so I think for the time being I will stay in it. The interest is there, however this is still the stage of attempting to adjust and become a part of the community. 

Reflecting on the communities I chose, I see that time plays a big part in finding your place. For gaming I’ve had more than half my life to find my place. COMD has only been part of my life for around quarter of my life, when im still trying to figure what the fuck im doing. I still haven’t seen all that gaming has to offer, so how would I realistically figure out my place in COMD? I think I need more time to adjust. Interests aren’t the only thing that make you a part of a discourse community.