Mini Nationalism of Videogames

Ever notice how quickly videogame forum topics end in flame wars? There are times when it feels more like a political battle of wills than a nice happy topic about your favorite games. How is it possible that something that is designed to be fun, would turn into a huge vitriolic declaration about which system is better.

And not like this, sadly.

As I wrote before, games are just a thing. They are really amazing sticks. What we do with the sticks is how we are judged, not the stick itself. So, if its just a stick, why the hatred? Why do we have such a great thing, and turn it into a reason for fighting?

The answer is that a thing is not only a tangible object, like a stick, but also an intangible thought process, like Nationalism. In fact, the stick would remain a stick unless you applied your own imagination to it. The ideas, and uses of nationalism are what takes your imagination, and stick into a world where that other stick is less than worthy.

To understand what is going on, we must first understand nationalism. The idea has a long history, but the best example is from US history. As companies began to move out of national control, they started to build their own nationalism. Videogame companies have used the same thoughts and ideas to promote their games. Although the effect is the same, it is not as strongly held as a full nationalism, and more like minor nationalism.

Nationalism is not evil. It can be used to be evil, much like a stick can be turned into a weapon. The ideas of nationalism are basically to ideas from religious movements, and point them at the nation as a whole. There will be people sainted, or deified as the great leaders. Places will be turned into sacred monuments to the nation. The culture of the nation will be controlled as to what is part of it, and what is not. Citizenship within this nation is said to be the most sought after thing of all.

The history of nationalism is very long, and finding it’s origins would take several volumes of books to understand. Caesar was the great king, who everyone adored. Roman citizenship was wanted by everyone. There were sacred monuments of great Roman bravery.

The best example is in the early US history. This doesn’t mean that nationalism started there, only that it was the most direct, and easy to show. When the country was founded, everyone with citizenship belonged to somewhere else moments before. There were differences in language, and how things should work. The other countries had long histories of kings, and wars, where as the US was brand new. The only way to keep the country together, was to build up a national identity.

There are actually two ideas of culture. The first is the creative arts, and how they are used within the culture. The second is how people live, and do things. Nationalism tries to incorporate both, as a way to create a new cultural identity.

The founding fathers were deified. This is not a joke either. When someone says Founding Fathers in the US, it holds a great deal of dignity within it. There have been attempts to move the country towards various ideas using the founding fathers. For example, Dalton Trumbo in the 1930’s and 40’s wrote many books, scripts, and opinions that the founding fathers would be pro communist.

A cult of personality is the attempt to deify an individual. George Washington was so highly looked on that on his death, they had a picture commemorating his ascension to heaven.

George Washington as Zeus, I am not making this up. 

There are places in the US that are considered holy. I lived near one in Oahu. Pearl Harbor day is still remembered. You can look at one of the boats from a specially built floating observatory. The tour guides constantly reference how important the place is. Keep in mind, there is no similar place for the burning of San Francisco, or the Great Chicago Fire.

The idea continued, and the president of the United States has been treated as a deity in several instances. In Christ Stopped at Eboli, poor Southern Italians keep a picture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in their houses.

Americans are now a cultural entity. Even though the country was founded by a hodge podge of various cultures, and continues to have all new cultures move in, they all try to become American. This is a bit of an annoyance for people who live on the American Continent, but not the US. The identity is that everyone in the US speaks the same language, and has the same values. Even if this is not true, the country promotes the idea that it is.

It's for America, but the plane is called China?

Above is an advertisement found in November,1936 edition of Time Magazine. It wasn’t difficult to find, in fact, all I had to do was search for an old magazine printed in the US before the 1960’s. There were so many advertisements like this that it was difficult to not find them.

The basic idea is the promotion that you are not true to your country, or culture, if you do not buy from it. The US was full of adverts saying that they were not living right, unless they met a specific advertised ideal. The companies promoted that ideal, as a way to get customers.

I would complain more, but I am wearin a pair of Dickies right now. 

As the companies promoted themselves within the American Cultural ideal, a new idea came in. The companies realized that they could promote themselves using nationalism for the company. The best example would be Apple Computers.

I really hated these commercials. 

Apple specifically works to create a national identity within its own users. The declaration that I’m a Mac is used to not only make the brand special, but make the users desire to take on the other ideals. There are religious undertones to visiting a Mac Store.

There is even a cult of personality for Steve Jobs. I know people who have seen Pirates of the Silicon Valley, and thought that Jobs was amazing in the movie. This is pretty sad, because he is a ruthless dictator who nearly destroys everything he loves. In fact, the actor for Steve Jobs in that film was brought on stage during a Mac Presentation.

There is an added reason for this change to nationalism of the company. Apple is in several countries, selling the same products. It would be foolish to try to promote the American ideal to someone in China. In fact, when comparing the amount of people that work under the Apple brand, and the money going through the company, it is hard to not view it as a type of company that is also a nation.

Nationalism can be a really big thing. In China, the national desire to be perfect communists nearly destroyed the country. There would be school age children fighting with machine guns against each other over who was redder. The only way to make up for it, was to make a national movement against what had happened. In fact, the worse atrocities of last century were almost entirely caused by Nationalism. The modern North Korea holds onto its power using nationalism.

In this context, the nationalism of companies is at most times lesser than that of a full scale nationalism. There will not be a point where the PC and Mac people will drop all pretense and begin gutting each other. Which is a good thing for Starbucks everywhere.

You can compare this closer to your local sports team, or high school. Although there are strong ties to the team, they stay focused, usually. The national identity of the Seahawks, is not on par with that of being a member of the USA. Which is a good thing, because the ‘Hawks rarely win anything.

Videogame companies use these same ideals to promote their products.

There is even a cult of personality for people like Shigeru Miyamoto. Although Nintendo has several videogame creators, most people believe that it is only Miyamoto that creates games. It gets awkward when the Legend of Zelda series has not been touched by Miyamoto for years.

Religious holidays are an odd thing to think of for games, but they are quite present. The big Electronic Entertainment Expo, or Steam Sale can be viewed as a holiday for gamers.

My wallet is screaming right now. 

The big release of a game, or console is followed by lines, and parties over that game. The companies promote these ideas because it increases sales, and the view of the company itself. In other words, nationalism helps a company keep a very good image.

There is even art dedicated to videogames. Not just cool stuff on art sites, but trinkets to show off your love. Your daily life can be covered in games, and loving games.

So why is this making people fight on a forum? The answer is that even minor nationalism can cause a religious emotion within its followers. This isn’t an argument about which system has the better specs. This is an argument about whether or not the PS 4 is the greater religion than that of the Xbox One. It hasn’t caused any wars, but it does make talking about consoles, or games you like into a short subject that usually ends in long diatribes on why such and such is not going to make such and such. The reason why the John Lucas thread is so amazing, is that despite efforts by a few, the subject keeps going. To give you an idea, a thread tends to go about 200 posts before ending completely, if it s a good one. The JL piece has gone on for nearly 2,000.

Videogames are just a thing, a stick that we use our imagination to enjoy. The reason why so many people are passionate about them has nothing to do with the game itself. The origins can be found in the ideas of nationalism. As nations were formed, they needed to create an identity for people within the country. Religious ideas were used to create nationalism. At first, companies used that national culture to promote a product. Slowly, it changed to the company’s product being nationalized. Videogame companies have done the same thing with their games.

The next time you see a videogame forum, and it is lit up by rhetoric, remember what you are actually seeing. The commenters are not discussing what game was a lot of fun for them, it is the idea that this product needs to be accepted by everyone. Even I am not unswayed by all of this. I want the Nintendo Wii U to kick trash, and take names. I have not bought it, nor a 3DS, but I want these products to sell really well. I want my views of videogames to win out, and the other players to bow down to the almighty greatness that is happy games that are fun to play. In other words, I am just as caught up in it as anyone else.