i worry about the kids of today. sure, everybody always has, art and young minds have a way of meshing.

many of them are going to grow up with worlds and lore many times more gorgeous & enrapturing than the stuff that got into my dreams when i was a kid, and that's wonderful

but video games couple art and capitalism directly, and many of those kids are equally likely to reach adulthood with a serious thing for lootboxes and microtransactions

now that i think about it, this goes all the way back to Marathon, where you're literally a voiceless, mostly faceless military cyborg, bossed around by four different AIs for the entire series

if i'd had a PC, i might have played Doom instead, what a tragedy that would have been

tl;dr: video games don't make you violent but they do make you *gestures to thread* whatever's going on here

interviewer: so, Vyr, you're a published author now, with literally at least three people having read your work, but lately it's taken a turn. this has been a long time in the making… would you like to introduce this archive clip?

me: Susan, i don't think it needs any introduction. let's roll it!

screen: *footage from 1998 showing the first mission with Infested Terrans* LIVE FOR THE SWARM!

me: so that's probably how it started

probably the last person to catch onto this tbh

anyway when's XCOM3 happening? now i have two reasons to play it

do not @ me about either Long War, i'm not into denial or humiliation

i juuuuust now realized how horny the ADVENT psi network is, and given how it's absolutely critical to the events of XCOM2, i may never be able to play the game with a straight face again

y'all they probably had to cut a scene from the tutorial where Central digs the Commander out of where ADVENT stashed them in that lab in their interface suit, and the Commander is like "put me back fucker they have a serious top shortage and i was having fuuuun"

imaginary alien hater John "Central" Bradford has been here for me thru many hard times and failed relationships

at this point i'm so conditioned by his outfit that any girl in the right color of green sweater can have me any way she likes

provided that way includes ordering me around on a grid, customizing my hairstyle, and not getting too attached before i hit Major at least