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Videogames and Sociology: Twitter's pic of the day summary (46-50)

This is the tenth round of Pic of the day RECAP (46-50). To understand what all of this is about, check out the original entry.

46 - Max Payne:  The American dream

Proud and confident. Almost invincible. That's how Max Payne felt before everything went south for him. Because it seems that when things take a turn for the worse they just go south, where all that is bad happens. "Is the American dream dead?" asked Crish Cillizza in a article published on the Washington Post. There's every likelihood that it is indeed dead. Over, like in the Rob Orbison's song. Kaput, like The Weimar Republic in 1933. In the end, all that middle class canned happiness was mostly bullshit. Advanced liberalism and post-Fordist capitalism are like those free-to-play games; you only win if you pay enough. And by enough I mean a lot.

47 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs  This world is a machine! A machine for pigs!


This world is a machine! Is that good or bad? Wait a moment, there is more. A machine for pigs! Well, that is more accurate. The world is a big, monstrous, relentless, and ruthless machinery inclined to crush any being that happens to inhabit its entrails. Don't be fooled. A machine for pigs is a more poetical way to refer to a slaughterhouse. And if it wasn't enough wrecking our bodies mercilessly, the machine also wants to break our souls, minds, wishes, ideas, hopes and anything that resembles humanity - that suspicious notion. Just watch all those greedy fascists governing and operating the machine. They're also pigs that will be equally devoured by the machine eventually; they have just decided to buy a little more time sacrificing everyone else in the process. 

48 - Octodad:  BLRBRLBLBRLBLRBLOOOOOOOO


BLRBR LBLBRLBL RBLOOO OOOOOBLR BRLBLB RLBL RBL OOOOOOO OWeberBL RBRLB LBR LBLRBL OOOO OOOOLatourBL RBR LBL BRLB LRBLO OOOOO OOSocialisationBLRB RLBL BR LBLRBL OOOO OOO ODurkheimBL RBRLB LBRL BLRBLOOO OO OO OETABLRBRL BLBR LBL RBLO OOO OOO OAgencyBLR BRLBL BRLB LRB LOO OOO OOOBourdieuBLR BRLBL BRLBL RBLOO OOOO OO BL RBRLBLB RLBL RBLO OOO OO OOMediationsBL RBRLBL BRLBLR BLOOO OOO OO BLRB RLBLBR LBLRB LOOO OOO OOB LRBR LBL BRLBLR BLOOOO OOOORajoyBL RBR LB LBR LBLRB LOOO OOO OOB LRBR LBLB RLBLRBLO OOO OOO OStructuractionBLRBR LBLB RLB LRBL OOOOOO OOBLR BRLBL BRLB LRBLOO OOOO OOEpistemology BLR BRLBL BRLBL RBLOO OOOO OOGiddensB LRBR LBLB RLBLR BLO OO OOO O

49 - Metro 2033: Light! Someone must be there


Have your ever heard that epistemological crap about the smoke and the fire? You know, if there is smoke, that will be the sign of the existence of a fire and so on and so forth. Well, we tend, not always fortunately, to interpret reality in those terms. Look! Light! Someone must be there. Look! Water! There must be a leak. Look! Lipsticks traces! A woman must have been drinking from this glass. Listen! A dog is barking! Someone must be trespassing. We should deal with those signs as the character in the screenshot: with suspicion and, preferably, drawing a firearm.

50 - The Binding of Isaac:  Faith Up!


I often think that video games just copy their mechanics from reality. After all, is not what really happens in real life? Whenever we finish counting the beads of our rosary, faith up! Wherever we visit a church, faith up! Whoever prays to a god, faith up! Whichever sermon you hear, faith up! That also works in the opposite direction, all those things that make our faith go down. All in all, we all have a lifebar or a certain amount of health points, we collect coins and have keys. Some even have guns and bombs. And we try to level up as much as we can in order to overcome any barrier we might find in our paths and to defeat the new boss (sometimes literally) that impedes our progression in life. Doubtlessly, we need as much faith as we can get.

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