I didn’t even think there were serious solar punk stories, and even if so, aren’t all of them like technological utopias? Why would entertainment ie video games be gone from them? Even if they aren’t the focus (which makes sense) what reason would a solar punk society have to do away with video games?
Read “Project Hieroglyph” and the way one of its “optimistic” stories (“Girl in Wave: Wave in Girl”) shows a multiplayer superhero game and the main character hates it. That’s not how mental illness works, computers used to be GOOD for providing social contact. That’s not education, that’s “fix yourself”.
I am not broken. I am unhappy because I don’t want to live in a world where I face reality, whether that’s “IRL” or “social media”. You know why I like the 4th Matrix movie? It reminds us that this image isn’t what the world provides, it’s what the Matrix - real life - forces us to work towards. The Matrix isn’t just the fake world, it’s the fake world on top of a real one and the real escape is to change, not break, the system that binds us because there is nothing in the real but vast lifeless desert. Mars, the Moon… Dead rocks. There is no evidence of an afterlife nor any point to “accepting” a secular life you hate because you will still hate it and “scientific evidence only” doesn’t fix anything or change who you are.
Also are you ok? I find it rather odd to be this intensely invested about what is generally a fairly niche community in solarpunk. Not that the mission and ideology aren’t worth being passionate about, but I mean we are talking about video games and green societies nothing crazy.
Mainly I’m a sci-fi author who hates the genre because almost everyone else wants it to be true and I’m the only one saying “it would literally be like the world is a prison to me” only to get the response “you’re the only one not allowed to be happy, suffer so normal people are all equal”.
Again I’m really not sure where this is coming from since the majority of solarpunk people I’ve talked to do not espouse the view you are describing. But in the interest of fairness; why would solarpunk which only aims to create a fair, renewable energy based, democratic post scarcity society focused on human happiness be a prison to you?
Mainly because, at least as far as I’ve seen, solarpunk societies requires “taking responsibility for your survival into your own hands” which I am mentally incapable of doing, and not from lazyness or lack of effort. Trust me, if I could hold a job I wouldn’t be able to afford to not be working right now. I might have a mild form of oppositional defiant disorder or a bad case of PTSD, but when someone is a jerk to me I take it personally and hold grudges, making working with people who give me orders or take orders from me essentially like ordering a cat to herd sheep.
I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree, I think solarpunk societies are focused on community and not on “taking responsibility for your survival into your own hands”. That view is for people trying to run away from others. Generally solarpunk is just for people who want to build a more environmentally conscious society, not one that abandons people. In your case specifically, I think a solarpunk society would actually benefit you greatly.
I’ll definitely have to give that a read, though some quick reading of opinions about that work are fairly mixed.
Also no one has said you’re broken or that you need to face reality. The whole point of solarpunk is that will be no world to face unless we take action. And none of that has anything to do with video games or anything you have described.
To be fair, I’m aware you’re correct, it’s a shitty book with very little actual optimism. It’s not alone though, aside from the Necroverse I also have issue with the general attitude of solarpunk because it proposes that humans can’t have a genuine affinity for a digital existence.
“You don’t have to upload if you don’t want to, and I will march with you against the singularity to defend that. March against me, though, and I will not be subject to your worldview willingly.” I don’t actually believe the singularity is likely, technology doesn’t work that way, but that point still stands. Solarpunk demands you sacrifice what you have for “the greater good” even if you have very little to begin with.
Imagine if the evil cyberpunk megacorp, or the steampunk empress, or the dieselpunk dictatorship, or the biopunk megacorp, told you up-front what the costs really are. Nobody would buy into their machinations. Solarpunk tells you “You want satisfaction? Run away to the middle of nowhere and pretend electronics can be made at 1nm scale without semiconductor factories and never play with your tech toys ever again.” and doesn’t seem to care that outliers like me will say “Actually, I am satisfied. I’m angry because you want to take that away.”
Scratch that. It doesn’t have to care. “If everyone but the corner cases wants it, we can FORCE it to happen. Just like the conservatives did with cyberpunk.” It learned, so to speak, what the Social Media Dystopia did to win. It bought an election of an ideology, because without the popular upvote a corporation can’t become powerful in a world with online criticism. I’m trying to kill an idea before that idea truly becomes an issue, by pointing out that solarpunk is still dystopian.
Um, but the majority of video games are not made by big tech? What is your point? Indie games are usually just better overall anyway. I’m really failing to see why any solarpunk society would stop people from making video games
Because solarpunk writers are rarely, if ever, gamers. Gamers are a niche subculture in the solarpunk works I’ve seen and as you’re seeing, people in the solarpunk community seem to like it that way.
My confusion continues to compound. Many of the people in this thread have zero issue with video games or actually play them. I really gotta see a source for
Explain why then, despite someone important mentioning video games occurs in the Necroverse (Transhumanist Cyberjock/Solarpunk story by “RichM90071”), no games being played are EVER shown.
I think that’s just cause video games are not great entertainment for grander story beats. They’re kinda like knitting or watching tv, something you do in your off time to relax or get away but not really flashy enough like gambling or an opera house to be featured.
I didn’t even think there were serious solar punk stories, and even if so, aren’t all of them like technological utopias? Why would entertainment ie video games be gone from them? Even if they aren’t the focus (which makes sense) what reason would a solar punk society have to do away with video games?
@TeryVeneno I can’t imagine a solarpunk universe *without* games honestly. In my head-cannon they’re a vital part of education.
Agreed, it seems really odd for any such society to do away with something so beloved
Read “Project Hieroglyph” and the way one of its “optimistic” stories (“Girl in Wave: Wave in Girl”) shows a multiplayer superhero game and the main character hates it. That’s not how mental illness works, computers used to be GOOD for providing social contact. That’s not education, that’s “fix yourself”.
I am not broken. I am unhappy because I don’t want to live in a world where I face reality, whether that’s “IRL” or “social media”. You know why I like the 4th Matrix movie? It reminds us that this image isn’t what the world provides, it’s what the Matrix - real life - forces us to work towards. The Matrix isn’t just the fake world, it’s the fake world on top of a real one and the real escape is to change, not break, the system that binds us because there is nothing in the real but vast lifeless desert. Mars, the Moon… Dead rocks. There is no evidence of an afterlife nor any point to “accepting” a secular life you hate because you will still hate it and “scientific evidence only” doesn’t fix anything or change who you are.
Also are you ok? I find it rather odd to be this intensely invested about what is generally a fairly niche community in solarpunk. Not that the mission and ideology aren’t worth being passionate about, but I mean we are talking about video games and green societies nothing crazy.
Mainly I’m a sci-fi author who hates the genre because almost everyone else wants it to be true and I’m the only one saying “it would literally be like the world is a prison to me” only to get the response “you’re the only one not allowed to be happy, suffer so normal people are all equal”.
Again I’m really not sure where this is coming from since the majority of solarpunk people I’ve talked to do not espouse the view you are describing. But in the interest of fairness; why would solarpunk which only aims to create a fair, renewable energy based, democratic post scarcity society focused on human happiness be a prison to you?
Mainly because, at least as far as I’ve seen, solarpunk societies requires “taking responsibility for your survival into your own hands” which I am mentally incapable of doing, and not from lazyness or lack of effort. Trust me, if I could hold a job I wouldn’t be able to afford to not be working right now. I might have a mild form of oppositional defiant disorder or a bad case of PTSD, but when someone is a jerk to me I take it personally and hold grudges, making working with people who give me orders or take orders from me essentially like ordering a cat to herd sheep.
I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree, I think solarpunk societies are focused on community and not on “taking responsibility for your survival into your own hands”. That view is for people trying to run away from others. Generally solarpunk is just for people who want to build a more environmentally conscious society, not one that abandons people. In your case specifically, I think a solarpunk society would actually benefit you greatly.
I’ll definitely have to give that a read, though some quick reading of opinions about that work are fairly mixed.
Also no one has said you’re broken or that you need to face reality. The whole point of solarpunk is that will be no world to face unless we take action. And none of that has anything to do with video games or anything you have described.
To be fair, I’m aware you’re correct, it’s a shitty book with very little actual optimism. It’s not alone though, aside from the Necroverse I also have issue with the general attitude of solarpunk because it proposes that humans can’t have a genuine affinity for a digital existence.
“You don’t have to upload if you don’t want to, and I will march with you against the singularity to defend that. March against me, though, and I will not be subject to your worldview willingly.” I don’t actually believe the singularity is likely, technology doesn’t work that way, but that point still stands. Solarpunk demands you sacrifice what you have for “the greater good” even if you have very little to begin with.
Imagine if the evil cyberpunk megacorp, or the steampunk empress, or the dieselpunk dictatorship, or the biopunk megacorp, told you up-front what the costs really are. Nobody would buy into their machinations. Solarpunk tells you “You want satisfaction? Run away to the middle of nowhere and pretend electronics can be made at 1nm scale without semiconductor factories and never play with your tech toys ever again.” and doesn’t seem to care that outliers like me will say “Actually, I am satisfied. I’m angry because you want to take that away.”
Scratch that. It doesn’t have to care. “If everyone but the corner cases wants it, we can FORCE it to happen. Just like the conservatives did with cyberpunk.” It learned, so to speak, what the Social Media Dystopia did to win. It bought an election of an ideology, because without the popular upvote a corporation can’t become powerful in a world with online criticism. I’m trying to kill an idea before that idea truly becomes an issue, by pointing out that solarpunk is still dystopian.
Simple. Because most solarpunk is written by people who hate technology corporations.
To be fair, big tech is evil. Doesn’t change my point.
Um, but the majority of video games are not made by big tech? What is your point? Indie games are usually just better overall anyway. I’m really failing to see why any solarpunk society would stop people from making video games
Because solarpunk writers are rarely, if ever, gamers. Gamers are a niche subculture in the solarpunk works I’ve seen and as you’re seeing, people in the solarpunk community seem to like it that way.
My confusion continues to compound. Many of the people in this thread have zero issue with video games or actually play them. I really gotta see a source for
Explain why then, despite someone important mentioning video games occurs in the Necroverse (Transhumanist Cyberjock/Solarpunk story by “RichM90071”), no games being played are EVER shown.
I think that’s just cause video games are not great entertainment for grander story beats. They’re kinda like knitting or watching tv, something you do in your off time to relax or get away but not really flashy enough like gambling or an opera house to be featured.
All video games are made by technology corporations! Except for Open TTD of course.