Walk, don’t just talk

The other night Millennial Woes hosted a Google Hangouts live stream on his YouTube channel. In the conversation with him were several members of the youthful and mostly web-based alternative right movement (myself included, in the chat at least), all discussing the potential for using video games as a means of supporting the mission of the alternative right movement. The discussion was an interesting spectacle, thought-provoking yet also ridiculous, and probably fit for live broadcast on some mildly obscure independent television network. Various members of the alternative right’s online community speculated on and discussed how the medium of video games could be used to instill certain attitudes in gamers about the various topics and concerns that the alternative right addresses, such as honor, morality, white identity, racial awareness etc.

The notion that video games have the potential to spread awareness about the alternative right’s message intuitively comes off as dubious to me. As a college graduate of game development, I have since begun the process of what I guess you could call “growing out” of video games, ever since I finished spending three years of my life in school for them. The older I get, the more counter productive video games seem. Over the span of two decades since the age of five or so, I have spent countless thousands upon thousands of hours immersed in virtual worlds that facilitated an illusory sense of accomplishment while having little to no impact on my progress in the real world. These days however, I spend most of my time working, reading, writing, playing chess and guitar, and lifting weights in the gym. Maybe I’m trying to economize by interweaving productivity and self-improvement into the leisure and enjoyment of my spare time. At the end of the day, it feels far more rewarding than pouring many hours into something that has little to no bearing on personal success. I now see video games as being analogous to to salt; enjoyable in small portions and as a compliment to a greater context, such as parties and steak, respectively, but with drawbacks if overindulged.

But enough of my own opinion on video games in general based on my personal experience, and onto greater points looming within. During Millennial Woe’s conversation live stream on the topic, I saw the discussion bring a more pervasive problem within the alternative right movement itself into perspective. Some key details about the movement were pulled out of the wood work, placed in the light, and revealed as hindrances to the impetus of the movement. I’ll put it out of the way by reinforcing that, no, I personally don’t see the medium of video games as being a worthwhile endeavor to be undertaken for the sake of cultural conditioning in favor of the alternative right movement. Video games take too long to develop, are costly to make, and will not gain traction in challenging the politically correct narrative by pitching alternative right games to an audience that is predominately uber-liberal and pacifist. Nor will they have the power to create any meaningful impact due to the relatively niche target demographic that would see and play such games in the first place. And good luck getting big name AAA developers to embrace such an idea when profitability and low-risk business models are their greatest incentive. It’s a long shot idea at best that is easily eclipsed by other methods that have the potential to yield far greater results in their scope and effect, such as viral videos (example), mass protests (such as PEGIDA in Germany), and networking with like-minded individuals who strive to support each other in the pursuit of a common cause (example). Viral content uses easily digestible media and is easy to disseminate on a large scale. Large-scale protests are impactful and impossible to ignore. Networking in person is proactive. Being proactive is the key point to emphasize here. A collective online presence bickering in an echo chamber about one of their pastime hobbies isn’t exactly proactive.

While I have only been critical about a single instance of the alternative right’s online forum so far, I do feel that the online (and dominant?) portion of the movement runs the risk of stagnation. In the midst of recent world events, 2016 should mark the beginning of the alternative right’s evolution from a predominately online movement, to an every day real-world phenomenon. One that entails personal involvement outside of online avatars and pseudonyms. If the online aspect of the alternative right is university geared towards theory, then real-world participation is the college geared towards practical application. Recently I was contacted by a fellow alt-right identifier who is looking to start a local organization here in Canada. This is something that I will participate in, for the sake of enacting real change.