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Thursday, January 04, 2024
Steam Awards and the Nature of Elections
So, apparently the Steam Awards collided with either trolls or the collective humor of the Steam community: Red Dead Redemption II, a game famous for its lack of support since release got the Labor of Love award for best support, while Starfield got the award for Most Innovative Gameplay. Which is either funny, or somewhat sad for the other games, who actually deserve the awards they won.
The Steam Awards are an example of what I would call the "no good choices" problem of elections. I only voted in 2 categories of the Steam Awards, because in the other categories I simply hadn't played enough of the nominees to make a statement on which game was the best. It is easy to see how somebody who is asked which is the most innovative game and sees a list of games he didn't play and Starfield might be tempted to vote for Starfield as a joke. Bethesda, who already made headlines for not getting the Steam community by badgering Steam reviewers, promptly celebrated their great victory. It wasn't as if they got many other awards for their game elsewhere. Maybe their year end bonuses were linked to the number of game awards they got.
The United States of America this year will have an election in which the youngest candidate up for election to President is 78, and the average age is 80. If you read media from both sides, the choice is between a fascist who is going to destroy democracy and a communist who is going to destroy democracy. Both candidates have form in election interference, and the one thing that is certain about this election is that the result is going to be contested. If a reasonable person wanted a younger and more moderate candidate, there simply wouldn't be any option to vote for one. With choosing the lesser evil or abstaining being the only viable options, it makes you wonder how many trolls will vote for the option they consider funnier, the orange guy.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:48 AM Permanent Link
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As someone who's got a Steam Deck, I can say that the Hogwarts game is NOT good on a Steam Deck (At least, it wasn't last time I tried it)... so there's another trolled category for you :D
Tobold: "[...] it makes you wonder how many trolls will vote for the option they consider funnier, the orange guy."
Which is of course an easy way to dismiss the legitimacy of an election by blaming the result on some bad actors.
Like the trolls that voted for the senile guy after the orange guy. But before the orange guy they voted for the black guy. Twice! I mean who in their right mind would vote for ... (/s for those that don't get sarcasm.)
You have to make a choice between democracy and people deciding what they want or sticking with Churchill.
It's not democracy when you choose who is allowed to vote and who isn't based on what they would vote for.
And yes, the average voter is uninformed, disinterested and makes the choice "because I always made this choice". But the alternative is that you get no say.
Which is of course an easy way to dismiss the legitimacy of an election by blaming the result on some bad actors.
Like the trolls that voted for the senile guy after the orange guy. But before the orange guy they voted for the black guy. Twice! I mean who in their right mind would vote for ... (/s for those that don't get sarcasm.)
You have to make a choice between democracy and people deciding what they want or sticking with Churchill.
It's not democracy when you choose who is allowed to vote and who isn't based on what they would vote for.
And yes, the average voter is uninformed, disinterested and makes the choice "because I always made this choice". But the alternative is that you get no say.
I don't think that a voter not finding a good choice on the ballot and then making a cross at the option he considers "least bad" or even just funny impacting the legitimacy of an election. Every vote counts. And that includes the large majority of votes, which are done by people for reasons like "I always voted for that party" or "that candidate has a nice smile", without fully understanding the political consequences.
Still, I feel sorry for the Americans. In theory the primary system should produce the candidate in each party most suitable for the office of president. I think we can all agree that this has utterly failed in both parties. And what might be even worse is that historically the selection of vice presidential candidates is even more haphazard. Which, given the age of the presidential candidates, is likely to produce a 48th president nobody really wanted.
Still, I feel sorry for the Americans. In theory the primary system should produce the candidate in each party most suitable for the office of president. I think we can all agree that this has utterly failed in both parties. And what might be even worse is that historically the selection of vice presidential candidates is even more haphazard. Which, given the age of the presidential candidates, is likely to produce a 48th president nobody really wanted.
But that is what happened in the US two times: Trump wasn't the president because "Russians" and Hillary "actually" won popular vote and then in return that the liberals "stole" the election.
None of those went with "yep, that's what the people chose. let's give them a better option next time".
I feel "trolls" is just another variant of that scapegoat which the losing party (and associated media) can then haunt for the next 4 years. It doesn't point to anyone in particular and gives a sense of "actually WE won".
And yes, the US is between a rock and a hard place. There are only two choices and they are at loggerheads and spiralling with all the identity politics and crap that splits the population.
None of those went with "yep, that's what the people chose. let's give them a better option next time".
I feel "trolls" is just another variant of that scapegoat which the losing party (and associated media) can then haunt for the next 4 years. It doesn't point to anyone in particular and gives a sense of "actually WE won".
And yes, the US is between a rock and a hard place. There are only two choices and they are at loggerheads and spiralling with all the identity politics and crap that splits the population.
I'm not yet convinced that the majority voted as a joke or to troll. Isn't it more likely the winners were due to popularity? Red Dead Redemption II and Starfield are hugely well known games, so I imagine many just chose games they at least know rather than ones they don't
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