- Why Electronic Voting Is Still A Bad Idea, 2019 A short, simple video that clearly and effectively explains the basic reasons why electronic voting systems are inherently dangerous, despite whatever the latest technical innovation/fad might be.
- YouTube’s Copyright System Isn’t Broken. The World’s Is., 2020 A long, interesting, in-depth about the reality of modern copyright law and the strange and often counter-intuitive way it intersects with internet culture and modern entertainment.
- A Measured Response, 2014-
Well-researched videos responding to hot-button topics that range from “quite a few people are wrong about this, actually” to debunking straight-up lunatic conspiracy theories. - CTRL+ALT+DEL | SLA:3, 2018 This is an exploration of CAD (and other weird gamer webcomics in general), but it also makes the key point that fiction can offer perspective into how the author sees the world, especially when seemingly distorted and out-of-touch with reality without meaning to invoke camp.
- The Horror of Universal Paperclips and Space Engine, 2018 A contemplation on the web clicker game Universal Paperclips, the space simulator Space Engine, the topic of automation, and the cosmic horror of scale.
- Games, Schools, and Worlds Designed for Violence, 2019 Another video from Jacob Geller, but on a completely different topic. A video essay about how spaces are designed for expected use, and the potential psychological effects of the militarization of common spaces like schools. Starts with the design of video game environments, but quickly moves to apply those ideas elsewhere.
- Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything?, 2019
- Ludonarrative Dissonance, 2017
- Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite, 2019
On Fortnite, modern free-to-play game monitization and design, Fortnite as a “content delivery mechanism”, and games as a service in general. A good talk about hostile design and how digital spaces enable monitizing user agency and psychological pressure. “Fortnite is a glimpse of the future. An awful, perpetually monetized, vertically-integrated, vaguely hostile future.” - The Nostalgia Critic and The Wall, 2021
- Why It's Rude to Suck at Warcraft, 2022
- Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs, 2022
Ian Danskin, (Innuendo Studios)
- This Is Phil Fish, 2014
- The Alt-Right Playbook, 2017-
- Tomatoes, or How Not To Define “Art”, 2017 A summary of the “what is art” conversation/argument and the difference between experiential definitions and axiomatic definitions. An argument about how to think about words and definitions in general.
- CO-VIDs: the gandhi trap, 2020 A short video essay about the optics of brutal state violence against peaceful protesters — Bob Altemeyer’s “Gandhi trap” — and the use of intentional disinformation campaigns to manipulate them.
- CO-VIDs: the semiotics of "cuck", 2021
- The Death Penalty feat. PragerU, 2020 A long video essay about the political debate over the death penalty, the various factions pushing on both the issue, and their arguments.
- PragerU & The Law, 2021 A relatively short but thorough video about the law and how the rhetoric of legality is misused by authoritarian factions, and how what some people refer to as “The Law” (when wielding it) has nothing to do with legality, policy, or any sort of civic process.
- Harry Potter, 2022
- Ben Shapiro and the Politics of Imagination, 2019
- The Strange World of YouTube’s Corporate Propaganda, 2020
A video essay about YouTube and modern content platforms in general. Makes the excellent point that YouTube’s business model depends on it seeming like an invisible, natural force, when in fact it actively engages in relationships very similar to employer/employee, but with fewer protections.
Some More News
- Perhaps Ben Shapiro Shouldn't Be Taken Seriously By Anyone About Anything, 2019
- Why Is Tucker Carlson?, 2019
- Elon Musk Is Not Your Friend, 2021
- Our Popcorn Movie Dystopia, 2021
- What Conservative Hypocrisy Reveals About Their Ideology, 2022
Pay to Win | Jimmy McGee
A series of videos about making money from games.
The Right-Wing War on Education | Zoe Bee
Unity's Plan Won't Work, but Someone Else's Will | Pillar of Garbage
The Austrian Wine Poisoning | Down the Rabbit Hole | Fredrik Knudsen 📚, 2020
The incredible story of the Austrian wine poisoning of the 1980s, and how it turned out the wine industries of entire countries relied on poisoning their supply with antifreeze.
Don’t Be a Sucker | USA, 1947
Anti-fascist propaganda produced by the United States military in the wake of World War II. An explanation of the social engineering and rhetoric that pulls people to fascist ideologies, as well as how police forces with discretionary authority to arrest people are tools of evil. Honestly heartwarming.
Rise of The Doomer: Why So Many People Are Giving Up | Sarah Z, 2020
A look at the “doomer”; the disillusioned, hopeless generation. Where the name came from, some of the causes of modern existential despair, and ways of dealing with the burnout.
Social Constructs (or, 'What is A Woman, Really?') | Philosophy Tube, 2021
Disney Channel's Theme: A History Mystery | Defunctland (Kevin Perjurer), 2022
How did everything become a monthly fee? | Simon Caine, 2022
The Consumerist Dystopia of Harry Potter | Verity Ritchie 📚, 2023
Unboxing the hidden politics of SimCity | Clayton Ashley, 2021
A video about how SimCity — a simple city simulation game — comes bundled with a particular political worldview, why such bundling is actually necessary, and the danger of treating a computer simulation as value neutral.
Music Theory and White Supremacy | Adam Neely, 2020
A look at “dumb liberals think music is racist, lol” and how it turns out if you study the history, it absolutely is. On the integration of white supremacy into “neutral” society, and “the epistemology of ignorance”.
Capitalism makes sh!t products | Yugopnik, 2020
A video by self-proclaimed Balkan Socialist on planned obsolescence and the inadequacy of market incentives. Different economic systems incentivize different kinds of products, and this is a good explanation of why planned obsolescence in particular is/demonstrates one of capitalism’s great weaknesses.
Let’s go whaling: Tricks for monetising mobile game players with free-to-play | Torulf Jernström, 2016
A talk from a mobile game development conference that explores the “dark pattern” design techniques to make addictive video games that extract as much money from the public as possible. Dark stuff.
What You need to know about stalkerware | Eva Galperin 📚, 2019
A brief Ted Talk about so-called “stalkerware”: commercial spyware commonly used by abusers to do in-depth reconnaissance on their victims, often deliberately allowed or ignored by commercial antivirus and other security systems.
Level Design | Joe Wintergreen 📚, 2016
A collection of short videos from Joe Wintergreen about geometrical level design tools and problems modern game development workflows have that old systems like Quake and Half Life didn’t. See also his twitter thread here about the design tools in Half Life: Alyx
The War on General-Purpose Computing | Cory Doctorow 📚, 2011-
A series of talks by Cory Doctorow on legal and corporate attacks against general purpose computers, and how those attacks are serious threats to liberty. Started as prescient prediction in 2011, has evolved into a summary of how that’s happening today.
Investigation: How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers
Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper. | People Make Games
Everything is a Remix | Kirby Ferguson, 2010 (HD 2015)
Modern Wonka Doesn't Work | Jack Saint, 2023
Anti-Vaping Ads want you to Vape | Maggie Mae Fish, 2023