The Problems With Charity
The way in which we as a society go about donating towards medical research is alarming. A prime example of this is the recent news that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have simply thrown a whole heap of their massive fortune in the vain hope of curing all diseases by the end of the century. This is a nice gesture from such a well off man, but an action so desperate and vague it hints of a man so detached from any form of reality that he has no clue what issues face the normal man anymore. You just can't throw money at something as serious and widespread as 'disease' with the intention of getting any form of meaningful result. That just shows a lack of understanding and a way to appease a population who spite anyone with more money than they do. I respect the man for his 3 billion dollar generosity, but throwing money at something aimlessly; come on mate.
Bill Gates understands this issue; he prefers to finance mosquito nets for malaria sufferers rather than chucking money vaguely in the direction of wellbeing. The Gates solution is even more important today considering there is already a widespread belief that
research money isn't used particularly economically, so it's imperative that Zuckerberg doesn't rely on a bold statement rather than a positive move aimed at helping medical research. I understand this wasn't Zuckerberg's intention, and I respect the man for being such a philanthropist, but this lack of care towards charity is a trend in society as a whole that blindly donates without any indication of where the money is going. You just can't cure all diseases, especially considering that viruses have the ability to mutate, and many diseases are caused by unhealthy lifestyles. So how about instead we try and fund individual programmes which actually have a hope of succeeding? Money is a very limited resource in the world of charity, so people really need to start donating with their brains rather than their hearts.
The Media and Video Games
The media will never understand video games because it likes to weave a narrative around anything controversial. I'm sure at one time there was a narrative around comic books or rock and roll music. Hell, Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' was criticised for showing some shit in a toilet bowl, so these stupid smear campaigns are hardly anything new. Nowadays however the media won't allow gamers to separate themselves from reality without some opposing narrative being woven to despise them and their allegedly dangerous habit; and I'm sick of it. This isn't quality journalism, just constant bullshit with zero integrity.
It's always the same one sided argument, constantly written by someone who is obviously never going to enjoy video games and always misses the point. I could just as easily write an article about how Werther's Originals taste like shit and how 'Countdown' is fucking boring to watch, only to then call everyone who likes those two things sadistic assholes. However I don't write anything as stupid as that because I'm never going to relate to them, and would end up writing a narrow minded piece stuffed with misinformation. That's the thing with video game journalism; never do we get articles surrounding the positive effects of video games or how people like to have fun in their lives, it's always the doom and gloom of them being poorly linked to violent behaviour with scientifically flawed studies. We'll ignore that there is no causative evidence of video games causing violence, because remember: Scaremongering and misleading stories get the attention of readers, which means shit articles on video games are going to be around for a while.
Realistic Video Game Characters
I keep seeing these articles where some artist desperate for attention decides to pander to a whinging demographic by drawing realistic looking female video game characters or superheroes. Admittedly the one I've shown above is actually to do with eating disorders, so there is a point to be made there, even if that point should have nothing to do with video game characters themselves. It's when people start taking these concept images at face value that this trend starts becoming a nuisance. They all follow the same basic idea where what was once a nice character model has been ruined by essentially creating some obese lump of lard that nobody enjoys looking at. Nobody wants to see these 'realistic' characters or superheroes, they only exist to appease these morons that think it's okay to say that every body is beautiful. How do you fucking think the game would sell if these monstrosities were included instead of some attractive figure that's designed to look good on the eye? Very few is the answer. Nobody seems to understand that these characters aren't real, and if people do choose to be inspired by the original unrealistic figures, then what's the big deal? Better than being inspired by some obese whale. How about we just let the developers make the game as they intend. Stop forcing your narrow minded standards on a whole industry and fuck off.
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