Self-Congratulatory Hubris
I was back at the IF Planet thinking that I should add my blog back to the list. After scouring through a few blogs of my fellows, it became clear to me that Sturm Und Drang IF is a poor companion for the others. It sticks out like a bleeding thumb; it is the blood-red flower in a monochrome garden. It is one of the last voices of the lonely individual IF developer, amid the sick tide of masturbatory intellectualism and indie game developer snobbery.
Both of the aforementioned trends scream “look at me, look at me” as the blog authors attempt to make miniature deities out of themselves. The self-congratulatory aspect is what I find especially odious. It’s amazing to me, really, the need for people to brag about what they’re doing or their honors, as though anyone would be impressed by them. What you say to the people who write this or that means absolutely nothing to me, and will have absolutely no impact on my life, or my games, because it’s all small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. And no, honestly, I don’t give two stale turds about what board you sit on, what initials you have after your name, or any of the high regalia of an empty and dead society that you adorn yourself with. Those things are bones and ash!
Words outlast our lives and yet, instead of seeking something meaningful to say with them, here we all are, chasing after pointless honors. Two steps from death, we still fret about makeup.
(Note: After sleeping on it, I decided to take out the links to blogs that demonstrated these trends. There’s just no point in stating what everyone already knows or can find out by simply looking as I did. It’s much more helpful to take issues with attitudes and let people figure out if the shoe fits them.)
