exploring a greater breadth of subjects and
representing a broader range of perspectives in
games of late. We’ve seen economics explored
in everything from BioShock to Cart Life, games
about mental health such as Hellblade: Senua’s
Sacrifice and Depression Quest, games that
represent gay relationships like Gone Home and
The Last of Us: Left Behind, and greater diversity
when it comes to the characters we can play as.
This is fantastic, but it’s important to recognise
the ways in which these developments can be
limited. That Apex Legends features lots of cool
female and culturally diverse characters is a
welcome step in the right direction, but the
question that must be asked is: to what extent is
this diversity replicated in the studio that made
it? What does it mean if the politics that are
being expressed in games aren’t being reflected
in the way they’re being made?
This is an issue The Glory Society is acutely
aware of. “It’s really easy, trivially easy, to just
make slightly woker games and to master the
language and etiquette of progressiveness,”
Benson argues. “In this space, there’s a lot of big
talk about what needs to change culturally, but
the way games are produced goes largely
untouched. We’re in a place right now where
more and more people, especially younger
people, are wondering why that is. The way
something is produced, who profits from it,
who owns it, the tools it was made with, and who
controls what happens with all of it – these are
the questions that start shaking long-
undisturbed architecture. We’ve got such a
theory of change in the industry that’s centred
around pledges, conferences, hashtags, diversity
initiatives, and so on. But we organise our entire
lives around work, around the production of
things. If we’re lucky enough to find full-time
work, we spend five out of seven days of almost
every week of our adult lives there.
Our workplaces need to change.”
The Glory Society recognises that worker
co-ops aren’t, in Farren’s words, “a magic
solution.” Hockenberry points out that they
“come with challenges” and are “just one
solution of many out there.” Clearly, though, they
offer an exciting approach to dealing with many
of the issues workers in the games industry, and
even society at large, face today. These studios
might offer a glimpse at a future we could all
one day inhabit. At the very least, they should
help us extend the debates we’re already having
in the realm of culture into the workplace, so
that the important conversations that need to
be had about how the industry needs to change
can continue happening. There’s no guarantee
that these studios will serve as a template that
will give us a boss-free future, or even that they
will spark a shake-up in the relatively narrow
confines of their own industry. But as
Hockenberry points out, “It’s better than what
most of us have, so why not try?” Pixel Pushers Union 512 isn’t shy about
representing its politics in its games. The Glory Society founders’
previous game, Night in the
Woods, was a well-received
and thoughtful title –
though it was eventually
consumed by a different
sort of political discussion. Readers of blueprints: unite!
This game proves, once and
for all, that only a broad-base
revolutionary force can truly
defeat the Kraken.wfmag.cc \ 49Interface
A world without bosses?