14 ms·

The Legend of GayBlade

210 points by polm23 6y ago

jonny_eh 6y ago
As mentioned in the article, this was covered in the Netflix doc series High Score (episode 3): https://www.netflix.com/title/81019087 https://www.netflix.com/title/81019087
- skc 6y ago
  Yes, found that docu-series highly frustrating because they left out so much. But I suppose there was only so much time.
  - Nacdor 6y ago
    It never claimed to be an exhaustive history of the video game industry so I'm not sure why so many people levy this criticism against it. It reminds me of the G4 show called Icons, with each episode covering a specific game, developer or piece of gaming hardware. I thought it did a great job of covering the topics that were chosen. It wasn't quite as good as The Toys That Made Us but it was still very enjoyable if you're into video games and I really hope they're making another season.
    - krige 6y ago
      Exhaustive or not, it is very wrong on quite a number of topics it claims to cover. For example Chun-Li being a first fully playable female video game character? No matter how you try to frame it is either wrong or extremely wrong.
      - foxdev 6y ago
        Did they completely skip Metroid? Samus Aran showed up in 1986.
        tilolebo 6y ago
        There were some images featured, not much more.
  - hnick 6y ago
    I get your point but I liked it a lot despite this. They had some big names but the focus on the little people (players), the Nintendo call centre, and stuff like Gay Blade was a part of history I hadn't really seen especially as a non-US person. Finishing at Doom seemed an odd place to stop, though I guess an argument can be made that's the start of the modern era even though it was nearly 30 years ago now. There's definitely setup there for a sequel covering things like MMOs.
    - hvs 6y ago
      As an American, the Nintendo callcenter and Gay Blade parts were new to me as well, and I lived through most of the time period of the series. I think Doom made sense to end on. It was really the first modern 3D FPS. Plus, in the mid-90's (when it was released) there was an explosion of gaming. It would be hard to summarize the period after the mid-90's to today (look how much they had to cut out during the comparatively quiet 70s and 80s.
      - hnick 6y ago
        It makes sense in retrospect, I just wasn't expecting it to suddenly stop when it did (I was paying no attention to number of episodes). Though every year in the mid-90s was indeed a huge step forward so it'd be tough to cover everything that happened. It's a bit funny to me they didn't drop the term 'Doom clone' in there before going straight for FPS. That term hung around for years as a testament to its influence.
userbinator 6y ago
I thought this would be related to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyblade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyblade , but actually predates that by a few years.
- bap 6y ago
  Perhaps this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro,_The_Gay_Blade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro,_The_Gay_Blade
Lammy 6y ago
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caper_in_the_Castro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caper_in_the_Castro
leeoniya 6y ago
wonder if this was an inspiration for https://drawntogether.fandom.com/wiki/Xandir https://drawntogether.fandom.com/wiki/Xandir
valuearb 6y ago
Is this Gaytekeeping? “ One thing to say though, is that perhaps you should be careful to have an accurate historical record? Queer theory did not exist until ~mid 1990s, so perhaps none of these games are LGBTQIA+ — they’re Gay and Lesbian works.”
- hvs 6y ago
  Strikes me more as pedantry.
- foxdev 6y ago
  How to frame history with understanding that didn't exist for the people in it is probably a whole field of study. Most of the letters in the acronym existed (if not by the same name) before then, though meanings have evolved.
- vanderZwan 6y ago
  Eh, I think it's comparable to how some musicians sound really punk but were ten years too early to be labelled as such (and hence are often considered rock & roll of the "proto-punk" variety, for example)
prvc 6y ago
Feels like a submarine ad for Netflix.
- yabai_yatsu 6y ago
  What's a submarine ad?
  - rzzzt 6y ago
    An advertisement that entices you to buy a submarine. Actually, it's a reference to Paul Graham's observation that when news articles start to appear about anything almost simultaneously, it might be the result of a deliberate effort on someone's part to sell something along with all the generated talk: http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
    - godelski 6y ago
      Isn't this just native advertising?
      - justinpombrio 6y ago
        Close but not quite. A native advertisement is an ad, dressed up to look like news. A submarine ad is news. It's true, it's newsworthy (though that seems to be a low bar), it's a perfectly reasonable thing to be published as news. It just... happened not to be discovered by a journalist. Instead it was discovered by a company who hunted for possible news stories that would make them look good or would mention their product, found one, and presented it to a journalist. All nicely researched and ready to go; an easy story. (If this doesn't make sense, Paul Graham explains it better.) That's my understanding, at least. I'm sure there are tons of shades of grey and no clear boundaries between these things.
        godelski 6y ago
        Thank you for the clarification. I can see this being a pretty blurry boundary between the two but I think the distinction does make sense. In one sense I wouldn't really call native advertising lazy, but it seems like that is a defining feature of submarine ads (if we use "lazy" in this specific way).
everdumb 6y ago
When I was a child, Smear the Queer was a game all the boys played. Fag was a commonly used slur. When I was in high school the state of California told gay couples to go fuck themselves. Societal progress is a wonderful thing to see.
- xref 6y ago
  It is a great thing to see, California is described as some sort of lefty-socialist-liberal bastion today but like you said it was only 12 years ago they (unconstitutionally) voted in a ban on gay marriage https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_California_Proposition_8 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_California_Proposition_...
  - loeg 6y ago
    California was also considered a lefty-socialist-liberal bastion 12 years ago.
    - rayiner 6y ago
      Public opinion on same-sex marriage changed very quickly from 2008 to 2016. Obama opposed same sex marriage in 2008 and didn’t really support it until after the 2012 election. And I'm not sure it's totally accurate to say that what happened was people coming around to "lefty liberalism." The nature of the debate changed quite significantly after 2005. First, it became clear to the public that sexual orientation was an immutable characteristic. When I was growing up in the 1990s, it was still common to hear it called a "lifestyle" implying it was a choice. Second, there was an increased focus on equal legal rights for committed same-sex couples. Appealing to neutral application of universal legal principles is usually a compelling message for even non-lefty Americans. Around the same time as Prop 8 was passed, a state Supreme Court decision legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. Iowans aren't particularly lefty, but a slim plurality supported the decision within a year or two. Third, in the same timeframe a number of mainline Protestant churches began ordaining gay clergy. While the political influence of these denominations is less than in the past, they’re still a powerful force in the center of the political spectrum among middle age and older Americans. The end result of all that was Obergefell which wasn't particularly lefty or liberal. Justice Kennedy's opinion was a paean to marriage as an ancient and essential social institution. Because marriage was fundamental, participation in it could not be denied to same-sex couples just because of the programming they were born with. Of course, none of this would've happened without decades of tireless "lefty liberal" advocacy. But public opinion changed dramatically within a single decade, and wasn't accompanied a similarly large leftward shift in peoples' politics generally. So it's interesting to think about what drove those changes.
matthewheath 6y ago
This was such an interesting read. As a gay man, I'm pleased some of our culture is being unearthed from the past like this.
- cblconfederate 6y ago
  I think a lot of the gay culture is not well known , even though it's such an important and disproportionally influential little part of western culture. Part of it is because parts of it are considered too racy for todays generally conservative world.
xmars 6y ago
What about gay music? Gay ice cream?
- duncan_bayne 6y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gaytime https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gaytime Given the intentional double entendre and commercial success - it's now a cultural icon - I'm going to optimistically interpret its existence in a positive light. I mean, I can't imagine this product existing in many (most?) countries at the time.
- krapp 6y ago
  >What about gay music? Gay ice cream? [zoidberg] why not both? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w02QxQZGQc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w02QxQZGQc [/zoidberg] (NSFW)
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

210 points by polm23 6y ago

As mentioned in the article, this was covered in the Netflix doc series High Score (episode 3): https://www.netflix.com/title/81019087 https://www.netflix.com/title/81019087

skc 6y ago
Yes, found that docu-series highly frustrating because they left out so much. But I suppose there was only so much time.
- Nacdor 6y ago
  It never claimed to be an exhaustive history of the video game industry so I'm not sure why so many people levy this criticism against it. It reminds me of the G4 show called Icons, with each episode covering a specific game, developer or piece of gaming hardware. I thought it did a great job of covering the topics that were chosen. It wasn't quite as good as The Toys That Made Us but it was still very enjoyable if you're into video games and I really hope they're making another season.
  - krige 6y ago
    Exhaustive or not, it is very wrong on quite a number of topics it claims to cover. For example Chun-Li being a first fully playable female video game character? No matter how you try to frame it is either wrong or extremely wrong.
    - foxdev 6y ago
      Did they completely skip Metroid? Samus Aran showed up in 1986.
      - tilolebo 6y ago
        There were some images featured, not much more.
- hnick 6y ago
  I get your point but I liked it a lot despite this. They had some big names but the focus on the little people (players), the Nintendo call centre, and stuff like Gay Blade was a part of history I hadn't really seen especially as a non-US person. Finishing at Doom seemed an odd place to stop, though I guess an argument can be made that's the start of the modern era even though it was nearly 30 years ago now. There's definitely setup there for a sequel covering things like MMOs.
  - hvs 6y ago
    As an American, the Nintendo callcenter and Gay Blade parts were new to me as well, and I lived through most of the time period of the series. I think Doom made sense to end on. It was really the first modern 3D FPS. Plus, in the mid-90's (when it was released) there was an explosion of gaming. It would be hard to summarize the period after the mid-90's to today (look how much they had to cut out during the comparatively quiet 70s and 80s.
    - hnick 6y ago
      It makes sense in retrospect, I just wasn't expecting it to suddenly stop when it did (I was paying no attention to number of episodes). Though every year in the mid-90s was indeed a huge step forward so it'd be tough to cover everything that happened. It's a bit funny to me they didn't drop the term 'Doom clone' in there before going straight for FPS. That term hung around for years as a testament to its influence.

userbinator 6y ago

I thought this would be related to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyblade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyblade , but actually predates that by a few years.

bap 6y ago
Perhaps this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro,_The_Gay_Blade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro,_The_Gay_Blade

Lammy 6y ago

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caper_in_the_Castro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caper_in_the_Castro

leeoniya 6y ago

wonder if this was an inspiration for https://drawntogether.fandom.com/wiki/Xandir https://drawntogether.fandom.com/wiki/Xandir

valuearb 6y ago

Is this Gaytekeeping? “ One thing to say though, is that perhaps you should be careful to have an accurate historical record? Queer theory did not exist until ~mid 1990s, so perhaps none of these games are LGBTQIA+ — they’re Gay and Lesbian works.”

hvs 6y ago
Strikes me more as pedantry.
foxdev 6y ago
How to frame history with understanding that didn't exist for the people in it is probably a whole field of study. Most of the letters in the acronym existed (if not by the same name) before then, though meanings have evolved.
vanderZwan 6y ago
Eh, I think it's comparable to how some musicians sound really punk but were ten years too early to be labelled as such (and hence are often considered rock & roll of the "proto-punk" variety, for example)

prvc 6y ago

Feels like a submarine ad for Netflix.

yabai_yatsu 6y ago
What's a submarine ad?
- rzzzt 6y ago
  An advertisement that entices you to buy a submarine. Actually, it's a reference to Paul Graham's observation that when news articles start to appear about anything almost simultaneously, it might be the result of a deliberate effort on someone's part to sell something along with all the generated talk: http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
  - godelski 6y ago
    Isn't this just native advertising?
    - justinpombrio 6y ago
      Close but not quite. A native advertisement is an ad, dressed up to look like news. A submarine ad is news. It's true, it's newsworthy (though that seems to be a low bar), it's a perfectly reasonable thing to be published as news. It just... happened not to be discovered by a journalist. Instead it was discovered by a company who hunted for possible news stories that would make them look good or would mention their product, found one, and presented it to a journalist. All nicely researched and ready to go; an easy story. (If this doesn't make sense, Paul Graham explains it better.) That's my understanding, at least. I'm sure there are tons of shades of grey and no clear boundaries between these things.
      - godelski 6y ago
        Thank you for the clarification. I can see this being a pretty blurry boundary between the two but I think the distinction does make sense. In one sense I wouldn't really call native advertising lazy, but it seems like that is a defining feature of submarine ads (if we use "lazy" in this specific way).

everdumb 6y ago

When I was a child, Smear the Queer was a game all the boys played. Fag was a commonly used slur. When I was in high school the state of California told gay couples to go fuck themselves. Societal progress is a wonderful thing to see.

xref 6y ago
It is a great thing to see, California is described as some sort of lefty-socialist-liberal bastion today but like you said it was only 12 years ago they (unconstitutionally) voted in a ban on gay marriage https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_California_Proposition_8 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_California_Proposition_...
- loeg 6y ago
  California was also considered a lefty-socialist-liberal bastion 12 years ago.
  - rayiner 6y ago
    Public opinion on same-sex marriage changed very quickly from 2008 to 2016. Obama opposed same sex marriage in 2008 and didn’t really support it until after the 2012 election. And I'm not sure it's totally accurate to say that what happened was people coming around to "lefty liberalism." The nature of the debate changed quite significantly after 2005. First, it became clear to the public that sexual orientation was an immutable characteristic. When I was growing up in the 1990s, it was still common to hear it called a "lifestyle" implying it was a choice. Second, there was an increased focus on equal legal rights for committed same-sex couples. Appealing to neutral application of universal legal principles is usually a compelling message for even non-lefty Americans. Around the same time as Prop 8 was passed, a state Supreme Court decision legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. Iowans aren't particularly lefty, but a slim plurality supported the decision within a year or two. Third, in the same timeframe a number of mainline Protestant churches began ordaining gay clergy. While the political influence of these denominations is less than in the past, they’re still a powerful force in the center of the political spectrum among middle age and older Americans. The end result of all that was Obergefell which wasn't particularly lefty or liberal. Justice Kennedy's opinion was a paean to marriage as an ancient and essential social institution. Because marriage was fundamental, participation in it could not be denied to same-sex couples just because of the programming they were born with. Of course, none of this would've happened without decades of tireless "lefty liberal" advocacy. But public opinion changed dramatically within a single decade, and wasn't accompanied a similarly large leftward shift in peoples' politics generally. So it's interesting to think about what drove those changes.

matthewheath 6y ago

This was such an interesting read. As a gay man, I'm pleased some of our culture is being unearthed from the past like this.

cblconfederate 6y ago
I think a lot of the gay culture is not well known , even though it's such an important and disproportionally influential little part of western culture. Part of it is because parts of it are considered too racy for todays generally conservative world.

xmars 6y ago

What about gay music? Gay ice cream?

duncan_bayne 6y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gaytime https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gaytime Given the intentional double entendre and commercial success - it's now a cultural icon - I'm going to optimistically interpret its existence in a positive light. I mean, I can't imagine this product existing in many (most?) countries at the time.
krapp 6y ago
>What about gay music? Gay ice cream? [zoidberg] why not both? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w02QxQZGQc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w02QxQZGQc [/zoidberg] (NSFW)

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]