IT'S TUESDAY! Remembering Ryan Davis, 1979 - 2013

Ryan Davis was the host of Giant Bomb's podcast.

He was 34, and just gotten married the week before he died of unknown causes on 3 July 2013.

A podcast is a radio show that you download off the internet. This one, the Giant Bombcast, comes out every Tuesday. Ryan would always start every show the same, "IT'S TUESDAY, and you're listening to the Giant Bombast! I'm Ryan Davis..."

I came to podcasts through books on tape. I've logged many hours listening to podcasts -- while traveling, walking the dog, running errands, doing chores, exercising, and of course, driving around Los Angeles (which is how angelenos spend the majority of their time).

I love podcasts because they keep your brain engaged while leaving your eyes, arms, and legs free to do boring stuff. Also, you get to know people pretty well when you spend hours and hours, week after week, with their voice inside your head. For me at least, it's more personal than watching an actor on a screen or reading someone's words.

I especially love the Giant Bombcast. It's a video game podcast, and it is often about video games... it's also about whatever the guys feel like talking about. They are all unpretentious, intelligent, informed, insightful, hilarious people. For me, listening to the Bombcast is like hanging out with a group of old friends who share my mutual interests.

They're not really my friends, of course. Even though I know them, they don't know me. It's weird to feel so sad about the death of someone you've never met.

Nevertheless... it's Tuesday, and I miss you, Ryan. Requiescat in pace.

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LINKS

Thanks Ryan

Ryan Davis, 1979 - 2013 (Giant Bomb)

Ryan Davis, RIP (Kotaku)

Remembering Ryan Davis (Polygon)

Browser-based Super Elk Murder updated!

The latest version of Super Elk Murder is now available to play for FREE on your internet-enabled PC or Mac at the Elk Murder homepage (http://elkmurder.duffygames.com/).

It's a Flash game, so it requires Adobe's Flash player (also FREE) and as far as I know it works with the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Internet Explorer (64-bit).

Not that there was anything wrong with the old, unsupported version (which can still be played here) but trust me when I say this new one is much better.

For those of you who don't have smartphones, or who prefer using mouse and keyboard over touch screen, or who can only get away with playing games at work if they're in the browser... this is the version for you!

On Games, Violence & Censorship

True to form, Congress has reacted to the recent horror at Sandy Hook Elementary School with a moral panic, spearheaded by Senator Jay Rockefeller, seeking to blame video games for the massacre.

I worry that we game developers shoot ourselves in the collective foot (pun intended) when we engage would-be government censors on their own terms. Our argument, "You can't prove a causal link between our art and our audience's behavior, so we're safe!" essentially invites censorship as soon as such a link can be established.

Censors almost always justify their bans on the basis of public safety, stability, harmony, etc. The idea behind a free society with a free press is that we sacrifice those conveniences for the sake of individual liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is, we believe that the free flow of information, the ability to discuss ideas (and to disagree) is better than any tyranny, no matter how benevolent.

Even though a work of art cannot directly cause behavior, certainly it can promote an idea. For example, reading the Bible doesn't make one a Christian; an individual bears the full responsibility of choosing whether or not to be a Christian, even in countries where the Bible is against the law.

While I am opposed to censorship in all its forms, I would also advocate for any artist to maintain a mature awareness of the ideas and values promoted by his or her work.

My own game, Elk Murder, uses humor and cognitive dissonance to convey an anti-hunting message. Gameplay-wise, it's an arcade-style shooting gallery replete with all the zoom animations, flashing lights, and floating digits gamers have grown accustomed to over the years. The surrounding narrative, however (particularly the deliberate substitution of the word "murder" for "hunting" throughout) continually reminds the player of the darker elements behind the game's commonly-accepted overt premise.

Free (ad-supported) versions are now available for iOS devices (in the iTunes Store) and Android 2.2+ devices (in the Google Play Store and Amazon App Store).

Rather than try to convince gamers to take a sudden, about-face interest in non-violent games, I believe we as developers can accomplish more with respect to unmasking the violent aspect of games through deconstruction and reduction to absurdity.