![]() Games like Phantasmagoria on the PC or RELOADED on the PS1 were in a big hurry to prove how “adult” they were by showing how R-rated they could be. It was the decade when blood, sex and foul language not only found their way into more video games but became their selling points. This was also the decade video games “came of age” so to speak, with the rise of adult-oriented PC gaming and Sony’s aggressive bid to combat Nintendo’s family image with M-Rated offerings on the Playstation 1. Someone more invested than me could surely pinpoint the exact season The Simpsons went from being a critique of middle class America to a grotesque collection of tropes and references without a target, but it might have been around the time Duke Nukem 3D was released. It’s no accident that he appeared in the 90s, the decade that invented bad-faith satire. At that point you’ve just become the thing you are criticizing, assuming your criticism was even genuine to begin with.ĭuke Nukem is a kind of patient zero for this in games, not necessarily the first but certainly the most concentrated “send up” of hyper-masculine tropes in a single package. This is the opposite of what we so often see, which is creators knowingly profiting off their ironic work being taken unironically. Even though it wasn’t his fault, he did care enough to adjust his output so he didn’t contribute to a larger ecosystem of toxic meaning. This is one major reason why comedian Dave Chappelle famously packed up shop when he noticed too many white people were laughing at his sketches about race for the wrong reasons. Proper satire has a political point of view and cares about whether or not its audience is actually getting its message. While exaggeration alone might make something parody, satire is supposed to exaggerate for a reason. tropes as a kind of preemptive self-defense, as if exaggeration was proof of self-awareness and therefore commentary. It’s the “just kidding!” defense for doing anything ugly or hurtful, and often involves deliberately exaggerating sexist/racist/etc. ![]() Gaming culture still does what Duke Nukem did. While Duke’s failure as satire and/or parody isn’t exactly news- some journalists were clear-eyed enough about this when his last game, Duke Nukem Forever, was released in 2011-his status as a forerunner to more subtle forms of masking toxicity with humor is worth unpacking. ![]() As embarrassing as it is to write “What does Duke Nukem mean in 2021?” it is a pertinent question, mainly because he’s such a clear, distilled example of a still-pervasive trend: bad-faith satire as cover for enjoying toxic masculinity. ![]()
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