John Scalzi is such an odd and wonderful writer to me. He writes some of the bro-iest/popcorn/military/soooooft scifi/thriller books I’ve ever read, but they manage to be completely devoid of toxic masculinity and hold a very good sense of humor about themselves. I normally hate military fiction, but his books are the exception to the rule.
I recognize I’m on the lowest difficulty setting and work in a pretty red area, so I’ve been trying to explain privilege using this model for a while. It isn’t that we didn’t have to work hard to get where we are. The default setting for LIFE is hard. But every step removed being a straight white male adds a force multiplier to how much effort it takes to advance the same amount. Then you have to consider what server you were assigned (deep south, inner city, rural midwest), which also affects your leveling experience, and server transfers are a huge pain. It tends to get some traction with other gamers, but beyond that, I typically get pity for being brainwashed by the liberal media (which is teeth grindingly infuriating).
I get the point but sometimes I feel conflicted about posts like these.Â
Because for who is this meant? I’m a poc woman but I’m far from describing my life as a hard life. Or living life on quasi hardcore.
Consequently, I’m not quite confident enough to say if someone says he’s genuinely suffering, to start arguing with him and say that he is privileged or playing life on easy mode.Â
I get that it tries to explain to someone what life is like(or could be like) for a minority group, but sometimes I wish that it could do that without targeting the straight white male part, while also forgoing someone’s class or background.
Because sometimes it gets a bit difficult to see if you are trying to give an explanation for a different life experience, or if you’re saying that someone can’t complain about the problems they face because someone else is suffering more.
I accidentally started on a difficulty level that was too low because I wasn’t paying attention to the settings, and I didn’t realise why the game felt wrong until I was already half way through. Playing so much of the game on the lower difficulty definitely helped me progress more easily, but it felt worse and worse the further through the story I got.
When I finally worked out what was wrong I went into the settings and upped the difficulty (though it’s still nowhere near the maximum, I’m amazed at how high the slider goes!). It’s getting more challenging as the higher difficulty settings kick in, but at least now it feels like I’m playing the game the way it was intended.
John Scalzi is such an odd and wonderful writer to me. He writes some of the bro-iest/popcorn/military/soooooft scifi/thriller books I’ve ever read, but they manage to be completely devoid of toxic masculinity and hold a very good sense of humor about themselves. I normally hate military fiction, but his books are the exception to the rule.
He links [a ten-year retrospective on the article](https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/05/18/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-ten-years-on/) at the bottom of that post and it’s also worth a read.
Good metaphor, but it ignores wealth almost entirely. Wealthy is the easiest difficulty setting of all
I recognize I’m on the lowest difficulty setting and work in a pretty red area, so I’ve been trying to explain privilege using this model for a while. It isn’t that we didn’t have to work hard to get where we are. The default setting for LIFE is hard. But every step removed being a straight white male adds a force multiplier to how much effort it takes to advance the same amount. Then you have to consider what server you were assigned (deep south, inner city, rural midwest), which also affects your leveling experience, and server transfers are a huge pain. It tends to get some traction with other gamers, but beyond that, I typically get pity for being brainwashed by the liberal media (which is teeth grindingly infuriating).
also cisgender. trans men have a pretty rough time.
I get the point but sometimes I feel conflicted about posts like these.Â
Because for who is this meant? I’m a poc woman but I’m far from describing my life as a hard life. Or living life on quasi hardcore.
Consequently, I’m not quite confident enough to say if someone says he’s genuinely suffering, to start arguing with him and say that he is privileged or playing life on easy mode.Â
I get that it tries to explain to someone what life is like(or could be like) for a minority group, but sometimes I wish that it could do that without targeting the straight white male part, while also forgoing someone’s class or background.
Because sometimes it gets a bit difficult to see if you are trying to give an explanation for a different life experience, or if you’re saying that someone can’t complain about the problems they face because someone else is suffering more.
As a “Gay Minority Female” player, I wholly agree with the *Hardcore* classification.
Thank you for posting this! Such a great read!
Thanks for posting!
I accidentally started on a difficulty level that was too low because I wasn’t paying attention to the settings, and I didn’t realise why the game felt wrong until I was already half way through. Playing so much of the game on the lower difficulty definitely helped me progress more easily, but it felt worse and worse the further through the story I got.
When I finally worked out what was wrong I went into the settings and upped the difficulty (though it’s still nowhere near the maximum, I’m amazed at how high the slider goes!). It’s getting more challenging as the higher difficulty settings kick in, but at least now it feels like I’m playing the game the way it was intended.