Yesterday I gave a talk as part of Ljudmila’s Kontrolerji series of events. The day before, a friend had an exhibition opening where him and another artist made an installation (a game-like playable installation) about mold. It was beautiful to see in person.
– Image of me from Ljudmila
Before that I was part of IDFA’s DocLab and gave a zine making workshop (along with participating in other parts of the program).
– Image of me playing “individualism in the dead internet age” at IDFA
Sometimes I feel like I stepped into a totally different world. One where I no longer have to justify art to people. Where spaces pay to showcase my work, and even fly me to events…
Which I guess makes it so hard to hear news like what just happened with Horses being banned from Steam.
It seems more pressing than ever to stand up to that type of fascist censorship that is eating digital culture.
I’m publishing the talk I gave at Kontrolerji as a blog post here. The topics discussed couldn’t be more relevant.
We need to create something different. We need a different narrative that fuels game creating and digital art… One that is free from this hyper-consumerist ideology that has eaten all of tech and created the groundwork for fascism.
My talk featured animated gifs from the 1995 movie Hackers, since it ended up being a very idealistic talk… because… you know… We never really got cool hackers standing up to The Man like the 90’s promised us. We just got weird dodge memes from creepy trillionaires as they gleefully gut democracy instead.
Anyway…
In 1996 Paulina Borsook published an eviscerating article on Mother Jones that tore into the neoliberal politics of Silicon Valley.
It is a very prophetic piece from the early internet, especially since she so nailed the mentalities of destructive greed that led up to what we have today.
I will start with a quote from it:
“The convergence between libertarianism and high-tech has created the true revenge of the nerds: Those whose greatest strengths have not been the comprehension of social systems, appreciation of the humanities, or acquaintance with history, politics, and economics have started shaping public policy. Armed with new money and new celebrity — juice — they can wreak vengeance on those by whom they have felt diminished.”
– Cyberselfish by Paulina Borsook
The elephant in the room now having been pointed out…
This is about an older label for experimental games, and I’m going to share what it meant to me, and how it grew into bigger things.
* https://www.reddit.com/r/AltGames/
* https://archive.org/details/strangethink-software
* https://jumpnbump.net/
* https://cheesysoftware.net/
Altgames, as defined by the now abandoned AltGames reddit are…
“Games that elude defined genres, interact with the player in experimental ways, take great artistic risks, and have daring content. These are often free or pay-what-you-want labors of love. Some resemble playful or interactive digital toys instead of traditional products”
This is the uncharted territory of whatever you want your game to be. It’s about exploring forms that don’t exist yet, and labels that you can invent for yourself.
Digital art can be anything, and that’s what is so beautiful about all this.
We’ve been creating this type of experimental digital work since the personal computing era. Individual expression among software and game developers, distributing their experiments via floppy drives, or (later) downloadable exe, has always existed.
When I was young I played games like Jump n’ Bump, or games by Cheesy Software, and was absolutely in awe at how weird, different, bizarre and ridiculous this stuff was. It was so different from anything you could buy in stores.
I wanted to do that too!
Jump N’ Bump was a ridiculous local co-op game where everyone played rabbits, and just had to jump on top of eachother. When you managed to do that, the rabbits would explode into a gloriously satisfying burst of gibs.
Cheesy Software was amazing because it just took sound clips from movies, weird silly graphics, and animations, with (at the time) lots of juicy feedback in games that where remakes of classic games. It was very punk. It was like looking at games in a completely new light.
These things are still online, and I encourage you to check them out. They still hold up as bizarre relics from a different time.
When you look back at this constant stream of work that past developers left behind, some things preserved, some things lost entirely, you see that “what a game is” and “what software is” are things you get to invent.
* https://odditie-s.tumblr.com/post/81109325064/the-pirate-bay-bundle
A torrent containing one hundred small, weird, free (mostly ignored) videogames that you probably haven’t played made by developers you never heard of.
When I was getting into the festival scene in the game industry, with places like IGF at GDC, things I was making where considered “controversial” in context of the established game crowd and player bases.
Consider also how games like the Pirate Bay Bundle where viewed as something of an act of resistance to the mainstream.
The Pirate Bay Bundle was a torrent of 100 small, weird, free, obscure games made by obscure developers. It was inspiring, and still is.
Eventually viewing this stuff as “controversial” kind of disappeared, as the concept of experimental games became more known to the mainstream spaces, or acknowledged… but this work very much remains on the fringes.
I don’t think it can exist anywhere else but among hobbyists and passionate idealists.
The games that exist outside the mainstream, and I think the type of personal empowerment they represent, is what makes them “controversial”.
Especially under the scope of mainstream culture where everything needs to sell, satisfy a commercial value, be consumer centric, or live up to such capitalist standards.
Unmonetized self expression is an act or resistance in today’s tech landscape.
* https://mason-lindroth.itch.io/hylics
* https://store.steampowered.com/app/358070/Earthtongue/
* https://thecatamites.itch.io/50-short-games
* https://sundaemonth.itch.io/diaries-of-a-spaceport-janitor
The “AltGames” reddit page has been abandoned for many years now, but the games linked there are a wonderful time-capsule into that era of indiegaming.
Employee of the Month, a game about fixing bugs and mental breakdown, still undiscovered on the AppStore, is the last entry from five years ago.
Gems like Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor, a game where you play a janitor in a bustling futuristic city, and pick up trash, is listed among other titles such as “50 Short Games by thecatamites” and Strangethink’s “Joy Exhibition”.
It’s worth pointing out how well this work ages. 10 years in and they still look good. I can’t say the same for AAA 3D games of that era that touted all the latest next-gen things. Most of the hyped things at that time ended up sinking away too, but don’t look as good anymore.
Originality seems to be timeless.
For me this was an interesting time in this space.
Indiegames where making waves as something “to be taken serious” by publishers, and larger figures. PlayStation Plus regularly featured indie game gems (even more experimental titles than they do now, like Fez or CounterSpy), and Nintendo had just opened up the Nintendo store to include work by small teams.
So the general “newness” of the era, giving way to terms like “indie darlings”, caused a small surge of extremely experimental games being taken seriously and given space in bigger festivals.
It was easy to get a “contact” with someone at PlayStation or Nintendo to get your hands on their devkit so you could distribute your work on those stores, because people working at those places attended these festivals.
IndieCade was one of the first festivals that gave these games a platform.
IndieCade started with an understanding that this type of work is important and needs to be platformed. I look back at this time fondly because, as “up in the air” that everything was, it was interesting to see how much mainstream attention experimental work was getting.
I got to showcase my game, Tetrageddon Games, at E3 (in 2013) because of IndieCade
Tetrageddon Games is a very non-game game. It’s chaotic, weird, crazy, and often compared to a demented Wario Ware.
So when I showed this at E3, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s incredibly unusual, especially for that time. I thought nobody would be interested, or maybe offended by it… The opposite was true.
So many people from all these big platforms played it, enjoyed it, talked with me about it. There where people from Sony (which was amazing to me because at the time I had stars in my eyes over all this stuff)… Journalists from impressive sounding outlets played it and covered it. I got video interviews… It seemed like every indie in that lineup was some type of micro-celebrity.
Especially interesting was how that indie booth was kind of viewed as an oasis among all the noise at E3. People from the mainstream side of E3 often commented that these games are like a break from “all this” (while motioning to all the noise in the convention hall).
The experience showed me how much Indiegames are an important part of the game industry. The influence they have cannot be understated.
In today’s game industry climate we hear a lot of talk about “the game industry burning down”. I don’t care too much to find all the articles talking about it. You can browse GameDeveloper.com to see coverage of all the layoffs and studios closing.
* https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-deprofessionalization-is-bad-for-video-games
One thing I do think is interesting to see in this present day, are discussions like the article titled “The ‘deprofessionalization of video games’ was on full display at PAX East”
This is from a recent 2025 article.
To quote from the summary:
“The success of Schedule I, R.E.P.O, and Balatro has shown games by small or solo teams can outperform expensive competitors.
Some say this points to games requiring fewer developers to be successful, leading to “deprofessionalization.”
Small teams deserve success—but “deprofessionalization” risks damaging the industry. This was easy to see at PAX East.”
I think it’s interesting to see this. It’s not the only conversation like this that has happened.
Indie and small teams where always viewed as kind of an “afterthought” when discussing “the industry”.
Like solo-devs and small teams are good, but they’re not “serious” like AAA is “serious”.
I heard this a lot over the years that I’ve been here, especially from game journalists.
Indie was often in a place of having to justify it’s legitimacy. I still find myself having to do that.
Now that so much of these structures are collapsing (I think AAA has created it’s own problems that are not worth going into now), people are looking to “indie” as a solution.
Overall, I don’t really agree with the sentiment that “this is bad and will devalue labor”.
True “deprofesionalization” started with worker exploitation, and fighting against unionization. That came from big companies.
Most of these issues are issues that started because of exploitation from larger players here, not because of “small teams”.
It’s kind of in the same vein of logic as saying that people selling their games for “too little” are harming the value of games in general, when it’s places like the AppStore, and the practices that took place there, that had a bigger influence on pricing trends… rather than how “the little developers” try to value their own work.
I think people like to panic about solo and small presenting a threat because there’s always this persistent theory that it will harm value (in some sense or another)…
In a way… I look at this shift as a sign that “we won”.
The mainstream part of this industry got too big, infinite growth and consolidation caught up to it, and once that started collapsing, the alternatives and alternative cultures that we built are what survived.
Over the years I would often get comments (directed at myself) that “solodev” is bad because one person shouldn’t do everything… on the basis of argument that it’s “selfish” for one person to hoard all the work of a project (even if on a personal project). I should hire others instead…
It’s ridiculous to think that “jack of all trades” poses any threat to people who are more specific about their skills, but I think this reflects a general distrust toward “going your own way”. There’s always an argument against the path least taken, or creating on your own terms.
Like, if everyone did this, then we would not have AAA and stability, when (now) small teams and solo devs are being looked to as some kind of solution.
In the end it’s indie that is left standing.
The smaller, less expensive, things that are in stark contrast to AAA’s vision of “bigger than anything ever played”… are what stayed.
Individuals matter in this space. Solo developers, indies, and very small teams, are the ones that continue to exist, sometimes even thrive, despite these cultural or industry shifts.
Remarkably even, when I see some developers share their Steam revenue stats, it’s often a comfortable income for them.
All of my games are PWYW with the option of free. People don’t have to pay. They can get it for free. They can even distribute them for free.
I make a surprising amount of income despite giving them away.
A long time ago, when I was putting my things on storefronts, I had a paywall up. Nobody bought it, even though the games received a lot of critical acclaim. As soon as I tried free with the option to pay, people started paying.
Success here is a strange journey of trial and error.
A common joke I heard over the years about a platform like itch.io is that this is just game developers passing $5 between eachother – the joke being that you don’t make money on itch, your friends pay for your games, and you pay for theirs (passing money around in circles like it’s a hot potato)…
But if you look at the millions that itch.io has made for various charities, there’s something to be said about collectively working toward something better.
The Racial Justice and Equality bundle made over 8 million for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Community Bail Fund, to support Black Lives Matter protests.
The Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid made well over eight hundred thousand dollars for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
The bundle for Ukraine made over 6 million…
There are so many of these examples, it’s hard to keep track of them.
The last bundle that I was in, the HELLO//GOODBYE Charity Bundle for Legal Aid made over $20,000. This is well over it’s initial goal of $10,000.
If nobody cares about these games, and this is just small time money being passed between well meaning idealist artists, then why do these bundles make so much?
* https://randombundlegame.com/
* https://gamesdonequick.com/
* https://fold.it/
To me this is one of the many examples the good this space is capable of.
Small teams, solo developers, those experimenting with games making weird work, the underdogs of the game industry… are making a significant cultural impact. They always have.
There’s countless initiatives like these, from all across gaming, to raise support for various causes, raise funds for efforts, or help science.
Awesome Games Done Quick is one of the most popular examples. This is a series of game marathons, held over Twitch, to support charity.
Foldit is a known crowdsourcing computer game that lets anyone contribute to scientific research.
It’s hard to keep track of how much is happening. Gaming isn’t just a hobby. Fandom can make a difference too.
The itch.io charity bundles that have raised millions are all self organized. Anyone can participate.
Alternatives matter because they are a way of creating our own sustainability.
They keep this dream of creative exploration alive. Something you can’t really get from the mainstream. Mainstream work will never take such risks.
Alternative means creating your own opportunities and forging your own path.
You define your own metrics for success, and find your own sustainable ways of existing long term.
I think, ultimately, it’s more sustainable than the established path of “being in games”.
When my games got into IndieCade, I would regularly talk to publishers about my work, especially because IndieCade would foster connections for developers. I even got so far as to pitch to Santa Monica Studio (the studio behind God of War).
Ultimately I chose a different path, maybe I’m too much of an idealist, BUT the opportunities and interest where amazing to see.
It was a very different era as compared to now. I realize that a lot of these dynamics have changed because the game industry seems in constant crises, but I think (more than ever) this type of work is extremely important.
Like I said, indie is what’s left standing.
I would even go so far to say that work that doesn’t make money, and is PWYW with the option of free, is incredibly important too in shifting these cycles of exploitation.
We do this because we love it.
* https://shakethatbutton.com/about-alternative-controllers/
* https://unicornycopia.com/graveyard/
* https://alienmelon.itch.io/lovestory
* https://www.pocketgamer.com/wheels-of-aurelia/delisted-app-store/
* https://alienmelon.itch.io/shovelware
* https://store.steampowered.com/app/881100/Noita/
There are plenty of examples of games that don’t even exist on traditional storefronts, or can’t exist there.
See the alternative controller movement, where people invent alternative ways to interface with a machine, to create play experiences that are entirely singular. These are games that you can only ever experience at events, or in person.
Or to quote from the “shake that button” website:
“Traditional controllers are keyboards, mouses, gamepads, touchscreens as well as wiimotes, kinects, PS moves…In short: every controllers built by video games manufacturers, those you can buy, and those generally associated to the idea of video game. Alternative controllers are the other ones, every other ones, any other ones.”
These are things like haunted couches (where you play with your butt), playing with sand in a sandbox to create landscapes (your sand mounds are scanned then projected onto a wall as forests and mountains), or sitting in an airplane made of cardboard boxes (like you may have done as a kid) to fly an actual airplane on a monitor… If you look up “alt ctrl game” on youtube you find a treasure trove of these.
Such games remind us that we can invent our own ways of interfacing with a machine. Nothing can stop us, only our imagination.
Game development for older systems like Nintendo and GameBoy is alive an well too.
See “Super Russian Roulette” a game for the NES which uses the handgun controller (associated with games like Duck Hunt) to play Russian Roulette against a cowboy.
It’s the type of game you wish you had when you where growing up, because you’re pitted against a cowboy that’s constantly daring you to shoot yourself… The game wants you to hold the gun up to your head and pull the trigger, you may survive, or you may not, the chances are fairly divided between you and the cowboy…
The player is also able to shoot at things on the screen, or even the cowboy if you so choose to play dirty.
It was wonderful to see people playing it at events. Even at events with live music and lots of crowds, the game seemed to draw in plenty of attention. It would consistently become rowdy. It’s the perfect party game.
Again, this is a game made entirely for the old NES. Even so, it enjoyed a successful kickstarter where it raised about $84,000 of its $20,000 goal.
Games that exist outside of the framing of “what a game is”, and are therefore not able to be distributed by popular storefronts are everywhere.
My own have been projects like “cyberpet graveyard“, which is something that plays on your actual filesystem, turning your desktop folders into a game. This cannot be distributed via mainstream channels because it’s outside of the container of an .exe (it’s just too different)…
Or “a desktop love story” which also takes place on your desktop. Here you are a messenger between two files (both living in their separate folders) on your machine. You must pass love notes between these two files (drawings or text files that they generated for eachother), to help them fall in love then finally meet.
Everything can become a game! Play is everywhere.
Neither of my own examples will be welcome on traditional storefronts.
I’ve had my own history of constantly being rejected from the AppStore for random obscure reasons, like simulated error (glitch art, because my games play around with the aesthetics of “malfunction”), or even an upside down exclamation mark (long story!)…
I cannot express how frustrating it is to ping-pong between rejection and submission (after you make all these changes to your game so it might “get in” to these places) because you see how your game slowly changes into something you never intended it to be… just so it might be hosted on a popular storefront.
At the same time, you will see other bigger mainstream games that brazenly feature all the things you where rejected for, but they are allowed to be that.
I found my own experience with these storefronts incredibly difficult. They are expensive to exist on (the AppStore requires an annual fee of $100 that you need to pay, even if your work isn’t making anything), and discoverability is abysmal. Along with other issues, like having to keep updating your finished game even though there are no new features (it is finished)… it just isn’t welcome to everyone.
Consider a recent example where a popular (culturally and critically recognized) game like Wheels of Aurelia was delisted from the AppStore, even though it was a fully functional finished game.
This was following Apple’s decision to remove the app under it’s obsolete or outdated policy (it was neither, just a finished game). This particular policy enforces unnecessary updates…
I can’t count the number of developers who had similar stories like this, or like mine, where existing on these mainstream space is an absolute nightmare.
Games aren’t viewed as art here, but as products. That’s always going to create friction.
The very newest example that can be added to how storefronts are no friend to art is Horse’s ban from Steam. Valve gave no reason, and completely banned the game.
“Back in June 2023, just days prior to our scheduled announcement, we were informed that HORSES will not ship on Steam. We were not given specific details about the content in question. For two years we asked for clarifications and a path to compliance, but we were directed to Steam’s general guidelines and our requests for review and appeal were denied over and over.”
I will also add this post I made on BlueSky where I log some of the responses to this made to a Eurogamer article about it. I think it speaks volumes of this culture:
i know you’re not supposed to read the conversation in the comments but the conversation is depressing and anti-art in all the typical ways to justify censorship… like there’s so much to unpack here especially with how quickly people paint art as “abuse” when it discusses difficult topics.
— Nathalie Lawhead (@alienmelon.bsky.social) November 27, 2025 at 11:35 AM
These examples speak to the fragility of “games as art”… in a highly commercial market where games are treated no different than software, or a digital service, rather than fully completed pieces of media that exist on their own merit.
Experimentation cannot thrive here. It can only be coopted once it becomes popular enough.
One of my most recent games, a “playable essay” about technocapitalism, technofeudalism, and internet history, was rejected from Steam because it features links to itch.io.
It is an essay, so there are a lot of links in it, pointing to various articles or games that serve as examples to back up the points being made.
Further reasons for rejection where screenshots of discord messages or Tweets, because it is about online culture…
It was also rejected because of supposedly featuring Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, and Portal sprites… Although I was never able to find them.
Overall, the very nature of this piece warrants rejection. If I was to change it, it would be something completely different.
It is worth pointing out that this project has done well for itself on itch.io, and even made it into various festivals. One of them is a documentary festival which features documentaries from all over the world (DocLab).
So it’s not ever really about the quality of the work. It’s about censorship, power, and bureaucracy.
My last example here, from another developer…
A game like Noita, is a game developed as a custom engine. It is this beautiful unique project, originally marketed as one where every pixel is physically-simulated. It’s original for how specific of a niche it fills with destruction, and “spells”, and all that geeky interplay between player and environment.
I mention it because it’s built in a custom engine, entirely original to the developers… which also means that it’s restricted to the desktop, not attainable on PlayStation or Nintendo or mobile.
It exists in it’s own specific bubble.
Most all of these examples have made an impact, or have come from a bigger cultural conversation taking place in games. They each mattered, and offer something worthwhile.
Culture in the truest sense here happens outside of the mainstream. It ripples outward.
As it stands now…
Since the peak of the “altgame” label’s popularity ten years ago or so, use of the term has pretty much tapered off. Other terms such as “arthouse games” caught on, but the game’s themselves didn’t change.
Whether it’s the demo scene, hardware hacking, freeware, shareware, things distributed on floppy, or downloadable through the most obscure means (like torrents)… People still make them. Whatever they may be called.
All that having been said, the game space is incredibly nitpicky about labels. I think as soon as it starts labeling something, social media discourse addicts start making that thing decisive, so it’s important to point out that experimental work in computer culture has existed since ever.
We don’t need labels to exist. We just need to understand that making this stuff is within our power, and it has an incredible amount of value to the culture at large.
It’s the alternative that’s responsible for creating a better future. One we all shape with our participation.
So, this brings me to my final set of examples… and maybe the eventual point of this post.
* https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Declaration_of_the_Independence_of_Cyberspace
* https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1996/07/cyberselfish/
* https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-world-wide-web-has-some-regrets
The early internet was chaotic, beautiful, and free.
There were no borders yet. There were only manifestos.
Before business decided to carve it into a capitalist thing, inventing rules that served its own interests, licenses, restrictions, and these walled gardens… We had a space for endless curiosity, to shape what this all can be.
Words like “cyberspace” still linger as lost concepts. It was a collective fantasy that we could all shape, especially as artists.
If I was to point at any one instance in internet history to say “this is where it all changed for the worst”, I would point to when business started to “take the internet seriously”.
It’s really interesting to juxtapose essays like “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” by Barlow against the 1996 article titled Cyberselfish by Borsook, published on Mother Jones.
I’m sure everyone has read Barlow’s opening statement:
“Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.”
Which, as criticized as these words have become with their age, I think are still interesting to reflect on.
Especially considering how fast this changed when the money became real.
In the article Cyberselfish, Borsook points out the underlying neoliberal mentality of silicon valley, harshly criticizing it for its lack of humanity, or care for the rest of society that it is part of.
There’s so much you could quote from that article because of how pertinently it aged. Consider today’s rise of technofashism:
“the average geek espouses a world where the only art would be that which has withstood the test of the marketplace…”
Image above of Joyce Carol Oates roasting Elon Musk on X. This resulted in Musk taking out ad space to prove that he understands art… I won’t get into it here, but it’s another example.
This culture seems to clash with art.
I think, as far as writing from the older internet, Cyberselfish stands out because it also reflects the way AI enthusiasts keep saying that AI will replace all artists… As if there is even a need to do so.
There’s this underlying issue with the very established mainstream tech culture, that art is a waste of time. A hobby, and not worth anything if it does not make money.
We see these issues constantly surface with games being treated as products.
“We reject subjective obscenity standards and believe this kind of moralizing censorship evokes a darker past in which vague notions of “decency” were used to silence artists.”
Either way, both Cyberselfish and “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” may or may not have their flaws, but they remain relevant.
There’s a prevalent theme, constantly present, targeting art as… something unimportant. Something that should please, never challenge. Something that should exist for consumption. Something that should be safe and uncontroversial. Something that should make money, otherwise it has failed. Some waste of time… Misunderstood.
I do strongly believe it is because art poses a threat to this culture that has taken over tech and the internet.
Art reminds us of our own humanity, and by creating experimental art in the digital space, we keep humanity alive here.
It will never serve a financial purpose. It will never be a big critical success as far as industry standards of sales and monetary return on investment.
The value is elsewhere.
One final thing I will quote…
In a 2018 Vanity Fair article, Tim Berner’s Lee was quoted:
“We demonstrated that the Web had failed instead of served humanity, as it was supposed to have done, and failed in many places,” … The increasing centralization of the Web, he says, has “ended up producing—with no deliberate action of the people who designed the platform—a large-scale emergent phenomenon which is anti-human.”
I think all this illustrates that shift of intention that took place with the internet. The way society ended up relying on it, and how it has been exploited to become something that exploits society…
I bring this up because I often reflect on how the word “nostalgia” is used so heavily when describing the very early era of computers.
I will often see gen-z artists “throw back” to the “early internet”, but they never even experienced it. Which makes me wonder, if it is all just “nostalgia” then why would they “miss” an era they never experienced?
I think what inspires people so much about this era is the original (pre-silicon valley) philosophy that drove it.
FWIW, this also explains my use of animated gifs from the movie Hackers in my slides.
Early internet had manifestos about cyberspace. It was feminist, anarchic, empowering, liberating, free of government or strictly defined form.
It was anonymous and strange.
It had socialist values, was communal, self-organized, and it belonged to everyone.
Access to information and being connected to information was at its core.
It was meant to serve humanity.
I could go on and on…
Our expectations, or dream for, technology then was wildly different. It was much more humanitarian than this incredibly exploitative capitalist vision we all find ourselves under today.
The digital system served humans. Not humans serving the digital system. Today we talk about tech-feudalism. It’s a very different time.
I think it’s not nostalgia. People are inspired by this big “what if” that this era represents.
What if tech didn’t become corrupted by capitalism, money, and neoliberal values?
What if it stayed artistic?
What if it continued to empower everyone?
I point all this out because it still is, at its core.
Many just forgot that this is a possibility. We can exist beyond the walled gardens that monetize us, and we can exist beyond the AI bubble that eats art as if art has no more value than to be recycled endlessly for the content mill.
Beyond the walled gardens, we are more than consumers.
These same philosophies live on in altgames, experimental software, hardware hacking, alternative controllers, the demo scene… It’s still here.
It’s weird and geeky. It’s powered by “wouldn’t this be cool!”, and the underlying mentality that creating matters more than the money you make from it.
All this wouldn’t even be privileged, sheltered, or unrealistic to say, because we need to exist beyond the capitalism that is killing everything.
We just have to participate and continue dreaming of better.
Our digital world is our collective invented reality. Nothing here is real. Borders here are an invented construct by business and the regulation that protects monopolies.
There really are no standards or laws when it comes to creating here.
Whatever we collectively agree on is what becomes real. There’s a constant undefined possibility space on the margins.
I think it says a lot about ourselves that the early internet had no borders. No clear division between anyone on it… How it was assumed it would “serve humanity”… but as soon as the realities of capitalism moved in on it, borders were drawn and access became restricted.
It doesn’t need to be this way.
This is why it’s more than nostalgia. This early “spirit” is still here. We just forgot how to seek it out.
This digital world is created by alternative cultures. Individual expression, software made by one person, games made by solo developers, or things created by artists, small teams making weird things… these are core values.
The indiegames version of that, “altgames”, is just a small example of this constant pervasive theme.
The urge to create something that doesn’t exist… The possibility space that computers are, and our collective digital fantasy… as dark as things seem in context of the way the web is being changed, the way social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook dominate our use, or are responsible for fueling so much fascism, even genocide… there’s always that alternative you can be part of. We never stopped dreaming up better ways to exist here.
After sharing all this I would like to challenge you to think beyond commercial games, or companies that dictate the way we view this media.
Games are more than Microsoft Xbox, or Sony PlayStation, or PC Gaming… Game history is broader than Nintendo, or AAA games. We have this entire space of unsung heroes making these things themselves.
Occasionally one may rise to the top, and be considered an “indie success”, but this space is huge. It’s the default, and it’s bigger than what we view as traditional standard games.
By participating in it, you are part of shaping that conversation.
