The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Editor's note: Yes, it has some fun soapboxing, but we feel this review does have good application to the games the author states within.
What does a book about the elimination of television have to do with role-playing? If you're into "Mage: The Ascension", or RPGs like it, then this book has a lot to do with role-playing. The book, while it establishes its arguements, goes into detail about the effects of TV upon people and their societies. It also addresses the belief that all technology is neutral, and only through (mis)use does it become good or evil. That alone is enough of a reason to read this book, but there is more.

Mr. Mander is a former advertiser. He's got a B.S. and a M.S. in Economics. He used to head "Freeman, Mander, and Gossage" in San Francisco. He founded the first non-profit ad agency in 1972. This is a man who knows bloody well what he's talking about, and more than 20 years validated every word within the covers of this book.

The first of his four arguements concerns TV's ability to mediate human experience. Have you ever noticed the human tendancy to believe whatever they read, trust whatever they see, and believe what they hear? Television, more than any other medium, provokes this response from those who watch it.

Recently, American commericial television made much of the Kosovo situation. The media made heroes of the KLA, when the truth of the matter is anything but heroic. They made matrys of the Albanians put out of Kosovo, and they made the Serbs into Nazi-like pulp villians. (The truth is nowhere near that black-and-white, as is seen now on those same media outlets.) They used TV's power to turn these folks into pitiful victims who needed the Great American Hero to come save them from their Evil Overlord. Most Americans bought it hook, line, and sinker. They believed it all, and they believed it all again when those same outlets said that the Albanians are so sweet and innocent. "But we've always been at war with Eurasia." indeed.

At the same time, when American largess flowed like honey to those Albanian refugees, there are far and away more Africans in worse straits who needed that same largess far more than the Albanians did for far longer. Did the American TV networks report on it? Nope, and because there was no TV attention paid to it, most Americans didn't do a damned thing about it- and neither did they care. In this case, and in the one above, TV mediated the experience of the American people. It allowed the American people care about those folks it decided to help, and it did its best to outright ignore the truth about what goes on daily in the African continent- and in both cases, it succeeded.

The second arguement deals with the control of the medium. There is no other medium which is so expensive, time-consuming, and pervasive as television. The very nature of the technology dictates that only the rich and the powerful can amass the resources required to make use of TV effectively. (Try as it might, cable access still sucks and rarely gets the same sort of draw.) In places like China, this will be the government. Everywhere else, it's commericial interests like the megacorporations of US media (Capital Cities/ABC, for example). In either event, the result is the same. Those who control TV control what their people see, hear, and (ultimately) believe to be true.

As an example, consider "Babylon 5". JMS repeatedly had to go to bat to get and and keep this show--his masterwork--on the air, and even then he almost failed to complete it. Nevermind that one of its 110 episodes won a Hugo award, or that it made a big change in how SFTV works, or that the final success of B5 meant squat when it came to the spinoff series--Crusade--which TNT cancelled after 13 episodes. No amount of high-quality television, especially SF/F/Horror television, gets any respect from those who control the content of television.

Meanwhile, "Beverly Hills 90210" goes into its umpteenth season doing more of the same shit that went on for the last decade or so. The networks put out more insipid sitcoms, more pointless soap operas, more pap like "Felicity", and more brainless fare like "When Rubber Chickens Attack!" or "The World's Most Ridiculous TV Specials." It's no secret as to why this steaming pile of fecal matter persists, when all of the quality TV everyone claims to want never sticks around. The ratings for the crap are high, and the quality TV is low; the ads go to the crap, and the crap shows get the best time slots to go with the ads they carry- it's a self-perpetuating cycle that takes years for a favored show ("Seinfeld") to run down.

It doesn't help that TV really does rot the brain, and that makes the third arguement. The ingestation of artificial light, and how this works with the way a TV screen works, dulls the already-weak senses of the viewer such that he becomes mezmerized by the screen and thus gets into a suggestive state. ("A Clockwork Orange", anyone?) This makes it so much easier for admen, and those like them, to get their point across while making it harder and harder for the people to realize just what's being done to them.

Have you ever wondered just why TV is so important to politicial elections? Have you wondered why Americans don't seem to care about what their elected officials believe, so long as they've got what it takes to look and sound good on TV? This is the effect that TV has on far too many Americans these days, as evidenced by the backlash upon Governor Jesse Ventura by the local and national media as well as the antagonism against Ross Perot. It's also the reason why Bill Clinton, Al Gore, George Bush Jr., and Ralph Reed aren't treated as badly by the media as the above-mentioned not-so-TV-friendly folks are. TV is the ultimate force for style over substance, and when that applies to politics it's a catalyst for the creation of personality cults that can lead to Very Bad Things. This is an example of how TV screws with the mind of the viewers.

The last arguement concerns the inherent biases of TV. TV favors the sensational over the ordinary, creating an artificial unusualness in its content. This is why you get tabloid TV journalism, "When Kittens Attack", and other examples of outrageousness. It alienates the viewer and it obliterates subtlety. It favors the charismatic over the bland, and it favors the vocal minority over the silent majority. All that's required to prove it is the focus that American commericial media gives to wackos like Rev. Fred Phelps and his anti-gay crusade, and those like him, when most Protestants couldn't care less about what folks do to (or with) another consenting adult behind closed doors.

So what the hell does this have to do with role-playing? If you're into Mage, or those like it, then it's got plenty to do with gaming. This book is all about control, from control of the medium to control of oneself and everything between those extremes. It deals, in a very real way, with issues of reality and with how humanity relates to the rest of the world--with the natural world--in the past as well as here and now. These are the same themes that run through a good Mage game, especially concerning the Technocracy.

Television is the signature technology of the Technocracy. It's the best symbol for the Technocracy, and when you read "TV" for "Techie" everything about the Technocracy falls into place. It's everywhere, it's biased, it's autocratic, it's elitist, it's takeover becomes inevitable if not addressed soon, and it's impossible to reform the sucker because of the nature of the beast.

That's what makes it a Mage book, in the same way that "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence" is a Mage book, and that's why I put wrote this review. Rip me up and down if you wish, but that's how I see it.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Four Arguements for the Elimination of Television
Author: Jerry Mander Category: Non-Fiction Book Company/Publisher: Quill Line: n/a Cost: $10 (US) Page count: 370 pages ISBN: 0-688-08274-2 SKU: 90000 Capsule Review by Bradford C. Walker on 09/09/99. Genre tags: none	Editor's note: Yes, it has some fun soapboxing, but we feel this review does have good application to the games the author states within. What does a book about the elimination of television have to do with role-playing? If you're into "Mage: The Ascension", or RPGs like it, then this book has a lot to do with role-playing. The book, while it establishes its arguements, goes into detail about the effects of TV upon people and their societies. It also addresses the belief that all technology is neutral, and only through (mis)use does it become good or evil. That alone is enough of a reason to read this book, but there is more. Mr. Mander is a former advertiser. He's got a B.S. and a M.S. in Economics. He used to head "Freeman, Mander, and Gossage" in San Francisco. He founded the first non-profit ad agency in 1972. This is a man who knows bloody well what he's talking about, and more than 20 years validated every word within the covers of this book. The first of his four arguements concerns TV's ability to mediate human experience. Have you ever noticed the human tendancy to believe whatever they read, trust whatever they see, and believe what they hear? Television, more than any other medium, provokes this response from those who watch it. Recently, American commericial television made much of the Kosovo situation. The media made heroes of the KLA, when the truth of the matter is anything but heroic. They made matrys of the Albanians put out of Kosovo, and they made the Serbs into Nazi-like pulp villians. (The truth is nowhere near that black-and-white, as is seen now on those same media outlets.) They used TV's power to turn these folks into pitiful victims who needed the Great American Hero to come save them from their Evil Overlord. Most Americans bought it hook, line, and sinker. They believed it all, and they believed it all again when those same outlets said that the Albanians are so sweet and innocent. "But we've always been at war with Eurasia." indeed. At the same time, when American largess flowed like honey to those Albanian refugees, there are far and away more Africans in worse straits who needed that same largess far more than the Albanians did for far longer. Did the American TV networks report on it? Nope, and because there was no TV attention paid to it, most Americans didn't do a damned thing about it- and neither did they care. In this case, and in the one above, TV mediated the experience of the American people. It allowed the American people care about those folks it decided to help, and it did its best to outright ignore the truth about what goes on daily in the African continent- and in both cases, it succeeded. The second arguement deals with the control of the medium. There is no other medium which is so expensive, time-consuming, and pervasive as television. The very nature of the technology dictates that only the rich and the powerful can amass the resources required to make use of TV effectively. (Try as it might, cable access still sucks and rarely gets the same sort of draw.) In places like China, this will be the government. Everywhere else, it's commericial interests like the megacorporations of US media (Capital Cities/ABC, for example). In either event, the result is the same. Those who control TV control what their people see, hear, and (ultimately) believe to be true. As an example, consider "Babylon 5". JMS repeatedly had to go to bat to get and and keep this show--his masterwork--on the air, and even then he almost failed to complete it. Nevermind that one of its 110 episodes won a Hugo award, or that it made a big change in how SFTV works, or that the final success of B5 meant squat when it came to the spinoff series--Crusade--which TNT cancelled after 13 episodes. No amount of high-quality television, especially SF/F/Horror television, gets any respect from those who control the content of television. Meanwhile, "Beverly Hills 90210" goes into its umpteenth season doing more of the same shit that went on for the last decade or so. The networks put out more insipid sitcoms, more pointless soap operas, more pap like "Felicity", and more brainless fare like "When Rubber Chickens Attack!" or "The World's Most Ridiculous TV Specials." It's no secret as to why this steaming pile of fecal matter persists, when all of the quality TV everyone claims to want never sticks around. The ratings for the crap are high, and the quality TV is low; the ads go to the crap, and the crap shows get the best time slots to go with the ads they carry- it's a self-perpetuating cycle that takes years for a favored show ("Seinfeld") to run down. It doesn't help that TV really does rot the brain, and that makes the third arguement. The ingestation of artificial light, and how this works with the way a TV screen works, dulls the already-weak senses of the viewer such that he becomes mezmerized by the screen and thus gets into a suggestive state. ("A Clockwork Orange", anyone?) This makes it so much easier for admen, and those like them, to get their point across while making it harder and harder for the people to realize just what's being done to them. Have you ever wondered just why TV is so important to politicial elections? Have you wondered why Americans don't seem to care about what their elected officials believe, so long as they've got what it takes to look and sound good on TV? This is the effect that TV has on far too many Americans these days, as evidenced by the backlash upon Governor Jesse Ventura by the local and national media as well as the antagonism against Ross Perot. It's also the reason why Bill Clinton, Al Gore, George Bush Jr., and Ralph Reed aren't treated as badly by the media as the above-mentioned not-so-TV-friendly folks are. TV is the ultimate force for style over substance, and when that applies to politics it's a catalyst for the creation of personality cults that can lead to Very Bad Things. This is an example of how TV screws with the mind of the viewers. The last arguement concerns the inherent biases of TV. TV favors the sensational over the ordinary, creating an artificial unusualness in its content. This is why you get tabloid TV journalism, "When Kittens Attack", and other examples of outrageousness. It alienates the viewer and it obliterates subtlety. It favors the charismatic over the bland, and it favors the vocal minority over the silent majority. All that's required to prove it is the focus that American commericial media gives to wackos like Rev. Fred Phelps and his anti-gay crusade, and those like him, when most Protestants couldn't care less about what folks do to (or with) another consenting adult behind closed doors. So what the hell does this have to do with role-playing? If you're into Mage, or those like it, then it's got plenty to do with gaming. This book is all about control, from control of the medium to control of oneself and everything between those extremes. It deals, in a very real way, with issues of reality and with how humanity relates to the rest of the world--with the natural world--in the past as well as here and now. These are the same themes that run through a good Mage game, especially concerning the Technocracy. Television is the signature technology of the Technocracy. It's the best symbol for the Technocracy, and when you read "TV" for "Techie" everything about the Technocracy falls into place. It's everywhere, it's biased, it's autocratic, it's elitist, it's takeover becomes inevitable if not addressed soon, and it's impossible to reform the sucker because of the nature of the beast. That's what makes it a Mage book, in the same way that "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence" is a Mage book, and that's why I put wrote this review. Rip me up and down if you wish, but that's how I see it. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Four Arguements for the Elimination of Television