Promoted from our Community Blogs!
[Dtoid community blogger Pixielated shares some thoughts on the meaning of STFUAJPG. What does it mean to you? –Mr Andy Dixon]
I’ve been hanging out here for a year now. Yep, I joined Dtoid the day the world was supposed to end. December 21st, 2012 was supposed be the Apocalypse, but no bombs fell, there were no supermutants, and the Four Horsemen didn’t show up to spread pestilence, war, famine or collect souls. Kinda disappointing, but I have gotten to see plenty of worlds end since then in games.
Rather than write a recap of the year, though, I want to talk about STFUAJPG.
I’ve seen people talk about how Destructoid used to be and some of them left in a huff. Those that left in said huff threw STFUAJPG around like it was Destructoid’s oath to remain juvenile forever or it was for dismissing issues because videogames.
STFUAJPG isn’t about being immature and never changing, though. It’s not a dismissal of issues that matter to others. STFUAJPG is more about focusing on why we’re here and celebrating it. It’s a light we shine on fanboys who bring their idiotic need for a flame war over hardware here. It’s something we use when people feel the need to champion AAA game X over AAA game Y.
Shut the fuck up and just play games!
Play what you like, celebrate what you like, but don’t harsh another person’s buzz, man. Play games, not systems. Play games; stop trying to justify purchases to people on the Internet or obsessing over review scores. Play games; tell us what you like about them, which ones you love, and what you’d like to see more of.
STFUAJPG!
If Anita Sarkeesian or her detractors celebrated games, if they STFUAJPG’d, I might be more invested in the whole sexism discussion at this point. I think Anita’s failure is that she says she likes games and thinks that’s enough to talk about what is sexist ad nauseum. Four episodes into her series and she’s never once gone on at length about the games she loves or her favorite female portrayals in games.
Meanwhile, I see people ranting about her in comments rather than celebrating positive examples she will actively omit or handwave away because there’s a contrived reason to dismiss it. They don’t STFUAJPG, either. They just argue back.
Yet I can come here and find Glowbear, Elsa, and others celebrating what they like before commenting on what they don’t. I can go through my experiences and find the characters I can connect with and relate my appreciation of them.
There are not a lot of characters that deal in gender identity matters in games, either, but I can still find them. Fantasy and science fiction games sometimes create characters that come remarkably close to my experiences. That’s part of the beauty of those genres. That’s why I’ve talked about Terra Branford, Adam Jensen or Erica Anderson when I came out here. They may hold a place in the hearts of other gamers.
That’s common ground; it gives the listener or reader a frame of reference. If they’ve been or been around those characters, they’ve had the chance to see the world as I have for a small amount of time. That’s how you open a dialogue.
I would rather celebrate games than incessantly lament what they do wrong. I want to show people why I love games, not talk about hardware sales and attach rates. I’m long since past the school bus arguments about Mario and Sonic. There is no fucking console war; just games.
STFUAJPG. Let’s take it back.
