211 - GTS News! Meta-Mayhem Tech-Bro Takeover

Gaming the System News: Impact of Corporate Policy Changes on the Gaming Industry

In the first episode of 2025, hosts Alex, Jem, and Matt dive into recent gaming and adjacent news stories through a feminist lens. They discuss the implications of Meta and Amazon scaling back their diversity programs due to political pressures and how this connects to broader societal issues, including the influence of social media, the rise of 'tech bro' culture, and the political landscape shaped by figures like Trump and Musk. The conversation highlights the ripple effects on the gaming industry and the importance of unionization and local activism as countermeasures.

00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
01:54 Meta's Fact-Checking Program and Diversity Cuts
03:15 Impact of Social Media on Democracy
06:16 Tech Giants and Political Influence
12:35 Economic Inequality and Corporate Power
14:13 Unionization and Worker Rights
20:35 Masculine Energy and Misogyny in Tech
32:33 Conclusion and Call to Action

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Transcript

Alex: Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Gaming the System, the podcast where three intersectional feminists examine gaming and games through a feminist lens. Today, I'm your host, Alex, and I'm joined by my friends, Jem and Matt. Before we get started, if you want to support us, you can subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash gaming the system for some exclusive content. Or you can send us a one-off donation via PayPal to our email address wearegamingthesystem@gmail.com and it's going to be our first episode of 2025 which centres around gaming news stories and adjacent impactful news stories. Just a content warning for the episode after the 20th of January we will be talking about recent news topics.

So, if that feels overwhelming for you right now, then we suggest that you kindly skip this episode and come back later, because we will be talking about recent news events, which are a little bit depressing to say the least. So, feel free to skip if you feel like that.

It's the best thing for your mental health, and we won't hold it against you. Alright, without further ado then, what we're going to do for this episode is talk all about our gaming news stories, what news stories have been happening since the start of the year, how are those impacting gaming, what does everyone in the gaming world need to be knowing about, basically.

So, one of the things that caught our attention, around Christmas time was the news of the metaverse and meta platforms ending a fact checking program that it operates. this story has snowballed in recent weeks. So I'm going to give you a kind of summary.

I think it was Kind of initially came out in early January and updated on sort of the 10th of January with the news that Meta and Amazon are scaling back their diversity programs, joining firms across corporate America that are retreating from hiring and training initiatives criticized by conservatives citing legal and political risks.

So how does that impact on gaming you might ask? And that's what we're here to discuss. Because we all know about the metaverse being a particularly new portion of the gaming world. And obviously the fact checking is important for a number of reasons, so I'm kind of going to open up the table to you both and ask you what piqued your interest about this particular story, and why does it matter for gaming? 

Jem: I have lots of thoughts about this. I wrote my master's about the MeToo movement on Twitter, now known as X. We don't appreciate how powerful these social media platforms are and how influential they are.

until we recognize that there's always going to be a risk, of that falling into an individual's hand or a bad actor's control. two years after my Masters had been completed that the that Elon Musk brought Twitter.

And I think people were really shocked at the time. It was sort of like, Oh, but this is our space. And, you know, you can't own our space. It's our space. And I think people had not. Clocked. I mean, part of the reason why I was talking about it was because I was looking at was Twitter part of the public sphere.

So was it actually providing a space for democratic debate and discussion? And the public sphere is a sociological term. Which talks about a space within which people can talk and exchange ideas about the current political situation and the social situation in a supposedly very democratic and equal way.

I have lots of issues with that. How it used to be, but that's what the concept is. here we had a situation where we were talking about whether or not Twitter was a public sphere. And what I was saying was, no it's not because it's a privately owned entity. at that time it was owned by a board of people.

there were lots of different people. Many of whom had dubious backgrounds But it was owned by a group of people. And now it is owned by an individual. it was scary enough when it was owned by a group of people. Because the algorithms mean that you don't know what information is going to be put in front of you.

So what does all this have to do with meta? And with Zuckerberg's recent announcement and gaming? Well, I think most people of the opinion that this was a way for Zuckerberg to suck up to the incoming president, who was inaugurated yesterday in the U. S. And I think that this shift in policy is only going to apply in the U.S, It's supposedly not going to apply outside of the U. S. And that's because outside of the U. S. there are regional rules and regulations around what can and can't be done. Being cynical, it only matters inside the U. S. if you're trying to police Trump. So he's following suit. And I think what's really interesting is that he is following Elon Musk into the sort of inner circle with Trump.

And Bezos is in there as well. we have all these people who are so powerful that making decisions that are aimed at pleasing somebody who just outright lies to get votes and to make the world the way that he wants it to be. I don't think It's unreasonable of me to say that Trump lies because there are numerous articles out there fact checking just his speech from yesterday when he made multiple statements that are strictly not true.

So, why does it matter what Zuckerberg does on Meta? Why does it matter what happens on Facebook? It matters because this is a massive source of information for our population globally, it matters because it means that there's going to be a huge increase in misinformation and disinformation put out there intentionally and unintentionally.

And it matters because This is not in isolation, this is in the context of Trump, Elon sort of cosying up to him, this tech bro culture that we're seeing, he first removed the fact checking, then went on to say that businesses needed to have more masculine energy and there's this whole laddish culture going on.

And it's part of a whole misogynistic push will that impact the games industry? Probably not immediately, but will it? Make it a lot harder for companies to make the changes we spend so much time talking about here. Absolutely, of course it is, because we're seeing a shift, a tectonic shift, in the, in the systems, in the, in the political uh, landscape of the U.

S. that will have a knock-on effect around the world, especially as they are making changes to the D. I. Policies and other similar woke attitudes. So, yeah, I think it is going to have a knock-on effect. not a direct effect, but a knock-on effect. That would be my guess.

Alex: Definitely. And we talk a lot about wokeness on the pod and the kind of culture wars that have been raging for the last couple of years and now it's really kind of accelerated with this I don't know what the stats are but I'd say the vast majority of us interact with meta in some way or another.

If we are on social media, they've got Instagram, they've got Facebook, they've got WhatsApp. So it's a quite a large contingent of the world's global population that are going to be exposed to these platforms. Like you said, Jem, I'm just going to pick up on some of the quotes from Zuckerberg and from Meta itself.

So, it says that it's scrapping diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts due to a Shifting legal and policy landscape, which is code for we want to support Donald Trump. Walmart and Mcdonald's are also among other firms to have made similar decisions regarding diversity efforts since Trump won re-election.

Which is also interesting to read about And it's argument is about, increasing free speech. But of course we've talked about how hollow that argument is. It's just a word they like to use to justify discriminatory practices and to marginalize groups of society which are already marginalized enough.

Because they feel like, this is the whole thing where there's so many layers to it. When we think about intersectionality, which we do a lot on the pod as well, and we think about what parts of ourselves make ourselves as human beings, what sections of society and the way that we see those sections of society, how do those impact on people's views essentially you've got all the straight white old over here saying, well, you're taking lots of things away from us.

If we make it equal, that means you're taking away what we had, but actually we're just levelling the platform and they think we're getting more We're getting extra because we're getting special treatment and equality and diversity when actually we're just trying to get up to here.

Matt: And you literally have the three wealthiest men on the planet going, these minorities and women, they're taking all of your money and stuff that belongs to you. When literally all of the money is going to those three. 

Alex: They have unimaginable wealth, I don't think we could even begin to compute how much wealth they have.

Matt: Technically, they have very little wealth because they don't get taxed on it. it doesn't make sense that there's a level of money where you earn less than it, you don't pay any tax. You pay a bit more, you pay 10%, 20%, up to 50%. And then sometimes even more, it should be more for people who make a lot, a lot of money.

But then somewhere between there and a couple of million, it goes, down to 1%. 

That's because of either laws that have loopholes, or just complete deregulation, which is the reason that the wealthiest men on the planet are cozying up to Trump and telling him he's the best, and it's because they want deregulation.

And that's what this anti-woke stuff is about; human rights cost money, and equality costs money because it's expensive to have people be treated the way everyone should be treated. there's the money side of it for them. But I think by far the biggest side of it is the egotistical side.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Because they. Meta have just laid off 5 percent of their workforce. 

I was about to bring that story up as well, Thanks, Matt. No, it's 5 percent of jobs are cut and they are, quote, the lowest performers. I wouldn't be surprised if a large number of them were union members.

Powerful ruling class people hate the absolute most union, union people. Because they're the only way that can actually, doesn't matter how much money you have, if you have a hundred thousand workers who stop working for a month, then eventually that's going to take a toll on you.

And when they, the less, like, legal rights that workers have, the more power ruling class people have. And They're always going to be wanting more. And literally Trump has come in and has literally come in the ground running. Because he goes, I fucked up as hard as it could possibly be fucked up the last time.

And he was pussyfooting around then. And now he's going I'm going to get as much money as possible. it's stunning to see over a trillion dollars sat around himOn one plane. And they're going, oh no, it's the illegal immigrants and the homeless people and the black people.

And they're going, it's them that have all your money. Bezos and Zuckerberg are proper, diehard, serious businessmen, cutthroat businessmen, who have built extraordinary things. You can't take away from them what they've built. And they're cosying up to Trump because he's good for their business.

Whereas Elon Musk is just not that. You know how I say that most men stop developing after the age of 15? And they're sort of stuck there? I've watched a comedy podcast where a comedian put it so much more elegantly and captured what I mean.

It's that all these men in this anti-woke sphere. think it's their second go at secondary school. It was that time when they were attracted to everyone but didn't get anywhere. they wanted to be the bully, they wanted to be the cool kids.

And that's what Elon Musk is. He's going, yeah, I'm awesome, I want to be cool. Whereas one of the most useful things he's ever done, which people have forgotten about so quickly, was in the aftermath of that healthcare CEO being assassinated. People said, Well, he's responsible for the suffering and deaths of hundreds of thousands of people for his own benefit.

The defenders were going, well that's the system, this is the healthcare system. Elon Musk said, showing how, obvious the system is. look, in capitalism Businesses answer to the shareholders and CEOs have a fiduciary duty to maximize profits. And in order to do that, you have to spend as little money.

And everyone should look at him and go, that's what all these people think. That's what all the CEOs think that people are worshipping. That's what Mark Zuckerberg thinks. That's what Jeff Bezos think. Literally all they're thinking is how do I cut costs so I can maximize profits before you know it it will be oh by the way your pensions going away no more pensions no more paid holiday.

Minimum wage will never go up, it hasn't gone up for nearly 15 years. the only hope is unions in these places at this stage. But then the more you, sowing division, then the harder it is to unionise as well. So it's all 

Jem: I think you made absolutely the right point there Matt. It's so depressing that people seem to fall for the argument that the enemy are the weakest people in society, I don't mean as in, they are weak individually, I mean they have the smallest amount of power, and the most powerless, the most needy, the most um, irresponsible in that way for, you know, The situation and yet they are held responsible for it by these people who have so much that we can't even conceive of it.

And I think one of the things that really struck me when Zuckerberg was talking about how the country's been, I think he said it had been neutered you have these extremely wealthy, Men, and, and we're not talking just one, we're talking multiple of them, we're talking at least five. I think there was, I think there's more, but like you said, you know, those guys on the plane.

If we talk about those, these are the most powerful, richest, most successful men in the world. And they think that things suck. For them. What hope have the rest of us got? None. we're so far away from that. it's just a ridiculous argument when you take a step back from it.

I want to give some statistics because I love a statistic. this, world that doesn't have enough masculine energy, that doesn't have enough, men in the workforce that's been muted. just 10 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are female.

This is in 23. 10%. This in Biden's government, there was 48 percent of cabinet and cabinet level. People were women, but it still wasn't 50%. And as you move through state legislators and the us house of representatives, it was 28 percent and us Senate, it was 25%.

So this. country that they're talking about is still being run by a majority male leadership. none of it makes any sense. It's all just smoke and mirrors. It's all just lies to cover up. As you said, Matt, you know, a land grab. It's a land grab. It's a money grab. It's a power grab.

It's embarrassing for them, I mean, I am embarrassed for them because it's pathetic. unfortunately, it would be funny if it wasn't going To impact everyone in the world and that's what really worries me and changes like, you know, the fact checking on Facebook was not good, was not perfect by any means.

let's be honest. we know plenty of situations where people have repeatedly complained about misogynists. Racist or homophobic or transphobic language that hadn't, wasn't being dealt with. there are women speaking out who are finding themselves attacked along with, allies and people of any minority group.

And so we know that's the case. So I am not in any way saying that it was working. But. There's a difference between this isn't quite working and chucking it completely out. we know from what's happened on X that the idea of a community led management system also doesn't work because X is a shitstorm.

Alex: Yep. 

Jem: To put it politely. it's just really sad because it's really going to pave the way for this current administration to talk absolute shit and potentially an even greater shift to the right.

And, given what Elon Musk may Have done yesterday. That's terrifying. You know, that is terrifying. I've been For 

Alex: context for those people who don't know he was giving a speech to Trump supporters? Yesterday 

Matt: I think he probably thought he was dabbing 

Jem: John Stewart from the Daily Show said that, and I think that's funny, but I don't think that's true. 

Matt: Great minds think alike. the kind of 

Alex: Side effect of this story also, and that's pretty predominant in online discourse, is using autism as an excuse. For that, which is of course not a thing. No. Yeah, I've seen a lot of very funny and witty satire on that subject Like autism do's and don'ts, how to avoid doing a Nazi salute when out in public. Very, very funny. I suggest you check them out. But autism is not the cause of someone being a bigoted fascist. 

To continue on the topic of the masculine energy that you've mentioned, Jem. I'll give you a little bit more context on that. I'm reading from a BBC article published on the 14th of January. It says here, Mr. Zuckerberg also appears to be overhauling his own public image. On a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Mr. Zuckerberg said he thought companies needed more masculine energy and discussed taking up martial arts. Which he said he enjoyed because he felt he could more fully express himself than in his corporate role.

And this is a quote from him. When you're running a company, people typically don't want to see you like this roofless person. Who's just like, I'm going to crush people. 

Matt: snap their neck because he's a mixed martial artist. What? 

Alex: He said. But when you're fighting it's like, no.

I think in some ways, when people see me competing in the sport, they're like, Oh no, that's the real Mark. I don't know if I've intonated the correct tones there. But, I just wondered what you guys think of that. And then also, I thought about what parallels are those kind of trains of thought with the whole misogynistic gaming culture that is often encountered among, Certain groups within the gaming world.

Matt: I listen to so many podcasts that have comedians poking fun at These people. And Elon Musk is just You can't argue that he's not fucking stupid. You just can't argue that. Because, he's just saying, oh, when he does something stupid it's because he's autistic. That's not how autism works.

You can't just say, and this, the worshipping of these tech bros. young men, there's this entire, it's just sort of

Ridiculous, stupid, but incredibly popular ecosystem of These are the male role models you're supposed to be following And they're like Jordan Peterson Who is wildly popular and successful Somehow And people just look at it from the outside Sort of being in a bubble, being outside the bubble Just looking and going, how can anyone believe any of this And How you break into that and get people out of it and see the reality of it and you think like, okay Who do these people worship?

They worship Joe Rogan the most successful podcaster to ever live he's got a hundred million dollar deal with Spotify Between him and Trump. They probably have the most diehard young male audience One positive thing we actually have in the UK compared to America is we have that same Like, left, like, it's centrist and then there's the far right 

But we haven't had a right wing messiah the same way that they've had in America. Trump could literally do whatever he wants, he could have done absolutely everything that he's doing already, and then he could go, we're going to have free healthcare. And he could make it happen like that.

And Joe Rogan could have any number of guests who have the power to steer the world in a better direction. they all seem to go to this place of, oh yeah, we need more masculinity, anti woke. it's just to see all that potential wasted. Just like with all their money.

You go, how many people could be happy forever? With a fraction of that money. And it's just, it's that thing of just looking for the outside. And I think, I don't remember, I can't remember if it was the three of us or if it was two of us. We were talking about how important it is to pick your battles as an average individual.

Because some people have more capacity for activism. Other people find different things. And some things like these stories is it's, it's too big for individuals to, to go, oh, how do I fix this? You go, we can't, you can't fix this on your own. What's the manageable thing you can do? And then that's why I think unions is the only way.

The best option, really, because we've been told forever that politics is the way you get things done, but then Trump came in after eight years of Obama, and then Trump has come back in after four years of Biden, proving that even when the supposedly rational, reasonable, centrist, left wing people win, It's still not fixing the problems, it allows these right wing messiahs to come in and go, Ah, they fucked it all.

Jem: I think you're right, it's a massive thing, and on an individual basis, obviously We can't make a difference to that, but we do all have a vote, and we do all have the ability to vote with our wallets, and our feet, we can make choices about what we support and what we don't support, and we can talk to our friends and family, because they also have little power, and we all have little power, yesterday I really did my best not to watch too much of the news because it made me feel ill. I can't identify with these people. it's not just a slightly different perspective on the world. it's radically different for me and I just can't get behind it at all.

It makes me feel ill to see the way that they're manipulating people and to see the joy with which they are. Leading to the potential deaths of people all of those things I just find disgraceful. as you say, Matt, you know, these are people that have huge amount of power and could be a force for good and are choosing for their own personal gain not to be.

So I found it really difficult. But one of the things that I thought today about it was, you know, I don't have a lot of power. I don't have a lot of voice, but I do have. This podcast with you guys. that was one of the things I was like, okay, we can come on and talk about it from our little perspective and, a few people will see it and hear and may agree, may not, but at least people will think about it.

At least we're putting that view out there and letting other people who may have more power, no. That we're there, we're, we're with them, you know, and I think that's how, I felt when I did the women's march when Trump came into power back in 2016, there's little things we can do, but if we all do a little, that does add up to a lot.

So I'm seeing about sort of radical resistance and, all of those ways that we can support local organizations. as you say, Matt, supporting and joining our Organizations that can step out there and be a larger voice for us, is so important.