I’ll try to make this short.
I have been studying Marxism for about a year. Since that time I have been more… reserved? That’s not the right word as I agitate and educate while at work and in public, but refrain from using any “scare words” such as Marxism/Communism, because I am in America and these words tend to turn most people off, though they most often agree with everything I’ve said.
Anyways, I am active in a Socialist organization, or at least I try to be. I work second shift and it is very difficult to change days off as my job is constantly understaffed (though we keep making record profits, go figure). This means I can very rarely attend meetings and regularly organize as 90% of the time I have to work.
This leaves me feeling a little down, as I rarely have anyone to “connect” with. I can’t let off steam about work, critique a commercial or capitalism in general, or get into a deep political discussion about a new topic. Basically I have no friends, lol. I am a friendly person, but I am not interested in going out after work with coworkers to the bar as I don’t drink or smoke.
I like to live a “quiet life”. When I come home from work, I like to play music, read, draw, try and fail to write stories, you know… real artsy fartsy stuff! Why am I complaining here, you ask?
Well after discovering just how bad gamer’s reactionary tendencies truly are (I knew they were bad, but my gosh, I didn’t realize they were as bad as I have discovered). After getting into a… “debate” if you want to call it that on why racism isn’t such a good idea and responding to the sheer amount of gamers arguing that it’s “free speech” or “just a joke”, while I provided information, articles, links all in a friendly, helpful manner. I made 1 “friend” out of it… and then lost them the next day. I guess Lenin scares some people, lol!
I am not quite sure what to do next. I have looked on Steam, the gaming platform I use, for Marxist groups, but most are just mocking Marxism and the few that seem to understand theory appear to be quite dead. It would be nice to have the opportunity to talk to like-minded Marxists about life, music, art, THE IMMORTAL SCIENCE OF MARXISM-LENINISM, etc…, but safely.
TL;DR : Where can Marxists meet/chat safely? Obviously we must be careful about the information we give out, but as isolated as some or most of us are, I feel as though some might benefit from an outlet like this.
You should check out Mastodon. There are more anarchists than communists, but its still the most leftist social media platform by far.
If you speak other languages than English, you should also look for stuff in those languages. Unfortunately the english language internet is always dominated by americans.
Edit: didnt see that the question was about gaming, my answer is more about general online communites…
You’re right, the vast mass of gamers, and especially gaming as a subculture is pretty toxic.
I know you work second shift, and there are so many that do, that it’s worth asking your org to do every other meeting on the weekend during the day. My org did this to accommodate everyone, and overall the weekend day meetings felt less rushed and more fun.
And if they don’t, or refuse to, you should find another org. I don’t game that much but a lot of ppl in the org did pick out ones and game and that’s going to be infinitely more fun and give you more a sense of friendship and community than even an online only left community would.
As far as personal info, I wouldn’t worry about secureness, if these are just ppl you’re gaming online with, just don’t give out personal info. They’ll pry use discord, which is pretty unavoidable nowadays.
Also i suggest copying and making this whole post over at Reddit /r/socialistgaming. They are probably much more knowledgeable about which specific games have not toxic leftist communities.
I’ve worked second shift too and I know it can be tough and turn your social life to shit. luck comrade.
The racists: Certain sections of the capitalist media encourage the idea of “triggering” people as a perverse form of entertainment to divert rage outward from the system. You will probably only be able to convince them on this topic if you become close friends with them in the game. Probably a waste of time.
So you’ve gotten people to agree with you without saying the words Marxism/Communism, that can be replicated i the games
frequently, people will complain about such things as microtransactions and other gouging practices, you can turn that into a critique of capitalism.
https://lemmygrad.ml/pictshare/tfn8f5.jpg
Complaints about movies being terrible and Disney owning everything - a natural consequence of capitalism and consolidation of capital
the structure of MMORPG economies can also lead into a discussion depending on how the game is designed
Other players often discuss their personal problems such as student debts, terrible alienating job, medical bills etc…
Sometimes discussion of economic policy and someone will advocate for tax cuts for the rich etc. Calling people a “Temporarily Poor Billionaire” is quite effective and even the most fanatical bootlickers seem to have no scripted counter. (Hence the capitalists directing the debate toward identity poltics)
It is, after all, in their personal interest, for capitalism to be overthrown.
Alternately, you could not worry about all that and instead make your character name Chad, Anita Sarkeesian, Rose Tico etc
