humour // no. 18 theotherpress.ca YouTuber figures out what's wrong with gaming these days > ‘Finally, someone said it’ Jake Wray News Editor A, Ubisoft, Activision, and other video game giants are promising to make significant changes to their business practices after a YouTuber criticized the gaming industry in a video uploaded Monday. The video, titled “10 problems with gaming right now,” gained 876 million views in 2 hours and sparked widespread public outrage about dirty capitalistic practices in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry. The video is “a wholly original criticism,” and “long overdue,” according to an editorial published by gaming “journalism” site IGN. Gaming companies are “totally being unnecessarily greedy,” the video alleges, when they siphon off game content to be sold as DLC or add loot boxes to games. The 3-hour and 20-minute video is narrated by the still- cracking voice of the video’s creator, 19-year-old Connor Austin, known on YouTube as FART_SMACK. The video is produced in classic YouTube style as the narration begins with FART_ SMACK saying, “What up, guys.” Other classic production techniques include gratuitous jump cuts that make this reporter’s teeth hurt, and a loud dinging sound each time FART_SMACK makes a point he considers particularly salient. FART_SMACK was inspired to make his video because Destiny 2 “isn’t as good as it should be,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Other Press. “T just want to sit back and play that game with my friends without feeling like I need to spend all this extra money,’ he said, before admitting he pre-ordered the digital deluxe edition of Destiny 2. “I really can’t afford to keep hemorrhaging money on games like this. I have to save up for the Xbox One X, and a 4K TV.” Tim Wong, a spokesperson representing a consortium of gaming corporations including EA, Ubisoft, and Activision, said at a press conference Monday evening that the companies hear the public outrage, and they will change at once. “If only we had known sooner that our business tactics were upsetting people,” he told reporters. “Forget economics. We're going to do the right thing from now on.” Gabe Newell, president of the Valve corporation, said the company still plans to include micro-transactions in Half Life 3, despite the controversy. SS EU Bia “Just be glad you're getting the game at all,” Newell said in a phone interview with the Other Press. Lyle Muhammed, a sociology professor at UBC, said FART_SMACK’s video shows that YouTubers have the potential to become leaders of intellectual discourse. “When I saw the video, I EXPANSION I beet eR aera.) KA thought ‘finally, someone said it.’ I think YouTubers are going to elicit this reaction in other areas as well,” he said. “The film industry, the environment, politics—these are all areas that could use the thoughtful, sharp criticism offered by YouTube.” One year closer to death > Depression meals: Birthday cake Mercedes Deutscher Social Media Coordinator - Check your mailbox for birthday cards, only to be disappointed that your Visa bill is the only thing in there. Ingredients: 1 box of cake mix Bie tate Or cuann) 1cup of oil 1 tub of icing of choice Candles - Sit on your couch and think about how you've been wasting the prime of your life on the Internet. Remember that you did this to yourself. Think about your peers that you graduated high school with who are approaching their university graduations this summer. Recall how you couldn't even finish your second year of college before dropping out. - Debate what you are going to do for the rest Screenshot of ‘Destiny 2’ DLC advertisement * Preheat oven to 350°C. - Wash the mixing bowl that you put your popcorn into a few weeks back. Treat yourself. It’s your birthday. - Dump cake mix into bowl. Mix three eggs and one cup of oil into mix. Make sure to mix it all at once so that it’s lumpy. Do not mix the eggs separately. Only professionals and people who have their life together do that, you piece of shit. * Make sure to taste the cake batter. Be disappointed when you realize cake batter isn’t cookie dough. - Grease a cake tin. You can use butter, margarine, oil, or your own sweat and tears. - Pour cake batter into tin. Place into preheated oven and get Siri to set your timer for 45 minutes. of your life... Are you just going to be a useless sack of meat that feels sorry for themselves all of the time? Will you seize what youth you have left before people start seeing you as middle-aged or old and don’t care about what you have to say anymore? Will you ever own a house, or a car, or literally anything of value? * Be shocked when your timer goes off. You've been moping for 45 minutes. If 45 minutes goes by so fast, how quickly will the rest of your life ffash by? * Take cake out of oven and let it cool down for 15 minutes before growing too impatient to let it set for the proper amount of time. Frost with icing. Get frustrated that crumbs are getting in your icing and that your cake is falling apart. * Put candles on cake. You're too old to be able to use one box of candles now. Light the candles and walk back to your living room. Photo illustration by Lauren Kelly Place the cake on the coffee table and sob while singing “Happy Birthday” to yourself. - Accidentally low all the candles out in one go. You don’t get any boyfriends this year. * Eat entire cake with a fork. Do not cut into slices.