The Neoliberal Object: A Close Look at The Stanley Parable (Part 2) 

There may be some technical issues in this video. I had to reformat my hard-drive between videos, switched to a new microphone, and ran into a number of problems with OBS and Sony Vegas that resulted in this video taking a lot longer to make than I anticipated. Hopefully this won't remain an issue in videos coming up! That said, I hope you enjoy the video!

this video is so real, and you're right to feel fear about entering the workplace after school leading to your hobbies and interests turning into routines and work. I used to listen to music and youtube to help me escape the mundanity of my awful retail job, but after four years it's basically become part of my job and it's become so hard to find videos or music that really capture my interest or pull me out of the slog that i genuinely become angry and feel slighted by boring media that just blend into the background noise. The same thing happened to a lesser extent with video games, when I get home and hop onto my pc I always feel like im clocking into a shift for my "try to enjoy the little things I have as much as possible while I have the time," job. I still enjoy my games, but it feels like I'm being allotted a certain amount of time that I'm allowed to relax, and playing games feels like an obligation to squeeze any enjoyment out of the time I have away from work while the constant thought of going back eats away at the back of my mind. Also this video was great and I always look forward to your uploads, you definitely deserve more support.

I really loved the Stanley Parable 2's intro office. its such a small section, but it is so dense with jokes and references. I think my favorite part is how it is, in a way, a more "updated" office, the sequel to the original games office itself. This feels very neoliberal because that has for sure been a thing throughout its existence, of the ways different office space trends have come and gone. It is also an update because it really is more realistic looking as an office space, which makes me think of game developers pushing "better graphics" in their marketing. Also the idea that the paintings of the original office have been replaced with tv monitors with photoshop open and displaying paintings is such a funny evolution. Office Paintings already evoked a sense of artificiality and subtle control, so to make them, big, expensive, and expose the artifice? Amazing stuff.

all of your work is criminally underrated i love you

welp. time to replay the beginner's guide again. i only played the first version of the stanley parable. i should give the 'new' one a shot one of these days.

Congratulations on graduating malmrose. Looking forward to future videos.

Oh I very strongly agree with how “Ultra Deluxe” is a surprisingly deeper *and* funnier experience than the base game. I still think I like a many of the jokes from the vanilla release, but you could easily argue many of the gags were reductive. the meta “game about games” lens is an overbearing factor to a lot of the jokes. But reframing the entirety of the original game and stuffing in within the flimsy framework of a cash-in expanded edition/impromptu sequel not only demonstrates how the time since the original release has allowed for clearer understanding of what ideas made it special and resonant, it reframes the relationship between Stanley and the narrator as this truly bizarre codependent on-again off-again relationship in ways are REALLY funny and richer than it’s ever been before

I did not really agree with some points of the first part but i got to say this one was spot on

Really enjoyed this. I especially like the idea that skill in games is itself a sort of neo-liberal subjectification demanding you work on that sort of individual self-project to become a peak performer. I don't think I've pulled it all together in that way before, I tend to get tangled up in notions of tactility and rhythm and sort of miss that further underlying element, which is odd because my co-ordination issues mean that that element is the one locking me out of a lot fo games I'd usually enjoy. Such is life I suppose, the ideal capitalist subject is always able bodied by default or else they're sold things to allow them to perform as such.

If video games are the most neoliberal medium and watching numbers go up is a very neoliberal thing to do, my love of RPGs just got real complicated 😬 A little more seriously, though, is there any term for how players of any game perhaps blind themselves to the reality that choices in games are ultimately false choices? Sort of like suspension of disbelief but relating to agency rather than reality?

I'd be very interested in your thoughts on Spec Ops The Line in relation to wh ast you're talking about here. I feel that it was a game made in spite of capitalism and Neoliberlism, despite being a product of the the dominant conditions of capitalism and Neoliberlism like all commercial products are. A lot of people criticized it because they felt the game was saying "don't you feel bad for doing this bad stuff we're making you do" without giving you a 'choice' not to do so. But much how the creators of The Stanley Parable understood, I believe they knew that choice within a game is still bound to the whims of the game and developers. I've always argued that Spec Ops The Line was making a statement to game-ify war, and our active role in that as the Player of the Main Character in that game-ified war, and our decision to play a game in that genre in the first place.

Lmao I love all the Jerma clips throughout the video. You are truly a cultured individual.

I was the whole time of this video thinking about Shenmue 3.

Thank you for these videos! How many hours did you have on The Stanley Parable across the board?

i'd really appreciate any game recommendations you've got ! especially for games like the beginners guide or slave of god,, kind of abstract or art-focused games (oh also excellent video!!!!!!!!!!)