Why so popular? Video Games, Cat Religion, and Identity 

I demand this video

Gotta happen now.

Oh absolutely. I would personally be willing to reach out and give the professor some materials about the origins and transformation of furry from its anthro and Funny Animals roots.

I would say mental illness rather than profilicity.

@@JCT1926 It could be argued they are one and the same ;-)

That's a bit condescending. East Asian people just love silly humor and cute stuff. Western people have an equal tendency to completely hype up an overly simplistic game, and I have proof: Flappy Bird.

@@7th808s and cookie clicker

There was a Flash-based "game" on the early internet (if you consider the late 1990s Flash-era to be early internet) where you could pop virtual bubble-wrap which was quite close to this. So the basic concept here really goes back some 25 years.

What's about the houses in Harry Potter?

pokemon, like above mentioned harry potter, or any social platform (including youtube, and most likely every brand), can all be defined as profiles. different game mechanics you've described were developed over the course of time in other games. as tools of establishment and at the same time possibility of self expression. i'm afraid that what you are describing here is more like scattered pieces, rather than something that could complete anything close to definition of lasting identity.

As a game researcher and game designer, I very much agree that profilistic identities have an application in game design; games and the concept of profilicity have a very symbiotic relationship. In regards to the video, I wonder if the two examples mentioned are the best cases to demonstrate that, as both - depending which definition you choose - do not classify as games. If you look at Huizinga's, Caillois' or Crawford's definition, a game needs to be safe and specifically not serious, which definitely disqualifies Squid Game. Huizinga and Caillois also argue that a game should not be connected with material interest or gain, which is the central external motivation in Squid Game. For Pop Cat on the other hand I would argue that it is a toy, not a game. If you look at how Schell and Salen/Zimmerman distinguish between toy and game, Pop Cat lacks the clear definition on when it starts and ends (a topic you also touched upon with Pokemon Go) and it has no defined goal. Yes, it has a highscore, but that's very detached, it's not an integral part of Pop Cat's system, if you even could call it a system in the first place. The interesting thing about Pop Cat is the following: You could argue that exactly the political meta context is what turns the toy into a game: The political context gives the toy a goal which - to stay with the language of profilicity - is defined by the general peer. Similarly how a ball is not a game by itself, as it needs the rules of whatever sport you choose to become a game - football, baseball, basketball, etc. But I digress. Let's go back to games and profilicity. The notion that Pokémon Go encourages players to curate their own profile is spot-on. And it's interesting that you mention how Pokemon Go as an AR game takes the game - and with that the profiles players curate - into the real world. The big question here is if that step is needed to use a game as a tool for profile building? Is the aspect of the connection to terrestrial, physical objects, bodies and locations needed to create profiles in which people are invested in? As you mentioned, it most certainly helped to activate a larger audience for the game, but is it necessary for profilicity? I would argue that this is not the case, as the general peer is a central aspect in profilicity, since the concept revolves around second-order observation or the question of how you want to be seen. And the general peer is not everyone, it is in relation to the corresponding space. So from that perspective, any form of games - even single player games - can be tools to perform profilicity. The dissociation from the "real world" is even an aspect which makes games so attractive for profile curation, as it allows people to present themselves and to be to be seen in ways that are detached from the restriction of the corporal, physical world. Möller points out the personal investment in a profile as the defining factor if a profile works, and in all the good and bad aspects, the gaming community has shown enough examples that this is the case for many gamers. I guess this is also a topic which shows promise for further research: Why are players invested in their gaming profiles? One last aspect to point out the symbiosis between profilicity and gaming would be the nature of games as a state of the art technology: Games are constantly changing and adapting to society and the advancement of technology. Currently, they are very much in an environment which is dominated by second-order observation and peer feedback. Pretty much every tool surrounding games, be it sales platforms, marketing tools, or community spaces, are based on the mechanics of the general peer. Games and game developers need to invest in those mechanics, they need to understand, implement and master them to be able to survive. I guess there are many more aspects to talk about in that regard, but yeah... Thanks for coming to my TED talk ^^'

@@fomoludens1549 so you wanna say that most games aren't games but toys? That sounds ridiculous. I can clearly make up a definition of both words and claim such things. But this would be only predicative with no inherent description of the reality.

​@@SchmulKrieger I really recommend reading Jesse Schell's 'The Art of Game Design' and 'Rules of Play' by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. They are part of the fundamental contemporary game design literature and their takes on toys vs games are very interesting. Not to gatekeep what's "a real game" and what isn't, but rather to understand different concepts of play. Regardless of if one agrees with Schell and Salen/Zimmerman, it is a fact that Pop Cat is rather limited in its complexity and ruleset. There is just one rule: If you click, the cat opens its mouth. There's no intricate and interlaced system of mechanics and chains of actions/consequences which is typical for what we know as games (Salen and Zimmerman's take on systems is also interesting in that regard). The true "game" happens only on the meta layer of the political/identity context.

Well said

Hong Kong presumably way ahead of you

Waifuism reminds me vaguely of shaktism in Hinduism. Damn all these internet culture things seem to just be reformed religion :/

I think the point is that religion and faith is more a feeling than it is something you can accurately describe. I'm sure he will find words to describe this feeling at somepoint but when he says religion I sort of self-translate to "a feeling of religiosity" because the word religion is very god-centered in our mind. Have you read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman by any chance? The central story of the book is about how new gods (such as TV or electricity) replace the Gods of old (Odin) and the conflict that arises. The idea is that what we worship and what we care about has changed since traditional God(s) have walked but the role of religion in society has remained the same (well, not the same just relatively similar) it's just what religion itself is centered around has seen the most change.

While it is somewhat remote from the concept of religion, from the way that cats are depicted on the internet I would say that they are venerated quite close to the way cows are venerated in India.

@@Defenestrationed I haven't read American Gods no, although I have heard of and read about it so I do know who the new gods are and what they're based on. However even that "feeling of religiosity" doesn't really seem to make sense here as almost all the discourse around cats is quite frivolous, not in veneration. And I don't mean frivolous in the sense of me finding the phenomenon frivolous, but rather that the attitude of the people doing it towards the cat meme is one of frivolity. Just cos cats and cat-like things are a successful meme doesn't make it religious.

i think profilicity is a more nuanced way to talk about tribalism. i think tribalism is only a part of profilicity, as it describes identifying with a 'tribe' but not necessarily the other aspects of profilicity

@@Michelle_Wellbeck Not even close. Cows are venerated in India in the same manner as cats likely would've been venerated by the ancient Egyptians as the representative of Bast i.e. it is very much devotional and serious. Cats on the internet are a fun pastime that people indulge in because they like it, not because they ascribe any serious spiritual significance to them. Indians don't find cows adorable (or kawaii), they protect them cos of their importance in Hinduism. Whereas being adorable is the whole basis of the online feline fascination.

That was what made me stay the first time I clicked on one of his videos, lol. I was like, oh, this guy knows what’s up.

great comment

I agree with Noah...I'm more of a rabbit person.

I thought he was specifically talking about this Popcat game, and about how those type of events(?) pop up in a flash and wither away sometimes just as quickly.

How is it different? He's always said people cultivate a multitude of profiles, and I don't recall any implication in any past video that those profiles have to be permanent or even long-lasting. Indeed it makes perfect sense that many might be quite ephemeral.

good perspective

He's not really talking about philosophy IN video games, more just seeing some interesting social commentary in a particular phenomenon that happens to revolve around a video game. But even he doesn't say the cat game itself has any philosophy in it.

@@ArawnOfAnnwn My comment was tongue in cheek, I'm just poking a little fun at how simplistic that game is compared to games more famously known for their philosophical depth

@@hazardousjazzgasm129 Everytime I see a youtube video along the lines of "philosophy of ", I die a little inside. Especially anime.

@@canti7951Most video games and anime are trash with no philosophical substance

@@canti7951 Then again that goes for movies and TV at large too

There was maybe an element of that song where people identifying with "internet culture" became euphoric in terms of wanting to assert dominance over traditional media. The childishness of the song and dance, however, was a result of it being a satire of the shallow culture of people in a wealthy enclave. Pen Pineapple Apple Pen had a less ironic childish nature.

Heathen

@@alexanderleuchte5132 is that the meaning of cat religion?

@@benzur3503 You're a heathen for not believing lol

@@alexanderleuchte5132 how do I know if I’m believing in it or not if I don’t know what it is? I might believe in it without knowing I do

Watch the documentary "cat nation", your eyes will be opened haha

@dontcare en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

Strange, because usually the channel is well worth the view!

Tbf, this kinda thing is also what an even more (in)famous philosopher of the modern age does - Slavoj Zizek.

​@@ArawnOfAnnwn The shark in "Jaws" is the cultural representation of the unconscious fear of the Cuban immigrant arriving at the shores of Florida

@@kacperbilozor *insert blue curtains meme here*

How is it speculative? It is observational. Also, what was not explained well? And how does it fail to "illuminate unseen, but existing aspects of known reality." ? as you say.

Genius

I find myself trying to explain too much nowadays with Tribalism. Its not that I necessarily think its wrong, but an answer that explains everything explains nothing. Tribalism itself is rather broad, and we've basically taken any expression of group identity as tribalism.

@@Jaigarful If I tell you that water is wet and I repeat that a million times does it make it false at the million and one mark? No. Sorry if it sounds boring to you but it's just a fact. And most people are not even aware that it is happening. That's why it can keep happening with no end. That's why wars never ended and never will unless someone actually sits down and explains why humans are acting in the ways they do and give a proper solution to stop malicious tribal acts. There are beneficial acts in tribalism and there are malicious acts too but the thing is that once you understand how exactly tribalism works and manifests in the world, all you have to do is to teach people about it and they will eventually stop fighting eachoter. It's a lot easier said than done but I think we have to start somewhere if we want to solve literally the most ancient problem of all. I am doing my part at the moment but it will take a while until I am done.

Tribalism is pretty much what I called his profilic identities, even before I found this channel. Hearing him speak about it I kinda think a lot of people might've already come up with their own concept for what he's describing, just with different terms or metaphors for it.

I mean we literally learn by recognizing patterns and repeating patterns...

Tribalism is also tied to identity though... The tribe becomes your collective identity