We Are Playing Witcher: Pronoun Usage (Part 2)

Last month I made a post about the various pronouns I use while playing or talking about games in I am Geralt: Pronoun Usage (Part 1). This is the 2nd installment of that series in which I will be focusing on my use of "we" - when meaning me and chat - in terms of Irving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life which I also mentioned in the 1st post. In particular, I will be looking at the performative nature of this use and how this performance seems to fail just as often as not. And in case the phrase "everyday life" in the title here didn't tip you off, I will be taking some liberties - or more accurately, I will be using this work in an unconventional manner. Of course, it was published in the 1950s so it's not like it was written for analysis of Twitch or The Witcher.

OK, enough with the heavy intro. I mentioned talking about failure, so let's start the death counter!

How I feel after silent streams.

Backseat Gaming, Save Scumming, and Cheating: On the Gray Nature of Morality and Shared Experiences

I know that title sounds philosophical, but don't worry, I am still riding the Witcher train - in case the jargon didn't tip you off. 

This week I did something that I rarely do in any games - I reloaded the game to an earlier save point because I didn't like what happened. For the uninitiated, this is called save scumming. That I rarely do this is not a judgment on those who partake, it is simply a matter of preference. My sense of curiosity likes to follow the thread of choices I make and how they affect the game. If the game is good, I will replay it to see where the other choices lead. Also, save scumming feels like cheating. to me. Intellectually speaking, I don't consider it cheating, but emotionally it feels like it is. So, why did I do it then?

Well, for the 2nd time in the game so far (the first was Coleman) I needed information from an NPC who wouldn't give it to me.  This is not the way I see myself-as-Geralt, as needing anyone, but here we were, being told to "shove off" by a messenger in the Hairy Bear Inn.

In an ironic twist, I've been told in chat to save scum. This is called backseat gaming which is not considered cheating but is even more taboo than save scumming.