‘There was no shouting or pushing: indeed, voices were scarcely raised above an eager whisper.’
– Clive Barker, 'In the Hills, the Cities', in Books of Blood, vol. 1, 1984.
Played during the Backloggd’s Game of the Week (Feb. 28 – Mar. 6, 2023).
The releases of Go to Hell (1985) and Soft & Cuddly (1987) were part of a turning point in British computer history. The £125 cost of the ZX Spectrum made it a cheap microcomputer for the British public, and a community had quickly formed, with many video game creators. This was a period of intense creative activity, as it coincided with the Microelectronics Education Programme (1980-1986), which aimed to popularise computers among a younger audience, while the National Development Programme in Computer Aided Learning (1973-1977) was primarily intended for tertiary education. For John George Jones, the development of his games was a way of killing time: according to the strange interview he gave to Sinclair User, he was first and foremost a disillusioned musician who wanted to amuse himself with people's reactions to the violence of his games before returning to other activities that would interest him more. [1] There was no big project behind it, no real desire to push the boundaries of video game design, just a feeling of boredom.
Just as there is a certain irony in those who claim to be Nietzscheans by agreeing with truncated passages of the philosopher – Walter Kauffman pointed out that to be a Nietzschean is not to be a Nietzschean, as Nietzsche always urged his readers never to adhere to dogmas, including his own – so the idea of a sequel to Go to Hell and Soft & Cuddly may seem contradictory. In an age of normalised violence and gore in video game production, how does one capture the spirit of games made to shock the public? Detchibe pointed out that the splatterpunk aesthetic is far less shocking today than Jones' games were. The violence of The Light at the End (1986) was shocking and innovative for its time – Stephen King was also explicit in Carrie (1974), but always stopped short of the unbearable – but it was justified by a critique of the Reagan era and the perception that the working class was incapable of rebuilding a cohesive community.
Fucker Gamer Scum Get Stabbed is at the crossroads of these aesthetic movements, more splat than punk, but it fails to evoke any emotion other than tedium. Many of the sprites are directly taken from Go to Hell, without the staging making them stand out. In Soft & Cuddly, there is a certain discomfort in seeing sickly, disfigured sprites covering the entire screen; in Go to Hell, the wide eyes staring at the player are unsettling, as they are stuck exploring a very gritty maze. Fucker Gamer Scum Get Stabbed is a short experience in which the player has no time to pause and observe and be impressed by the various scenes. There are no creative flights, no terrifying inspirations. For a few minutes, the player wanders through a pseudo-labyrinth in search of a red key, and it is enough to navigate randomly for a few more seconds to reach the exit. The protagonist is greeted in a circular room and laid on a hospital bed, surrounded by creatures created by Jones. At the top, an enemy reminds us that 'punks die'. Ironically, this echoes an interview with John Skipp in which he lamented the situation: ‘People seized on the splat, but forgot the punk. Which is to say, the subversive element. [...] I think a lot of people missed the fucking point entirely. It’s not just about how horrible you can make things. It’s about what it means. Why it matters. And what it says about us as a species.’ [2]
__________
[1] Sinclair User, no. 67, October 1987, p. 37
[2] ‘John Skipp & Shane Mckenzie – Talk Horror Interview’, in Splatterpunk, no. 4, November 2013.
– Clive Barker, 'In the Hills, the Cities', in Books of Blood, vol. 1, 1984.
Played during the Backloggd’s Game of the Week (Feb. 28 – Mar. 6, 2023).
The releases of Go to Hell (1985) and Soft & Cuddly (1987) were part of a turning point in British computer history. The £125 cost of the ZX Spectrum made it a cheap microcomputer for the British public, and a community had quickly formed, with many video game creators. This was a period of intense creative activity, as it coincided with the Microelectronics Education Programme (1980-1986), which aimed to popularise computers among a younger audience, while the National Development Programme in Computer Aided Learning (1973-1977) was primarily intended for tertiary education. For John George Jones, the development of his games was a way of killing time: according to the strange interview he gave to Sinclair User, he was first and foremost a disillusioned musician who wanted to amuse himself with people's reactions to the violence of his games before returning to other activities that would interest him more. [1] There was no big project behind it, no real desire to push the boundaries of video game design, just a feeling of boredom.
Just as there is a certain irony in those who claim to be Nietzscheans by agreeing with truncated passages of the philosopher – Walter Kauffman pointed out that to be a Nietzschean is not to be a Nietzschean, as Nietzsche always urged his readers never to adhere to dogmas, including his own – so the idea of a sequel to Go to Hell and Soft & Cuddly may seem contradictory. In an age of normalised violence and gore in video game production, how does one capture the spirit of games made to shock the public? Detchibe pointed out that the splatterpunk aesthetic is far less shocking today than Jones' games were. The violence of The Light at the End (1986) was shocking and innovative for its time – Stephen King was also explicit in Carrie (1974), but always stopped short of the unbearable – but it was justified by a critique of the Reagan era and the perception that the working class was incapable of rebuilding a cohesive community.
Fucker Gamer Scum Get Stabbed is at the crossroads of these aesthetic movements, more splat than punk, but it fails to evoke any emotion other than tedium. Many of the sprites are directly taken from Go to Hell, without the staging making them stand out. In Soft & Cuddly, there is a certain discomfort in seeing sickly, disfigured sprites covering the entire screen; in Go to Hell, the wide eyes staring at the player are unsettling, as they are stuck exploring a very gritty maze. Fucker Gamer Scum Get Stabbed is a short experience in which the player has no time to pause and observe and be impressed by the various scenes. There are no creative flights, no terrifying inspirations. For a few minutes, the player wanders through a pseudo-labyrinth in search of a red key, and it is enough to navigate randomly for a few more seconds to reach the exit. The protagonist is greeted in a circular room and laid on a hospital bed, surrounded by creatures created by Jones. At the top, an enemy reminds us that 'punks die'. Ironically, this echoes an interview with John Skipp in which he lamented the situation: ‘People seized on the splat, but forgot the punk. Which is to say, the subversive element. [...] I think a lot of people missed the fucking point entirely. It’s not just about how horrible you can make things. It’s about what it means. Why it matters. And what it says about us as a species.’ [2]
__________
[1] Sinclair User, no. 67, October 1987, p. 37
[2] ‘John Skipp & Shane Mckenzie – Talk Horror Interview’, in Splatterpunk, no. 4, November 2013.