Exactly! Almost everything in our lives that matters ultimately is reliant and depends on politics and policy. When people say "I don't really care about politics," what they are really saying is they don't like thinking at all.

There is still no political assumption in the game itself. Of course the moment you consider the means of acquiring it, everything touches on politics, even going to the forest and throwing a random stick, because forests existing is politics, them being accessible is politics, and you being allowed (or not) to throw a random stick is politics. That doesn't make the concept of "throw stick at target for fun" political.

If you want mindless slop, then play it. It certainly exists. Real art and proper storytelling makes you feel things and reflects the the world we live in.

Alright yes, if you deliberately _draw a circle around a portion of your entertainment_ and say "this is the part I like because it's not political!" that's still a political choice, which is the entire point OP is making, ICYMI. **Everything is political**, even the choice to isolate one thing as non-political. The fact is that politics are only escapable if you're privileged to be the kind of person who gets to say "shut up about politics, I'm trying to play Pong!"

Yeah generally when talking about a thing you draw a circle around the thing, that's how that works. My glass from ikea isn't making any political statement or assumption in its design as a finished product (unless you consider presumed size requirement for a beverage container to be political) the process behind its design, manufacturing, and sale very much is political as fuck though.

Okay, well I'm drawing a circle around how much more interesting it is to talk about politics than whatever this was.

Pong represents the slow but inevitable march towards socialism

How DARE you make your game try to reflect reality.

That's a false argument your are making here.

First : it's a TTRPG group. You can't have TTRPG without world building, story goals, etc.
Second : Pong is not a TTRPG. AFAIK.
Third : In case you don't know, people who tend to say "no politics in my gaming" (like gamergaters) actually do a very political statement as for them "being black" or "being gay" or "being a woman" etc. is often seen as "politics in [their] gaming".

Sure, you can try to argue with the words, but it's not just words, they exists in a context and the context is that it's a fascist dog whistle.

"Politics" or "the way one sees the world"? Because I'm pretty sure there's a language disconnect regarding worldview. A dev has their game reflect their worldview, and a social curmudgeon experiences political rhetoric cognitive dissonance, illustrating the incongruency and the fact that they are, indeed, a tool. ARRGHHH MUH FREEDOMS

Ghost of Tsushima: A Samurai and several of his battle-ready female companions try to reclaim their island after Mongol invasion. I remember thinking "did they really have female warriors and lords back then who called the shots and fought alongside the men? I like the message, but a bit of realism would be nice...." And then our brave stoic rugged Samurai literally prostrates himself in front of his lord/uncle at every opportunity constantly grovelling and professing how unworthy he is and how he seeks only to serve, and then I'm thinking "oh yeah... the stoic Samurai is a trope, they were either small militias or snivelling arms of the state." So I'm okay with realism being bent if it means I'm not constantly questioning the values of my main character.

The statement was "every form of entertainment". Tbh tho yea i didnt really notice it being rpgmemes so it wasnt super relevant, that statement was surely not just meant for ttrpgs tho. I fully agree you can't have a ttrpg without political assumptions

Closest I've got, which I'm surprised nobody has mentioned, is the very concept that entertainment is a worthwhile pursuit, and that we aren't made solely to work. Pong serves no functional utility, which is a statement unto itself. That said, it feels a bit like a cop out to me, from what that quote is supposed to mean. I'd be content to rephrase it to "any sufficiently complex entertainment has politics in it". For example, I feel like this could almost certainly be said about stories in general, but I'd struggle to find the politics in many simple children's books, besides "children should be read to". Although the more I think about it, teaching all children to read _was_ once quite political.

I'm not super familiar with either the game or Japanese history, but I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onna-musha It seems that women were regarded more equally prior to confucianism. The page for the game says: >Jin's samurai armor and katana are not historically accurate, with his armor based on that of the Sengoku period during the 16th and 17th centuries. According to Chris Zimmerman, one of Sucker Punch's cofounders, samurai armor from the 13th century was "jarring looking" and did not align with players' expectations of what samurai armor would look like. Totally-not-samurai-looking armor: 

Pong is competitive rather than cooperative, and I find that very meaningful.

Yeah I've made peace with what I want from the game, because period-perfect accuracy would be way too jarring to stomach

I mean sometimes I just want to take a break from thinking about it and larp as "The good guys" for a while

I disagree, because typically it means someone is racist or sexist and just doesn't want to see people of color or queer characters. Such people may still be willing to engage with the political aspects of their gaming insofar as they may join initiatives like Stop Killing Games or argue that game devs should be treated better, but they're just bigoted assholes who can't handle people of color or queer characters. Also don't mistake this as a defense of them. They're deplorable. I'm just saying I don't agree with the statement as written.

What's-her-face being gay is like the least political thing about Pluribus.

You can have a story without AI slop or politics.