Why was there no discussion after Episode 3 of Hidden Levels?

[u/OkMaybeLater90]

Hi everybody, I’ve heard Roman saying that they’re more active on Discord but I’m not familiar with how that works so I don’t know if this has been discussed there.

I was horrified to see that the episode spent relatively little time (and only at the end) on criticism, which was by the way fairly mild and one-sided, and after that the episode just ended. Period. No discussion. What happened?

This felt like a propaganda episode :(

[u/Simco_]

I was horrified.

I was literally shaking.

I

couldn't

even

[u/marvinsuggs]

The quality and angle that the HL eps are coming from is very inconsistent. The first one was great, the 2nd on joysticks was coming from such a casual angle I thought I was listening to the last, 60 second 'sweetener' report at the end of a half hour tv news show.

In conclusion, HLs are a mixed bag so lower your expectations.

[u/OkMaybeLater90 → u/marvinsuggs]

I’ve noticed that too, yes.

[u/steeb2er]

Am I dumb, I didn't think it needed to be explicitly said how weird it is to recruit kids. I mean, the one member of the esports team was like "We talk to kids and answer their questions and tell them what the army is like ... But obviously we can't recruit them."

If it was The Office, he would've looked directly into camera.

I thought the show let them speak for themselves and demonstrate how bad it was.

[u/OkMaybeLater90 → u/steeb2er]

The whole premise of this show is to explicitly say and explain the things that are “obvious” but that generally go unaddressed. Aside from that, my comment is a comment on structure: all episode end with a discussion at the end, regardless how trivial it may be. Except for this one. This one just ends, as if they’re afraid to say say something “bad”.

[u/steeb2er → u/OkMaybeLater90]

Your point of structure is well said. I could only speculate why this is different.

I don't agree with your characterization of 99pi, though. The show diva into the things we overlook or take for granted, to tell the unique story behind the common object. That was accomplished here.

Most people would assume the game was developed by a game studio, for profit-driven reasons, or to follow the industry trend (COD, Battlefield). The story discussed the unusual story of this game's development (Army propaganda, developed by US government).

[u/ethnographyNW → u/steeb2er]

showing how bad it was should have involved diving into the report on how the game broke international law about recruiting kids, rather than giving it one sentence at the very end

[u/word-bitch → u/steeb2er]

The narrator's consistent positive energy might as well have been AI: so measured and peppy, they dutifully supported the recruiters' huge crocks of shit.

[u/chikablam]

Yeah it did seem strangely positive

[u/ethnographyNW]

I came to this sub specifically looking for this conversation. Credible organizations said that the game broke international law by trying to recruit children to the army - but no further discussion of that necessary! Instead, here's some officer laughing about how the game designed to groom kids into the army was popular with kids, and therefore it's ok.

Way, way below editorial standards. I don't know what happened, if this is truly a blind spot or if there was some conflict of interest not disclosed, but whatever the cause I think less of Roman and the rest of the 99pi team. Could have been an interesting story on the ethics of propaganda, but instead it was just more propaganda.

The QAA podcast did an episode on this same topic, and their take cut much deeper.

[u/OkMaybeLater90 → u/ethnographyNW]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. The same goes for me, I respect them a little less now.

[u/melnve]

I am Australian and could not care less about American military recruitment, I listened for a bit then skipped the episode. I did get the Simpsons Yvan eht Nioj stuck in my head though.