Why True Doom Murder Junkies?

Greetings and Salutations Dear Readers!

I am Mr. Mechanical, an Internet Writer, Blogger, Over-zealous Anti-evangelist and Guerrilla Ontologist. I am also an artist, philosopher, citizen of the world, student of the universe and free-spirited post-existentialist. Further than that I am also just an everyday average Joe and proud to be an American. Most importantly, I am you and you are me and that means we are all together.


Q: Why did you start this blog?

A: I started this blog because I wanted a place to talk about life, society, culture and the enduring struggle of the human spirit.

And video games.

Mainly I just want to talk about video games. However, there are already a lot of blogs that just talk about video games. I want to talk about video games but with pizzazz, panache, and personality. Or, as I call them, "The Three Ps".

This is the place where sarcasm and sincerity occasionally intersect to produce satire.

Q: What's up with the title?

A: The title is part reference to one of my favorite post-punk groups, GG Allin and the Murder Junkies, and part reference to Tale of Games' PR for their upcoming game Barkely 2.

"Not for TREND. Not for CORPORATE ATTITUDE. Not for STONER. Only true DOOM-MURDER HEADS." - Barkely 2 Kickstarter*

"Head" here refers to an individual defined by their activities. Like how people who smoke pot regularly are called potheads. Since this is in a gaming context then it follows that a true doom-murder head is basically akin to a hardcore gamer or someone who plays a lot of violent video games.

In my mind a true doom murder junkie is someone who is more hardcore than hardcore. Someone who possesses more passion than a thousand zealots put together. Someone who is not afraid to stare long and deep into the abyss and is perfectly comfortable letting the abyss stare right back into them.

Q: You realize not all video games are focused on violence, right?

A: Of course, but nearly all video games on the market today do involve violence in some fashion. Simply put violence is one of the main verbs in video games. It is how the player often interacts with the game world or figures into the rule sets somehow. Even Super Mario Bros., for all it's cuteness, is basically about a couple dudes perpetrating a genocide against the wildlife and most inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom.

My point is to say that the violent nature of the media we consume is directly tied to the violent nature of the human condition. Violence is something we as humans have been moving away from and evolving out of for some time, as long as we have been capable of forming societies, but it is still a deep, fundamental part of who we all are and I think this merits examination and analysis.

Q: So every post is going to be some kind of grand dissertation on the nature of violence?

A: Of course not! Violence will be an enduring theme on this blog, sure, but it won't the only lens through which I look at things.

I think that video games are so much more than just their violent content. For example, you can expect posts that deal primarily with looking at a game's level design, or architecture. Also posts that focus mainly on the narrative aspects, or the art work that makes up the graphics.

I might even get technical from time to time and discuss some of the technologies that go into making these games, who knows. Violence is just one of many jumping off points I plan to make use of in the future.

Q: Okay, what kind of games do you like?

A: I like all kinds of games but mainly I like games that make me feel powerful. That allow me to have a sense of mastery, either over the game's rules and mechanics or in the context of the game's narrative structure.

I think most video games are about overcoming challenges and growing in some sense. You compete against the game or other players and you struggle and adapt to overcome. This is basically the story of humanity and it is reflected in how we play.

If you're looking for specifics, some of my favorite genres include First Person Shooters, Action Adventure games, Role-Playing games and especially that genre they call Open World games.

Q: What should I expect going forward?

A: In the coming weeks and months you can expect first and foremost to be entertained. I'm mainly doing this to entertain myself and I figure why be selfish? I'm all about letting others in on the fun.

Anyway, that's all for right now. I think I've outlined my goals here clear enough. I want to write entertaining words about stuff you and I both enjoy and you want to read entertaining words about stuff you and I both enjoy. Don't look at me like that. You wouldn't be here reading this if it weren't true!

I don't have a set schedule just yet but I'm going to work on getting one together that I'm comfortable with. You can expect my first real, non-introductory update sometime next week.

Thanks for reading.

*It has been brought to my attention that this quote is attributed incorrectly so in the interest of better Internet Journalism Practices I shall issue a correction: This quote actually comes from Arno Parke's Amazon customer review of Church of Misery's debut album Master of Brutality.