Influencers, Pantheons and the Parasocial

 Let me paint you a picture of a person:

Every day they wake up, a prisoner of their own meat body. Maybe they feel isolated from those around them. They may struggle to find friends, lovers, connections, acceptance. They go through their daily routine feeling alone, aimless. And yet one day they find that spark, that connection. Suddenly they feel like they have a friend, someone they can laugh with, spend time with. Someone to go to when they're lost, someone to cry with, someone to look up to. All of a sudden the world feels less lonely and aimless. They begin to organize their lives around this spark, this guiding light. They decorate their walls with emblems and reminders and paraphernalia. They make time for a weekly ritual where they and thousands of others bear witness to this, the balm to the pain in their soul.

The person I just described could just as well describe a lowly field worker finding God as it could describe the 9-to-5 wage slave finding the Game Grumps. The common thread is that both involve a deeply parasocial relationship, pursued in an effort to find meaning, comfort and guidance in our cruel and isolating world.

Parasocial relationships, for the uninitiated are a kind of one-way relationship between consumer and a producer that they believe to be their friend or at least a large part of their comfort. They're also really, really depressing in a lot of contexts. This blog post in more of a ramble as opposed to a critical collection of the horrors of modern parasocial beliefs and the influencer profession and a comparison to the darker side of organized religion, but it's not hard to find parallels. I want to also clarify this isn't an indictment of those holding onto a parasocial faith. I do it too! I think the prevalence of parasocial interactions says a lot about the human condition and the pains many of us, religious or not, share. The material reality of our lives is a bit shit, and it's understandable to want an unrealistic connection to a perfect paragon of all we admire, whether that be the lord in your heaven or the waifu in your bed. I'm also pretty spiritual, and spirituality adds a whole new angle past the blind faith ritual of it all. So if what you're doing is working and not hurting you or others (and especially if it's helping you grow and be better to others) keep doing it! But as I was talking with my housemate earlier today, I realized I don't see this comparison made often, so I wanted to talk a bit about my views on it and some neat ideas of where it could be applied in a game.

Influencer = Saint ?

In our post-Enlightenment world that has been scarred by the damages of missionary work and religious fundamentalism, it's become increasingly popular (at least in the circles I travel in) to reject any kind of religious organization and consider oneself apart from all that worshiping. "Atheist" and "Non-religious" are terms I often hear tied to oneself in "gamer" hobbyist spaces, especially more socially progressive ones. And yet many of the same folks who I know who claim to be atheist and non-religious are simply worshiping a different pantheon. The same people who (with fairly good reason) decry magical thinking, seem to be under the spell of their favorite comfort streamer. This isn't to call that person a hypocrite, because there's an obvious difference between believing Hecate will hex your ex-boyfriend and watching Nyanners to feel less lonely. Yet I can't help but observe that these individuals likely share some of the same anxieties and social voids as each other, they've just chosen to to fill it differently. 

In my opinion we're living in an age of religious revival, and I'm not just talking about the frightening rise of Christian-Fascism. I'm talking about shrines to a kami with a handsome smile and 37 volumes of "relatable" rom-com shenanigans. I'm talking about tribute sacrificed in bits on an illuminated altar to the goddess of 360 no-scopes. I'm talking about a new born babe wrapped in Critical Role branded swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. "Rejoice!" Said the followers on Instagram, "A Gamer is born!"

This goes doubly so for those who fall into brand loyalty, clinging to all the merch and content a brand has to offer that their soul may be saved. There's no FOMO quite like the Fear of Missing Out on Heaven. In many ways all your favorite Influencers are Patron Saints of your favorite brands. Demi-gods and chosen heroes, sent by a brand to spread the good word.

And lo! Praise Datto, champion of Destiny 2! Go to the Oracle of YouTube, that it may whisper his raid wisdom into thine ears, that you too may be blessed with a Raid Jacket! 

((Funny that much like Popes can change the course of Catholic ethos, so too can popular streamers like Datto sometimes guide the course of games and brands like Destiny 2. That game is becoming increasingly geared towards the wants of full time streamers to have content to grind for views and it makes me sad.))

Which brings me to the next part...

Saints Who Abandon Their Gods

I mainly got thinking about this because I was chatting with my housemate about the whole D&D OGL 1.1 debacle. Namely it got us on the topic of how much people attach themselves to the Critical Role brand, and how quite a few people I know who own D&D books and buy D&D merch and say they love D&D have only played about 5-8 hours of the game in their lives. Instead they've spent hundreds of hours watching and rewatching and analyzing and talking about Critical Role (and thus by extension D&D). Their TikTok feeds are stuffed full of men with incredible beards talking about loopholes in the official D&D material or women with incredible makeup poking fun at how hard it is to deal with players.

And so bore she from the mountain top, two tablets. One bore the inscription "Me: Wanting to try out all the new characters I made on Hero Forge." The second read, "Also me: Wanting to play the same half-elf Druid I always play." 

The people of the tribes of D&D TikTok quaked in awe, "Relatable."

This isn't a theoretical either. I've gone on three separate dates with different people like this and it was hilarious because we essentially had two different hobbies that shared the same name. Neither of us could really talk about each others' interest because I'd never watched Critical Role and they'd never played D&D (much less any other TTRPGs). Comparatively this feels like talking to someone who says their soul is saved because they pray every day while I try to save my soul by actively trying to make the world a better place thus repenting the sin of my mere existence. ((Also this reads like a value judgement, and I don't intend that. If watching APs is how you engage with D&D that's fine! But it's a whole different world from actually playing, and sometimes it's hard to suss out what someone means when they say they're into D&D.)) I do wonder how these folks will feel about D&D as more popular AP streams move away from it...

It's interesting to see the mass exodus of these Saints big and small from the D&D brand in the wake of WotC trying to monetize their miracles with OGL 1.1. They've forsaken the old wrathful monotheistic god of WotC for a furtive polytheistic pantheon of Kobold Presses and Pathfinders. Where once these Saints drew power from the omnipresence of D&D 5E, now the fountain begins to run dry. 

D&D 5E is dying for our sins. "Gygax, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But fear not, for on the third day your Fantasy RPG is reborn!

"I hope we get a ton of new RPGs out of this debacle. Big games, little games, games that are ABOUT something. A New Wave of RPGs. #NewWaveOfFantasyRPGs" [Colville 1:17]

It's a stark reminder that the biggest difference between Influencers/Brands and the gods of faith, is that the former is a proverbial Golden Calf. It's mortals pulling at your heartstrings playing gods (which one could argue a lot of organized religion is on some level, but we're not going to go there on this post). WotC is infinitely more fallible than Athena. A Saint may not always answer your prayers to help you find your keys, but at least you'll never find them embroiled in real-time drama with one another, much less canceled for the abuse of workers or harassment of victims who are able to speak up. And we're seeing that in the real time emotional turmoil that OGL 1.1. is putting D&D diehards in. WotC has betrayed them, failed them, what are they to do now? Some cry, some try to keep the faith, some simply ignore it. With the outpouring of heavy raw emotions I've seen from some people I know, you'd think someone had just told them their marriage was a lie and their husband was a honeypot.

((Aside: there's also something to be said of the divine ecstasy of an Influencer reading out your name as they thank you for the donation, or a Brand retweeting your pet project, but this is already getting a bit long.))

The point is, a lot of people believed WotC was their friend in the same way my mom believes God is her friend. But let me give anyone who somehow needs it this late in the article a reality check: A company is not your friend, it's a business. Some small indie team you follow is not your friend. Hell, I am not your friend ((actually the number of people who read this blog is pretty small, so maybe you are my friend)). You can build a community around a product or idea (or more obviously a religion), but a one-way interaction with a distant untouchable being does not a community make. I hate to proselytize here, but it's become clear that a lot of people I know get hurt because they put their love and faith and unrealistic expectations in tangible things controlled by living people and corporations with vested interests in their wallet. If that hurt resonates as something you experience I would recommend legitimately touching grass. Maybe listen to Alan Watts, or learn Tarot, or just look at the clouds and ask yourself how they make your soul feel. Something to shake you up a bit inside. At least most religions have some background message about being a better person and kind to others. The main message of most Influencers and Brands seems to simply be "Like and Subscribe."

But simultaneously I can't help but feel a little bad for these folks. With OGL 1.1 a lot of people are losing their religion, and that's generally considered a bad feel.

Having Fun With It

And now we're into some of the more juicy ideas. Hopefully all this hyperbole and drawing upon religious iconography and phrasing has gotten your brain stirring! Speaking of 5E, the last 5E character I played was a Warlock with a magic mirror to her Patron, Chat. But maybe I should've been some lowly nobody whose Patron was a beautiful face on a tablet. The character would eat meals with her, talk to her, and yet the talking face in the tablet rarely acknowledged his presence, only referring to her followers generally ((except when he cast a spell of course)).

If we're sticking with fantasy, there's the idea of gods who derive their power from their worshipers, much like Influencers derive their power from their followers. Imagine a Warlock who is the last soul in existence to remember their Patron. She discovered records of the old god buried in some ruins and proceeded to burn every page. Now the Patron is beholden to the Warlock's whim, for if she dies so too would the memory (and power) of the Patron... Although I guess that's also just Venom. Damn, I love Venom. We're getting off topic though!

Eventually I'd love to toy with a Divine Cyberpunk setting (many thanks to Nova for coining that term), one where worship and divine favor is just a few clicks away on your phone. What is Hatsune Miku but a constructed god of Music? Her favor and voice being blessed upon the Composer class (equip with keytar gun). Why shouldn't the goddess of love manifest as the app OnlyLove, where her many priests and priestesses raise alms, each donation boosting your charisma (or perhaps lowering your stress) if only a little bit. What is a merciless corpo bounty hunter but a divinely chosen champion? Clad in a sacred logo, you shall obey the sign of the Apple. IDK, there's probably something there but I'm honestly vvv tired and this took longer to write than I'd anticipated. I'm also reminded of this wonderful piece of art, called The Modern Nymphs, which yeah the idea speaks for itself. 

Maybe your ghost persists after death? As long as you had enough followers of course.

In some ways Cruelty Squad is similarly Divine Cyberpunk, and I really can't recommend that game enough. ((Also unlike a lot of modern Cyberpunk, Cruelty Squad understands that Cyberpunk shines the most when you're not forced into playing a good guy, but rather thrown into a network of complex tradeoffs and sacrifices.))

Anyways, hopefully this rant got you thinking about something in some way or introduced you to a new idea! If this was a more parasocial article, I'd ask what ideas you have on the topic in a toxic way. But because I actually care (and because my goal was to inspire others) be sure to let me know in the comments below if you do have any thoughts! This blog is (currently) small enough that I unironically check those and legitimately am curious what a lot of you think! I'm always looking to broaden my horizons and get new input.

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