What happens when a YouTuber goes under fire for recording himself playing a game several years ago, and that game happens to be a violent one? Well, you get the Hospital game controversy. Today, we’re going to explain how this latest pseudo-controversy concerning cancel culture comes to light.
The person at the center of the controversy is a Youtuber that goes by the name of Markiplier, who went to play a game that’s extremely violent, describes it, tells us his feedback, and somehow, somewhat, the thing stayed for years in his YouTube channel, until some people started to rewatch it and start being all enraged about it. So, let’s break down the issues here for you.
What’s The Hospital Game?
The Hospital game was developed by Elias Perez and contains genuine gore used as jump scares. The protagonist in the game is a drug addict searching for drugs in an abandoned hospital.
The gameplay involves using a portable camera to see monsters and relying on sound cues while having one-hit deaths. Markiplier encounters various gruesome and spooky elements in the game, including a split-in-half human corpse and jump scares.
The Hospital Game Controversy
A YouTube video uploaded by Markiplier in 2016 featuring gameplay of a horror game called “The Hospital.” is what has people across the internet ranting, raving, and sharing the flames. Markiplier’s reaction to the game is mostly calm, although he finds the controls frustrating.
He eventually dies repeatedly and fails to progress further in the game. The video concludes with Markiplier discussing the potential of the game but acknowledging its need for improvement and refinement. Do you see a controversy? Because I don’t. But let’s break that down even further, shall we?
Game Walkthroughs
Markiplier, real name Mark Fischbach is a gamer that has a knack for recording himself playing games and posting them on YouTube; he’s apparently being criticized because, in his game walkthrough, he put some real-life gore images.
Suppose you’re not familiar with what’s gore, its violent, bloody, intentionally shocking content. Violent games are everyday stuff on streaming platforms; everyone posts about them. But apparently, in The Hospital game, there are some real images of someone being submitted to torture and murder.
Now why is it Markiplier’s fault? His detractors claim that if he knew that the game contained all that nasty stuff, he should’ve refrained from doing it.
The issue is that the walkthrough game video is seven years old. And today’s cancelation culture likes to prosper in destroying the reputation of people for things they did years ago.
No Such Thing As Bad Publicity
It’s no crime to play gory videogames, nor post them online. If the video violates YouTube’s policies, then take it down, with so many platforms to distribute content, Markiplier could easily put that controversial video elsewhere and still enjoy the benefits.
In any case, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, there’s only publicity, and this controversy will likely bring more traffic to his channel, up his subscriber and he’ll end up getting more revenue for what he’s doing.
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The Problem With Cancel Culture
With this attempt at canceling Markiplier, we have to tackle the problem with cancel culture. And we can take a look at history just to realize how bad cancel culture is.
Back in the French Revolution, there was this dude named Robespierre who created a people’s tribunal, a kangaroo court that sent to the guillotine a bunch of people for having the wrong opinion. The court chopped heads left and right. Until it was Robespierre’s turn to put his head in the guillotine and have his head roll.
See how cancel culture can be a really bad thing? It’s wrong and is a double-edged sword. This type of behavior tries to hold people accountable for their actions until the judges and executioners are tried for what they did.
What happened seven years ago should not be held against someone today. In any case, Markiplier might’ve broken a YouTube policy guideline concerning some gory content. And it was YouTube’s fault in any case not to censor it seven years ago. Like Markiplier, people change and evolve over time; what may have been acceptable then might not be so now.
It’s important to remember that people can sometimes make mistakes without malicious intent. I don’t think Markiplier had it in him to hurt anyone playing a violent game. So, life happens, and it’s alright to make mistakes as long as people learn and grow from it.
Cancel culture has the potential to become a witch hunt, where an individual’s entire career is at stake over one mistake. It does not give people room for redemption or growth, which in turn constricts creativity and expression.
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