Thanks Violet! I appreciate your entries a lot.
Yeah, the success thing… I’m currently reading Art after Money, Money after Art by Max Haiven so while writing this essay I was carrying with me the thought of the Art World (itself a branch of capital/neoliberalism) always seeking out the new and edgy ideas to colonise and absorb into itself. ‘Weird’ is the new frontier for them. It’s a fun book (if a bit heady) and you could replace ‘art’ with ‘games’ in it and everything would still ring true.
So yeah, it’s this book + my frustrations with some of the attitudes I’ve seen in my vicinity that made me channel the ungrateful dog in me. I’m glad it resonates.