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Disclaimer: I realize this isn't too important, but I thought it was interesting enough to warrant a discussion.

Background: The pope recently called for a summit regarding how the internet could be used to connect people, and some of the people involved were various YouTubers from different countries. Apparently, it's "customary to bring the Pope a gift… [preferably] something representative of [their] home country's culture." One person invited was MatPat, and as said in the video he recently uploaded ( and which someone has already have documented on KYM ) he gave a Steam Key to the pope, a man who does not own a computer and has likely played very few (if any) video games in his life.

Summary of video since it's more than 15 minutes long:

• "Self-parody" that puts forth a self-proclaimed half-baked theory that "demonstrates" why an Undertale character is a metaphor for the pope.
• The context I provided above, about the summit, the events surrounding it, a brief mention of some of the people who attended, etc.
• A discussion of the out-group homogeneity bias, something I wish was common knowledge and also if you read this put a word starting with k in the first sentence of your post because I'm doing an experiment so no spoiling. Heuristics is also brought up, which is a similar idea in some ways.
• A point by point rundown of his reasoning why he chose Undertale of all things to give the Pope, in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I won't write it out all here, but 6:30 to 8:00 and 11:30 to 14:00 are roughly speaking the parts where he lists his reasons, if you're interested in learning them.
• A brief argument regarding how the out-group homogeneity bias is negative for gamers, along with basically everyone else.
  
  The whole point of this whole thing
  I just wanted to know what you all thought. I don't really have a specific idea in mind, just wanted to hear your comments. If you need some questions, here's a few sample ones (feel free to skip them):
  Was that an unwise idea, or a good one? How likely is the pope to "take the gift seriously" and learn about Undertale? What to you think about the out-group homogeneity bias (aka why "they" generally seems to retain less diversity in ideas, personalities, opinions, etc. among its ranks than "us") problematic or overblown? Does Undertale really deal with that issue seriously, or are you automatically "pushed" into defying it?
  
  (And again, I apologize if this is basically glorified naval-gazing, I just think it has a good potential for an interesting discussion.)

The hilarity of the Pope booting up Undertale to witness Flowey saying "IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED" aside, Undertale does have that charm of a seemingly hopeless idealist, one born of a race oppressing the other races to boot, having to walk through beds of hot coal to unite people, it is probably one of the best modern video games with a message. Yes and no on the stereotypes. Some of it is just harmless stick-poking (come on, nobody here really thinks America is all about cheeseburgers and guns, do they? That's really Mexico :^)), while the rest actually have lasting negative impressions on people.

Key to this, I think, is whether the pope will learn to use a computer to play Undertale

Jokes aside, actual thoughts are I thought this was kind of embarrassing at first. After watching his video, I guess I understand why MatPat chose it. It is fairly representative of him and it has themes the pope would probably appreciate. Yet there must be other seemingly violent pacifist games? I'm not a big gamer so I'm unsure of that, but I feel like there must be. Of course, while I doubt the pope will ever touch it, I'd like to imagine him sitting at a computer trying to decipher what the heck he needs to do. I mean, MatPat says it's symbolic, but what's the point if the pope can never play it? The video itself maybe?

You know you're not just supposed to hand him something that represents you as a person, it's supposed to be spiritual. When he visited NYC they gave him a cross made from salvaged WTC metal. I don't even think he'll look Undertale up to see what it's about tbh. He auctions off his gifts for the poor anyway.

So we let a person who comes up with half baked clickbait theories daily give the pope the most overrated video game in the recent history.

Look, I love Undertale but this is ridiculous. The pope doesn't even play video games, he could have easily gave him something else that the guy actually cares about but nope you gotta get that youtube money.

Sorry if I come out as extremely negative in this post but I just find this entire idea as incredebly stupid so I'm just going to stop before I turn into an ass about it.

Welp

Something about getting someone a $10 (less if he bought it during the recent sale) game and then making a monetized video about it seems tacky to me. Like I know it's the thought that counts but usually a "thoughtful" gift is one that inconveniences the giver in some way: financially or creatively usually. I sense MatPat is blowing smoke out his ass to make a 20-something minute long video in order to make a profit, which seems extra scummy given the opportunity he has been given.

Wow. A lot of people are freaking the fuck out over a whole lot of nothing. Seeing schemes and evil intent where none really exist, or seeing this as some kind of insult when it doesn't really matter what you give the pope as long as its not a disease.

Oh no, the silly man in the pointy hat and white robes doesn't like my gift. Now I guess the invisible sky-giant he talks to will come down and turn my girlfriend to salt.

In all honestly though, for people who think this is somehow an insult to the pope or something like that. Well, just ask for forgiveness. What's he gonna do, say no?

Why not give the pope something more…meaningful? By that, I refer to something the pope can actually utilize, because he apparently doesn't own a computer. Why not present the pope a gift that can easily relate to him? Like a can of PEPSI How about a cross?

All-in-all, this video was unnecessary.

Its an amusing little event but that is about it.

What, a walker? Some fish-oil tablets to help his memory? What exactly is a gift that the pope can use, considering he's not allowed earthly possessions apparently.

Also a lot of people seem to be ignoring what the point of the meeting was. How technology and the internet can help spread the catholic message, if I recall from the video. But no, let's only talk about this in the context that this was just the pope's birthday party and MattPatt had to give him socks made from undertale sprites.

I'm willing to bet he only picked Undertale because he wants to squeeze a little bit more cash out of the series. Surprised he didn't give him a copy of FNAF too or Minecraft.

I'm not even going to bother bashing MatPat for all those fucking stupid decisions because Game Theory does it to himself far better than I ever could, but for the record, Metal Gear games would have been much more fitting. Actual humans (or AIs, but at least not, y'know, malevolent flowers or sentient skeletons.) in vaguely realistic settings, with themes like child soldiers, the military-industrial complex, WMDs, ideology, diplomacy, information control, the dangers of enhancing the human body, etc. being much more meaningful to a real-world leader than "abusing save files for fun and profit", a moral completely meaningless to actual humans who don't have such powers. Not to mention certain games do allow for pacifist runs, plus the nature of them being stealth with massive cutscenes would still be pretty easy for an older person to understand. Heck, all you would have to do is show him Metal Gear Solid 4: "The Movie" on Youtube and it'd be more fitting than Undertale.
I didn't have an ounce of favor for Game Theory before this, but I probably never will now. What a ruined and rare opportunity. Why was Game Theory even allowed in the first place!? It's like the trashy gossip mags or pseudoscience articles of the Youtube Gaming world.
But hey, that's just a theory… a game theory!

Wait, why was MatPat talking to the pope? He just makes an overrated Youtube show about video games. It's like Pewdiepie addressing the U.N.

Listen for a moment. I have thoroughly analyzed said-video, and the whole meaning of the video (spreading the Catholic message, you have stated) was not wholly ignored. If what you say about the pope not having the ability to own physical possessions, the only gift that can be given to him is within the mentality of the mind. I just felt MatPat's video to be a bit cringeworthy, that is all.

Of course, It's just my opinion.

It's insane to me that people are getting upset about this. If they actually watched the video MatPat explains himself really well and makes a lot of good points about why Undertale was his choice.

Just remember, Jim Gaffigan was chosen to open for the pope at one point. Y'know, the guy who makes food jokes. Somehow I don't think Undertale is 'above' him.

He compared the Orlando shooting and racism to gamers being bullied.
I think that says about enough about him.

I'm fucking done with everything right now.

At this rate in the long term, I feel like MatPat's sentiments would have the opposite effect than intended.

It may have been with the best of intentions, (although even that is questionable when there's money to be made in a monetized video garnering controversy…) but the idea of telling the Pope -- who works tirelessly on behalf of actual persecuted peoples like religious minorities in the Middle East being killed by fundamentalist terrorists or ethnic minorities being pushed out by powerful corporations -- that gamers are a legitimate at-risk group feels pretty insulting. The theme of the meeting was e-celebs discussing global communities, right? As e-sports continue to rise, gamers are hardly a pariah at this point. Why not talk about something along those lines, about how video games have a great power to bring people together through multiplayer, or to use realistic settings to get people in the shoes of others? Extra Credits just made a video about that, they're a credible bunch, why not have them meet the Pope? And people can say that this doesn't matter, but if meeting with the Pope and trying (and perhaps failing) to have a meaningful discussion of the effects of the digital age doesn't matter, what does? That's a crazy reductionist argument.

The only reason people are freaking out is because it's Matpat. If it had been Markiplier or Pewdiepie or anyone else everyone would be clapping.

He shoudl've given him cory in the house for DS. Gamers need to be represented by REAL games, not this furry tumblr trash.

I'm stealing re-purposing Notsocoolguy's comment about why Markiplier would have actually probably been a better choice:

"Why not Markiplier instead, an American Gamer on youtube whos talked about wanting to use his privilege as a celebrity to tour accross the county with his fans to help clean entire cities, who regularly does gamer livestreams to campaign for various charities, who has collaborated with various other youtubers, and gives huge support to small independent game makers just by playing their games."

Markiplier can be seen as an example of video games bringing people together (from what I understand, the summit was to "inform" the Pope on how the internet can bring people together, correct me if I'm wrong), whether it be as simple as just entertainment for 10 minutes or so, or conducting his charity livestreams because he knows he has a large following of dedicated viewers and actually wants to use that to make a difference and help others.

This entire rage-fest just reminds me of the time when Pewdiepie pointed out that haters where ironically driving up his revenue.

It's basically just a massive shitstorm of people using something very minor and incidental as an excuse to finally gang up and throw their collective feces at the guy.

Yeah, go ahead and hate him for all I care, but if you are going to get your panties in a twist stop and think for a second to consider if your energy is even worth it.

Because in this case I'm pretty certain it isn't.

Personal opinion: What else where you gonna give him? A birthday card with a steam code to Dark Souls and "Git Gud" written in big sharpie letters underneath it?

For those of you who gave me bad karma on my last reply, that was a joke. I think that gesture was a good idea and i like undertale (though i'm never able to complete it)

Now you're gonna get downvoted by the people who generally hate undertale. :P

This is the Serious Debate section. Keyword being serious. If you want to joke go to Riff-Raff.