They do, too. And both sides feed on each other, in a feedback loop beneficial for both.
Google “outrage economy”, including the quotes as a phrase.
Well, I forget that Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader in theory starts with you in Barcelona… but lets say that as in all the rest, the game failed in that too.
That was sarcasm. I am making fun of you.
I am making fun of you because the bigots, who get offended over the EXISTANCE of people not like them, make tons of cash on their bigotry, literally getting rich off of racism, homophobia, misogyny, and transmisogyny.
Yet you constantly rail against underpaid writers are for daring to write basic-ass cultural criticism that is often too nice, desperately trying to side-step around people’s hurt feelings but still getting constant harassment, abuse, and hatred from daring to even think about looking at something critically.
And then you tell them to “go make their own shit”, ignoring the difficulties, costs, and other barriers.
It’s tiring.
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The Wil Smith image? Yeah, he was offered the role first. I’m kind of glad he didn’t take it, because Keanu’s stoic performance went perfectly with Lawrence Fishburne’s. Given how close in time it was to Men In Black, he hadn’t really done any drama yet, so…ugh…I can only imagine what the “Jump” training program scene would have been like.
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It’s not that damn hard to make a game. It’s damned hard to make a AAA-style game; it could be done.
You’re not guaranteed financial success, though, and I daresay that if your primary goal is to be diverse and your secondary goal is to tell an engaging story, you’re not going to be successful.
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I think Keanu’s almost surfer-esque non-acting is PERFECT for Neo as presented on the big screen. He’s exactly not the messiah you expect
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The article emphasizes “neutrality” as a way for Witcher players and developers to avoid confronting the realities of their institutionalized racism (or something). This is a baseless point because Geralt is a uniquely neutral character, borne partly of his occupation and partly because of gamer’s modern obsession/demand for story choices. It’s a miracle they can create Geralt with any personality at all while allowing player choice.
When GTA San Andreas came out and I started out playing as CJ, the fact that I was black never bothered or upset me or caused me to write on an internet forum about my discontent. It didn’t come into my thought process that a person could be upset by the fact because it made logical sense.
It’s strange that of all games Witcher 3 was the one chosen. If I met up with a black paladin on the road I would be extremely suspicious of the developer’s motives to please upset people. I didn’t feel that way playing Skyrim, Dragon Age, or any other fantasy. It’s not that a Polish developer shouldn’t include black people, it’s that it would be unfitting and seem pandering to include sporadic black and Asian characters in a game based around Polish lore. Imagine that a game based on an Ethiopian creation story was developed. Nobody would complain when a heroic,straight, idealized European looking man DOESN’T appear. That would be ridiculous and would lead to a dozen click-bait articles on Polygon and Boing Boing (and dozens more before the game releases focusing on the racist depravity of a white person developing a game about African lore).
Where were the articles about Redguards in old Elder Scrolls games having the same stats as the Imperial but with lower INT stats. There is some clear, shitty racism (institutionalized and intentional, or not) that you can make a real point about.
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Your evidence for this is to bring up a game where the maker hade their life ruined, and still suffers constant, unyielding harassment from the exact same types of people that shaddock is supporting, and who you admit in another thread you belong to the same types of communities with.
That’s… that’s not a very good argument, you know that, right?
“Go make your own, but be warned if we don’t like it, we’ll try to murder you.”
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That sounds like a problem for the people hoping to make money off of the game then. Would it not be absurd for a white person to complain that the racial makeup of NBA players doesn’t represent him enough to make him want to buy tickets to a game? That dude can fuck off, or buy a ticket and enjoy it because he likes the sport and the race is irrelevant while the gameclock ticks.
All I need to do is read the article as presented and comment on it. Heck, I don’t even need to do that second part, but I wanted an article that was a bit more fleshed out with facts and examples of people demanding white heroes. As I said, I believe they exist. I want an article which cites things to cite them, so the article is… complete and awesome. Not because I disagree.
I don’t think that I, after reading a fact based article, should have to do the additional research to find those facts… at least not past the footnotes and hyperlinks. If you’re going to use them, make em count.
What i see, and why I said it, is something that, without the proof inline, could be dismissed as a bit of a strawman argument. That goes away when there is more than one example IN THE PIECE.
Thank you for your link. I wish it were in the piece.
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Here’s an interesting minority; Elihal, the elven straight drag in W3.
While I love the hell out of W3, I see the point of these objections and stand firmly on this side of this issue. However, the target of this article doesn’t seem to be the developers of W3, or even RPG developers in general, but the catterwebs bad-guy and the critics who pander to him, They are basically reactionary and are afraid that someone will come along and break their toys. The problem for them is that the goal-post is always moving. They continually get better and more inclusive toys to fear for.
Maybe the solution is ignoring them as much as possible and working toward a brighter future. I expect that CDProjekt will be on board.
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Because it is a major release that gets so much else right. The critique isn’t, “this game is bad, look at how bad it is,” but, “this is a well made game, with a large audience, that generally does a good job at tackling diversity, but still doesn’t include POC.” If you are critiquing trends in a media type or genre, the best(and the most popular) are generally held to the highest standards, and subjected to the most discussion.
Also, CDProjekt is known for being good about listening to their audience and improving their work. Which is great, but there isn’t anything for them to listen to if they aren’t being given any critical commentary.
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Thats why I think they will show it in Cyberpunk, where it fits the source material, and are a bit puzzled about insisting it on the Witcher, where it doesnt.
Or well, they may surprise us with a trip to Zerrikania in a DLC, although I have no idea what is the ethnographic composition of Zerrikania.
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Speaking of the article - I also dont like the way it portraits the neutrality of Geralt as some kind of comfortable position for the white hero to …
The neutrality of Geralt is a major point of the books, and a major point of the game, and the whole point is how he desperately tries to be neutral, tries to be jadded, tries to not take a side because in the end he is just another freak in a world that hates them… and how it fails to do so and ends up having to take a side out of pure decency.
And then gets screwed when that turns out ugly, too.
It is one of the themes of the whole series both of books and of games. His position is not comfortable neutrality. His position is walking a razor edge, telling himself to mind his own business and avoid drawing attention to the fact he IS one of the freaks that the mass want to kill… and then taking a side and dealing with that.
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And it gets shown almost right away in the Witcher 3, when defending the inkeeper from thugs only gets you her fear and hatred.
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Which is something Tauriq Moosa has repeated a ridiculous number of times–namely, that he loves W3 to the degree that he’s even more bummed at the lack of POC’s.
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Why doesn’t such inclusion fit W3’s “source material”?
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Read the books and/or ask the author. Well, better read the books, they are very fun - the short stories collections better than the “saga”, IMHO.
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You have opinions on everything else. Why defer to the author now? Please, I think he asked your opinion. I too am interested, as a non-player.
The books do sound good. Lots of passion about fiction means something!!
Also, there is a spoiler tag you can use if you’re worried about giving away plot.
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I suggest that you dismiss criticism as something too frivolous. I think of the process as being more topical and content-based than outpourings of emotionality. It need not be reduced to outrage, anger, offense, etc. This plays into the fallacy of equating thinking critically with that of kneejerk complaint. Criticism can be good, bad, or indifferent.
I agree that there should be more mods and independent games, but this is no excuse to not be critical. You are ignoring the fact that companies explicitly ask for feedback upon their products. They often want to hear about what people did and/or didn’t like about their products, rather than try making stuff in a vacuum.
FWIW I would probably go in the other direction, myself, and make games without human characters, so YMMV.
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