Adventure Gamers - Forums

We live in some weird times. And nowadays especially people tend to get their feelings hurt quite fast. And from the other side - some topics become almost mandatory [at least in terms for a game get praise from press at least].

It does sometimes look like that even the most innocent nod on something or portrayal of someone can make a wave of hate. OK, a minor examples from my own experience which is, khm, small:
- after the prototype, where I had only two NPCs I got a complaint, that both of them were men;
- my post was banned from FB group, because there was a portrayal of a dead dog.

Oh, and let’s not forget religious feelings…

Don’t you feel it goes overboard at times?

P.S. No, not inquiring for my game or gathering opinions related to it, not promoting it whatsoever - my mind is set there

i think its simple as that, it was inevitable where the Z generation that lived up and was always hyped about equality and human rights, would go hard with discriminating anything that they think it stands for against.. whatever

plus business-wise, all companies have given in to playing it safe

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, because I want to reply in a way that’s both useful and representative of the considerations behind the backlash you’ve received. I’m still going to sound smug, probably, which isn’t my intention, but my diplomacy game is a bit off. I’m not going to apologize but I will say: I feel you, I’ve been on the other side. Let’s go, Brandon.

Whatever you post in your personal sphere is up to you (as are the consequences), but if you are seeking out an audience, especially when using a space already in use by others:
1. use warnings. even for a dead dog, even if it does not match your personal sensibilities. Leading into:
2. consider the people you are going to reach. What you do/do not take issue with is not universal.
3. we live in a time of social media and increasing profilicity. not everyone who participates in these culture wars is going to be nuanced. Sometimes you have to block someone. It’s not a big deal. When this person represents a certain constituency, or the sentiment is shared in some other (and broader) way, you might consider if there’s maybe more to the criticism than what you initially took away.

You don’t have to be “woke” or sjw or whatever term you avoided using but seemed to describe in the first paragraph. A lot of adventure games are, from that perspective, quite problematic. I see no campaigns to cancel Monkey Island or Gabriel Knight. Same goes for current games: if you see only games with “certain topics”, your outlook might be presumptuous. As is mine, regarding what you mean by “certain topics”.. I’m just guessing you’re not talking about “man fighting his inner demons” or “man trying to have sex with women”. Or “cop becomes hero”. Or “white person uses time machine to visit white people of the past”.

For some more perspective: people who are anti-sjw, the post-gamergate crowd.. they’re pretty aggressive about the stuff they “care” about. Or rage about, since that’s the only emotion that seems to count. Then there are two sentiments: nostalgia and “don’t change or reveal anything about the world because it makes me uncomfortable”. If you feel more than that, you’re overly sensitive and you should KYS. I’ve seen some of their work and it’s really deranged.

If people have to deal with that, maybe blocking one slightly confused critic of your project and sometimes reconsidering what you’re doing is not that big of a deal.

Though what Advie said is true as well. PC, as in some consensus on decency, is huge right now, particularly among liberals. Avoiding potential PR mishaps is a thing. And a lot of people’s identities, their “profiles”, are tied into (not always, but often) surface level understanding of and commitment to social issues.

This is especially true in media and entertainment. It is the cornerstone of infotainment. The thing is: this output, that seems PC to people who dislike the concept as a whole, often misrepresents/oversimplifies social issues. If anything, we’ve seen less structural criticism in media and more attempts to tie social justice-like statements into incompatible statements, or depict them in ways that won’t offend a “general audience”.

I don’t think we’re going overboard. Well, I do, but not in this department.