Angelus Errare
Banned
Seeing as the industry barely pushed back against gamergate
yea
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How can the games industry resist and push back against Trump & his fascism?
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I concur.
I meant the Gators that believe the stuff unironically. They're dragging down the advancement of games for all of us.
You really didn't read the first page, did you?
I for one would like to see more games to deal with issues like racism and sexism. Games like Witcher and Deus Ex show racism in their worlds, it's towards non-humans or augmented people. Then there's game like Mafia 3 that takes on real life racism without any sugar coating. Because the racism in Mafia was based on our actual world and history, it felt most powerful to me. I atleast hope that when these issues are delt with maturity in games, it can make people think and re-evaluate their views. Witcher 3 also did females very well, it has cultures that treat females very "old fashioned" way but also cultures where women can be just as powerful and respected as men. It has strong cast of different female characters who are all their own interesting personas and not just window dressing. The game also very often comments on harmful perceptions some have about women in the real world.
Edit: Not gonna lie, my first reaction seeing this thread was "ffs Trump in gaming side too!". But then I clicked on the thread and started reading, was disappointed that very little discussion about the subject matter was going on.
Edit 2: Also Brandon Jones who "runs" Easy Allies made quite heart warming and positive speech about love & respect. Too bad it's patreon supporter exclusive clip so can't share it. Just spreading good vibes and hope by speaking to your audience can be powerful too.
Edit: Not gonna lie, my first reaction seeing this thread was "ffs Trump in gaming side too!". But then I clicked on the thread and started reading, was disappointed that very little discussion about the subject matter was going on.
Edit 2: Also Brandon Jones who "runs" Easy Allies made quite heart warming and positive speech about love & respect. Too bad it's patreon supporter exclusive clip so can't share it. Just spreading good vibes and hope by speaking to your audience can be powerful too.
Scrub Mcgrubb
Member
Just curious.... how many here saw this as a teenager-
does that make all the states that have supported legalized marijuana "losers"? A video game's job isn't to be your parent... it's there to entertain you.
does that make all the states that have supported legalized marijuana "losers"? A video game's job isn't to be your parent... it's there to entertain you.
This is the first time I have weighed in on anything about this election. I have read hundreds of comments on Facebook, Twitter, spoke with people from work and my social groups and have read countless threads and comments on here reddit etc. To know how much salt to use I am not a Trump supporter. I would just like to say that I cannot abide insulting and judging a group based on who they voted for. We all have different backgrounds and upbringing and have been influenced differently by the media, school, and public opinion. It may seem painfully obvious to you that all the things you see, everyone else should see too. But it just (IMO) is not reality. I can see why someone would want Hilary as president and I can see why people would want Trump. I just do not understand insulting an entire group of people who feel a certain way when they have legitimate reasons (not racism, homophobia, etc) to do so. What may seem obvious to you may not be to them and its not just about intelligence or hate. I know several individuals who voted for Obama that voted for Trump. I live in a primarily Democratic state by the way. I feel that we should all fight for the things we believe in. That we can be better than this and video games can play a big part in that for our demographic. Making a statement for fairness and pushing for policies that we feel is good for our planet, our country, our family and our neighbors. A good fight that should be fought with reason and positivity. This hate and over generalization will just push forward the so called "Trump agenda". Please continue the good fight, we are all different and when we reduce people to less then human in our minds we forget that we are all in this together. Lasting change will never happen if we keep with the negativity. I will continue personally to try and be a better person. I know I have a long way to go. I hope our favorite industry chooses the high road on this one.
P.S. I am not the best at English so bare with me please.
P.S. I am not the best at English so bare with me please.
you didn't read a single post in this topic before posting your response did you lmao
i think the main thing the industry can do to idealistically oppose the sort of politics that got trump elected is to diversify their employee base. more women, more minorities, and actually promoting those people to positions of power within the company, when it at least comes to creative decisions.
i think this would organically lead to stuff like not coming up with concepts of games where a disease is turning women into literal monsters and it's up to a white male to save the day. i don't think you would have to force through concepts like life is strange or gone home, but that they would come about from the natural process of having people from many different backgrounds.
second, there needs to be a rejection of the kind of hate speech freely exercised online. two first parties put multiplayer behind a paywall. it's time to put that subscription money to good use: place moderators in heavily-played games, and have them dole out bans for racist and sexist commentary. show that you actually care about the fanbase you're cultivating and the people you live with and work with.
third, whenever an employee gets attacked or ganged up on via social media, side with your employee and take a stand against the attackers. file libel and harassment cases where necessary.
as far as meaningful change? it's hard to say, but i think it at least goes against the radicalization of predominantly straight white males who feel emboldened when they see someone like trump being embraced for the bullshit he spews.
i think this would organically lead to stuff like not coming up with concepts of games where a disease is turning women into literal monsters and it's up to a white male to save the day. i don't think you would have to force through concepts like life is strange or gone home, but that they would come about from the natural process of having people from many different backgrounds.
second, there needs to be a rejection of the kind of hate speech freely exercised online. two first parties put multiplayer behind a paywall. it's time to put that subscription money to good use: place moderators in heavily-played games, and have them dole out bans for racist and sexist commentary. show that you actually care about the fanbase you're cultivating and the people you live with and work with.
third, whenever an employee gets attacked or ganged up on via social media, side with your employee and take a stand against the attackers. file libel and harassment cases where necessary.
as far as meaningful change? it's hard to say, but i think it at least goes against the radicalization of predominantly straight white males who feel emboldened when they see someone like trump being embraced for the bullshit he spews.
Well sometimes even the lines are blurred with this. Even something like We Bear Bares, despite being a comedy has it's own agenda behind it. A message from the creator https://twitter.com/threebarebears/status/797119393557659648
WrenchNinja
Member
You're a fan of Gravity Rush
Gravity Rush has commentary on the over stretching of military might, how that affects the lives of the poor and helpless upon electing an authoratarian, it also deals with stereotyping and discrimination
All of this is politics
Lack of condemnation of gamergate from the industry was and is terrible.
The alt-righters are small enough minority (and probably pirates too, given their attitude) that condemning them wouldn't be an economic loss.
But their hate and rhetoric can and will damage games. Remember that thread where someone said their friend got reduced to tears from abuse during online multiplayer? That is what gamergaters stand for, pure hate for anyone who isn't white male gamer. I think lack of condemnation will eventually hurt gaming, and thus profits from that.
Well I don't want to misrepresent them. My comment was broad in general because that was something they agreed on. The more direct or detailed examples of specific things people detest about Trump they may have separating views between each other.
To answer the question as what would I call that? Well, I'm not sure I know what to call it yet. But they watched every headline, debate, news article etc from about 4-5 different news channels. And ultimately they decided that Clinton was worse than Trump to include your example. It's just hard for me to say we should now paint them as racists.
ScatheZombie
Member
Who said they want to?
A lot of Trump's policies will largely benefit publishers and developers alike.
A lot of Trump's policies will largely benefit publishers and developers alike.
Plenty of parents have been happy to raise their kids on TV and video games, so they should be able to do the job well even if they aren't supposed to.
I'm sure lots of German people that voted for Hitler didn't hate the jews. Doesn't make them any less responsible for what happened.
I never said I do or do not care. Video games is for many people an escape. And it seems like there is nowhere anymore where people are not pushing politics of some kind or another.
And if you don't like me expressing my opinion, then in turn I invite you to take your own advice and don't read or respond to me.
You're the one who enters a thread about politics in video games, and tells others to go away.
Take a look at the first page.
Politics will be and should be talked in video games. You don't like, it don't buy those games.
"No politics in video games" attitude is like "stop liking what i don't like".
More_Badass
Member
Movies, books, music are great for escapism too. I sure as hell needed some escapism this week
But that's not all they are. You will never ever escape politics in games.
If you want to escape from other people and the outside world, maybe an Internet message board isn't the place to do it.
Blood Diamonds
Banned
Wait...what
So I've finally seen this video that I've kept seeing being mentioned. I understand what he's saying, but he's not 100% on point because there have been plenty of times when I've properly tried to engage in discussions and debates and it hasn't helped anything. One of my republican friends refused to use any fact checker because his main argument that they were all liberally bias and there was no meaningful content that they provided. He doesn't have strong knowledge of general US history, the economy, and doesn't closely follow politics, so I'm not sure what is his basis if for whatever he believes. If we can't agree on basic fact and statistics then how can we have a productive discussion? I fear that there are many Americans that have this attitude and IMO, it's so fucking lazy and incompetent.
Doing some basis research and using fact checkers would do wonders and there are a lot of resources on the web to supplement your decision on choosing a candidate. If you're just about choosing based on positions & policy, it would be helpful to know a candidates consistency and when they have changes their stance on many issues.
So even though I agree with what Johnathon Pie is saying to some extent, he misses the major point that there is far to large of a population that actively don't desire to pursue factual knowledge in evaluating their choices of candidate. I came to the this understanding more and more as I would hear in my office the common phrase: "they're both equally terrible."
The media has so much power here and I feel like fundamental shift in the content they provide would help Americans be generally more knowledgeable. The obvious problem is that there's much less money to be made by taking this responsible approach. If there were more focus on facts and policy, then this would give less weight to the conspiracy theories that influenced people's votes.
Chuck Norris
Banned
Try real political activism not trying to channel it through your hobby
What are you on about? Giant novelty checks with a company's name proudly displayed on them are given to charities all the fucking time.
What your feeling is the uncomfortable realization of something you don't want to admit. Many people ignore it completely so they can go on with their lives and thats why they don't want to talk about it all. At least you are feeling the tinge of it. It's not a joke when people say others hate being called racists and sexists more than actually being and doing racist and sexist things.
If you don't wanna talk about it, don't click on the thread, don't click 'new post', and don't click 'submit post'. You can't come in to a thread, tell people you don't care, and then tell people to not respond to you, lmao
Fine, I concede to your point. I would've been better off not posting here.
But I still stand my right to express my personal frustration with not being able to get away from politics. Not even in my happy place gaming forums. It's just really exhausting.
You say you want to continue to be a better person. Do you think voting for someone that said that he wants to kick out immigrants from America, build the Mexico wall, treat women like shit... makes you a better person?
I mean, I understand you don't agree with these views and you may have your own economic reasons, but if you vote him, you're allowing him to execute all of that, now that he's president.
You can't say everyone should be happy and laughing when minorities are seeing that their president is a declared racist and sexist, and a lot of people votem him despise all of these views.
My humble opinion is that, if everyone truly wanted to be a better person, we shouldn't allow to give presidential powers to someone that clearly hates non white races or treat woman like toys. But that's my opinion, of course...
he's anti climate change, btw. Not really good for our planet.
professor denim
Member
Indcredible
Ah... "Just wanna have fun with my videogames", eh? Haven't we gone to that well enough yet?
Pretty much anything with a story is political. Certainly any sci-fi or fantasy with aliens/other races, and of course anything set in the real world.
Anything with interaction of even vaguely realistic people is saying something, whether it's intended by the creator to do so or just happens to carry a bit of their worldview with it.
This needs to happen ASAP, they need to record all voice chat in the 60 minutes preceding a harassment report, they should let the console permanently record 60 minutes of voice chat, have a team of people go through all the complaints and start banning people.
Sure, it might be a lot of work, but after a few months it will become a deterrent and people will stop being horribly racist and sexist online.
ViolentP
Member
Games will never do that. You are attempting to change a person's belief system. The only way to do it is through education. Using aggression will only exacerbate the rift between the 2 schools of thought.
ZehDon
Gold Member
The difference, of course, being that other art forms don't try and organise a concerted effort to push a singular agenda, or view point. Art represents everything. I'm all for "Fuck Trump: The Game". Guy's garbage, and should never have been a nominee, let alone a victor. What I'm not looking for is shelves lined with "Fuck Trump: The Games", "Fuck Trump: The Movies", "Fuck Trump: The Books", "Fuck Trump: The Boardgames", and "Fuck Trump: The Albums". People will go numb to that in about a day. Then you're double fucked, only without escapist media to get you through the next four years. The time for that type of scorched earth movement was before the US Presidential election. But people sat on their hands, and their complacency has fucked the lives of potentially millions of people. Art is a way to express a viewpoint, not yet another tool with which to tar and feather half a country.
Snowybreak
Member
Yup! And some of it towards the end can be a bit heavy-handed.
It's true! Although it does fall into that same trap X men does where the discrimination has some decent justification since it's against people who can fly you up 200ft in the air and drop you if they wanted.
But yeah, show me a game with a plot without politics. (I mean, there's a lot of games out there so I'm sure someone can, but they ain't the norm)
Better description would be "political message" not politics per se. Probably.
It is certainly a wretched cross to bear
everyday math
Banned
You'll have plenty of time now too.
Have people thought of sharing this thread with devs to get their opinions? Like on twitter?
Silver Arrows
Banned
yet another one to bite the dust, damn evilore better give you a good paycheck bish
M_A_C
Member
Whats wrong with GAF these days.
I didn't vote for Trump. This is not a pro Trump post I made. I thought I made that clear. This is why I never posted my thoughts and now I regret it. F' me for trying to share my personal opinion.
The awesome Republican longterm strategy (unintentionally set in motion by Goldwater some 50 years ago) has finally come to fruition: to make the American public believe that someone like Hillary Clinton is left-wing. And that the Republicans themselves are genuine right wing/conservatives, while in reality they are inhabitants of crazy-town, firmly insulated against common sense, facts and reality, hellbent on destroying the very foundations of our world for personal short term gain. This reality bubble is quite strong, only intellectuals and outsiders seem to notice.
Silver Arrows
Banned
Economic anxiety
Deplorables that think because Trump has gotten in means they can spout their favorite alt-right shit and expect a private forum to hear it
WrenchNinja
Member
It's all very surface level stuff because it's still only an action game with a mostly throwaway story cause it was a launch game, but it's still there.
GAF's darling series Metal Gear Solid is more blunt commentary on war and the military industrial complex, racism, lobbyists and corruption, colonialism, etc juxtaposed with the ridiculous and nonsensical. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
My point is, video games are poltical on some level whether you like it or not
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for my waifusand I was all "What the fuck do you think you're doing."
But I didn't say you voted for him, nor I acussed you of anything. Sorry if it seemed that way.
Just saying that is not as easy as saying everyone should be happy with everyone, A lot of things we do has sadly a lot of consequences for other people, especially when it comes with politics.
Silver Arrows
Banned
But not MY kind of political! I wanna be able to have my opinions of those damn SJW's and minorities validated!
Spieler Eins
Member
That's putting it lightly, lol. Tales of Symphonia's story is about literal concentration camps while half of the protagonist's dialogue is ,,stop discrimination" (and tricking people into cold coffee). I can't say I ever heard anyone complain about the game being political though (if anything, at worst, that the story was being too heavyhanded).
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