• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Has political agendas in video games effected your decision to buy certain games now…

Status
Not open for further replies.
recursive

recursive

Member
DelireMan7 said:
No.

I play games if I like what I see in it. Gender, skin colors, sexuality doesn't play a role in my decision.

As an example, I don't get all the controversy about the new Assassin's Creed Shadows. People are like "HO NO ! Black samurai, wokeness, bullshit history,..." and I am like "Ho cool, an assassin and a samurai game !"

Same for company making the game.
I solely judge a game on its content, gameplay and the pleasure I can find playing it.
Click to expand...
While I agree with you on some points where I daw the line is when the devs start popping off about woke shit and how proud they are about the woke elements they included in their games. That just puts a spotlight on the woke stuff and turns me off.
 
Kataploom

Kataploom

Gold Member
Snowdonhoffen said:
Never.
If I'm interested in a game then I'm just interested in the game, simple.
Most of the time I don't even notice the "wokeness" until someone else points it out. But even then, woke means different things for everybody nowadays. Hell, I'm sure games released 10-15 years ago would be considered woke if released today. That's not to say there isn't a clear as day agenda in some cases.
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't, it basically gets reduced to how blatant the pandering feels and yeah, it's just some care more or less about it but it's always the same, people just opt for caring or not
 
SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Never. I have zero problem with games (or any art or media) that come from people I disagree with, as long as the games themselves are appealing.

There's a line somewhere. I wouldn't give money to an R. Kelly or a Harvey Weinstein type figure but I don't think gaming has one of those yet.

I find it especially strange that people are fixating on like... people that work for consultancies and community managers and shit that are so far down on the totem pole or sometimes not even directly involved in the game at all, like holy shit you can't purity test everyone even loosely affiliated with a modern game, that's going to be hundreds of even thousands of people.
 
D

DeltaPolarBear

Member
Making a good game is very, very hard.

Thus, if the people making the game is somehow distracted and have some other goal than making the best game they can, they tend to make a bad game as a result.

Thus you shouldn't avoid games because of politics; you should avoid games that suck. And in general making games for politics, makes it suck. You can make a game that HAS politics, but the making of the game has to come first.

It is like making a movie; making a good movie is hit or miss, so trying to make a good movie need to come first, or you already failed.
 
T4keD0wN

T4keD0wN

Member
Yes, actual political games are my favourite type of games and i seek them out a lot, i dont think theres a single game in my top 10 that isnt heavily political. Writing can make or break games for me and i dont think i would like or touch games like Cyberpunk, Bioshock or Persona 5 at all if they werent dealing with political/societal themes, all of these would be mid (imo) if it werent for politics.

Having variety between characters has absolutely nothing to do with politics, killing a king in Witcher or overthrowing a government in Call of Duty does.

What SBI are involved in never had anything to do with actual politics, its about inserting their own work that never adds anything meaningful to the game, unless we count the budget cost which could be spent better elsewhere. Even if theyve actually meant well (they dont, their mission statement is to generate outrage) its artificial and that is not good enough to score "good points" from me.
 
Last edited:
Laptop1991

Laptop1991

Member
Somewhat, to an extent, if the game is still good and it's not over the top, then i will still play it, but if the game is full of agenda at the expense of game play, then i wouldn't touch it
 
EDMIX

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
balls of snow said:
Yep if it interest me its on the wishlist.
Click to expand...

Same.

Most of the time the people who even argue about this can't even prove what they are talking about.

Chin size = political agenda
Hair length = political agenda
Eye color = political agenda
Skin color = political agenda
based in America = political agenda
Based in Japan....= political agenda
Based on Earth = political agenda
Based in Solar System = political agenda
Based in our Galaxy = political agenda
NOT based in our galaxy , obvious fucking Milky Way bias hate = political agenda

Anything is an agenda to people like this.

I just can't buy or avoid games based on something so fucking silly. You have too many people who work on a game, to be buying games based on hoping someone's views agree with you.

By default I assume all companies have people that hate me, have different views then me, different beliefs etc. GTAVI literally likely has like 4000 plus people working on it. I'm sure 100% of them do not fucking hold the same views as me.

Fuck was I suppose to do? Poll, vet and inveterate every single last person that worked on game before buying it? lol

So if the game is fun, interesting, functional, its getting a buy.

Woke and anti woke people don't even qualify as real gamers to me anymore. Spend more time crying about if someone hair being a certain shade of brown was a conspiracy or oppression for this shit or some other lol I'm not sure how anyone can then take either sides views on a game legitimately if they already have a bias by default.
 
Killjoy-NL

Killjoy-NL

Member
Guilty_AI said:
Big difference between "Exploring nuclear detterence as a geopolitical model" politics, versus "I'll make women jawlines bigger because some trans activist said they'd feel excluded otherwise" politics.
Click to expand...
Yeah, because who actually gives a fuck about someones jawline?
 
Lunarorbit

Lunarorbit

Member
No. I was gonna buy hogwarts either way.

It's fun to rag on volcano high but I was never gonna buy it and have nothing against it.

Id buy Alan wake 2 but never finished the 1st one so I'll wait but remedy is great.

Was forspoken "political" at all or just super cringe?

I don't care about SBI. The reason I put down God of war ragnarok was the pace was horrible. I got to the part where arteus meets the girl his age and it became a walking sim for a bit. Like when you fast travel in the 1st game. Just kinda forgot about the game and moved on. But I'll finish it at some point
 
Hugare

Hugare

Member
The idea of boycotting games due to their involvement with some consultant company is just childish, imo

Sweet Baby Inc worked in GOW Ragnarok. It was a really well received game by many players, and there's no scene where Kratos gets emotional when Atreus reveals to him that he is bissexual. Its fine.

Or "oh, the horror" of having a robot that have pronouns in a 5x5 multiplayer game. Who gives a shit?

But stuff like Spider-man 2 is where I draw the line. That game' writing was shit and the inclusion angle felt forced in so many ways.

Bottomline: if it were to boycott SBI, many here wouldnt have played (and probably enjoyed) GOW Ragnarok. So lets just use our brains and judge games by how good they are, and not by who made them.
 
Fabieter

Fabieter

Member
DelireMan7 said:
No.

I play games if I like what I see in it. Gender, skin colors, sexuality doesn't play a role in my decision.

As an example, I don't get all the controversy about the new Assassin's Creed Shadows. People are like "HO NO ! Black samurai, wokeness, bullshit history,..." and I am like "Ho cool, an assassin and a samurai game !"

Same for company making the game.
I solely judge a game on its content, gameplay and the pleasure I can find playing it.
Click to expand...

I get what you are saying and you are mostly right but those shitty consultants cost a big penny and might be crucial for the success of a good game so since it's not needed why bother.
 
ResilientBanana

ResilientBanana

Member
Yes. Games should be games and not political statements or forced opinions. The reason games and franchises got popular was because they were good with compelling stories and now they have all kinds of forced inclusion and they’ve slowly become less compelling.
 
U

ungalo

Member
It's mostly indirect. I don't buy a game when the aesthetic really repulse me especially if the game (like most AAA) put emphasis more on the scope and the immersion than the gameplay system, it could probably be linked to a political agenda but i'm just looking at the aesthetical result.
 
hinch7

hinch7

Member
Not really but I'm not going out my way to support terrible companies like SBI, or the like. So if any game has their stamp of approval, I'll likely not care for it going forward.
 
Last edited:
Saber

Saber

Gold Member
Yes. I may have a playstation, but don't remember the last time I bought a Sony game. Ubisoft is another one that I have being avoiding for ages.
Thankfully I still have my old games and east are making bangers, so I no longer need games from them.
 
reinking

reinking

Gold Member
Not really. I try to ignore most of that stuff because it does not impact my life directly. Indirectly, because of decisions made? Maybe.
 
S

SidViscous

Member
sort of, the problem is there is a direct correlation between games pushing DEI and games being shit, so it’s not like I’m skipping great games due to politics and DEI, more that games I’d otherwise look forward to I’ll be more cautious about if I whiff politics and pronouns.
 
Last edited:
GudOlRub

GudOlRub

Member
No, if a game looks good to me and it is reviewed well, I play it.

Things like Yasuke being one of the protagonists in AC Shadows, or women being in the regular US/British/German/Japanese armies in Battlefield V do grind my gears a little bit sometimes, but again, if the game turns out to be good in the end, I just look past it.
SBI was supposedly involved in Alan Wake 2 and it was still the best thing I've played in the last few years.

So yeah, I couldn't care less about political agendas as long as I have fun playing a game.
 
Last edited:
T

Thief1987

Member
Hugare said:
Sweet Baby Inc worked in GOW Ragnarok. It was a really well received game by many players, and there's no scene where Kratos gets emotional when Atreus reveals to him that he is bissexual. Its fine.
Click to expand...
What about treating you like an idiot who can't focus on a puzzle for more than 5 seconds, so they need to tell you solution even if you didn't ask for it? I'm sure that this genius pieces of game design coming from these same "consultants".
 
Last edited:
Topher

Topher

Gold Member
I don't mind if a political or social point is made as long as it isn't heavy-handed or preachy. Problem is writers in video games are usually not talented enough to pull that off. So we end up getting shit like the side missions of Spider-man 2. Don't think I've rolled my eyes as much playing a video game in my life.
 
samoilaaa

samoilaaa

Member
EDMIX said:
Same.

Most of the time the people who even argue about this can't even prove what they are talking about.

Chin size = political agenda
Hair length = political agenda
Eye color = political agenda
Skin color = political agenda
based in America = political agenda
Based in Japan....= political agenda
Based on Earth = political agenda
Based in Solar System = political agenda
Based in our Galaxy = political agenda
NOT based in our galaxy , obvious fucking Milky Way bias hate = political agenda

Anything is an agenda to people like this.

I just can't buy or avoid games based on something so fucking silly. You have too many people who work on a game, to be buying games based on hoping someone's views agree with you.

By default I assume all companies have people that hate me, have different views then me, different beliefs etc. GTAVI literally likely has like 4000 plus people working on it. I'm sure 100% of them do not fucking hold the same views as me.

Fuck was I suppose to do? Poll, vet and inveterate every single last person that worked on game before buying it? lol

So if the game is fun, interesting, functional, its getting a buy.

Woke and anti woke people don't even qualify as real gamers to me anymore. Spend more time crying about if someone hair being a certain shade of brown was a conspiracy or oppression for this shit or some other lol I'm not sure how anyone can then take either sides views on a game legitimately if they already have a bias by default.
Click to expand...
it is an agenda when companies like insomniac actually makes a video about including lgbtq in their games is a must

 
RoboFu

RoboFu

One of the green rats
usually I just give it an eye roll then move on, but in the case of the new Star Wars games main character design it's just put me off the game entirely.

star-wars-outlaws-ubisoft-580x334.jpg


70s looking mullet with a denim space jacket.. non binary travesty. 🤦‍♂️

At least Japanese androgyny characters are good looking .
 
Elog

Elog

Member
No. I really do not care (and have a hard time understanding why this is such a sensitive topic for a small group of people).
 
S

SHA

Member
Which part of it? cause I've seen a lot
-making choices about saving lives, this isn't new
-someone's look, this isn't new
-showing real stuff from the world, this is something new but I for one still willing to buy these types of contents unless the author is failing to validate the points he's making that'd be a tough decision for me to make.
 
Last edited:
Small John McCarthy

Small John McCarthy

Member
Yes.

I won’t buy anything where I even suspect I’m going to get a lecture.

I understand that I am going to miss the odd gem as a result - but I don’t care enough about video games for it to matter.
 
Roxkis_ii

Roxkis_ii

Member
I don't think the political agendas have directly affected how I choose to buy games.

I don't keep a running list of sweat baby inc games in my mind, but I also happen to not be attracted to those games due to other things. For example, I didn't by spider man 2, because the dialog in Miles Morales was extremely cringe to me. I couldn't finish God of war 2 mostly becuse they talked too much.

Good games are good games regardless of the politics of the devs that made it.
 
Fake

Fake

Member
Totally. Most of my games now are from japanese devs.

I don't remember the last time I got an exclusive from Playstation Studios. Maybe my last on was God of War reboot.

After that I never got any Playstation exclusive. Either third party japanese stuff or right now I buying Nintendo Switch games.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Cyberpunk 2077 - An ode to one of the best games ever
Opinion 2 3
132
7K
dok1or replied
  • Locked
Why has political ideologues made a battlefield out of gaming?
Social Community 2 3 4 5
209
11K
Faust replied
Half-Life YouTuber Ross ‘Accursed Farms’ Scott, is planning a lawsuit against Ubisoft over The Crew’s shutdown
News Drama 2
88
6K
MacReady13 replied
New: Tell Steam If Your Game Supports DualShock or DualSense Controllers
Game Dev
24
2K
Skifi28 replied
Do game developers still want to publish on Xbox? A survey of independents and small studios
39
2K
SNG32 replied
Top Bottom