No, one company isn’t ‘forcing’ diversity into all your favorite video games

  • vulgarcynic@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    Motherfuckers need real struggle in their lives if this is the shit they’re wasting their time on. Art will be diverse, always has been. Get the fuck over yourself and move on to something that caters to whatever bullshit narrative you need to wake up everyday and be an ignorant piece of shit. I mean, the Bible is a work of fiction that’s been whitewashed with a cracker ass jesus, how about we start there?

    Apologies for the rant, I usually have this type of nonsense filtered outta my feed.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      These are people who rely on “I may be a piece of shit, but at least I’m not (minority group)” to get through their day and not have to try to be a better person. If minority groups get treated as well as “normal” people there will be no one for them to look down on!

      • vulgarcynic@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Man, I hadn’t even thought about that. Valid point.

        I hope they get to truly enjoy their experience of being a white male minority soon! Maybe that’ll help with the empathy some day.

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          I hope they get to truly enjoy their experience of being a white male minority soon!

          The main reason that scares them is that they are worried that if they become a minority they will be treated the same way that they have been treating minorities.

          • vulgarcynic@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            I have no doubts about that. It’s a sentiment I hear echoed all the time in the smaller PNW town I live in. How can someone possibly have freedoms and equality unless it’s taken from someone else.

  • 100@fedia.io
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    9 months ago

    people unironically calling things woke arent exactly the brightest inviduals

    rather see some more neutral reporting and investigation on what this company actually does, seems like pointless outrage right now

    • asret@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      They’re just a consultancy service - hardly worth investigating. Seems that they purport to offer expertise on how a developer can improve diversity and inclusion in their products.

      Like any consultancy, whether they can actually do this and whether their clients will actually implement it effectively are another matter entirely.

      The Steam group creator seems to think either they’re garbage or that their clients’ approach to diversity and inclusion is garbage. (Or maybe they’re just some alt-right incel Nazi )

      • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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        9 months ago

        I think the amount of outrage a Steam Curator group has generated solely by pointing out that $game used $consultancy_service indicates that there is something deeper about the subject. No smoke without fire and all that.

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          “Sure, this guy might be a bigot, but look how upset people are by his bigotry! There must be something to what he’s saying, it can’t just be that people really don’t like bigots!”

        • candid@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          People said the same shit during Pizzagate. And look what happened there. There isn’t smoke here, it’s made up outrage, which is more akin to folks kicking up dust. In this case I think they’ve huffed too much of their own fart dust.

          People have poor mental health, no control of their lives, no control over the industry through their consumerism like they pretend (the average person buying Spiderman 2 doesn’t give a shit about this controversy), and so they are looking to shit on a consultancy company to make themselves feel like they have any power. The reality is most people just care whether a game is good or not, not whether it has DEI elements included or whatever else.

        • geekwithsoul@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          That may be the dumbest take I’ve heard on this. With that kind of “logic”, it would mean maybe the Earth really is flat, because so many people are outraged that someone could believe something that stupid. More “We’re just asking questions here” bullshit used as a smokescreen for rampant bigotry and misogyny.

            • geekwithsoul@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              So let me get this straight in terms of your POV: things that are incorrect shouldn’t be corrected? Especially in the context of a bunch of neckbearded incels who doxxed, swatted, and generally hounded people during that whole GamerGate stupidity?!

              Yeah, I really can’t understand why someone looking at the history might want to investigate and correct if needed wildly inaccurate claims. /s

              • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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                9 months ago

                Well apparently the people down voting you prove that you have a point! Why else would they be outraged? Where there’s smoke there’s fire (or some stupid bullshit).

  • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Anyone else sometimes get sideways glances from people when they tell others that video games are a big hobby you enjoy? Yeah, dumbass shit like this whole saga is why.

  • AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 months ago

    I spoke with several employees of Sweet Baby Inc. to learn what the company actually does and how the misunderstanding of its role in the industry highlights a far broader problem.

    You don’t know what Sweet Baby Inc. does, but you assume the people complaining about SBI must be incorrect? Do journalists in any other sector of the market fall all over themselves rushing to defend companies like they do in game development?

    • __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      The alternative is believing everything without confirming anything, do you think that’s better?

      Isn’t it weird how your mom keeps having sex with your opponents in call of duty?

    • xionzui@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      The first thing in the sentence is literally them learning about what the company does, directly from the source. Who exactly do you think is more qualified to comment on it? Random internet users with no relation to the industry?

  • fsxylo@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    Ignoring the controversy for a second, I do think your writing is going to be shit if you outsource it, it just screams “I don’t give a fuck, let some intern I can’t even supervise do it”. So while this company isn’t egregious per se, the fact it exists and there’s a demand for it spells a bigger issue with the industry.

    • __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      If you don’t have the talent internally, you hire someone else to do it. Is it shit to hire someone to make the music? To make the engine? Why is the writing different?

      • asret@lemmy.zip
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        9 months ago

        And even if you do have the talent internally you can still seek specialised feedback on your work - most authors work with editors for example.

        The only reason this case is notable is because of the reactionary response to the “woke” games industry (and games journalism in particular). This is just another round of nonsense in this culture war, so people on either side are staking out ridiculous positions.

      • fsxylo@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        If I don’t have the talent, I’d hire the talent and work with them directly. Not hire some firm and tell them “yes we need to maximize the player engagement portfolio metric synergized meta narrative systems” and whatever other corporate words I could fit in.

        Which is specifically what my post was criticizing, unless you’re going to try to tell me that doesn’t happen.

        • geekwithsoul@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          So you’d hire a full time employee while paying for a recruitment process, on-boarding, and then full pay and benefits to help write a game that may take three years to complete and may never actually be completed or released and may never receive a sequel. Oh and your next project might not be suitable for their skills. Genius! Can’t wait to see what games your gaming company releases!

          Hell, why stop there - Every Hollywood movie studio should also just hire a bunch of in-house writers and have them write everything. You think movies are bland and unoriginal now - just you wait! And why do book publishers work with so many different authors? They should just hire 12 or so and have them write everything? 🙄

            • geekwithsoul@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              “Most indie companies” neither hire consultants nor add a bunch of full time employees - they don’t have the money for it. At first I was thinking you just didn’t understand how games are made, but now I’m thinking you don’t understand how general business works.

  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    It doesn’t matter. These angry idiots have a narrative, and no amount of polite talking is going to convince them they were assholes.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      No, but it does explain to everyone else who is wondering “why are people upset about SBI?”

      “Oh just a bunch of bigots chasing their next outrage. Best to have nothing to do with them.”

  • otp@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    I’ve wondered what the term was for someone who acts like an incel, but might have had sex at one point or another. I guess it’s “anti-woke”, or whatever they’re calling themselves now.

        • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          I wish that was why.

          Fuck me sideways, do I wish that was why.

          The actual reason - if you are a person who cares about reasons - is that their opinions amount to ingroup-supremacist reactionary violence. These people reliably mumble that they’re ‘not against’ the barest recognition of ethnic, sexual, or cultural minorities, they’re just against it ‘when it’s forced.’ And then you press them the tiniest bit and find out they’ll call literally any inclusion ‘forced.’

          Incel rhetoric didn’t cause mass shootings by accident. It’s the same emotionally-manipulative, grievance-driven, scapegoat-centric, cult-of-machismo bullshit that Eco described in Ur-Fascism, thirty-odd years ago. These people getting mad at video games are cut from that same mold. “Gamergate” in particular has demonstrable immediate ties to right-wing assholes making shit up to rattle a bunch of undersocialized young men into harassing women and minorities off the internet and into hiding.

          • NoLifeKing@ani.social
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            9 months ago

            You also cannot say that everyone disagreeing with bad writing is one of the gamergate or right wing bastards.

            Most people are just mad about bad writing in favor of “diversity”

            Shure there are some assholes that are against diversity itself but they are a loud minority. Most are just against bad writing in favor of “diversity”.

            • otp@sh.itjust.works
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              9 months ago

              Most are just against bad writing in favor of “diversity”.

              But they seem to be so critical of “bad writing” that includes diversity, and seem to never talk about bad writing that doesn’t include diversity. If nothing else, it’s suspicious.

                • otp@sh.itjust.works
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                  9 months ago

                  Did having a female protagonist ruin Star Wars?

                  I think Star Wars was destined to be ruined by the time Disney bought it. Hell, people had been saying the franchise was dead since at least episode I…

          • asret@lemmy.zip
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            9 months ago

            Sometimes taking what seems like the right stand on an issue can deepen the harm - be careful about getting too extreme.

            For example when the whole “gamergate” thing was going on and people were like “Why can’t I just enjoy Tomb Raider?” - one side was standing up for diversity and inclusion by denouncing them as basement-dwelling incels who should self-terminate. So that naturally drove some to those right-wing assholes.

            Sometimes it takes a bit of work to change someone’s context so they can get closer to your perspective.

  • squid_slime@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    upper echelon did a good piece on this

    Edit: noticing a few down votes, if clicking on the video and seeing “woke” as the video image is off putting then please notice its in quotations.

    As for the content, well informed about the industry and how esg rating system has lead to check boxing. The video is not saying to avoid inclusivity in vedeo games it is however saying that company’s are riding on inclusivity to make money and they’re doing so in a lazy way that doesnt seem to help the cause.

  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    In this thread:

    “How dare they ask the company what it does. The headline must be written first because it’s what I read first.”

    “If we assume the problem doesn’t exist, then why is there a solution?”

    “Artists seeking consultation sounds like censorship. Especially if they recommend it to other artists!”

    “The only reason you’d try to avoid offending people is so you can have sex at them.”

    Yeah can’t imagine why these companies have people check their work now.

  • Blxter@lemmy.zip
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    9 months ago

    If the art was already written with diverse characters like they were before companys like this existed then why do you have to hire a firm to make it diverse. A piece of art should not have another company come in and make “suggestions” on things to change to fit inside of a narrative.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      If you read the article you’d find out that writing diverse characters isn’t a focus of this company. Once again “gamers” completely misunderstand how games are made.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      A piece of art should not have another company come in and make “suggestions” on things to change to fit inside of a narrative.

      Right, nobody should ever get feedback or suggestions when making art. That’s why all good games and movies only have 1 writer who also directs.

  • Demigod787@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    It’s still a safer bet to avoid whatever they consult on, they’ve an eye for trash writing and they thrive on “fixing” that. And companies that hire them are just out there to make a quick buck rather than creating a good story, experience or game.