"Play is an integral part of human evolution and learning," she says, mentioning that this is a topic she covers in her book. "Gaming, being the most refined form of play in our time, has much to offer. Instead of focusing on what gaming is not, it's more effective to showcase its true essence. The industry's effort to create a more diverse range of games, beyond merely violent and intense ones, will help showcase the broad spectrum of gaming as an expression of creativity."

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[–] Aielman15@lemmy.world 44 points 3 months ago (53 children)

I feel the problem is not the industry but the fanbase. As of the last few years, it's become pretty common to see videogames become target of hatred for "going woke": H:FW's Aloy's "peach fuzz", TLOU2's Abby being too masculine, women not living to the average beauty standard, LGBT characters "shoved down people's throats", character editors decoupling gender and sex or using gender-neutral language, narrative being cringe because it targets millennials (as if older games didn't target young audiences, too)... The industry is going forward, but I don't think the fanbase is ready yet.

Sometimes I think the fanbase is regressing, even. I've seen people lamenting increased "politics" in their videogame, yet saying that MGS or FFVII or Bioshock are their favourite games. Gamers don't even pay attention to what they consume, they merely parrot whatever their favourite influencer says. "Woke" is a meaningless term that gets thrown around whenever they don't like something.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 59 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Fan base isn't regressing - there's just an increasingly polarized contingent that won't stop wailing about every snub.

Overall the gaming fan base is growing because of this embracing of diversity.

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 31 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah it’s just a loud group of dipshits that want games to be a safe space for their regressive views.

[–] Renacles@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

They can't go 3 words without saying "woke".

Wokewokewokewokewoke...

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

The Helldivers 2 Steam ~~review page~~ (edit: it's comments on announcements) is covered with reviews from accounts that don't even own the game begging Arrowhead to "not add WOKENESS!" to the game.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What review page are you talking about??

I went to check out the reviews and all I see is people complaining about Sony blocking out so many countries. I don't see a single "woke" complaint.

Are you sure you're not just hearing that people have complained and then assuming they actually did?

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Sorry, you're correct- it's not the reviews, but the comments on any announcement made by the devs that I was remembering.

The lack of mouse icon next to their names means those Steam accounts don't own the game.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I wonder how many of them are just bots tbh

Cause the game is pretty inherently political. The setting is a farcical fascist govt...

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's a coordinated effort to make those bigoted assholes seem to be a larger number than they actually are. And we can blame Steve Bannon for that.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

Also everyone who participates in the narrative that “regressive are swamping the gaming industry”.

[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

I mean on the plusside, you always know that whenever anybody uses the word "woke" as if it were a real word, you can immediately add them to the blocklist or ban them. Nothing they can add has any value any more.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee -5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I see three comments, two of which mention wokeness and one of which mentions sending the dev team to re-education camp.

None of the comments is solely about wokeness. Wokeness is mentioned in conjunction with politics.

One of the comments wants to make sure the game stays “neutral”.

Note that zero of these comments are complaining about diversity. To those who criticize wholeness, it is a distinct thing from diversity.

Do you know what people are referring to when they use that word?

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I provided a screenshot as an example. Obviously I'm not going to link to every fucking bigoted comment. Those were the top three comments; two of which were useful to my point.
Note that zero of these comments are complaining about diversity

Here, let me make one bigger for you:

They "think" adding more diversity in the form of inclusion and LGBT representation would make the game worse, since apparently that point wasn't as clear as, say, a fucking foghorn.

Do you know what people are referring to when they use that word?

Yes. "Woke" means "anything that threatens my worldview of white masculine superiority and reminding me that non-white, non-straight, non-male people exist and should be represented in art hurts my fee-fees."

But sure, explain how it's really about "ethics in gaming journalism".

[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Can you make that bigger? 😛

[–] ZeroHora@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

How they can review a game without own it on steam?

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I edited my comment, but I was wrong in that it's not the review page that gets swarmed but the comments on announcements that Arrowhead makes. Anyone can comment on an announcement (which makes sense, if [for example] it's about an upcoming feature that isn't out yet.)

[–] ZeroHora@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago

I see, steam community foruns.

It's better to not go into these, full of fanboys, haters and stupid people farming fake points.

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 1 points 3 months ago

I'm guessing they buy, review, refund? Not sure if that also removes the review as I almost never refund or review games.

[–] bobotron@lemm.ee 6 points 3 months ago

Ding ding ding

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