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IGN: Black Myth Wukong Developer’s developers suffering from sexism

Draugoth

Draugoth

Gold Member
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Highlights:

"In the eyes of many female players, [Game Science] has a notably negative reputation," said Jen (pseudonym), a Chinese games designer who's now based outside of China. "I admire their dedication and work. I had high expectations for their game, until I came across their misogynistic remarks around 2021, which was reported in the news."
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And a year later in 2015, Game Science also published several recruitment posters that featured suggestive images, which IGN has seen and verified. In one poster, a risque illustration that resembles the artwork of Austrian artist Egon Schiele is accompanied by a header that says "Mandatory self-pleasure". In another poster that featured the rear view of a woman, the ad reads, "Don't screw your colleagues". In the same ad, friends with benefits were also implied as an office perk. And a third poster, featuring a dumbbell, is far more pointed, with the ad stating that "fatties should fuck off".
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Then there is a separate Weibo post by lead artist and co-founder, Yang Qi, back in 2013, which was also unearthed by internet sleuths. In the post, Yang embarked on an extensive diatribe about how games made for women and men are completely different, due to their biological differences. In the post, he pointed out that when men "were holding a heavy machine gun and shooting at governments in your dreams, what the ladies are dreaming about are bags that would make their friends jealous." He then concluded the post by suggesting that he would need to put on silk stockings and suspenders to work, brew chrysanthemum tea, and put a humidifier on his table to make "soft and effeminate things".
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To many who were familiar with Feng's mannerisms, these were just the harmless quirks of a game developer who, as vulgar as he may seem, is steadfast about his vision for game-making. Several fans have excused his behavior, with them chalking this up to a straight-talking passion for game-making. "There's no need to debate, many literary giants also use foul language, let's just experience the work ourselves. A single beauty can cover up all the ugliness, so let's just wait for the results. But I will support it because of their courage, and that they were able to put so much culture and history into the game," reads one response, written in Chinese, to a video discussing the controversy.
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Most recently, a technical artist from Game Science, Daiwei, suggested in a post on Zhihu (the Chinese equivalent of social question-and-answer website Quora) that a female character from Black Myth: Wukong—known as the snake spirit—can be masturbated to by "looking at her more". "Although I'm not used to the snake neck, I can still nurture that fetish," he adds. The comment, which was posted in the wake of the release of Black Myth: Wukong's Gamescom trailer in August 2023, has since been deleted.
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Source
 
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BennyBlanco

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Most recently, a technical artist from Game Science, Daiwei, suggested in a post on Zhihu (the Chinese equivalent of social question-and-answer website Quora) that a female character from Black Myth: Wukong—known as the snake spirit—can be masturbated to by "looking at her more". "Although I'm not used to the snake neck, I can still nurture that fetish," he adds. The comment, which was posted in the wake of the release of Black Myth: Wukong's Gamescom trailer in August 2023, has since been deleted.
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This guy rules
 
Thick Thighs Save Lives

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Which publisher (if any) is handling the game's release in the west? They might get some heat from this report from them; if they're self-publishing then idk if this report will do anything.
 
Dynasty8

Dynasty8

Member
Then there is a separate Weibo post by lead artist and co-founder, Yang Qi, back in 2013, which was also unearthed by internet sleuths. In the post, Yang embarked on an extensive diatribe about how games made for women and men are completely different, due to their biological differences.
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Oh NO! The fucking horror!

Why would he say such a thing 10 YEARS ago!?

Maybe because there's some truth to it.
 
Buggy Loop

Buggy Loop

Member
Most recently, a technical artist from Game Science, Daiwei, suggested in a post on Zhihu (the Chinese equivalent of social question-and-answer website Quora) that a female character from Black Myth: Wukong—known as the snake spirit—can be masturbated to by "looking at her more". "Although I'm not used to the snake neck, I can still nurture that fetish," he adds.
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parks and rec computer GIF
 
Robb

Robb

Gold Member
And a year later in 2015, Game Science also published several recruitment posters
Click to expand...
[one promo] says "Mandatory self-pleasure".
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[another promo] reads, "Don't screw your colleagues". In the same ad, friends with benefits were also implied as an office perk.
Click to expand...
a third promo […] stated that "fatties should fuck off".
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steve-harvey-oscars2017reaction.gif


What the hell. These guys give zero fucks.
 
Last edited:
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
Then there is a separate Weibo post by lead artist and co-founder, Yang Qi, back in 2013, which was also unearthed by internet sleuths. In the post, Yang embarked on an extensive diatribe about how games made for women and men are completely different, due to their biological differences. In the post, he pointed out that when men "were holding a heavy machine gun and shooting at governments in your dreams, what the ladies are dreaming about are bags that would make their friends jealous." He then concluded the post by suggesting that he would need to put on silk stockings and suspenders to work, brew chrysanthemum tea, and put a humidifier on his table to make "soft and effeminate things".
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The other stuff is mostly just dumb frat boy stuff that could maybe be construed as humor, but this part makes me think he might have had few screws loose in the head. Which is to say, rather stupid of him. But it's also from 10 years ago, likely when this guy was a teenager. Once a teenager myself, I can say this is kind of the dumb stuff teenage boys would say. It just became a "thing" to do so online since social media was coming to age around this time, that's the only difference.

That said, hopefully this isn't how they are behaving publicly (or certainly among coworkers) today. And unfortunately it seems like one of the incidents was more recent; not really even an "incident", it's just a kinda funny but crass joke. Unfortunately the other stuff from years ago weigh against it.

I don't agree with boycotting or punishing work and everyone involved in it just due to the actions of a few, hence why I never supported that failed "boycott" on Harry Potter just because J.K Rowling runs her mouth on Twitter about TERF stuff. That's her choice, it shouldn't be used against the hundreds of people working on the game who have no involvement with her beyond the IP she happened to create, though.

At the end of the day, I can only hope the devs have matured and shifted away from some of the more edgy & crass takes they had in the 2013 & 2015 posts, and aren't making things uncomfortable for fellow coworkers. A bit of crass humor like the snake-lady stuff is fine, but not if also means members of the team are still posting way more edgy or extreme stuff online today, or being that way at the office making things very uncomfortable for other coworkers (or employees if it's the boss). At some point you just have to grow up and actually be professional about your work and how you present yourself in the public space, and around your peers.

PanzerCute said:
They really went as far as finding tweets from... 2013?

WTF is wrong with these people.
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If they're from that long ago and already addressed them in the past as not a reflection of who they are today (or at the time they addressed it at least), then yeah, combing back 10 years as a "gotcha" is pretty stupid and underhanded. A lot of us have somewhat questionable posts from 10 years ago; the only reason this is a story is because these guys happen to be working on a widely-known game project now. Plus, if you're otherwise active on social media, good luck making time to comb through 10 years of posts to delete anything (especially if you have a life, and things to do outside of combing through 10 years worth of posts).

I'm gonna assume the devs were likely teenagers at that time anyway and, yeah, it's dumb stuff to say. But it's also typical dumb stuff teenagers say online, it just comes with the territory and trying to be cool or "edgy" or whatever. It was 10 years ago, time moves on.
 
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