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Steam curator warns players if Sweet Baby is involved in a game

Omnipunctual Godot

Gold Member
Sweet Baby is getting so much heat that devs will start avoiding it.
kFJOHAv.gif
 

00_Zer0

Member
This is going to be about as effective as the SJW efforts to name and shame the creators of Ion Maiden or boycott the Harry Potter game.
I don't call for boycotting good games, but if I don't want to be force fed bad storylines, or cringe worthy PC/pandering or boring side missions (Spider Man 2) then I want to be warned about it. If the shittiness outweighs my personal taste no matter the pretty graphics, or good gameplay, I will just skip the game.

No need to tell anyone else to do the same nor make it some kind of mission to encourage others not to purchase the game. There is most definitely nothing wrong with a PSA about games like this. I appreciate places like GAF, YouTube and Steam Curators giving me a heads up about content in a game then I can make the decision for myself.
 
Square Enix is on that list but thats didn't stop Square putting beautiful design in their game.
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I think SE has started to learn the lesson that hopefully other devs are learning. That is, understand your fanbase. If your fans, as in the ones who actually buy your products with real money, like attractive characters in their games, you should give them attractive characters. I think companies are finally starting to catch on to the fact that extremists on Twitter, whether right or left leaning, are an incredibly vocal, but incredibly small audience, who you will never make happy and will never get to buy your game, so don't both responding to them or their demands.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I think SE has started to learn the lesson that hopefully other devs are learning. That is, understand your fanbase. If your fans, as in the ones who actually buy your products with real money, like attractive characters in their games, you should give them attractive characters. I think companies are finally starting to catch on to the fact that extremists on Twitter, whether right or left leaning, are an incredibly vocal, but incredibly small audience, who you will never make happy and will never get to buy your game, so don't both responding to them or their demands.
More importantly be true to your vision, like Yoko Taro…if he wants put attractive characters in his games then he has every fucking right to do so.

And if western devs want to put ugly ass characters in their game then that their own fucking choice…..but I don’t want fucking see them insulting Asian devs for doing opposite from them.
 
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Almost as if companies use consultant groups to execute on their existing vision and the consultant group doesn't actually make any decisions or even challenge the company in any meaningful way.
Sounds like those consultant groups are completely pointless wastes of money then.

As for this curator, I wish it was more neutral. If it was just a list of games that are involved with Sweet Baby without recommending or hating on them, that'd be better.
 

March Climber

Gold Member
Sounds like those consultant groups are completely pointless wastes of money then.
The point of consultant groups like these are to help developers out when they want to create a scenario or situation that involves a topic they are not knowledgeable of, but want to include in their game.

Example: Sucker Punch used consultants for Ghost of Tsushima to be as respectful as possible to Japanese culture.
 

Filben

Member
Square Enix is on that list but thats didn't stop Square putting beautiful design in their game.
zJltiGe.png
Hot damn. Gotta say, Tifa was one of the reason I've kept playing FFVII Remake despite not really liking the game. Yes, I'm a simple man and I do like beautiful women and, being brutally honest, having them in a video game is a huge plus.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Sounds like those consultant groups are completely pointless wastes of money then.
Most of them are, to be honest. A lot of times consultants are brought on to justify actions that have already been decided on.

In the case of Sweet Baby, I think it's mostly when companies want help writing for or about diverse characters in a way that sounds authentic. Sweet Baby is probably not sitting there telling them to "put a gay chick in it, make her lame," the way people here assume, it's more like "Is this how a 20 year old Puerto Rican kid would talk?" or "How do blind people use their phones?"

Everyone is just trying to avoid being Life is Strange, where a bunch of middle aged dudes in France tried to write American teenage girls and it sounded really dumb. That's what Sweet Baby does. They don't "help you make your game woke."
 
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Nvzman

Member
They seem to focus on story writing specifically. I checked their website and didn't see any Valve games listed. I'm guessing they helped with the story in Half-Life Alyx since that's the only recent Valve game with a story, but you'd think they'd list it if that was the case. It's a total mystery.
To be honest their involvement with Valve must have been something minor, the writing and characters of HL Alyx feel pretty in-sync with Valve's normal writing, doesn't feel very wooden or corporate like a lot of the other games/companies that have worked with SB.

I don't even particularly blame SB for the really shitty writing in a lot of newer games, its a symptom of a bigger issue with corporate cancer infiltrating a medium that shouldn't have an entire writing team the size of a game team 20 years ago with several consulting companies offering services to assist in said writing/production.
 

Larxia

Member
Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

40DDUDj.png
 
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Faust

Perpetually Tired
Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

40DDUDj.png

What a massive cunt.

And yet people defend this company and these mentally deranged scumbags.
 

nush

Member
Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

40DDUDj.png


Oh look, it's the cancelling tactic.
 
I don't really see the big deal, just ignore what you don't like and stop sweating the small stuff.

You should be more concerned about revolting streamers, like one I came came across yesterday who referred to Dark Souls as RETRO. Disgusting :messenger_medmask:
 
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Faust

Perpetually Tired
It's funny because they call the curator a "harassment group", but then they ask for everyone to report the group and the user on steam to get them banned... which is targeted harassment lol
They, sadly, see themselves as doing a service and “fighting the good fight”. They are blind to their hypocrisy.

I don't really see the big deal, just ignore what you don't like and stop sweating the small stuff.

You should be more concerned about disgusting streamers, like one I came came across yesterday who referred to Dark Souls as RETRO. Disgusting :messenger_medmask:
This allows people to ignore what they don’t like by being informed. It isn’t demanding people lose their jobs or wishing ill on a company.

Unlike that company wishing ill on the user. Now that is pathetic.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

40DDUDj.png

Leave it to the DEI folks to be unhinged lunatics lol
 

Larxia

Member
Curators on Steam are sometimes useful. I remember when Total Biscuit curated the 30 FPS locked games page on Steam. I think he used to mention if the framerate of the game could be unlocked via modding too.
That was the first, and actually one of the only rare curators I followed (maybe the only one, I actually forgot about curator for a long time lol).
 
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00_Zer0

Member
Square Enix is on that list but thats didn't stop Square putting beautiful design in their game.
zJltiGe.png
Sorry to inform you, but Square's "Ethics" department just enforced an update to the Steam/PC version of Final Fantasy Remake Intergrade by adding a t shirt/undergarment underneath a top Tifa was already wearing which was already quite neutral/nonsexual. This has been on Steam for two years and they are just now doing this? It doesn't make sense and makes you wonder what they will censor in Rebirth after they have extracted your money out of you.

 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Sorry to inform you, but Square's "Ethics" department just enforced an update to the Steam/PC version of Final Fantasy Remake Intergrade by adding a t shirt/undergarment underneath a top Tifa was already wearing which was already quite neutral/nonsexual. This has been on Steam for two years and they are just now doing this? It doesn't make sense and makes you wonder what they will censor in Rebirth after they have extracted your money out of you.


I'm pretty sure they changed that so it would similar to Rebirth, not because of "Sweet Baby".
 
They're a consulting group, right? They get hired to help companies who want to portray diverse characters or whatever. They're not "pushing" anything they're literally just a service that companies hire with their own money because they want to do that.

I don't understand the amount of mental gymnastics you have to do to make it seem like these people are responsible for diversity initiatives rather than an outgrowth of them.

Like if you're mad that you think Sweet Baby is doing a bad job at portraying diversity and representing those stories wrong, then yeah, be mad at Sweet Baby. But that doesn't seem to be the case here, people are just mad that their business is a business.
Perhaps people understand the diversity initiatives, and we just want these people to have to step on the rake themselves.

If you don’t have the conviction and aptitude to put in the work to do it right, why force it on the audience? Is there anyone satisfied by these consultant vibes, even diversity champions?

I don’t believe anyone is happy because the creator has lost control of the creation. Nothing is authentic, no one is benefitting.
 

Barakov

Gold Member
Source (Niche Gamer)

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44858017-Sweet-Baby-Inc-detected/

A new Steam curator is making it their mission to warn gamers if Sweet Baby Inc. has been involved in a game’s development.

For those who don’t know, Sweet Baby Inc. is a narrative consultation company that offers a variety of services including:


  • Writing: “Cinematics, Dialogue, UI/UX writing, Barks, Copywriting, Etc”
  • Narrative: “Story pitches, World Building, Character Creation, Narrative Design, Story Feedback and Tweaks, and more”
  • Representation: “Cultural Consultation, Sensitivity And Inclusivity Reading, Risk and Opportunities Assessment, and more”
  • Development: “Full-scale Game Development and Interactive Fiction”
The curator uses proof of the company’s involvement retrieved either through credits uploaded to YouTube or from Sweet Baby’s website directly. You can check out the Sweet Baby Inc detected curator here.

The curator is by no means a comprehensive list, and Sweet Baby has claimed to be involved with dozens of companies, including:

  • Xbox Game Studios
  • Electronic Arts
  • Valve
  • Santa Monica Studios
  • Tru Luv
  • 2K
  • Polytron
  • Wizards of the Coast
  • Square Enix
  • Ubisoft
  • Raw Fury
  • Compulsion Games
  • and more
While narrative consulting isn’t an unusual service to offer, critics of Sweet Baby are concerned that the company is more concerned with pushing their own ideological goals than with the quality of the product or its reception by fans.
And subscribed. It's becoming easier and easier to vote with your wallet thanks to this. At least on steam.
 

YCoCg

Member
Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

40DDUDj.png

A Sweet Baby employee encouraging targeted harassment? The irony knows no bounds.
 
Exactly this. If your inclusion and diversity is being forced by an outside 3rd party, it is no longer sincere. These elements should be born from the intention of the creators, not to check boxes.

How the hell this consultant force anything? These devs make the game. These elements in the game because devs wanted in the game.
 

Barakov

Gold Member
Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

40DDUDj.png

Reported all three tweets.
Party Dancing GIF by Florida Georgia Line
 

Pejo

Member
Both hilarious and a good idea. Surely this won't make people unreasonably mad, and it's just gamers exercising their choice on what to support...

Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

40DDUDj.png


Oh... well....
 
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How the hell this consultant force anything? These devs make the game. These elements in the game because devs wanted in the game.
I worded that wrong, I didnt mean that the company (Sweet baby) is forcing it, I meant that having to use a company like that makes the sentiment of inclusion and diversity forced. Basically the creators shouldn't need the assistance of a consulting firm if their sentiment is authentic and sincere.
 
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Aces High

Member
How the hell this consultant force anything? These devs make the game. These elements in the game because devs wanted in the game.
And they don't want it in the game anymore in arabic countries?



Insomniac and all the others are a bunch of hypocrites.

Naughty Dog is virtue signaling all day long and in the background they're outsourcing to countries that don't give a fuck about the most basic human rights.

Corporate trash. All of them.
 
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