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[Bernardougf]

All it takes is for people to just not support these studios.

But I fear alot of all this happening right now is going to result in nothing.

Sure I've decided I'm not buying these games, but I'm also sick of most games anyway so it's not a big deal to me. I am just one person though. when wolverine comes out which we now know has the spiderman 2 DEI writer on, are people going to not buy it

I get a feeling it'll break all sorts of records and this will all be for nothing sadly.

I desagree... this games are going to get shittier and shittier just as movies did ... so you are not really losing anything... you are doing your part and feeling better about yourself and what you do with your money..... and still will have a lot of games to enjoy that dont have this plague infecting then.

Now if you only taste is for western heavily narrative games ... yeah.. then you're screwed

 

[Boss Mog]

God bless Elon and the Community Notes on X. The ADL getting Community Noted just made my day.

 

[Lucumo]

The Toddler:

The right panel makes little sense though. It should have been a communist, not a national socialist. But then again, it's reddit, so apparently no surprise there.

 

[StueyDuck]

I desagree... this games are going to get shittier and shittier just as movies did ... so you are not really losing anything... you are doing your part and feeling better about yourself and what you do with your money..... and still will have a lot of games to enjoy that dont have this plague infecting then.

Now if you only taste is for western heavily narrative games ... yeah.. then you're screwed

I Mean id much prefer your scenario be how things pan out. But we all know if wolverine does record numbers all the simple jacks are gonna point to it as some sort of proof.

My taste really was just fun games , we use to have a point where we had narrative and fun. The walking dead games, uncharted series, mass effect series etc. I did enjoy those narrative games quite a bit.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Don't take strong IPs like Spiderman, Wolverine or GOW as evidence that this fight cannot be won. They are carried by the legacy of a previous fantastic game with millions of players so it takes time for people to realize those games are no more. Also, the impact of SBI is not the same in every studio. Where there are talented creators/writers their involvement in the actual content will be minor.

Let's see what happens with the next Uncharted (without Nathan Drake) or even the next TLOU. I predict a heavy decline in sales for both, especially the former.

As in the movies, sooner or later the common people will also realize that new games suck, for whatever reason, and they will spend their money in something else. Even most leftists hate bad games no matter how much pandering and propaganda they do. Being a Twitter warrior is free, buying woke trash on day 1 is a different matter.

There is no better example than the one that started all this, Suicide Squad. More people are defending it on Twitter than playing it.

 

[cormack12]

Don't take strong IPs like Spiderman, Wolverine or GOW as evidence that this fight cannot be won. They are carried by the legacy of a previous fantastic game with millions of players so it takes time for people to realize those games are no more. Also, the impact of SBI is not the same in every studio. Where there are talented creators/writers their involvement in the actual content will be minor.

Let's see what happens with the next Uncharted (without Nathan Drake) or even the next TLOU. I predict a heavy decline in sales for both, especially the former.

As in the movies, sooner or later the common people will also realize that new games suck, for whatever reason, and they will spend their money in something else. Even most leftists hate bad games no matter how much pandering and propaganda they do. Being a Twitter warrior is free, buying woke trash on day 1 is a different matter.

There is no better example than the one that started all this, Suicide Squad. More people are defending it on Twitter than playing it.

Exactly.

It's like saying people want womens football in FIFA and support it.

Fewer Than Four Percent Of FIFA 22 Players Have Played A Women's Match

At the end of FIFA 22’s life cycle, players have hardly touched the women’s game

www.thegamer.com

 

[FunkMiller]

God bless Elon and the Community Notes on X.

It’d be even better if he didn’t delete the notes on his own tweets like a little bitch.

 

[lifa-cobex]

This is actually a damn solid video from Asmon (except the part in the middle going into a somewhat dark zone..). All firmly on point. Talking about how this is not about being right wing or left wing is pure fire and important for all people to understand.

EHH I don't know if it's dark.
More just the facts of life. People taking shit far too seriously and it all amounts to nothing. He could have added that it's important to enjoy life, find goals that you enjoy etc etc.

 

[nemiroff]

EHH I don't know if it's dark.
More just the facts of life. People taking shit far too seriously and it all amounts to nothing. He could have added that it's important to enjoy life, find goals that you enjoy etc etc.

Darker, meaning more about personal struggles and not relevant to this particular subject.

 

[Boss Mog]

Exactly.

It's like saying people want womens football in FIFA and support it.

Fewer Than Four Percent Of FIFA 22 Players Have Played A Women's Match

At the end of FIFA 22’s life cycle, players have hardly touched the women’s game

www.thegamer.com

The funny part in that is that I bet the women playing FIFA represent more than 4% of the player base and so even they don't want to play the women's teams

 

[LegendOfKage]

God bless Elon and the Community Notes on X. The ADL getting Community Noted just made my day.

The community note in question:

There is little to no evidence that people are being radicalized through online gaming. This is simply a push for further surveillance of the public, disguised as a good will gesture to combat extremism. People primarily play video games to simply relax and have fun.

Please note that I say the following as someone who supports Israel, is disgusted by the current levels of antisemitism, and can't stand the modern direction of the ADL, ACLU, etc.

Hey! Censorship happy Jewish people? Just a thought here, but you might want to read the room, look at TicTok, look at polls of Americas youth, listen to what teachers are saying about Israel in schools, and then NOT encourage the government to take more power to decide who should be surveilled and censored for "hate." It's not going to go the way you're hoping. Perhaps now it will, but sometime in the future? In the long run, it's quite possible that you're not going to be protected, you're going to be the one vilified and censored. I don't want that, and if you don't want that either, maybe don't push politicians for more surveillance and censorship.

Also, I love how all of this is coming up now, as if random gamers are the true enemies of Israel, and game developers and game journalists are the ones down for the Jewish cause. Again, read the room! It isn't the sweet baby inc detected guy making his avatar the colors of the Palestinian flag, and it isn't "hateful you tubers" doing that either, it's the company sweet baby inc just worked with, Insomniac Games.



[edit] Only video I could find that has the reworked logo, and it makes another strong point as well that is very related to this topic, but wow is "corpos don't want you to see this" some cringe clickbate text.

 

[Eiknarf]

Knocking on the door of 300,000 people following “Sweet Baby Inc Detected”.

 

[StueyDuck]

I see it's being false flagged now... apparently we all have a "gamergate 2 manifesto"

Manifestos are often connected to acts of violence and hate. Clearly the propaganda is starting to hit.

Starting feel like it's just time to pull out and just stop playing games altogether. Some sinister people are getting involved in this.

 

[cormack12]

I see it's being false flagged now... apparently we all have a "gamergate 2 manifesto"

Manifestos are often connected to acts of violence and hate. Clearly the propaganda is starting to hit.

Starting feel like it's just time to pull out and just stop playing gaming altogether. Some sinister people are getting involved in this.

Probably doing it themselves, they doing a Jussie Smollet

 

[StueyDuck]

Probably doing it themselves, they doing a Jussie Smollet

They absolutely are. That's why I'm saying it's a false flag.

 

[nush]

Probably doing it themselves, they doing a Jussie Smollet

I saw the fake death threat that Kotaku woman posted a few days ago, so tryhard of what they think an edgelord would post.

As I said at the start of the week.

No, but they are following the predictable playbook. Sock puppet account, create content to fit their narrative, screencap before the mods can delete it and within minutes it's posted on X as "Proof".

 

[Plague Doctor]

I feel like there is two currents going on. One, the immediate SBI/DEI consultants, devs, and journos are pissed as fuck and lashing out with mindless emotions. And then there is the greater left leaning social media populace that either knows this is a losing hand or dwindled down to a small number and unable to give them the loud support they would have 10 years ago. Previously, Reddit would be going for the shields in the large subs, but there is nothing and the few times it has come up, it has either backfired/been locked or locked from the start.

On the opposite side, yeah... momentum is building daily on both the curation group and the greater social media at large.

Honestly, the best the SBI/DEI crew could do is shut the fuck up, duck their heads, and hopes this just dies down. Then rebrand and quietly continue under some flimsy semblance of impartiality/real inclusiveness.

But... they are emotional idiots and won't do that.

 

[Raven117]

Just looking at what big corporations are doing now…. The pendulum is starting to swing back against this whole DEI (which we all know doesn’t stand for what the acronym would indicate).

It all peaked around 2020/2021 with George Floyd and the internet monsters running the world during covid. Reasonable people got back in the office and started to pare all this back.

 

[gaming_again]

Just looking at what big corporations are doing now…. The pendulum is starting to swing back against this whole DEI (which we all know doesn’t stand for what the acronym would indicate).

It all peaked around 2020/2021 with George Floyd and the internet monsters running the world during covid. Reasonable people got back in the office and started to pare all this back.

It's entirely down to interest rates going up. Borrowing money now costs money, so all the useless posturing and vanity hires have to go. Our entire cultural conversation is driven by interest rate behaviour.

If the markets get their way and the fed slashes rates then all of this will come back. Probably for revenge.

 

[Woggleman]

One thing I want to know if is SBI is proud of the work they do and consider it to be a good and noble thing why are they bothered so much about people knowing what games they worked on? If what you do is so good then wear that with pride?

I have no issue whatsoever with people putting progressive themes or diversity in their games but with the games SBI worked on you can tell it is pure pandering. You can tell they are just trying not to get canceled or evoke the wrath of the social media mob or be called problematic. This is why it feels so soulless and insincere when you see it. Just be sincere and make the game you want to make.

People criticize ND and Neil Druckmann a lot for this same thing but the difference is that you can tell 100% that this is their vision and what kind of game they want to make. Pandering does not come into picture plus they also have not worked with SBI a single time. Like it or not there is sincerity in their games.

I would say the same thing if some ultra religious group was bullying devs to make their games more conservative. If game devs cowered in fear of angering rightwing evangelical groups the result would be the same but some a different angle which is why I always say the wokies and the religious right are two sides to the same coin.

 

[Bernardougf]

I Mean id much prefer your scenario be how things pan out. But we all know if wolverine does record numbers all the simple jacks are gonna point to it as some sort of proof.

My taste really was just fun games , we use to have a point where we had narrative and fun. The walking dead games, uncharted series, mass effect series etc. I did enjoy those narrative games quite a bit.

Yeah.. but since 2015 things are going to shit.. I think things are changing and are going to change.. the main stream media is much more open to talk about this things now.. thanks to believe or not what comedians and stand ups are doing since 2 years ago .. Dave Chappelle is the goat and he kicked of this whole thing.... just compare the oscars from this year from previous.... in the end money talks ... and woke dosent sell... games are behind but will catch fast... this steam curator kicked the hornet nest

 

[Bernardougf]

One thing I want to know if is SBI is proud of the work they do and consider it to be a good and noble thing why are they bothered so much about people knowing what games they worked on? If what you do is so good then wear that with pride?

I have no issue whatsoever with people putting progressive themes or diversity in their games but with the games SBI worked on you can tell it is pure pandering. You can tell they are just trying not to get canceled or evoke the wrath of the social media mob or be called problematic. This is why it feels so soulless and insincere when you see it. Just be sincere and make the game you want to make.

People criticize ND and Neil Druckmann a lot for this same thing but the difference is that you can tell 100% that this is their vision and what kind of game they want to make. Pandering does not come into picture plus they also have not worked with SBI a single time. Like it or not there is sincerity in their games.

I would say the same thing if some ultra religious group was bullying devs to make their games more conservative. If game devs cowered in fear of angering rightwing evangelical groups the result would be the same but some a different angle which is why I always say the wokies and the religious right are two sides to the same coin.

Neil cuckman dosent need help to be woke and inclusive thats for sure.

 

[Nostalgic Nightmare]

The real solution is for people to stop buying games day 1 at this point. This is why it's important to still have physical as an option because with digital there is no guarantee that a game will go on sale, and all the proceeds will still go directly to the publishers.
Our time is as valuable as our money and this is an entertainment/luxury hobby, if you don't like the games for any reason - simply don't buy them - especially new. Use your money and only support the studios who benefit the medium, with the rest going towards vintage games going back 40 years where the first priority was passion and art vs. some activist agenda checklist.
I'm fine with gaming crashing at this point and could game just on the classic eras alone - all of us could - so why support and perpetuate an industry that places their agenda above their product? This era is not and never will be looked back on as a golden one whatsoever - believe that.

 

[nush]

I'm fine with gaming crashing at this point and could game just on the classic eras alone - all of us could - so why support and perpetuate an industry that places their agenda above their product? This era is not and never will be looked back on as a golden one whatsoever - believe that.

It's just the last gen on steroids with a higher price tag, mostly.

 

[thismeinteil]

God bless Elon and the Community Notes on X. The ADL getting Community Noted just made my day.

What Asmon said is correct, these are ideas that cannot survive the least bit of scrutiny or pushback on the battlefield of ideas. That's why people who espouse them must block people and/or create their own echo chambers (something they accuse their opponents of doing) and have it where only those who they approve of can reply to their messages.

 

[laynelane]

“You cannot reason someone out of a position that they didn’t reason themselves into”

I also liked what he had to say about harassment and disagreement. He's said it before in other situations too - 'disagreement is not harassment' - and you can really see how SBI employees and people like them do not understand this simple fact.

 

[Raven117]

It's entirely down to interest rates going up. Borrowing money now costs money, so all the useless posturing and vanity hires have to go. Our entire cultural conversation is driven by interest rate behaviour.

If the markets get their way and the fed slashes rates then all of this will come back. Probably for revenge.

Not completely wrong. But not the whole picture.

In the end, if it doesn’t help the bottom line, it will be cut eventually.

 

[Ribi]

God when will this end? Gamers gate 2 is ruining my life. Debt is piling up, inflation, I can't get out of bed without feeling tired, and I can't even walk my dog without fear that someone is going to attack me.

Please gamers gate 2 stop, you're ruining my life.

 

[VulcanRaven]

I'm suprised how much attention this got. Sweet Baby has only 16 employees. Its not as influential as many think.

 

[Eiknarf]

I'm suprised how much attention this got. Sweet Baby has only 16 employees. Its not as influential as many think.

But it’s those small annoying groups who are the loudest.

 

[Woggleman]

I'm suprised how much attention this got. Sweet Baby has only 16 employees. Its not as influential as many think.

I think it was more of a straw that broke the camel's back kind of thing. There is a face and name to the problem so people throw their ire in that direction.

 

[gaming_again]

I'm suprised how much attention this got. Sweet Baby has only 16 employees. Its not as influential as many think.

Influential enough to get every corporate media outlet to back them up AND get homeland security involved though.

 

[violence]

I'm suprised how much attention this got. Sweet Baby has only 16 employees. Its not as influential as many think.

I wouldn’t say they’re the source of the issue but the tribalistic crazy-cat-lady-cult they are apart of.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I just left the SBI Detected Discord. They posted new rules, and it's like reading a woke discord server. No bigotry, no harassment, no insults, no name calling, no anti-semitic / islamic / transphobic, etc etc.

The second I see rules like this, I'm out. I get why he did it - he has a lot of eyes waiting for the tiniest of slip-ups to nuke his discord-, but honestly, what's the point now? If you cannot speak against the horrible practices of SBI and their motives because you can be labelled as transphobic by the moles inside his channel, what's the fucking point?

And as I saw Kabrutus (or whatever the heck he's called) start making YouTube channels and giving interviews left and right, I couldn't help but feel he is beginning to monetize the attention he's been getting.

Oh, well. As I said - Japan and China games only. I can't trust the West to save itself.

 

[Don Carlo]

Any kind soul in here that can get me up to speed on what Sweet Baby did in recent times to receive this treatment?

 

[Nickolaidas]

Most recent sins are the utter cuckification of Peter Parker in SM2 and the disrespect of the Justice League in Suicide Squad.

And attempting to ban a steam user for making a list of the games they've worked on.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

§ 873 Blackmail or Extortion Penalties. Blackmail or extortion under Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 873 is a federal crime punishable by: up to one year in federal prison, a fine, or both imprisonment and a fine.

 

[Rubim]

I'm suprised how much attention this got. Sweet Baby has only 16 employees. Its not as influential as many think.

Maybe with enough will we can make that a 0.

 

[Faust]

I just left the SBI Detected Discord. They posted new rules, and it's like reading a woke discord server. No bigotry, no harassment, no insults, no name calling, no anti-semitic / islamic / transphobic, etc etc.

I mean, we have those very same rules here for a reason...

The second I see rules like this, I'm out. I get why he did it - he has a lot of eyes waiting for the tiniest of slip-ups to nuke his discord-, but honestly, what's the point now? If you cannot speak against the horrible practices of SBI and their motives because you can be labelled as transphobic by the moles inside his channel, what's the fucking point?

You can still speak out against SBI and their practices. If you have to rely on blatantly transphobic arguments to do so, that is more on you. You were clearly able to have proper arguments here with no problem and not reliant on things that would be labeled as blatantly transphobic/bigoted.

 

[Kacho]

Any kind soul in here that can get me up to speed on what Sweet Baby did in recent times to receive this treatment?

It started when the Sweet Baby Detected group on Steam was found by a SB employee. She tweeted out that people should mass report the group and get the creator’s Steam account banned. It was malicious too, saying “I bet he spent a lot of money on that account.” That’s was caused this whole thing to blow up. It’s grown since then because instead of admitting they were wrong to do that, they doubled down and called in industry friends to run damage control for them.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I mean, we have those very same rules here for a reason...


You can still speak out against SBI and their practices. If you have to rely on blatantly transphobic arguments to do so, that is more on you. You were clearly able to have proper arguments here with no problem and not reliant on things that would be labeled as blatantly transphobic/bigoted.

I think the main issue is that hearing terms like "transphobic", "bigoted", "harassment" i can't help but roll my eyes considering how they're often (mis)used, similar to "nazi".

It sucks because that is one of the side-effects of all the crazies banalizing those words into oblivion. I instinctively came to hate hearing them or being told not to do them due to all the baggage they carry now, despite not disagreeing on principle.

 

[Faust]

I think the main issue is that hearing terms like "transphobic", "bigoted", "harassment" i can't help but roll my eyes considering how they're often (mis)used, similar to "nazi".

It sucks because that is one of the side-effects of all the crazies banalizing those words into oblivion. I instinctively came to hate hearing them or being told not to do them due to all the baggage they carry now, despite not disagreeing on principle.

Understandable to be annoyed at the misuse of terms that have very simple definitions, but it is best to continue to treat those definitions as they originally meant and not allow mentally challenged and deranged individuals to try and alter their meanings. If no one fights back against the misuse of these accusations, the new views of the term will become common place.

Just as certain groups tried to claim that Racism is Power + Prejudice, we need to fight back with common sense and the actual definition of these terms. Don't let these mental cases radicalize the terms.

 

[WoJ]

It's just the last gen on steroids with a higher price tag, mostly.

I'll take it a step further. It's 7th gen on steroids with a higher price tag. Not much has changed game design wise since the PS360 era (in my opinion).

 

[Nickolaidas]

I think the main issue is that hearing terms like "transphobic", "bigoted", "harassment" i can't help but roll my eyes considering how they're often (mis)used, similar to "nazi".

It sucks because that is one of the side-effects of all the crazies banalizing those words into oblivion. I instinctively came to hate hearing them or being told not to do them due to all the baggage they carry now, despite not disagreeing on principle.

Exactly.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

I'm suprised how much attention this got. Sweet Baby has only 16 employees. Its not as influential as many think.

I don't understand your argument. Are you suggesting it is not important that consumers are informed of what they could be buying by accident?
It doesn't matter how many metaphorical bags of cookies they have poisoned, it is the fact that they are poisoning the cookies.

If someone makes a product worse, it is important to point it out. Saying "it doesn't matter" is completely nonsensical. Consumer's money matters. Saving them a bad purchase should always be worth it.

Unless you think other people's money isn't important?

 

[Nickolaidas]

I mean, we have those very same rules here for a reason...


You can still speak out against SBI and their practices. If you have to rely on blatantly transphobic arguments to do so, that is more on you. You were clearly able to have proper arguments here with no problem and not reliant on things that would be labeled as blatantly transphobic/bigoted.

Here's my problem:

You don't need to say 'no transphobia / homophobia', when you can say 'no harassment and do not insult each other'. The latter makes the discord member / visitor realize that you cannot openly mock and insult another person for whatever reason. ANY person. Because transphobia IS harassment. When you say 'no transphobia or homophobia', you can be interpreted as one of the people who treat trans people and gay people like sacred cows. It is unnecessarily specific and treats those groups as higher than others.

Same goes for the 'no anti-islamic / anti-semitic comments'. Just say 'do not mock the religious beliefs of other members'. I mean, what, is it ok to mock Buddhists? Or Christians? Or modern worshippers of the Dodekatheon? Why make it sound like Islam is above the other religions while you can word your rules in a way that doesn't treat specific religions as 'okay to be mocked'?

I wouldn't be surprised if they update their roles in a day or two to say 'no misgendering', a term that, like transphobia, has been grossly overused to the point that if George wears a wig and demands me to treat him like a woman (pronouns and all) and I tell him 'it takes more than a wig and some lipstick to become a woman, George', I can now be banned because that now somehow makes me a transphobe.

I consider Blaire White a transwoman. She did the work (and then some) and looks, acts, behaves like a real woman. Dylan Mulvaney is not a transwoman - he's a man who pretends to be a woman to have his 15 minutes of fame and mocks womanhood. I cannot say that on the discord now (if the conversation ever needs to go there) because it can get me banned. THAT's my problem.

 

[EviLore]

Sounds like you have a lot of problems.

 

[VulcanRaven]

I don't understand your argument. Are you suggesting it is not important that consumers are informed of what they could be buying by accident?
It doesn't matter how many metaphorical bags of cookies they have poisoned, it is the fact that they are poisoning the cookies.

If someone makes a product worse, it is important to point it out. Saying "it doesn't matter" is completely nonsensical. Consumer's money matters. Saving them a bad purchase should always be worth it.

Unless you think other people's money isn't important?

Do we really know how they have made products worse? We don't know what were theirs or the developer's story ideas. I just don't think they have as much influence as people seem to think.

 

[Nickolaidas]

Sounds like you have a lot of problems.

Thankfully, being insane is not one of them.

 

[Randall365]

Do we really know how they have made products worse? We don't know what were theirs or the developer's story ideas. I just don't think they have as much influence as people seem to think.

You would have to play God of War (for example) and then the sequel. Then see what the boss of SBI said about blackmailing companies to get hired to sensitivity read and develop characters to get an idea of the influence. It gives you concerns as a customer.

Then when one of their senior staff went for the Brazilian lad - essentially salivating at the thought of getting him locked out of hundreds of pounds of games he had bought - clearly so used to just attacking anyone who disagrees and easily getting them cancelled - you think ‘hmmm - maybe he’s on to something’. Maybe the worm has turned!