• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

BigAssBoy

Member
People on Reeeee seem to not understand we are saying keep our politics out of Helldivers 2, not that Helldivers 2 is apolitical.
 

kunonabi

Member
Oh you've got to be shitting me...
Did you notice the various blackface hylians from totk or them race bending characters in the style savvy and another code games? It hasn't been as egregious as Sony but Nintendo has been headed this way for some time.
 
Last edited:

nemiroff

Gold Member
Yeah, a game like Helldivers 2, or a movie, can certainly include political elements or context without it ever being perceived as an issue. This is why, for example, many people are indifferent to the political (or "diversity") aspects of movies like Star Wars or Black Panther where good storytelling is in focus.

As most of us sane people know, the issue often lies in the exaggerated focus on the systemic and condescending manner in which it is sometimes forcibly integrated.

We had already figured out the importance of quality storytelling over politics back in the days as evidenced by the lack of complaints (in the context of the notion that people have a problem with poc and women so-to-speak) about Sigourney Weaver's strong female lead in Alien or f.ex. Eddie Murphy's portrayal of a humorous, strong, and intelligent black lead in Beverly Hills Cop.


Edit: Removed a thread quote, as it makes no difference to my point.
 
Last edited:

KiteGr

Member
ASOfVTU.jpg
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
Yeah, a game like Helldivers 2, or a movie, can certainly include political elements or context without it ever being perceived as an issue. This is why, for example, many people are indifferent to the political (or "diversity") aspects of movies like Star Wars or Black Panther where good storytelling is in focus.

As most of us sane people know, the issue often lies in the exaggerated focus on the systemic and condescending manner in which it is sometimes forcibly integrated.

We had already figured out the importance of quality storytelling over politics back in the days as evidenced by the lack of complaints (in the context of the notion that people have a problem with poc and women so-to-speak) about Sigourney Weaver's strong female lead in Alien or f.ex. Eddie Murphy's portrayal of a humorous, strong, and intelligent black lead in Beverly Hills Cop.


Edit: Removed a thread quote, as it makes no difference to my point.

These dumbasses point at MGS and say "LOOK YOU LIKE POLITICS". They are wholly incapable of seeing the difference between a video game with political themes and a game that espouses a heavy handed political view from the developers.
 
People on Reeeee seem to not understand we are saying keep our politics out of Helldivers 2, not that Helldivers 2 is apolitical.
These dumbasses point at MGS and say "LOOK YOU LIKE POLITICS". They are wholly incapable of seeing the difference between a video game with political themes and a game that espouses a heavy handed political view from the developers.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they're dismissing or feigning ignorance about the difference to abuse that aspect as an entry for political messaging. Its honestly getting tiresome running in circles with these people about it.
 
Last edited:

Filben

Member
What novelist would hire a consultant to tell him how to write a story?
They do for specific parts and they do a lot of research. However, most good authors tend to write about stuff they know. Cormac McCarthy's portrayal of the rural south, the Mexican border... you can't just imagine these things. Same goes for Pollock (The Devil All The Time), William Gay (Provinces of Night) or Joe Lansdale (Hep and Leonard). This is deep southern as it can be (I guess, as someone not from this area).
 
They do for specific parts and they do a lot of research. However, most good authors tend to write about stuff they know. Cormac McCarthy's portrayal of the rural south, the Mexican border... you can't just imagine these things. Same goes for Pollock (The Devil All The Time), William Gay (Provinces of Night) or Joe Lansdale (Hep and Leonard). This is deep southern as it can be (I guess, as someone not from this area).

Writers do their research about locations, communities they don't belong to, or cultural facts. The nefarious thing about SBI and the likes is that they change characters and plot, which no true writer would accept. They are not "fact checkers" because they have neither expertise nor knowledge on any topic related to the core of the author's work.
 

Braag

Member
i saw thumnails about DEI from Nintendo of America regarding job offerings




New plot twist in the next Mario game, Wario and Waluigi are actually trans.

Never thought I'd be agreeing with Charlamagne, but he's totally right here.
My employer actually asked me about their diversity efforts which they have been pushing lately and I told them I don't care for forced diversity for the sake of diversity, it has to happen naturally and be genuine rather than some PR thing or something that the company only sees as a benefit for themselves. I'm an immigrant myself so obviously they weren't super happy with my opinion.
 
Last edited:

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
This was pretty hilarious. I think it's only loosely related to the SBI debacle but still worth mentioning.


Honestly wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Reminds me of back when Mass Effect 3 was getting bashed mercilessly for the shitty endings, EA started spamming all the news outlets/social media with stories about how progressive they are as a company, about how they support marriage equality, etc. Trying to blunt the criticism.
 
  • Thoughtful
Reactions: Isa
This was pretty hilarious. I think it's only loosely related to the SBI debacle but still worth mentioning.


miserable. i'm thinking that things just haven't gone very well for alan wake 2? (which I'm not gloating over, btw. tho, as much as I love remedy, I genuinely hated aw2, & for non-sbi related reasons)...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Isa
New plot twist in the next Mario game, Wario and Waluigi are actually trans.


Never thought I'd be agreeing with Charlamagne, but he's totally right here.
My employer actually asked me about their diversity efforts which they have been pushing lately and I told them I don't care for forced diversity for the sake of diversity, it has to happen naturally and be genuine rather than some PR thing or something that the company only sees as a benefit for themselves. I'm an immigrant myself so obviously they weren't super happy with my opinion.

That's interesting. What DEI measures did they have and what backlash did the minority employees see?
 

Fake

Member
I love how the second image in the first set starts off with "as a user." Of people? Of Drugs? Nobody talks like that about themselves!

Because is to suppose be 'As a gamer'.
I guess is really some internal control configuration of those bots. The funny thing about bot configuration is like they give pretty much the personality of the person who did the configuration. So the guy in question can't self declare a 'gamer' BECAUSE, so maybe the near next to that term is 'as a user'?
 
Last edited:

Humdinger

Member
They do [authors hire consultants to write story for them] for specific parts and they do a lot of research.

Well, I know that some authors who write historical fiction will sometimes hire research consultants to gather info about the particular time, place, and events they are writing about. Then they integrate that information into the story.

But what I meant, what I was trying to say, was that novelists don't hire consultants to tell them how to write the story. For instance, when Ken Follett is writing his 1000-page epics about medieval Europe, he doesn't lean to his research consultant (if he has one) and ask, "Should I make this character a black woman instead of a white man?" or "Do we have enough transgender representation among the peasants?" or "How can I convey that this female figure is strong and independent?" or "Will this dialog offend feminists or the LGBTQ+ community?" He doesn't ask his research assistant those SBI-type questions. He isn't consulting them for that. Novelists don't do that (at least none that I know).


However, most good authors tend to write about stuff they know. Cormac McCarthy's portrayal of the rural south, the Mexican border... you can't just imagine these things. Same goes for Pollock (The Devil All The Time), William Gay (Provinces of Night) or Joe Lansdale (Hep and Leonard). This is deep southern as it can be (I guess, as someone not from this area).

Yes ... although I wouldn't take McCarthy's portrait as realistic overall -- he has a very grim view, judging by what I've read. Lansdale is lighter and has a more friendly tone, which is probably more representative.

But to be honest, I don't care much whether a portrait of the south is representative or accurate. For instance, I read a bunch of "grit lit," which seems to be a southern specialty. Grit lit is usually written by men who've lived hard lives, and they write about that. They write about down-and-out characters - alcoholics, dirt poor, abusers, lots of stupidity and violence. Now, that isn't an accurate representation of the south overall. But I don't care. I read it for the same reason I read any fiction -- because I find the stories and characters interesting.

I'm going long, but one more quick point. "The south" isn't one thing, any more than "the north" is one thing. The south is a hodgepodge of many different types of people, classes, and cultures. For instance, where I live, I have one type of experience (city, university, mixed race/class), but if I drive 20 miles, I can have a completely different experience (country). And if I travelled a couple of hours more -- to the Louisiana bayou, for instance, or Atlanta -- the experience would be very different again. So when it comes to portraits of "the south," it really depends on what part of the south you're talking about, and what era. Same is true for the north, of course.
 
Last edited:

Braag

Member
That's interesting. What DEI measures did they have and what backlash did the minority employees see?
Mainly they want to diversify the company. Of the new recruits they have hired, around 30% of them are minorities. Something I didn't see 5 years ago there. There hasn't been huge backlash but me, my sister and our indian colleague are "minorities" who have been with the company a long time. My sister works at a higher position as I do, so she had no opinion about the matter. I gave my honest opinion and the indian guy just shrug his head in disappointment and asked not to waste his time with this stuff.
 

Jaybe

Gold Member
I’m just getting caught up in the Ubisoft racist community manager with all the Star Wars Outlaws news coming out. Completely wild she is employed by them to engage with the community. More reason to a avoid Ubisoft games. This article and other YouTube videos cover it.




‘Star Wars Outlaws’ Community Manager Shauna Jones Appears To Have Animus Against White Men In Numerous Social Media Posts​

Star-Wars-Outlaws.png

Key art for Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
Shauna Jones, a Community Manager for Ubisoft, who is currently working on the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws game appears to have an animus against white men based on numerous posts to social media she has made.
SWO_Screenshots_MeetaCastofOutlaws_Wide_120623_815PMCEST.png

A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
As noted on her LinkedIn profile, Jones is based out of Newcastle in the United Kingdom and has worked at Ubisoft as a Community Representative and Community Manager for four years. Her profile notes she’s worked on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Just Dance, Riders Republic, Skull and Bones, Watchdogs Legion, Assassins Creed Valhalla, and Immortals Fenyx Rising.
She previously worked as Quality Control at Ubisoft Reflections for two years on The Division 2.
Shauna-Jones.png

Shauna Jones’ profile on LinkedIn
READ: Video Game Developers Reportedly Make Characters Androgynous To Cater To Transgenderism
As shared via screenshots to X by user Kooks12_, Jones posted back in January 2020, “If you’re a white dude complaining that diversity being raised is an issue … then people are going to keep raising the lack of diversity until we see change. That s**ts got to change man.”
In another post in September 2020, she wrote, “Love that if you say you’re trying to be more body positive, white men assume that you’re saying you’re fat and tell you to go to the gym B**** I’m a size 12 …. Being body positive has nothing to do with weight.”
She also wrote in July 2020, “Please don’t tell me gender isn’t an issue in the games industry when you are a white male. Diversity in general is an issue in the industry, I guess as a white male who is not always represented …. its easier to not know or see the misrepresentation in studios.”
She also criticized streamer Ninja for not teaching about “White Privilege” on his streams. She wrote in January 2021, “Ninja is boasting about his ‘white privilege’ by doing this. He has the potential to influence millions of kids and chooses to be a sack of beans. Use your platform for good if you have the opportunity. Don’t do a Ninja.”
Former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern, would share a number of other posts from Jones as well as these after she was brought to his attention.
In December 2020, she wrote, “Gamer BOYS ruin online games.”
In August 2022, she responded to a post about Allan Cudicio claiming he was mistaken for a waiter at Gamescom. Jones posted, “This is shameful behaviour. Proof that we can’t make the games industry a safe and inclusive space when the higher ups don’t understand the importance of diversity and are all middle aged white guys.”
ScoundrelDuo_Final_Wide_NoLogo.avif

Key art for Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
READ: ‘The Crew Motorfest’ Added To Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Steam List After Being Featured On Sweet Baby Inc.’s Website
In January 2019, she took issue with Days Gone writing, “I’m enjoying playing Days Gone but at the same time, the lack of diversity really upsets me.”
She added in a response to another user, “Like even the camps are full of white people.”
SWO_ConceptArt_Kijimi.avif

Concept art for Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
She also took issue with gamers back in 2017, “I know the industry itself is maturing, but the gamers … man they need to sort themselves out :(
In 2019, she also posted “Yay !! Diversity finally. No more middle aged white men.”
Since Kern’s post, Jones has protected her account on X. Nevertheless, these posts appear to indicate that Jones has held animus against white males for quite a number of years and clearly views diversity as anti-white.
This is not unheard of Emily Goldstein at Thought Catalog back in 2015 made it abundantly clear that that is exactly what the word means. In an article titled, “Yes, Diversity Is About Getting Rid Of White People (And That’s A Good Thing),” Goldstein wrote, “One of the more common memes that I’ve seen white supremacists spread around recently has been ‘diversity is a code word for white genocide’. The concept here is that diversity is only promoted in white nations, and that the end goal is to eliminate white people altogether by flooding all white countries with non-white people until there are no white people left. Well, guess what, white supremacists? That’s exactly right. Diversity IS about getting rid of white people, and that’s a good thing.”
She even concludes the article writing, “So, yes, white supremacists: diversity is indeed white genocide. And white genocide is exactly what the world needs more than anything else.”
 

Humdinger

Member
At first, I was surprised that so much crap was coming from community managers. I thought to myself, "A community manager is supposed to build a good relationship between the developer and the gamers, but instead, these people are poisoning the relationship. What gives? Why is that person even in the position to begin with?" But now I think I get it.

The position of "community manager" is probably like HR -- it attracts people who weren't qualified for anything else. No one really aspires to work in HR, and I doubt anyone aspires to be a "community manager" for a videogame company. You end up there because you are a young woman (all the examples I've seen are young women) who has an unmarketable degree in something like communications, sociology, psychology, journalism, or gender studies. You don't have any real skills, except that you are a "people person" who can come across as friendly and sociable in interviews, and you know your way around social media.

Being a young, college-educated woman, you are probably left-leaning and prone to seeing the world through the lens of identity politics. We know that about 50% of young liberal women have diagnosed mental disorders (and that's just the diagnosed ones). You aren't particularly excited about being a "community manager," but hey, everyone has to pay their bills.

Taking all that into account, I'm not surprised. The position of "community manager" would tend to attract the type of people we're seeing -- young, liberal, woke women with no real skills, plugged into social media all the time, emotionally unbalanced, who don't like the job that much.

p.s. I guess it's similar to a lot of game journalists.
 
Last edited:

This actually raises a good point since the latest discourse around Stellar Blade is, "Yeah, so maybe the body type exists, but it's not an accurate representation of the actor."

You don't hear those complaints when devs take the actresses/models for Mary Jane, Aloy, etc. and throw them into a meat grinder to get the in-game character model now do you?
 
Last edited:
Mainly they want to diversify the company. Of the new recruits they have hired, around 30% of them are minorities. Something I didn't see 5 years ago there. There hasn't been huge backlash but me, my sister and our indian colleague are "minorities" who have been with the company a long time. My sister works at a higher position as I do, so she had no opinion about the matter. I gave my honest opinion and the indian guy just shrug his head in disappointment and asked not to waste his time with this stuff.
What do you feel like the actual downsides were to the DEI stuff then?

It sounds like they have a confirmation bias and only want to hear opinions that align with the general thrust from the top, but has DEI hurt performance or culture in some way?
 

Braag

Member
What do you feel like the actual downsides were to the DEI stuff then?

It sounds like they have a confirmation bias and only want to hear opinions that align with the general thrust from the top, but has DEI hurt performance or culture in some way?
Most of it remains to be seen. I'm not against it, but I firmly believe people who are most qualified for a position should be hired, no matter your race or sexual preference. I mean I'd hate it if I later found out I got hired cause of my skin color instead of being more qualified than other applicants.
 

StueyDuck

Member
I can’t believe development studios waste time on this


I say this everytime.... but they always have that look...

you never see like a chris Hemsworth or zendaya looking person making these statements at these companies and media outlets, they always look like they are banned from playgrounds, yeah even the women. (or whatever damn pronoun)
 
Last edited:

IAmRei

Member
i cant believe i spent more than 6000 dollars on lego star wars franchise back in 2019 - 2022. after 2022 star wars is pretty much dead for me.
they said diversity, star wars already have hundreds of races and they lives well long before DEI arrives. they also have lot of real badass female protagonist back then, not mary sue like rey.
i was too deep in star wars before to be able to understand how much damage disney have done.
i dont care what they are doing anymore, i dont buy star wars anymore. and seeing this is final nail in the coffin for me.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
i cant believe i spent more than 6000 dollars on lego star wars franchise back in 2019 - 2022. after 2022 star wars is pretty much dead for me.
they said diversity, star wars already have hundreds of races and they lives well long before DEI arrives. they also have lot of real badass female protagonist back then, not mary sue like rey.
i was too deep in star wars before to be able to understand how much damage disney have done.
i dont care what they are doing anymore, i dont buy star wars anymore. and seeing this is final nail in the coffin for me.
DEI means to avoid a game. Simple. It means poor writing, racist devs, and shitty characters.
 
Top Bottom