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[cormack12]

So GAF, before you've seen gameplay but you're seeing a storm around a game because of pronouns, some dev saying stupid shit on twitter or entire swathes of customer insulted ad hominem, what's your gut reaction?

 

[64bitmodels]

"oh brother."

 

[Robb]

what's your gut reaction?

 

[nowhat]

I opt for "Other":

*yawn*

 

[RagnarokIV]

Kills my interest. Too many games to play, and I’m not gambling my time when odds and history show these games are shit most of the time.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Background noise.

Don't really care, I just want a game to be entertaining to me.

 

[mdkirby]

For me it’s generally indicative of poor quality writing, and uninspired gameplay. So my interest drops.

If it screams “look at me I’m diverse”, then it means it is both formulaic in design and the writing is likely hamfisted with a story that lacks depth and nuance. Game writing is not great at the best of times, but it’s a red light for me that the writers will be scraping the bottom of the barrel. I play games for interesting worlds and stories.

It can also indicate that their hiring practices place priorities in the wrong place, meaning they haven’t necessarily been hiring based principally on merit. Which again would suggest poor quality in the final product.

It is not a reactionary death sentence for a game for me, but it 100% drops my interest and can take a game from day one to day 1 year.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Any game that talk more about tertiary stuff than gameplay/ core of the game is shitty to me. Of course often it is other sites that do that for clicks. So my answer is all of the above: turn of when it is done like Ubisoft did it, I don't care when a small dev comment is used to create controversy, and posivite interest when there is a nice gimmick, but no example on the top of my head.
Bonus for cases like Elden ring and body type a and b. The devs don't have a choice and I hope that it stop there.

 

[Ozzie666]

I've had enough of the bullshit and want games to be about games. I want Managers to manage their staff and control content. I want useless consultant companies to die a fast death, solving problems they created. I am so done with it all, but it's expected now. Take initial complaints with a grain of salt.

It puts a game behind the eight ball, the game needs to be amazing to overcome such issues or get supporting reviews from reliable sources. That's the honest truth. It makes me heistant to jump in day 1 or pre-order. For example, my love for Star Wars was way bigger than any drama for Outlaws outside of game play issues. So I enjoyed the game and the characters in the end, I could get past the drama even though I know it was infected with modern audience design. Dragon's Quest HD-2D, the body types A and B was over hyped around here, the game is fantastic. Even though I don't support the changes.

The wor I am looking for is probably 'Skeptical' or 'Suspicious'.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Complete turn off.

I don't even want to support this shit. Really fucking tired of it.

 

[ZehDon]

"This game was made to pander to RIGHT-WING NAZIS!"
"This game was made to pander to WOKE LIBTARDS!"

These are both the same to me. I largely ignore all of this, save for shit posting when the mood finds me, and I think less of people who feel the need to vomit bile into webcams about this and post it online.

 

[Cakeboxer]

If i don't like anything around the game, i don't care how good the game is, i won't support them with a cent.

 

[kunonabi]

I immediately ignore a game if it has pronouns or any non male/female genders in it.

 

[Herr Edgy]

I dislike DEI and associated practices heavily, but I don't let the existence of a body type A/B change my mind on a game.
However if it's front and center I find that other aspects of the game are very likely disagreeing with me also. If the writing involves LGBTQ-activism-pronouns, then the writing will be bad even outside the pronouns aspect.

I know that a lot of gamers overreact heavily however, so when I see news about a game like that posted by Grummz or whatever grifter, I don't get to have an opinion without looking at things myself first.

 

[DaciaJC]

Immediate red flag.

 

[Trunx81]

Go on Gaf to see what my fellow mates post about it. Then steal the best memes to post them on X.

 

[MetalFreak]

When I smell that shit on a game I just identify as non-buynary.

 

[LazyParrot]

It doesn't really bother me. I don't care about most AAA games, so no game I've had a real interest in has ever been affected by this.

That being said, my first thought whenever something like this comes up tends to be "Here comes another 30 page thread".

 

[Varteras]

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Like most things my initial reaction is to shitpost.

 

[tamago84]

Pronouns is so fucking dumb to implement- in games, in workforce, its those things where one tries to project to others what “importance” is without giving concern what the audience thinks is important

 

[realcool]

 

[Esparadrapo]

"How the fuck is this thread +20 pages?" "Ohhh, cognitive dissonance..."

 

[pudel]

 

[begotten]

"Can we blame this on Sony like everything else?"

 

[Schmendrick]

depends on the reason:
Anything woke/dei and I immediately put the product pretty much on ignore. My tolerance level for any of that stuff is zero by now.
Anything technological, be it issues or good stuff, actually piques my interest.

 

[Mayar]

This always ensures that the next 1-2 weeks on NEOGAF will not be boring, it always gives birth to the hottest and most discussed topics on the forum.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Massive turn off. We’ve seen this same stupid story play out so many times with movies and games. My tolerance for woke shit has steadily dropped. I’m done with it now.

 

[GHound]

I laugh because I'm so entitled that my money itself emanates an aura of smugness as the lovely western writers and character designers complain about being laid off on xittersky.

 

[thegame983]

Let's be honest here.

Shitting on Concord & Dragon Age was more fun than any game that released this year.

That isn't our fault.

 

[Varteras]

Anyone know what this is about? What did I miss? Avellone having a go at Obsidian it seems

 

[acm2000]

really couldnt give less of a fuck, im not some woke chaser which seems to be all the rage, most this shit you can ignore in a game and its only a problem if you make it one.

 

[SHA]

Every opinion count, context don't matter.

 

[Strategize]

Indifference. Getting triggered over such trivial bullshit sounds like a miserable existence. "Woke or not" pretty much ruined gaming discourse, I'd unironically rather have the console wars back over this.

 

[The Cockatrice]

A bit of all 3. Depends on the game. If the game is fine then its just an annoyance thst i can overcome. Only idiots dismiss hours of good shit because it has a few minutes of cringe shit.

 

[GymWolf]

Opportunity to make jokes about it but very rarely is enough to not make me buy a game if some elements of it are interesting.

 

[theStartupSound]

It doesn’t bother me if I select male/female or body type a/b or something. Sure, it is irritating at first, but when it makes some people happier/feeling more accepted – why not.

I just don’t want to get screamed down when I say, that it irritates me the first times I see it. Like every new thing that solves a problem I personally haven’t experienced, I first need to get used to it.

Live and let live.

Plus: I would like game writers to be more playful with such topics. See the humor in it. I would love to have a likeable character in GTA VI with pronouns, but also other characters who joke about it without discrediting this person.

 

[MudoSkills]

Simply this:

 

[nkarafo]

These things show the intentions and priorities of the developers. And also their lack of skill and talent, since it must also involve DEI hirings. It's not a coincidence that most "woke" games are also pretty horrible. And even the ones that aren't horrible "technically" (graphics, gameplay, etc) are still held back by their horrible characters/story.

 

[Laptop1991]

Option 1, there have been so many games that have the same controversy now that i'm expecting it anyway.

 

[Roberts]

I don't care if the game has pronouns or trans alien pixies in them, as long as the game is good. All this drama and triggered emotions are a bit silly and sad, unfortunately.

Art has always been political and, thus, divisive and I wish (i know, not a popular opinion) more games would do that too. Take a stance, share your frustrations or anger, whatever. And I don't give a fuck what side the game is talking too (do I agree with it or not), as long as it says something interesting. Some of my favourite movies have been made by conservatives, have conservative values and I am anything but a conservative.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

It doesn't really bother me.

I even wish Lara Croft and Eve had a boyfriend and the players had - being in control of them - given it to him, turning analogue to activate reactions. It's hilarious because everyone wants to be Lara Croft except when she's with her boyfriend lol

 

[hinch7]

I'm all for it. The more people complain and push back.. the faster things can get back to some sort of normality and sense. Or common sense which a lot of the industries lack at the moment. That goes for most services offered to customers who aren't happy with products, or aspects of it.

If only people were more up in arms on how much publishers are milking their customers; from microtransactions, DLC's and battlepasses from earlier on. We wouldn't be in such a hot mess with games riddled with MTX, lootboxes and battlepasses. And publishers wanting to jump on the live service bandwagon.

 

[InterMusketeer]

I was indifferent to those games even before the controversies happened.

 

[salva]

If the gameplay is good and it isn't thrown in your face constantly, not bothered

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[Humdinger]

I will usually tune in, then make a judgement on a case-by-case basis.

I'm getting tired of it lately, though. Some things get blown way out of proportion, and I'm not big on drama/conflict. It starts to feel like I'm following one of the politically charged 24-hour news channels or engaged in the Twitter-verse. Not good for my mental health, heh.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Anyone know what this is about? What did I miss? Avellone having a go at Obsidian it seems

 

[xrnzaaas]

I drop any interest in that game, even if I was more or less interested before. There are way too many games for me to play anyway, why ruin my day being upset about the controversial ones. Just ignore them and spend my money & time on something else.

 

[Astray]

It honestly depends.

I don't think I ever bought a game that has massive woke elements (think Dustborn for example, even the various Dragon Ages were honestly too lefty for my liking), I genuinely don't like being preached to in games. But at the same time, I honestly think the market is so flooded with new games coming out every week that you can very easily ignore whatever you don't like and find 3 other things you like.

Which is why I really, really dislike when woke/anti-woke discussions take over the site, the world is much bigger than America or even the West, yet all we are subjected to is the culture warring that is only really relevant in there.

It gets boring very, very quickly when the same 5 posts are constantly repeated and paraphrased all over the site. It also gets even worse when Grifter Youtubers suddenly grow "sources" all over the globe and add noise to normal gaming news.