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[CatCouch]

Yep. Everything is being invaded by those people pushing their beliefs on everybody.


She's 18 according to the official japanese site.

I guess we just need to wait a year or two for the next big moral panic to take over so people can stop acting like anime and sexy art is such a threat. It sounds like reddit thinks banning all this Japanese art will make them look better to investors, at least that's a theory on r/mod support which has a big topic on this.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Sega just "temporarily" removed A Certain Magical Virtual-On from sale in Japan.

http://vo-index.sega.jp/topics/20190320_01.html

Not sure if it's a case of censorship or something else, because they didn't give a reason besides the usual "various circumstances."

Let's see:

• PS4/PSV exclusive: check
• Side fanservice artwork: check
• Release date: Spring 2018
• They plan on it coming back, since it supports a controller that's yet unreleased
• Sega emphasizes they still commit to the PS4 platform. Why did they need to state that?

Pierre Taki does NOT seem to be involved in this game, a crossover between an anime (A Certain Magical Index) and the Virtual-On series, or either of these proprieties.

However, Sega emphasized that this does not affect the game's support for the XVCD-18-b 18-Shiki Control Device Twin Stick peripheral that Tanita plans to release, nor Sega's plans to port three other Virtual-On games (Cyber Troopers Virtual-On, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram M.S.B.S. Ver. 5.66, and Cyber Troopers: Virtual-On Force) to the PlayStation 4.

Or... Sony San Mateo might have finally started to purge "problematic content" out of already released games on the PS4 Play Store. Which should be really, really interesting, considering the implications.

 

[Pantz]

Poor Hitomi, can't even get banned from Reddit =(

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

CatCouch Remember back in the day when if you didn't like something you just didn't buy it? How is art hurting anyone? What's next, can we get police on the streets to make sure that teenage girls are not allowed to wear mini skirts and tube tops? I mean it's basically pedophilia right? Lets just ship every human being a burlap sack and never let any of these awful beings every experience anything and anybody again.

This shit is annoying, I love me some good erotic art. We live in a country that wants to legalize drugs and yet drawings must be outlawed....Fuck this world

"Don't like it, don't buy it" is still alive and well as an excuse for Western devs when they include ideological pandering.

Funny how people can't apply this to Japanese games as well. I believe the term is "intellectual dishonesty".

 

[Endless Fluff]

I'm actually surprised that the App- and Playstore don't have issues with this censorship stuff, yet. I mean anyone who's played some of the recent chinese/japanese games like Azur Lane, Destiny Child, Girls Frontline or Honkai Impact 3rd knows that there's some very lewd stuff to see there. Destiny Child is prolly the best example because it doesn't shy away from full nudity (well, slightly covered up), lolis in bikinis or other sexy stuff and on top of that they can be interacted with.

But I commend the devs for not giving a fuck, Yostar (Azur Lane Dev) even came out saying that while they can't do everything, they're trying to push the limit far as they can with the lewd stuff. l wish all devs were like that.

 

[JunkerWoland]

I can only hope Capcom will see the success of Devil May Cry 5, put stock in the voices of consumers praising the game, and decide to stand by, or at the very least not attack and eventually blacklist, the voice actors it chose for DMC5.

We're now clearly at a point of open collusion between activist-fan communities and outlets purporting to be professional media, with both having a shared goal of expunging the video game industry of anything or anyone they dislike. Almost everyone involved in video games will essentially have a target on them, unless publishers and developers show they make their own decisions based on internal judgement and consumer wallets and not online-outrage mobs.

 

[Hecaton117]

I don't know if this has been posted here or not but I've been checking out the reddit controversy surrounding the banning of members from various anime subs and came across this article that was posted in the comments.

https://medium.com/@jbonesy/hang-on-whats-going-on-with-china-big-tech-61bd99716f68

It's hard to sum this up because it's a long article. But it's a look at various large companies/sites like Steam, Tumblr, Google, Reddit, Sony, Discord, Facebook, etc and how they've reacted to financial investment from Chinese companies and from trying to enter the Chinese market.

This is where we get into the true meat of things. Essentially, there’s been an oddly increasing number of incidents related to so-called “problematic content” being stripped from or outright barred from a number of sites. However, when looking into it deeper, there seems to be a simple, central trait shared by all of these incidents; Chinese Investment, or entrance into the Chinese Market. All of this also corresponds to reports that cross-border investment from China is reaching new levels, as there is proof of China actively attempting to move their money overseas. What’s terrifying about this revelation is, as you’ll see, the issue with censorship does not come simply from Chinese companies buying out firms so they can censor them; it comes, sometimes, from companies simply wanting to expand into the Chinese market themselves, and be compliant in doing so.
Let’s take a look into some of these examples, and how they tie into the greater scheme of things here.

There are a few things that this article doesn't go into like Ubisoft attempting to introduce censorship into Rainbow Six Siege in order to appeal to the Chinese market/regulations and that Devotion game receiving backlash from Chinese users on Steam (I believe this was pulled but I'm not sure if it's back up yet).

It also goes into payment processors as well and the Chinese government's role in this. The segment on Sony is towards the end, and reading this I found it gives new context to the quote "About the censorship, we tried to meet global standards".

A few quotes from the Sony section.

PlayStation fell under similar fire to Steam in their pivot to censorship in Q4 of 2018. This began to be reported on as early as Late August into September of the year. What’s interesting, however, us that just a month prior, Sony held a conference in China. I will note that at the Chinese Conference, Sony specifically discussed Chinese Censorship, among other things. When Sony responded to censorship concerns shortly after in the year, they responded with “About the censorship, we tried to meet global standards” (Quote specifically from Sony Japan/Asia President Morita).

What’s more about this censorship? It seems to disproportionately be affecting anime games; not too far off from the censorship standards of Discord or Steam. Note that in this case however, this is not the censorship of anything actually explicit; it’s the censorship of things that could be seen as suggestive, such as bathing suits, or “fanservice”-oriented situations. The more scary thing here? It seems to overlap near perfectly with the same content under fire on other platforms being discussed in the same vein.

Note that in the past, Sony has struggled with sales in China due to censorship, and has actively been trying to rectify this as they bring themselves to the so-called “global market”. The real question here is then, what exactly does a “global market” imply? Well, given the fact that in the United States the opening 5 years of the PS4 have rivaled the opening 5 years of the PS3 (estimated 3.866 million for PS3 vs 4.394 million for PS4), the real implication is not that they’re “cleansing themselves” for further expansion into the US market; it’s that they’re cleaning their content for further expansion into the Chinese market.

There's so much in this article that I don't want to just fill this post with quotes although I've kind of done that already. This is the only article I've seen making connections between all of these companies and their increase in censorship alongside investments/entry into the Chinese market.

 

[Abriael_GN]

The latest One Piece game (World Seekers) has its hotspring scene cut from the NA versions on consoles, and ALL versions on PC (not even pirated unlocked versions have the data for it).
It still made it to Europe and the Middle East, translated and mostly uncut... as well as Japan, of course.

For reference, it's the cutscene that had a very thick layer of ridiculous mist in early preview videos that made it seem like they were caught in a toxic gas leak. It was speculated this would be its final look, but it seems Sony Japan had second thoughts about doing this with the kid-friendly, mass appeal One Piece franchise and expose their recent policy to mass ridicule. Not that it deterred the American branch, or Namco Bandai simply said better safe than sorry and skipped the region entirely.

For the record, I just received official confirmation from Bandai Namco Entertainment America that it isn't coming to North America. No reason was given.

 

[K1Expwy]

I don't know if this has been posted here or not but I've been checking out the reddit controversy surrounding the banning of members from various anime subs and came across this article that was posted in the comments.

https://medium.com/@jbonesy/hang-on-whats-going-on-with-china-big-tech-61bd99716f68

It's hard to sum this up because it's a long article. But it's a look at various large companies/sites like Steam, Tumblr, Google, Reddit, Sony, Discord, Facebook, etc and how they've reacted to financial investment from Chinese companies and from trying to enter the Chinese market.



There are a few things that this article doesn't go into like Ubisoft attempting to introduce censorship into Rainbow Six Siege in order to appeal to the Chinese market/regulations and that Devotion game receiving backlash from Chinese users on Steam (I believe this was pulled but I'm not sure if it's back up yet).

It also goes into payment processors as well and the Chinese government's role in this. The segment on Sony is towards the end, and reading this I found it gives new context to the quote "About the censorship, we tried to meet global standards".

A few quotes from the Sony section.





There's so much in this article that I don't want to just fill this post with quotes although I've kind of done that already. This is the only article I've seen making connections between all of these companies and their increase in censorship alongside investments/entry into the Chinese market.

Good article!

 

[CatCouch]

I don't know if this has been posted here or not but I've been checking out the reddit controversy surrounding the banning of members from various anime subs and came across this article that was posted in the comments.

https://medium.com/@jbonesy/hang-on-whats-going-on-with-china-big-tech-61bd99716f68

It's hard to sum this up because it's a long article. But it's a look at various large companies/sites like Steam, Tumblr, Google, Reddit, Sony, Discord, Facebook, etc and how they've reacted to financial investment from Chinese companies and from trying to enter the Chinese market.



There are a few things that this article doesn't go into like Ubisoft attempting to introduce censorship into Rainbow Six Siege in order to appeal to the Chinese market/regulations and that Devotion game receiving backlash from Chinese users on Steam (I believe this was pulled but I'm not sure if it's back up yet).

It also goes into payment processors as well and the Chinese government's role in this. The segment on Sony is towards the end, and reading this I found it gives new context to the quote "About the censorship, we tried to meet global standards".

A few quotes from the Sony section.





There's so much in this article that I don't want to just fill this post with quotes although I've kind of done that already. This is the only article I've seen making connections between all of these companies and their increase in censorship alongside investments/entry into the Chinese market.

Oh boy. This is cutting me deep.

Truth is, I work mostly as an adult furry artist now and all the points about double standards with anime and furry art is something I see and deal with often. Payment processors have been an issue for me, too.

I am worried that what I do is increasingly being deemed acceptable to censor. If tech companies move to ban people like me to expand in China then I would have to give up my art. I do imagine that if furry art, along with the lgbt content it includes, is restricted it will kick off a bigger fight from the media than anime art. I can't imagine losing damn near everything sexual in art without a fight.

This does make me wonder how next gen gaming will shake out. If Sony moves to please China and continues censoring content but a competitor like Nintendo doesn't, then won't people really be able to see the difference?

 

[JunkerWoland]

Between DMC5 and Bandai Namco now confirming the NA region will not see the One Piece hot springs mission, I hate the creeping fear all international releases of Japanese games are returning to a state where they're constantly suspect of having content removed or altered on supposed moralistic grounds. Ten years from now, I really hope people won't be making videos about how naked statues in some popular action game had parts of their bodies covered for the North American or international releases.

 

[sol_bad]

Between DMC5 and Bandai Namco now confirming the NA region will not see the One Piece hot springs mission, I hate the creeping fear all international releases of Japanese games are returning to a state where they're constantly suspect of having content removed or altered on supposed moralistic grounds. Ten years from now, I really hope people won't be making videos about how naked statues in some popular action game had parts of their bodies covered for the North American or international releases.

I hate speaking politically but 20 years ago the right were trying to ban and censor everything and the left were all about freedom of speech, freedom of art and keeping things uncensored. How the hell have both sides changed so much?

 

[JunkerWoland]

I hate speaking politically but 20 years ago the right were trying to ban and censor everything and the left were all about freedom of speech, freedom of art and keeping things uncensored. How the hell have both sides changed so much?

I wouldn't conflate things to right vs. left. In both cases, the bad actors were--and are--radicalized sects at the extreme poles of the social spectrum. Most people don't care about seeing some chicks buttocks in a video game, but they also aren't aware of it being censored. Unfortunately, there just happens to be an over preponderance of radical leftist in entertainment and its associated media, forcing industries like video games and regular consumers to suffer their weirdo existence.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

I hate speaking politically but 20 years ago the right were trying to ban and censor everything and the left were all about freedom of speech, freedom of art and keeping things uncensored. How the hell have both sides changed so much?

Few people are free speech absolutists (like myself). Mostly, people want to be heard and when they aren’t being heard, they want more speech. But when they are heard just fine, they want everybody else to shut up.

When it comes to sexy censorship, I think it is simply a matter of them hating the other side and not wanting them to be content and happy. Their sexy content is fine, but nerds are misogynist women harassers and nerds like anime, so... I honestly don’t think we’d be having this discussion right now if all the people on Twitter who sided with GamerGate didn’t have anime avatars.

 

[SaturnSaturn]

Sega just "temporarily" removed A Certain Magical Virtual-On from sale in Japan.

http://vo-index.sega.jp/topics/20190320_01.html

Not sure if it's a case of censorship or something else, because they didn't give a reason besides the usual "various circumstances."

Licensing issues not censorship, it will be back.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Resetera is now going after CD Projekt and Cyberpunk 2077. Their demands:

• The removal of the Sikh cab driver
• The removal of a nondescript crime with a second screenshot depicting a shopkeeper threatening a punk
• Committing to kissing the ring of the resetera hivemind to get more content cut as demanded from now on
• That a developer present in the official CP2077 discord goes and apologizes for the above, announces a clear political alignment for the game and the game company. The reason? Vampire 2 did it, so they MUST do it.
• When the developer and then the moderators declined to provide that statement of obedience, they now demand their collective scalps to be fired, and for CDP to further amend for their past crimes, like when they fired the PR guy Resetera doxed using forum registration personal details provided by the resetera admins
• Threat within the first line of the topic: Names covered for now, will be updated with the actual dox (if not already in private, as is the modus operandi for resetera, no strangers to organizing doxing attempts in private discord servers) if the company either does nothing, or bans this user from their discord server.

This topic is peak resetera.

Choice quotes, highlights in bold mine.

They’ll know who I am once I post this here so I’ll update you guys if they ban me from the server for sharing this exchange:

This exchange occurred in the Official CDPR CyberPunk 2077 Discord. Some of you may think it’s whatever but I thought the way this topic slid by was disappointing. Does every dev need to make comments on their stances? No - But once asked directly? Should they be willing to take a stance? I think so.

Apolitical stances are a defense of the status quo and they’re far more tiring than the small effort to be progressive.

Let’s talk CD Projekt history-

I'll spare you "The Phobic Crimes of This Developer You Didn't Expect: Part 3" content.

Maybe we got off on the wrong foot 3 times, CD Projekt.

But then we get some 2018 CyberPunk 2077 info and there’s troubling screenshots and depictions of minorities. They’re from a womanizing street gang, they’re a criminal technician in your ear, they’re stereotypical convenience store owners and taxi drivers.

This screenshot has come up many times as stereotypical:

(redacted)

So the discussion arises in their discord:

Anyway, first the comment posted there - then the dev response is in red, and the mods are the blue user and the purple user.

Links:
Live topic (archive)
Screencaps not caught in the archive:

Look out, game industry developers, code monkeys, and public relations, men and women. And stay safe.
All it takes for you to get fired is one reseteratard to ask for your political opinion. You then can no longer afford silence. You either bend the knee and pick that soap and you better put on a satisfying enough show for xir, or your ass goes homeless. No such thing as the fifth amendment in Resetera Land!

 

[Abriael_GN]

Resetera is now going after CD Projekt and Cyberpunk 2077.

Every minute a stupid thread is born on resetera.

When I saw that thread, I was "yikes."

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

Resetera is now going after CD Projekt and Cyberpunk 2077.

Hahahahaha... Oh shit, they're serious!

 

[brap]

Remember when CD Projekt added black people in the witcher 3? Wonder if they'll give in to this.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Hahahahaha... Oh shit, they're serious!

Every single time you think they reached peak resetera, they subvert your expectations.

CDPR is a Polish company. Poland is a country currently governed by a far-right basically fascist party. The type of party that is very popular with white men. White men are overrepresented in game companies.

I would say connect the dots but it's literally like two dots.

They're game developers, thus white Poles, thus fascists.
Amazing. Jim Sterling would be proud. Those developers need to be taken to task.
Why would anyone NOT answer the fucking questions when asked to do so by a resetera forumgoer? The only conceivable rational explanation is that they are shitty, rotten to the core, bigoted, intolerant fascists who want to see anyone not like themselves ruined and harmed. Talking about the developers, of course. /s

Given CDPR declined any statement, there doesn't seem to be anything to discuss here.

Even by resetera admin standards, this thread is crazy enough to be locked. Amazing. Are they embarassed by these three pages? (Let me know if the images need replacement, just in case. I like to be of help.)
At least they're finding some slight solace that a few discord mods might be hopefully, maybe, perhaps, getting sacked.

 

[brap]

Censorship? Feels like it belongs here anyway.
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/judg...scrubbed-from-game’s-western-release.1473947/

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

In other weekly updates:

• Epic already announces their curation will include erotic content ("we're not in the porn business") as well as games they deem shitty. But somehow "no judgements based on artistic merit" is also considered. Possible PR consequences and an "adjustment" by Valve? The extent of those curation policies (not that anyone would care about EGS, unless for console exclusives ported only to EGS)? Who knows.
• Sega reconfirms Judgement gets a Western release after a period of uncertainty, with Pierre Taki's likeliness and voice acting completely replaced. The already released Japanese version is unavailable for sale right now until it receives the same change (details unknown). The actor was found guilty of drug abuse, which is a career killer in Asian countries (associated with the Chinese Opium Wars that wrecked that country). Another actor was changed similarly in Yakuza 4's PS4 remaster (though the PS3 original is still sold unaltered on PSN).
• Action RPG Crystar (Chunsoft) is getting a PS4/Steam release in the West after an initial PS4 JP launch before, but the promotional trailers already has parts of the opening movie completely removed compared to the JP release. Details to follow.
• Latest One Piece game: Namco confirms the Hotsprings DLC isn't coming to NA (or the international PC version). It's available on European/Middle East console versions of the game. Remember this as you play those versions, or Super Robot Wars T, whenever you hear someone complaining about the existence of different localizations for Europe, how "dry" they sound and how better off it would be if only the "awesome NA localization" was used worldwide.

Busy week as always.

 

[Abriael_GN]

Every single time you think they reached peak resetera, they subvert your expectations.

Let's see who Resetera will shit on today.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/bl...e-xbox-communication-manager-explains.107096/

Oh...

 

[JunkerWoland]

This currently goes in the releases-to-watch category, but Spike Chunsoft has altered the opening cinematic to their forthcoming PS4 & PC action-RPG, Crystar. A brief glimpse of the main character's exposed buttocks has been removed from the opening cinematic uploaded to both YouTube and its Steam page. The company hasn't issued a response on the matter.

One Angry Gamer has an article posted for those willing to visit the site:
https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/03/crystars-western-release-on-ps4-steam-gets-hit-with-censorship-early/80735/

Those interested can also just compare the Japanese and international versions of the cinematic.

JP version (relevant part starts around 1:02 minute mark):



International version (relevant part starts around 1:05 minute mark):



This small change could always solely be for promotional purposes and not altered in the final product. We'll either have to wait for a comment from Spike Chunsoft or the actual release.

 

[Abriael_GN]

One Angry Gamer has an article posted for those willing to visit the site:

Nope.

On a different note,

As I was watching the keynote revealing new info on the Final Fantasy XIV expansion, I knew this thread would happen.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/fi...-viera-female-only-hrothgar-male-only.107142/

They're raging that instead of introducing male Viera, they decided to bring in male-only Hrothgar (Ronso)

Let's see how long it takes before someone demands Naoki Yoshida to be fired.

 

[ph33rknot]

no one should ever interfere with the vision of an artist and yes games are art

 

[Pantz]

As far as I understand male Viera lore says that they isolate themselves away from the females (and everyone else). It wouldn't make much sense for them to be social enough to go hang out with others in a MMO.

Not that people care about the lore, they will just demand it re-written to their own liking.

 

[petran79]

Resetera is now going after CD Projekt and Cyberpunk 2077. Their demands:

• The removal of the Sikh cab driver
• The removal of a nondescript crime with a second screenshot depicting a shopkeeper threatening a punk
• Committing to kissing the ring of the resetera hivemind to get more content cut as demanded from now on
• That a developer present in the official CP2077 discord goes and apologizes for the above, announces a clear political alignment for the game and the game company. The reason? Vampire 2 did it, so they MUST do it.
• When the developer and then the moderators declined to provide that statement of obedience, they now demand their collective scalps to be fired, and for CDP to further amend for their past crimes, like when they fired the PR guy Resetera doxed using forum registration personal details provided by the resetera admins
• Threat within the first line of the topic: Names covered for now, will be updated with the actual dox (if not already in private, as is the modus operandi for resetera, no strangers to organizing doxing attempts in private discord servers) if the company either does nothing, or bans this user from their discord server.

2077 did cost more than W3, ie more than 85 million dollars. Lets say 100 million.
CD Project Red should demand from RE at least 1 million dollars to implement those changes. If RE can raise that fund, problem solved. But they wont spent a dime.

This small change could always solely be for promotional purposes and not altered in the final product. We'll either have to wait for a comment from Spike Chunsoft or the actual release.

If it is just the opening video it is not big deal as long as the Japanese version exists.I am more worried about in-game changes. Eg is the in-game 3D transformation edited too, with the camera in different angle?

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

So guys, how do we, as gamers and consumers fight back, fight back at Bitchetera that is? Fighting back against the pro-censorship, anti-heterosexual, anti-white, anti-male segment of this so-called gaming forum?

We need to punch them back, and push them back, fight them if we wish to have our games being left in peace. I say we use THEIR tactics at them, doxxing, catphising, dogpiling, exposing, twitter mobbing on directors/companies who don't kowtow to us, the same to directors/companies who kowtow to them etc.

It is the only way to keep gaming pure.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

So guys, how do we, as gamers and consumers fight back, fight back at Bitchetera that is? Fighting back against the pro-censorship, anti-heterosexual, anti-white, anti-male segment of this so-called gaming forum?

Honestly? We can’t. But that’s okay because we don’t have to. Every time they open their mouths a new person realizes that bitch be crazy. I think we’re at or close to the tipping point where developers are realizing you don’t stick your dick in crazy.

We need to punch them back, and push them back, fight them if we wish to have our games being left in peace. I say we use THEIR tactics at them, doxxing, catphising, dogpiling, exposing, twitter mobbing on directors/companies who don't kowtow to us, the same to directors/companies who kowtow to them etc.

Let’s not give in to the dark side when we have the high ground, Anakin.

It is the only way to keep gaming pure.

Surely, there is a less genocidal way to put this?

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Honestly? We can’t. But that’s okay because we don’t have to. Every time they open their mouths a new person realizes that bitch be crazy. I think we’re at or close to the tipping point where developers are realizing you don’t stick your dick in crazy.

Honestly, we should, that's what GamerGate was successful because it was a consumer push-back.

Let’s not give in to the dark side when we have the high ground, Anakin.

Turn-around is always fair play, what goes around comes around and such. Do you believe that waving our fingers in front of their faces is going to dissuay them?

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

Honestly, we should, that's what GamerGate was successful because it was a consumer push-back.

Considering what a nightmarish hellscape of censorship and political correctness the game industry has become, can we really say GamerGate was successful? If anything, having that convenient scapegoat around is what allowed this idiot ideology to take hold.

Turn-around is always fair play, what goes around comes around and such. Do you believe that waving our fingers in front of their faces is going to dissuay them?

I don’t want to dissuade them. I want to expose them.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Considering what a nightmarish hellscape of censorship and political correctness the game industry has become, can we really say GamerGate was successful? If anything, having that convenient scapegoat around is what allowed this idiot ideology to take hold.

It would happen before, if you give the leftist 1 inch he will take a mile out of it, now that Sony is enabling them, they feel far more secure in their position.

I don’t want to dissuade them. I want to expose them.

One does not exclude the other.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

We need to punch them back, and push them back, fight them if we wish to have our games being left in peace. I say we use THEIR tactics at them, doxxing, catphising, dogpiling, exposing, twitter mobbing on directors/companies who don't kowtow to us, the same to directors/companies who kowtow to them etc.

Some developers, and game localization workers (like the head of 8-4) have started pulling out of resetera because of... how resetera is a wretched den that coordinates harassment, doxxing and witch-hunts. They want to get their ties scrubbed with that hole because those tactics are deeply unethical and morally bankrupt and make THEM look bad (I'm not even giving them much of a benefit of the doubt that they overcame their political tribal programming, just that their self interests made them realize that perhaps posting on threads that openly call for political violence and people to be fired or punched over videogames may not be the best idea for their career).
With all due respects, but I don't think swimming with the pigs in their swamp is the way.

There's a much simpler solution.

Resetera is objectively evil, by normal people standards. They also think normal people not as extreme as them are an enemy to get fired, as shown by the CDPR nontroversy from yesterday where the offense was SILENCE.
This is the kind of forums Eurogamer and Newsweek use as an authority figure. Expose this to game companies (because if silence, a requirement for NDAs, now became a fireable offense, that's unsustainable) and the mainstream public.

Or you can give them more power by providing them with material of legit harassment they are desperately looking for, even lowering the bar enough for low score user reviews and complaints about preachy political stories, and framing those as vicious personal attacks that harass developers or game journalists. Like for example Brianna Wu who was caught writing a shitpost how she thinks the developer and the games are shit, and forgot to change the user.

 

[Isa]

That Crystar intro has me worried. I'm really looking forward to it, and hope its not being censored in-game. But after Zanki Zero has been torn to pieces I'm not surprised at all really.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

So guys, how do we, as gamers and consumers fight back, fight back at Bitchetera that is? Fighting back against the pro-censorship, anti-heterosexual, anti-white, anti-male segment of this so-called gaming forum?

We need to punch them back, and push them back, fight them if we wish to have our games being left in peace. I say we use THEIR tactics at them, doxxing, catphising, dogpiling, exposing, twitter mobbing on directors/companies who don't kowtow to us, the same to directors/companies who kowtow to them etc.

It is the only way to keep gaming pure.

You know how JordanN frequently posts about ERA’s shenanigans in the off-topic thread? Rather than limiting oneself to GAF, document ERA’s behavior everywhere. Make sure that “every person” knows about how bad ERA is.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

You know how JordanN frequently posts about ERA’s shenanigans in the off-topic thread? Rather than limiting oneself to GAF, document ERA’s behavior everywhere. Make sure that “every person” knows about how bad ERA is.

That's a good idea.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Speaking of resetera:

• They are asking for Blaster Master Zero 2 to be censored, preferably as an update patch redesign. A robot girl with melon themed breastplates that's mostly covered up.

Spoiler

• Final Fantasy XIV - The Viera is a female-locked race that's beloved by fans (this is known by the way from a previously featured article about how toxic and creepy the FFXIV fanbase is that was prominently featured on resetera, and which the interviewed girl cosplayer was disgusted at). The writers say it's a mostly female race (similarly, the Hrothgar, as male-only) according to series lore. Resetera says that "nobody wanted that", that the concept of gender-specific customization options is offensive, and this gem:

Before anyone starts "well the lore says...", keep in mind that both Male Viera and Female Hrothgar exist according to lore and even if they didn't, they write the damned lore.

This reasoning was applied before for many works, mostly Hollywood retcons in reboots to make room for whatever political scene the writers absolutely want (like Captain America as an evil fascist, Superman pummeled for being a privileged dipshit, and more and more blatantly in recent years, despite both character's earlier lore conflicting with the plausibility of those scenes), but also for "historical" justifications for proposed history rewrites in The Witcher 3, Assassin Creed Odyssey, and Kingdom Come Deliverance, to varying degrees of success.

The end result resetera wants to see is, in their words, "sexy" high-heels wearing men and buff lion women. This is also not a fan request for new things. It's a "phobic crime" (as resetera calls this kind of thing, going by their own terminology when they tried to get Katsura Hashino fired) committed by Square Enix, because they dared not create that content. It also makes the existence of those two new classes highly problematic.

• The Switch port of Cuphead won't have an easy mode, and that's very, very bad. The developers didn't compromise on their vision for the game and this clearly upset Kotaku and Resetera. Game journalists were caught trying to frame that game prior to release as an unplayable mess because it dared to try the Contra gameplay style in 2018. After it backfired legendarily, they tried to retaliate against the developers of the game by repeatedly implying the developers were endorsing racist messages found in old thirties cartoons because they share the same art style. Some were even using "tropes" to accuse it of anti-semitism over very loose associations for the villains. Many of the same attacks were echoed at the Switch reveal. Remember to support the game and its sequels wherever possible and appreciate a celebration of vintage gaming that made it to the market despite adversity.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Pot Meet Kettle I wish I had your memory, really, you remember a lot details that most of us have forgotten and this is where those censorers bet, the short memory of the indivindual person to attest and make them accountable for their blatant lies!

Also, please tell me did the weirdos at bitcetera managed to censor FFXIV and can you please give me a link wit that cosplayer girl got disgusted by them?

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Pot Meet Kettle I wish I had your memory, really, you remember a lot details that most of us have forgotten and this is where those censorers bet, the short memory of the indivindual person to attest and make them accountable for their blatant lies!

Also, please tell me did the weirdos at bitcetera managed to censor FFXIV and can you please give me a link wit that cosplayer girl got disgusted by them?

I wish I had that bookmarked. We did talk about it here before (it had some censorship demands, at the article, the Q&A conference itself, and resetera signal boosting it because SE "needs to do better", like an even stricter world filter and the moderators to remove users roleplaying waifu sollicitation)
Here's the main event that started it all.



Some of the fans who got photographied were NOT happy to learn about his comments about them and how creepy they sounded (and how the developers were cult leaders) and the article's overall no fun allowed message, even though it failed to specify how "offensive" that fun is to warrant upset over its existence (not that being offensive to someone who can just ignore it, is a reason to ask for that to be all torn down). Most of that backlash happened on twitter.

The article in question. It has some hilarious comments.

Aerothorn(Supporter)
20/11/18 8:26PM
Fantastic write-up, Brendan. FF 14 is still far too generic an MMO for me (in terms of how it actually plays), but the community is genuinely wonderful.

Aerothorn(Supporter)
22/11/18 7:46PM
@Aerothorn Update: based on twitter responses to this article, the FF14 community – or a portion of it – is considerably less lovely than I had thought.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

You don't need to give me the article anymore, I just have to take a look at the author's mug.

 

[Fuz]

Resetera is now going after CD Projekt and Cyberpunk 2077. Their demands:

• The removal of the Sikh cab driver
• The removal of a nondescript crime with a second screenshot depicting a shopkeeper threatening a punk
• Committing to kissing the ring of the resetera hivemind to get more content cut as demanded from now on
• That a developer present in the official CP2077 discord goes and apologizes for the above, announces a clear political alignment for the game and the game company. The reason? Vampire 2 did it, so they MUST do it.
• When the developer and then the moderators declined to provide that statement of obedience, they now demand their collective scalps to be fired, and for CDP to further amend for their past crimes, like when they fired the PR guy Resetera doxed using forum registration personal details provided by the resetera admins
• Threat within the first line of the topic: Names covered for now, will be updated with the actual dox (if not already in private, as is the modus operandi for resetera, no strangers to organizing doxing attempts in private discord servers) if the company either does nothing, or bans this user from their discord server.

This topic is peak resetera.

Choice quotes, highlights in bold mine.



I'll spare you "The Phobic Crimes of This Developer You Didn't Expect: Part 3" content.



Links:
Live topic (archive)
Screencaps not caught in the archive:



Look out, game industry developers, code monkeys, and public relations, men and women. And stay safe.
All it takes for you to get fired is one reseteratard to ask for your political opinion. You then can no longer afford silence. You either bend the knee and pick that soap and you better put on a satisfying enough show for xir, or your ass goes homeless. No such thing as the fifth amendment in Resetera Land!

How long it will take for the industry to realize they're just a bunch of insane sociopaths and starting avoiding them completely?

 

[brap]

So guys, how do we, as gamers and consumers fight back, fight back at Bitchetera that is? Fighting back against the pro-censorship, anti-heterosexual, anti-white, anti-male segment of this so-called gaming forum?

We need to punch them back, and push them back, fight them if we wish to have our games being left in peace. I say we use THEIR tactics at them, doxxing, catphising, dogpiling, exposing, twitter mobbing on directors/companies who don't kowtow to us, the same to directors/companies who kowtow to them etc.

It is the only way to keep gaming pure.

I was hoping pewdiepie would say something since he's a huge weeb but all these people would be all 'SEE you have to censor games or else you turn into a neo nazi alt-right anti semitic bigot like pewdiepie!!!'

 

[The Mad Draklor]

How long it will take for the industry to realize they're just a bunch of insane sociopaths and starting avoiding them completely?

When enough consumers start not buying games that politically pander or are censored. How long will it take for that to happen? No idea.

 

[Fuz]

How long will it take for that to happen? No idea.

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/recent-disappointments-in-gaming.1473829/#post-253874512

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

How long it will take for the industry to realize they're just a bunch of insane sociopaths and starting avoiding them completely?

Sony and its Commiefornian bosses are now part of said cult, so that is why we must boycott all their products and stop injecting fuel into a machine that actively hates us.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I don't know if this has been posted here or not but I've been checking out the reddit controversy surrounding the banning of members from various anime subs and came across this article that was posted in the comments.

https://medium.com/@jbonesy/hang-on-whats-going-on-with-china-big-tech-61bd99716f68

It's hard to sum this up because it's a long article. But it's a look at various large companies/sites like Steam, Tumblr, Google, Reddit, Sony, Discord, Facebook, etc and how they've reacted to financial investment from Chinese companies and from trying to enter the Chinese market.



There are a few things that this article doesn't go into like Ubisoft attempting to introduce censorship into Rainbow Six Siege in order to appeal to the Chinese market/regulations and that Devotion game receiving backlash from Chinese users on Steam (I believe this was pulled but I'm not sure if it's back up yet).

It also goes into payment processors as well and the Chinese government's role in this. The segment on Sony is towards the end, and reading this I found it gives new context to the quote "About the censorship, we tried to meet global standards".

A few quotes from the Sony section.





There's so much in this article that I don't want to just fill this post with quotes although I've kind of done that already. This is the only article I've seen making connections between all of these companies and their increase in censorship alongside investments/entry into the Chinese market.

Why cater to a Market that

1) Doesn't spend all that much money on games as their currency is not super strong
2) The audience are known for piracy/stealing the content and copying the game/content for others?

These companies are really really dumb if they think they are going to make as much money from China vs the rest of the world, that does pay a lot of money and are less likely to copy their games/content for other people.

Sounds harsh from myself (and I actually have some Chinese in me), but the Chinese Government and people really need to stop forcing their policies, culture and ideologies onto other countries. These companies will NOT get what they want from China nor the Government, as they are known for not exactly playing by the rules, on top of providing the companies that "unicorn" of revenue they make it out to be. (yes, they have the biggest population in the world, but they are also known to NOT giving that much money on games and luxuries and are likely to steal your IP/Patents to sell it on).

Sorry for the rant. I am glad you have provided this and it shows a worrying trend of China trying to influence the world of their own ideologies that thankfully, are only shown in a handful of neighbouring countries. I am all for differing opinions in Politics, but if these companies really cared about going into China and making these damn changes, then they should be saying "if we sell these games to you, then you MUST have a Copyright Law in your country".

At this point it is trying to make money that isn't there (fairytale revenue numbers of potential Chinese customers) and upsetting their fanbase with unnecessary changes to cater to a market that is both fickle and uncaring.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Don't you guys think that you may be going overboard here, like you did with DMC5 PS4?Alot of this stuff is so minor and doesn't actually change anything.

 

[brap]

Don't you guys think that you may be going overboard here, like you did with DMC5 PS4?Alot of this stuff is so minor and doesn't actually change anything.

I'm an adult and don't need a multi million dollar company telling me what I'm allowed and not allowed to see. If I wanted big brother controlling my life I'd move to China or North Korea.

 

[DeepEnigma]

"Don't like it, don't buy it" is still alive and well as an excuse for Western devs when they include ideological pandering.

Funny how people can't apply this to Japanese games as well. I believe the term is "intellectual dishonesty".

The funny thing is, those hypocritical shits say, "yaaas queen, slaaay" to the western ideologues that make those statements, but then call for bans or changes in the other direction.

Straight busters.