There’s a generational conflict in video game journalism that seems to be boiling over lately. I used to think it was completely based on age; old vs young ideas that should be thought over, debated, and changed for the better. I apparently missed the mark entirely. Turns out merit was never a factor in getting anywhere in an industry or the world; it was always who you know and how low you’ll go for them.
There was a movement once that changed the course of gaming history (and the presidency if you can believe it) by questioning the paradigm; determined to get rid of the pay-your-own-way collusion between “journalists” with clout on the mind and game developers hungry to eat as many burgers and fries as they could.
Once the movement became too bloated on ego and identity issues, however, the termites that were borrowing deep into the wooden heads of big game corporations finally laid their eggs. They become interns and glad hand their way into writer rooms, board rooms, and worse of all, consulting jobs; all in the name of “diversity, equity, and inclusion”, which world-centric manipulators like Blackrock throw big bucks at.
Now, it seems, video games are planned out by carpetbagger consultants driven by DEI Blackrock dollars and eggshell-brained devs whose “talent” is dedicated to replacing solid game franchises with weak, uninteresting ‘Quick Time’ therapy affirmations for being queer, trans, and automobiles.
After years of gaslighting by industry experts telling fans what they want, the tides are shifting harshly lately. A lot of the new gamer generation is ready to stand strong against this wave of mediocre conformity that has gripped their favorite hobby.
It feels like a new movement of gamers that have been fed nothing but “inclusivity” tripe are opening their eyes to something that’s been festering in gaming for over a decade.
The mainstream cesspool, triggered by truth and justice, had no problem jumping to the defense of their hack friends and luckily enough, Alyssa Mercante (of gaming news bukkake site, Kotaku) couldn’t wait to be first in line. The article is just dripping with the usual talking points we’ve come to expect from the games media these days. After backlash on her latest gourmet word salad and getting community-noted for being a racist, she went on lockdown and block-bombed her X/Twitter account.
No doubt taking some time to clean herself off.
First off, let’s address the strawman in the room – this notion that anyone who questions the direction the gaming industry is headed in must be some sort of bigoted troll living in their mom’s basement. It’s such a tired trope at this point you’d think these “cultural inclusivity writers” would have more diversity in the clichés they steal from. Heaven forbid gamers have legitimate concerns about the creative vision and integrity of the games they love being compromised by outside agendas.
To companies like Sweet Baby Inc and enablers like Kotaku, the doxing and harassments of gamers is fair game. Just like their Blackrock money masters promote the “forcing of change” in everyday life, these types of conform pigs will do it like social terrorists; “by any means necessary”.
And speaking of agendas, can we talk about how this article bends over backwards to paint Sweet Baby Inc. as just an innocent little narrative design company that’s being unfairly targeted? Please.
It’s clear as day that they have a very specific ideological mission that goes beyond just telling good stories. The fact that they offer “cultural consultations” and “authenticity consultations” says it all. That’s just code for injecting woke politics into games under the guise of inclusivity.
The most laughable part is when the CEO tries to claim that making games more diverse and representative doesn’t take anything away from straight white male characters. Uh, hello? There are only so many character slots and so much screen time to go around. Every ‘checkbox Mary Sue’ who gets shoehorned in for diversity points is one less well-developed character who’s actually integral to the plot.
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And spare me the crocodile tears about the poor marginalized Sweet Baby employees facing harassment. Welcome to the internet, cupcake. Maybe if they didn’t go around bragging about turning beloved franchises into their personal progressive soapboxes, gamers wouldn’t be so pissed off.
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences.
Furthermore, while the harassment and abuse directed at women and minorities in the gaming industry is reprehensible and should be condemned, it’s important to recognize that not everyone who supported Gamergate engaged in or condoned such behavior. Calling out the erasure of white characters and swapping them for ethnic-coded “inclusion” is not racist.
But so far, it’s been nothing but crying behind block bots; peeking out of their hole to keep from drowning.
AAA game studios should have the balls to tell these glorified sensitivity readers to take a hike and let the actual game designers do their jobs. If Sweet Baby and their ilk really care about diversity, they should go create their original IPs instead of co-opting existing ones. But they have no new ideas; just brick-layered ideology for soul replacement. I guess it’s easier to be a parasite than to build something of your own; especially when you can have a dog-whistler like Kotaku spread the hate.
Companies should publicly support their employees and partners who are being targeted by online mobs, and make it clear that such behavior will not be tolerated; I agree.
Companies should also know how to keep those employees who are actively campaigning against the wishes and wallets of consumers, in line when dealing with the people who buying their games. Companies shouldn’t be hiring ideologically driven bureaucratic consulting firms, whose main job seems to be alienating gamers and IP fans, by providing nothing but dogmatic political slop buckets.
One of the key issues raised during Gamergate was the lack of transparency and potential conflicts of interest between journalists and the developers they cover. This is a legitimate concern that deserves to be addressed. By promoting ethical standards and encouraging journalists to disclose any personal or financial ties to the subjects they report on, we can help restore trust in the media and ensure that readers are getting unbiased, accurate information.
We know that mainstream publications like Kotaku will eat all the DEI slop they can to stay relevant in the public eye; but, as Fandom Pulse has proven, a rising ethical force in journalism and accountability might sway those harsh ideological winds from before into a gentle sail of gaming bliss.
What do you think about all this going on in the video game industry? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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These corrupt journos and evil game developers(most of whom, probably had no experience in game developing), have been throwing the same buzzwords for ten years. It’s already getting old, not to mention, the AAA game studios are already committing layoffs. These journos will be out of a job.
Oh here we go again.
It was the “ethics in game journalism” crap that derailed the first gamergate and turned the whole thing into a big wet fart, instead of something that could bring meaningful change.
Too much focus was put onto how gaming urinalists should write their articles and behave, and not enough about the real problem of pervasive far left politics contaminating every facet of life.
Very little effort was made to actually combat that problem, so here we are 10 years later, and things are worse now than they were in 2014, and now we’re talking about “ethics in game journalism” again.
Just a regular person wanting to add my two cents into this new War going on between gamers & Sweet baby Inc & Kotaku and I honestly think what needs to happen at the gaming companies and movies companies is the managers, workers and CEOs need to Seriously wake up and realize that their projects that their trying to put out are in serious jeopardy due to Racist/ Terroristic consultant companies that are invading companies and infusing the projects with their Garbage Woke Ideology bullcrap and once this is done, then the projects turn to Shit-all thanks to the brainwashed Nutbags like Kim Belair, Alyssa Mercante, Zoe Quinn and their Woke butt-Kissing cohorts and the companies out there need to find their courage-if they ever had any to begin with and say ” Enough is Enough” with this Woke Bullshit
Hopefully g/o media goes under soon since it’s not just kotaku it’s all their trash and these “news” sites and organizations