The original poster of this topic has now deleted their account. Because the topic had 50 or more replies it has been adopted by the default site profile.
NOPE!!! Politics should be kept separate from game reviews.
As someone who's more conservative leaning (but has friends from different parts of the compass), gaming should be something that should be enjoyed by everybody regardless of gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, favorite Pokemon, etc.
People who protest politicizing and addressing social issues in gaming very frequently are pushing their own views and trying to silence others. Is gaming so small that these things can’t be addressed? Buy and play what you want, and let others do the same. Saying “You can say this and you can’t say that” is a childish, myopic perspective. Games aren’t solely escapism. If it is for you, great, but don’t tell anyone else what they are allowed to do. Do we expect that sort of limitation from movies or books? It would be foolish to do so.
And there is certainly a lot of abuse happening in game development, and it bleeds into other areas of life. That should not be allowed or covered up with “It’s only a game!”
Gaming is a hobby, a release, a distraction from real life issues. Recently journalists have allowed politics to creep into what is a hobby and an escape from worldly issues.
I mean, it is… until it isn’t. And quite often it really isn’t. See Brexit Fallout: The Game for a pretty stark counter-example.
Not everything is quite as ‘on the nose’ as that game, but many, many games touch on themes that are fundamentally inseparable from politics.
Politics asks questions about how we structure society and allocate power, and on what principles that power is allocated. It deals with relationships between peoples and resources, and perceived imbalances between them. This is also fundamentally the stuff of storytelling, and games are — more often than not — a storytelling vehicle. Any story completely devoid of political themes is also likely to be completely devoid of interest.
Ultimately, a publication is free to choose what games it allocates its resources to reviewing. There are far too many games to be able to review all of them, and I assume the driving factor in these decisions is readership demand — which is why many smaller games go under the radar.
The elephant in the room is of course Hogwarts Legacy, a fairly high profile game that the site has reported on before, yet whose review is conspicuously absent. I can’t speak on the exact reason for its absence, but I imagine it could be related to the fact that every comment section under an article mentioning the game has turned into an ugly brawl. I presume that the site wants to minimise the risk of getting caught in the middle of that particular politically-charged storm.
Maybe not publishing the review is itself a political statement. Maybe it’s the opposite; that is to say, not publishing a review is the only way to avoid making a political statement.
Either way, I don’t think it’s possible to avoid talk of politics entirely, but I do think the nature of the debate needs to be shifted — away from the ever-deepening cycles of antagonistic tribalism where its currently stuck. Unfortunately, the current structure of the web — which largely generates profit by pushing controversy as ‘content’ — doesn’t give me hope that things will improve in the short-term.
I feel that when people say something is "political" or "don't drag politics into <insert thing here>" what they actually mean is they want that particular political position expressed. I'm fairly sure people complaining here wouldn't be batting an eye if NL decided not to review and LGBT friendly dating Sim or something. Hell, maybe they'd protest here if NL did review such a game
The thing is, anything and everything can be politics. And any speach, including the lack of speach, is potentially a political statement. And it could be a contentious one for some, depending on the politics
I mean I went to a religious primary school around the time Pokemon started taking off. To some of the teachers and parents Pokemon was a deeply political game because it "taught evolution". Which is absurd but, it is what it was. IIRC there was a bit of a stink about it and ultimately the school decided not to ban Pokemon. And in that context not banning it was also political
Point is, you can't not be political. It's impossible
Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"
@Maxz For what it's worth, Nintendo Life didn't review Not Tonight either. I suppose that's a relatively obscure game that might just have slipped through the cracks though, and they have reviewed overtly political games such as Disco Elysium and Tropico 6. Anyway, politics definitely isn't something that they've been shying away from.
As for Hogwart's Legacy, I honestly couldn't give a crap about it. While that might come as a bit of a surprise to those deep in the fandom, who may even consider it a highlight of their year, that's probably how most people feel about it too. However, if I did, there are umpteen reviews of the PS5 release I could read and some detailed technical analyses of how the Switch port holds up from people who specialize in that. The idea that they wouldn't really have anything to add to what is already out there is something that I can sympathize with.
Another thing worth bearing in mind is that most video game reviews are based on a full run through of a game that's got to be done on the reviewer's own time, with only the write-up itself being paid work. If nobody on the team is prepared to do that, because their schedule is already full of other games where they will have an opportunity to put forth a fresh take, that also seems fair to me.
When it comes to the gaming websites I read or gaming journalism, I’d really rather it be not politically oriented just so I can read about games without issue. Or at least have representatives for every political position, conservative, centrist, liberal, any other non-extremist positions.
When it comes to if games should be political, that’s a more complex topic. As others have mentioned here, games are storytelling mediums and limiting political stories is a net loss, which I agree with. Some of my favorite games either deal with modern politics or comment on society as a whole, and I think that’s great. But there’s a difference between that and making a game political at its core. I’m fine with playing a game that involves politics, but if it’s pretty much an ad for a political candidate disguised as a video game, I’m out. Persona 5’s main antagonist is a corrupt politician who’s manipulated the world to vote for him and has figured out how to get rid of those who vocally oppose him, but I’m cool with that because he’s used as the ultimate antithesis to the game’s core theme, that being rebellion. On the other side of things, if a game uses politics that are clearly slanted in one direction to speak on a modern political issue like [insert political topic here], I hesitate to call that a game or story when it’s, in my opinion, closer to propaganda than anything. I admit I’m conservative leaning, but that goes for every side including my own. I wouldn’t want to play a game trying to push anyone’s political agenda onto me, even if I agree with parts of it.
TLDR, games can use politics as a vessel for other themes, but I’d really rather politics not be the key focus. There can be exceptions, but generally I’d rather it be used as a plot device or a supplement to the core theme. When it comes to games journalism, absolutely not. I don’t need more dumb Kotaku articles like “Smash Ultimate’s Joker DLC Includes a Disability Slur”, especially when that headline is factually incorrect. So please, PLEASE as much as possible keep politics out of gaming journalism so we can at least discuss games on a relatively neutral playing field.
@skywake I have zero problems with any game with political tones or themes outside of blatant propaganda promoting bigotry and such, however reviewers should avoid expressing political viewpoints for games that aren't being political because it causes quite a few issues in the comments section to say the least. There's been quite a few games that I wanted to comment on whose comments were closed because things got out of hand. There's a reason why Race, Religion, and Politics are taboo discussions because it causes nothing, but chaos and often ends friendships. Even people who mostly agree on those subjects could feel that someone's too extreme and ruin said friendship that way.
I'm obviously just making a point here as to why if these themes are irrelevant to the game at hand that it should be avoided in the article itself. Anyways sorry for the rant and my $0.02.
@LilyGoMEOW
If that's your argument then that's exactly what NL did here. They decided that it was impossible to review this game without it "being political" and so decided the better course of action would be to not review it at all. Which some have taken to be a political statement in and of itself, which it most certainly is
So again, can't avoid being political. Everything can be and often is political. Also for what it's worth I don't at all follow the "don't talk about religion or politics" bit. I just straight up don't believe that's a productive way to be. My general world view is that if I hold ideas that are flimsy I should figure out if I'm wrong and if I am discard them. Respect people, not beliefs and ideas
Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"
No, as it’s the reason I stopped reading Kotaku. The Resident Evil 4 HD remake was the final straw as the Reviewer complains bitterly about Gamecube Resi 4 and all the places the player can look up ‘Ashley’s skirt’, the Ballistics comment Leon makes about Ashley’s breasts and how racist Resi 5. Is. Nothing about RE4 HD there meant to be reviewing.
And don’t get me started on the Persona review!!! These people are uncomfortable the moment they wake up in the morning.
I read games reviews as I want to read about the games themselves not the reviewers political views. Nintendo Life reviews are class so I hope they don’t change.
@Matt_Barber Yes, I can’t say I was particularly invested in the game or NL’s review of it either! The wording of the title did make me wonder whether it might have been behind this thread’s creation, though…
Anyway, as many people have said, almost nothing is untouched by politics, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t “be allowed to have fun and enjoy ALL games!”
That said… the thought of enjoying ALL games does sounds rather exhausting!
That phrasing sounds so odd to me... almost cringe. Honestly, it's their site. They "should be allowed" to do whatever they wish, as long as its legal. Also, there are plenty of other sites that do reviews, just go somewhere else and your problem is solved.
Sorry but the western parts of the earth has became way too obsessed in politics since when the 2010's began.
No secret that western media are more than overwhelmingly left-oriented or left-extremist oriented.
I has more and more ditched the western entertainment and media, since they focuses almost only on politics instead of the actual entertainment. It's impossible to watch a Hollywood movie anymore, just politics, zero entertainment.. I don't want to be lectured from a Hollywood comedy movie about politics! That's insane!
"Social Medias" has indeed ruined the western entertainment industry. Everyone are so scared now, everyone had to express about their political standings on daily basis otherwise they'll get cancelled by the PC-trolls on all those trash "social medias" sites which I refuses to bringing up them here.
I really wish that western people just has to chill off a bit more, but sadly they're too rigid and can't give up their constant 24/7 obsessing about politics... The life is too short, and has so much to offer to us, yet many people chooses to just fundamentally devoting on politics on everything... non-political things becomes political in their eyes.
"Allowed" ? What are we, chairmen of the board ?
As long as it is not hateful, the more freedom journalists have, the better this world is, no matter what sort of website you're on.
Forums
Topic: Should Nintendo Lifes journalists be allowed to let their political views decide what games they will or will not review?
Posts 1 to 20 of 75
Sorry, this topic has been locked.