Gamer Girl Developer Removes Trailer And Marketing Materials Following Online Backlash

I guess we finally found out where society draws the line?

Seems like far worse has been out in the form of movies, games, other media for years... but this is where the line is drawn... strange.

These people are sort of proving the game relevant.
I hope the developer is merely delaying the product, in order to include all this delicious idiocy.

What is a "simp?" everytime I see the word used its in a different context.

"There are people that have to live through these horrors every day." HAHAHAHA!!! Waaaah...people are sometimes mean on the internet.

We need a war with a draft. Then all these softies would understand true horrors.

It's a shame this was canned, it seemed interesting albeit with a very limited audience.

@Anti-Matter the game is nothing like that at all and most female gamers I know would be insulted by the suggestion to play those games.

@Cool_Squirtle That's just it. "Simp" is just the new trendy insult that's thrown around until it looses all meaning. Like "cuck" or "NPC".

For the game itself, I see it as a "heart in the right place, brain in a storage cupboard" kind of execution. It gives me the same uncomfortable feelings as when one of the Tomb Raider reboot devs said that their intention was to make you feel like you had to protect Lara.

Let's only make games about stuff thant's not tragic and happening every day. Like murders, war and street fights.

@Cool_Squirtle
Losers that semi-attractive or sometimes unattractive women can turn into cash cows online.

This game did not look up my alley at all (despite my love of the FMV double switch) but I didn't think it should be canned. Lots of games, films, shows, and books pull from reality. War is real, and horrific. Yet there are games about it, some are dumb shoot thingy and make it go boom and others move to give a visceral experience to make one feel the trauma and devastation war can cause.
I really hate to see creativity squelched like this.

So basically you can't make a game that may happen in real life, this is wrong whichever way you look at it, entertainment can mirror real life situations, weather the game is no good or not is moot.

The trailer is here if anyone is interested. https://youtu.be/2mFHRlVNP3Q

I've seen things that are much more sexist and exploitative done in recent movies and TV shows so I'm not sure why people are THIS upset over this instance? I'm not saying nobody should be upset, just confused about why this drew so much ire.

Wow what a spectacularly tone deaf and abysmal concept for a video game! Somewhere out there, someone is trashing TOK without playing it, while simultaneously defending this game's honor lol

Cancel culture needs to stop. This is ridiculous.

What's the point of publishing a game where the unusual and slightly 'controversial' subject matter of it is the primary draw and then bending the knee once a few people start complaining on twitter?

The very defeated sounding follow-up posts after pulling it down make this even worse.

I'll be sure not to actively support this company in the future. Nothing irritates me more than cowardly publishers who buckle at the sight of a small twitter mob.

Ay yes, pull the victim card instead of thinking "hmmmm, maybe what we're doing is extremely stupid" classic internet

What the actual. I do not understand this world we live in. Killing people, torturing people, robbing people, we do all kinds of evil things in video games. And in some games we very deliberately try to fight against these things.

Why is a game dealing with the problems of misogynists on the internet off-limits? If I understand it, you're fighting AGAINST the trolls on the internet, not even being one. (And I wouldn't have a problem with a game where you could troll, although I wouldn't care for it.)

So a game about cyber bullying has been bullied off the internet? Seems about right for how some people comport themselves online these days.

Was anyone actually going to play this lame concept? I assume that this is just more "outrage marketing" for when "the team miraculously perseveres" and releases the game.
"It's not outrage marketing." Okay, well, when you live in a society of idiots, everything's a con and a fake, and you're foolish to assume that anything is genuine at face value.

...
Yeah giving people free speech was a mistake. People just lack common sense now, can’t wait to see what the world is like in in 5 years.

@JHDK get a grip boomer

@Doofenshmirtz He wasn’t being racist though (?)

For crying out loud. It's a novel idea - I know - but how about waiting until the game is released and try playing it before deciding the game is "gross", "unnecessary" and "problematic"?

@Cool_Squirtle thnx for the trailer.

So the trailer looks... Well for a game that's about a gamestreamer, there's a lot of girl (why the boob scene?) and not so much game. It's just another story of, girl "is coy and shows skin" so "people go psycho and stalk the girl" and that is not a narative that tells the truth. Psycho's just be psycho you know. It's always putting girls in the victim corner, never am a fan of that. Don't think they should just pull the game though. Although it might be tough filming all new scenes to tell a sligjtly different story.

For as much ***** as this game seemed to get, for whatever reason, they have done loads of FMV Interactive Movies in the past and a lot of them were apparently pretty good. The Bunker, Doctor Dekker and Late Shift were all reasonably well received by gamers and critics. There's no reason Gamer Girl couldn't have been as enjoyable as their previous games (if you're into these kind of games), but people are so quick to judge.

I think the game should take flak for some of the decisions they made, but to say a game about this should not be made period because people actually deal with this for real is beyond non-sensical.

How about games that depict racism? For profit (Or selfish interest) wars? How about just straight up blatant murder? Let's not pretend that online abuse is somehow worse than any of those things. Of course it is a real problem, and of course it needs to be taken seriously - that doesn't mean that it needs to be ignored entirely in the entertainment industry.

We only have so much time and energy, so I'll focus it on things I care about and enjoy.

If you don't want it, don't buy it - that will send a strong enough message that the game wasn't the best idea.

Hope this game isn't another victim of cancel culture.

"as well as the use of online abuse – which is a very real problem for many streamers – to generate entertainment"

Fiction has explored solemn themes and topical issues for many centuries, and now it gets backlash as "using them to generate entertainment". I couldn't make it up if I tried.

I don't even have much interest in the game itself, but I do hope this pseudomoralist moronic crap won't impact the release itself, at least. 🙄

What's the difference between this and a game like That Dragon, Cancer? Or This War of Mine? All of them can trigger some nasty feelings, but isn't that the purpose of artistic expression? The fact that it's in a form of a game doesn't degrade it.

I'm split on this. Looks like they put a ton of work into this game from the looks of the trailer and the splitting dialogue choices and etc. And I disagree on the notion that people shouldn't live out their fantasies on video games (that's partially what video games are for innit?)

But having seen how hard people simp in streams and get pretty creepy pretty hard and fast, I can see why streamers would be alarmed about a game that can potentially glorify modding for a gamer girl. The story of the game is that as a moderator, it's up to you to protect the streamer from a stalker right?

Couldn't care less about this game but...... Stupid cancel culture

Modernist note to all content creators. All content should avoid any of the following:
-Female characters unless adhering to a girls-are-men-too rubric.
-Hints of reality that some facet of the world may dislike.
-Any content that can stir racial undertones between groups.
-Any content that can stir gender comparison undertones between groups.
-Any content that can have any form of public debate on the qualities of the events or characters.
-Any content that can relate to events or people of the modern world.

For this purpose we recommend all entertainment and fiction content should include only straight white male characters set in WWII. Nobody can object to gratuitously shooting a Nazi in the head at point blank where every droplet of blood can be mapped into photo-realistic splatter, no identity-based political group can complain about the homogeneous characters in the historical setting, and anyone who does complain can only hazily complain as a generally misanthropic group about "only straight white men are in this game", mitigating the sharper impacts of targeted resentment of multiple specific groups. Modern military campaigns against small unheard of countries are also acceptable as a secondary series so long as the target country in the setting isn't large enough to have a lobby for their image.

It's not that this game didn't look like a dumpster fire anyway, but....what people don't seem to like about it is that there's a lot of truth in it. "Abby" seems like 200 different streamers we probably can't name because we've never given them 20 seconds of our day, but we all know who they are because we collectively gnashed our teeth last year knowing that E3 2020 was going to center around them, and we know we really dislike them from the brief clips we have been subjected to them. Abby is "real". And the events described are relatively realistic , even if in a campy setting.

People seem to go ballistic whenever any entertainment content hits onto things they dislike in the real world....and the more truth is inside a "stereotypical protrayal" of something, the more they seem to resent anyone showing that.

Plus, I sometimes wonder if the crusaders for "causes" that don't actually involve them actually listen to their own statements. The quote from above is hilarious: "There are people that have to live through these horrors every day, and to make a game that profits off that..."

The poster seems to miss that the people "living through the horrors".....are profiting off them as well.....and chose to enter that lions den. Doesn't mean they should get bitten....but nobody, male or female, goes into toxic internet streaming expecting the world will throw rose petals at their feet. Everyone going into that knows the lurking undertow is there...and they still do it....because money + hobby is alluring.

@Brydontk That's why I find this game a little creepy. I get most Internet Personalities get some rather "odd" fans, but this seems to glorify moderating (I've done it and it's not as cool as people think it is. It's mostly just chatting with a bunch of other mods about problematic users and what posts should/shouldn't be deleted) and acting as if the player is the only one standing in the way of protecting the female streamer. Seems a tiny bit creepy in and of itself and would probably promote the type of behaviour the game decries. I mean the fact that you're "protecting" the streamer seems a bit... ummm... fantasy-driven.

I have no interest in the game and if the devs wanna make it I can't stop them. Just going to put this in the pile of 'I think I'll skip this.'

this community is a trash fire lol

@Carck No, they are standing on the street corners to be seen as caring. If they cared they wouldn't throw insults, but ask genuine questions as to how it will raise awareness, in stead of being more concerned to paint themselves as being on the right side.

@NEStalgia I can't tell how much of that is satire and how much of it is genuine. Good post though and I agree, games should be about art and expression. The moment we start restricting the medium to bland shooty-bang-bang games we end up back as children's entertainment.

But, I do find elements of this story to have problematic elements and can see where the complaints of it potentially "glorifying" that kind of behaviour come from. I do feel bad for a lot of streamers both male and female who have to put up with this kinda BS. I'm just not 100% sure if the game is in good taste or not. I know I'll probably not play it because this does not seem to be my kinda jam and about an area of the web, I do not partake in. But, I hope the people who this game is for enjoy it and it does turn out to be a good game.

UGH!!! I am sick of people cowering down to SJW cancel culture crybabies! This must stop! We must resist these clowns who want to impose censorship upon everything that they don't like. These people have serious issues and they are not even customers of the things they complain about, so why the heck are companies still paying them any attention.

You have people like Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy making Star Wars for SJWS and not the fans. That is why Star Wars is garbage now.

Looked crap anyway, let's face it. Good riddance!

I dont get people people are complaining that these things happen in real life

Wow

There are plenty of things that happen in real life but you dont see police complaining about how they die in rainbow

You dont see WWII soilders mad that there story is being told

And honestly if this was called gamer guy with the exact same premise as gamer girl i garuntee you this game would not be getting controversy

Yes this stuff can happen to female twitch streamers but it can also happen to male twice streamer

However everyone will automatically believe a female side of the arguement rather than the male, want proof
Projared and relaxalax

A bunch of people spent hrs recording sceens for this game multiple scenes for multiple story routes but now its all going to go to waste because some people think this game is for simps

You should never judge a book by its cover and this game is no exception

I seriously hope it does come out because im a huge fan of fmv games and i am always happy to see something different happen in the fmv space and this looked like it had a great story going for it.

Cancel Culture is the idea of a mob demanding someone or something be canceled, de-platformed or refused work for wrong-think, political beliefs or "offensive" statements.

This game trailer has been taken down (and the game possibly canceled) because the developers received critical opinions. People explained why the game looks horrible and why it they see it as being in bad taste, and Wales Interactive either couldn't handle criticism or realized how idiotic this game is.

Those two situations are not the same. Those tweets, for example, aren't demanding the game be canceled or the trailer be pulled. They're just pointing out that this game is ridiculous on the surface and nothing more than a Twitch Mod training simulator for (yes, I'll use the word) beta males and simps to feel like they're a part of a good-looking woman's life by being a mod.

@Wexter At this point I can't tell how much of the entire world is satire and how much is genuine. Which I suppose is my point. Do we even know what "problematic content" we actually find problematic anymore?

I'm not sure how much of the game is "problematic" and how much of that is that we've been trained to react to "uh oh, this features girl, showing skin, internet, harassment, TAKE COVER! LAYING DOWN SUPPRESSION FIRE! RELOADING!

I cringed when I first saw it, but I honestly question if it's my own cringe based on the designed concept, a cringe based on social programming that this is going to light a fire, or a cringe because that's my first reaction any time I see a youtuber's thumbnail, and it looks so genuine.

In this case, does the game glorify the stalkers, or glorify "protect the girl" (which used to be an expectation and is now a hate crime?) The internet reaction of which was for the internet to go....protect the other real girls from this imaginary player character protecting the imaginary girl... It's all a bit inception.

On the other hand, even if we were to argue the game represents a "male fantasy" of protecting some vulnerable female character and that's why it's bad.....then...does that mean that the other games that show the male fantasy of stealing Porches and blowing away the former owner in public locations while staging a global narcotics empire is socially acceptable? And then we have GTAV the #1 game for years that actively features lap dances and pole dancing....thus...that's also socially acceptable, while defending a youtuber from internet trolls is loathsome.....

It even isn't just about dumbing things down to children's entertainment. It's that we're not even consistent in the messages we're reacting to, instead of having a specific social fibre, we just react to whoever decides to make noise along the lines of several pre-packaged "outrage theme kits." And only certain licensed kits are valid for public acknowledgement, so any dislike must be shoehorned into one of the 8 official kits.

I agree, I wasn't exactly fond of the game, certainly wasn't going to buy it. But...I can't help but wonder who it is that controls the "things that have been sanctioned as sterile for purified souls" that can shape all things in the world according to their likes and dislikes, and I'd also like to know how to get in on the action so I can reshape the world as I will it. My version may or may not include the pole dancing, definitely won't include the Porches, and I'll have a list of authorized persons it's ok to blow away in public.

Obligatory surprised pikachu face

“This game has to have been made by a team of men”
That comment renders that person as bad as the game itself

Cmon, theres a million movies about crimes, and are produced for entertainment. Im so sorry for this crystal generation.

Wow needing to be pulled form youtube dang folks can be so mean.

That is a shame, the style of game i actually like. Being a mod who controls the chat messages and seeing how the story plays out. Maybe let us play the game first and then decide how bad or good it is at least? It is a modern topic after all and there are countless movies and games that can be labelled questionable if this can

@Guybrush20X6 I think there's a place for 'simp'. To me it's more akin to 'incel' and 'nice guy'. If you are a guy who is throwing money, time, and praise at a woman you don't really know, and doing so in hope of something more, there's a problem with you, and the way you view and interact with women, and that problem will spill over and negatively affect yours and other's (including women's) lives.

@Cool_Squirtle I don't think it's anything this game has done in particular. I think the fact that online harrasment, especially towards public figures, has become such a big problem, that this is a game that on the surface puts you directly in the role of voyeur with a direct line to and some control over the victim comes far too close to reality, and that in turn promotes toxic online sexist behaviours.

Whether or not that is what the game intends (it doesn't seem so based on the press release) or whether or not that's what it achieves (couldn't say since it's unreleased), but that seems to be the fear I guess.

@JHDK There are too many people like you with their head stuck in the sand. Have you ever had dozens of people online spamming “kys” in your live feed? Ever had thousands of people slander you on social media? This isn’t talking about mean internet comments. It’s talking about where it crosses the line to real world abuse, such as DDOS attacks, stalking or Swatting. You are clearly coming from a misinformed position, so I’ll at least give you that.

@Slowdive I don’t agree with this, “it doesn’t work the way I like it so burn it all down,” mentality. Aren’t there any positives to social media? I hear that some people keep in touch with friends and family overseas using these things. It DOES come with negative usage, but don’t discount it because some people use it with ill intent. Like all tools, the tool is never to blame, but how we as humans choose to use it. It’s the same issue in gun debates. People blame the gun instead of blaming the people misusing it.

@Doofenshmirtz Considering a prominent BLM leader went on the news and stated “unless we see change we are going to keep burning stuff to the ground,” I wouldn’t blame the above commenter for not respecting the movement.

How dare they make a game bringing to light the problem that those people supposedly care about.

@Cool_Squirtle So, simp is short for “simpleton,” a simple-minded person. However, all the “cool kids” are throwing it around to mean someone who gives insincere support to women, in the hopes of getting some physical attention or a relationship in return. It’s just another catchphrase that internet harassers like to use, others such as “kys,” “ok boomer,” are typically used by the same type of person.

@Slowdive Well, you’re posting a comment on a form of social media in order to talk to me, so put your money where your mouth is.

@Cool_Squirtle a man who tries to woo a woman, usually a twitch streamer, by giving her money and begging for attention, then getting upset when she doesn't notice him

It did reek a bit of poor taste. Got to love the comment section as always becoming a circlejerk of ‘grrr SJW bad’ as usual though.

@LilMuku and that comment is apparently wrong anyway - on Twitter, WI stated that the script was co-written and dialog improvised by the lead actress herself. Whatever the quality of the final product, I seriously doubt the INTENTION of the creators was to portray this as exploitative or provoke this sort of backlash for publicity.

@TG16_IS_BAE @Slowdive commenting on Nintendo Life is hardly different than commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.

The internet is a double edge sword. Instant access to almost any information you could ever want and all of the different cultures of the world, but also the elevation of conspiracy theories, hatred, and shallow exploitation of our selves for empty admiration.
We might not all fall into the trap. You and I might be fine for now but the internet is the catalyst of the self imposed degradation of society.

Putting aside the subject matter and artistic vision vs exploitative cash in nature of the game... it's likely the choice of the player as unseen moderator rather than the actual streamer is at least in part due to the limited nature of the FMV format. Put simply, with a branching narrative where every decision point needs to be clearly signposted and then filmed to seamlessly blend into each other, having the on screen protagonist literally pause and ask the player what to do next is easier to write and edit together...

Off topic aside... can anyone confirm that some of the external video scenes in the trailer were shot in Chatham? The riverside scenes looked like the back of an office at Chatham Dockside, there are some very familiar looking flats in the distance and there's also a bright red Lighthouse Boat along that stretch of the river Medway too...

Last week's comments on Gamer Girl:

Blah blah blah women are trash, if they show skin they should put up with abuse, it's the internet. Why are they making this game about how female streamers experience the world?

Today's comments on Gamer Girl:. Boo, cancel culture and them SJW's are ruining games and getting them pulled. Free speech! Free speech!

There is a clear misogynistic tone to many of the commenters on this site with a clear agenda that shows they essentially hate women.

Oh yeah but Hatred is allowed to exist

@idrawrobots If there’s one thing that has been written about at length, it’s society degrading. Even in Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, it is mentioned how he believes books (books!!) of all things are the downfall of a degrading society.

Again, I stand by my point that it’s never at the fault of the tool in question, but the user. Tools are neutral, by default. Social media keeps families connected and helps us talk to each other about gaming, but it is also a part of cancel culture.

Schwarzenegger once had an egg thrown at him during a public speech, hit him right in the chest. When a reporter asked him about it, he laughed it off saying, “This is why I love America, because we live in a place where you can express your freedom of speech like that. You just have to learn to take the good with the bad,” and then he walked off. There’s a lot to learn from a response like that!

@Slowdive Are you sure about that? You’re posting on a social media site (Nintendo Life) that is even structured the same way as FB and Twitter, like a slot machine of endless articles. Its Pretty hard to talk about this stuff if you are forcing your definition of what is social media on us.

@TheBigK I want to highlight this comment, because the fact that a game like Hatred was published is proof of some major flaw in how society accepts violence but is super afraid of anything remotely sexual.

@Slowdive Martin Luther King was an SJW. Nelson Mandela was an SJW. Emmeline Pankhurst was an SJW. I have no clue why or how it became a slur.

@BarryandWill You’re making it sound like the same people are saying those things, though. Yes, they come from the same place, but that does not mean It is the same voice as the ones speaking. Focus on individuals, rather than groups. It will give you a clearer perspective on stuff like this.

@nessisonett It’s pretty amazing how language evolves to meet the times, for better or for worse. You’re absolutely right about the people you mentioned fighting for social justice, but back then social justice had a different meaning. Specifically, “let me vote, I am your equal,” among other rights that should be obvious!

These days, it’s evolved into something different. It is strange that it has come to mean someone who is just being sensitive, considering it’s powerful and meaningful origins!

The posts some people make really make it clear why I don't play online. Sad to see this kind of xbox frat boy crap on a nintendo fan site.

@TG16_IS_BAE The meaning hasn't changed. Do you think MLK would be ok with the police killing unarmed african americans?

@Slowdive A pandemic, concentration camps, foreign officials being assassinated on foreign ground, a financial crisis... yeah it’s basically Now That’s What I Call The Early 20th Century.

@StevenG You aren't paying enough attention if you don't think that the meaning of the term "SJW" has changed since King's time. You also aren't paying attention if you think that cops only do bad things, and worse, that they only do bad things to black people. Everybody is a target for their bad apples, please wake up to that fact. The police, as an institution, does more good than it does harm, hopefully they get their bad apples sorted out.

@Slowdive You just blamed an entire group of people "the right" for a problem that they are not collectively, individually and solely responsible for. There are more people involved in societal problems than just, "the right, " or "the left," but continue being blinded by political prejudices.

@Slowdive Indeed, "social media" turned the whole "adult" world into middle school, forever and ever, and ever. I thought I got out of that world many years ago and escaped in tact. And then middle school conquered the world through Zuckerberg, who, ironically, even still looks like a permanent prepubescent snot.

@TG16_IS_BAE Social media doesn't really have any positives associated with it beyond corporate marketing use...whether that's positive is debatable. The positives you list were already accommodated by numerous communication means long before social media appeared. The nature of "social" is not direct communication, but group communication, quite literally designed around the nature of school "socialness" - with Facebook being literally designed and named around college orientation "facebooks". It's a success. It represents the cliquishness of school behavior and aligning everyone into a group format that inherently degenerates into tribalism mob settings.

@idrawrobots While this very page is in a sense a form of "social" media, there's always been a distinction in behavior and atmosphere on a forum versus "social". Largely because a forum is a proactive communications channel where everyone involved starts with some form of common interest and at least at the start is discussing that common interest, and is on a continuous track of conversation and updated topics of discussion, centering around a point, "social" is a free for all of each existing clique decending upon each new topic that comes up in front of them, and the topics up in front of them are geared for reactions.

That doesn't facilitate "keeping up with family and friends. We already had phones, email, snail mail, video chat, texting, and instant messaging that facilitates that. Social is about putting them all in one room for Thanksgiving dinner and asking them all at once to deliver their opinion on Apartheid while stating your pro-Apartheid stance is the best stance, while ads for flights to Africa appear on the margins, and links to BLM op-eds appear embedded.

Confusing anything that involves communicating with others publicly with "social media" isn't quite right. Forums for dialogue existed well over a decade before "social media" existed. Prior to "social media" the closest to that was the AOL Chatrooms, which was also a cesspool. But was also always kept apart as different from forums. A forum is "social" in that we're all having a conversation. But generally it's a targeted actual conversation, in a public setting, where others can hear and join in - a forum. Social media is exceedingly different in that it casts a wide net, doesn't really invite direct discussion so much as standing on momentary soap boxes to declare stances, and to algorithmically, intentionally, mesh and echo those statements to as many people as possible to foster argument. Basically, it's like most of Damo's articles, but done automatically by computer....

@Slowdive It depends on how equality is being argued. Some people argue that equality means that the rich should give them more money. Others mean it specifically towards social issues. Nobody is "falling" for anything, lol, it's a transition of language based on current events.

@NEStalgia So it's not a positive thing that people can make friends overseas, stay in contact with their families that may also be overseas or thousands of miles away? It's not a positive that someone who is deployed in the military has an easy way to let their families know that they are okay?

Many of the posters on here swing like pendulums, from one side to the next, yet it's hard for them to balance in the middle. It's hard to accept the fact that something like facebook can produce something good AND something bad, at the same time.

You choose what you focus on, I'm not here to change that, but I think it's pretty disingenuous to see that something does a bad thing, and therefor is incapable of producing good. That's a form of implicit bias called the "horn effect," I suggest you make yourself familiar with it's definition. It's also coupled with the "halo effect." Again, make yourself smarter by understanding those terms, it will help you a lot when wading through social issues.

The fact that both sides hate this game speaks volumes. (Including the half that is supposed to support it)

@nessisonett I’m curious as to what you believe to be the difference in “justice” and “social justice”

I'll check the game out. I understand the garbage that women gamers go through. I've seen how they are treated in games like Team Fortress 2. However, I didn't see this game as being much of a problem. Sure, it's corny and stereotypical, but their hearts are in the right place.

Seemed like a creepy sub-par game.

@idrawrobots Justice essentially means the idea that people get what they deserve, social justice applies that between the individual and society, ie. distribution of wealth, human rights, social mobility. It’s an interesting question given that about 1 person in 10000 these days seems to actually know the drivel they spout from their mouth holes.

@ecco6t9 at first I paid little attention to this game existing as I scrolled past its article. I thought it might be a game where you played a John Twitch making sure Gamer Girl didn’t get too sexy and scare away advertisers.
Now that I know what the game is I don’t understand the problem. You play as a moderator for a streamer that has a stalker. It’s a mystery game it’s a thriller, it draws on real life as a way to draw attention to bad behavior that happens everyday and scary situations that can and do arise for people with an online presence.
Sure it is all wrapped in a rather lame package that would only appeal to a crowd of people that deeply care about issues online harassment and stalking; which severely limits the effectiveness of such a game, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with the overall concept.

@Slowdive That’s the thing with capitalism, though. When you see someone making a lot of money, you have to recognize that most of the time, they worked hard to get to that position. The benefit of capitalism, and why it is such a strong basis for economy, is because it largely is dependent on what you are willing to put into it. The fact that the guy you mentioned making so much money is proof that the more you put in, the more return on investment you receive.

@DarkSim01 Can't believe it takes #55 to finally have a intelligent opinion here. This was a pile of garbage, clearly exposed by the community and the company is doing damage control by itself to save cash, not for the sake of a fabled "cancel culture".

Oh, and Six Days in Fallujah still happened as far as 2009. So either the "cancel culture" is this old, OR, groundbreaking idea, some stuff is just terrible. And I didn't see many defend that one back then.

@SSJW You can say that all you want, doesn't change the fact that we're lied to all the time. Buying medium-to-large ticket items, getting support on health insurance, '08-'09, the wars on drugs and oil, the current round of Smash child-misconduct controversy, Covid (both the lack of handling of the disaster preparedness and the massive errors that are being discovered in how the number of cases are reported), etc.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_advertising
Not to mention it's a known and well-documented media tactic.

So you might want to back off of those Gaslighting-sounding posts.

Any of you immature and possibly misogynistic young men who think it’s okay to publish a game like this are quite disturbed. Honestly, check yourselves. This coming from an old man gamer with a wife and daughter.

@Kamalen Thank you. Some people just can't accept that something can just be bad without someone else being to blame. It goes hand-in-hand with this generation (sadly, my generation) of people born between 1985 and 2005 that can't accept failure, take responsibility or stop playing victim. Not all, not all, not all... but most.

Sometimes you screw up, sometimes you make bad decisions, sometimes the fault lies with yourself. And that's ok. It's not the mistake that defines you... it's how you respond. Accepting it and learning is the adult thing to do. Playing victim and blaming this intangible concept of "cancel culture" or "systemic" whatever is the child's response.

The best response they could have made was, "This game isn't intended to "offend" people, but it's not for everyone. We hope you give it a chance and enjoy it. If not, we hope you enjoy one of our other titles that may be more suited to your tastes."

@Kamalen It would be interesting to see if the critics of ‘cancel culture’ would respect the free speech and crucial rights of a comedian who dared to make a 9/11 joke.

@TG16_IS_BAE No one said any of that, but the voices in your head.

Pointing out A does B. Doesn't mean A doesn't also do C. Stop pretending that's an argument.

Bad apples spoil the barrel. The barrel is spoiled.
Adding good apples only turns them into bad apples.

Read about all the cops fired for being good apples. In my own city we have one that lost her pension for being a whistleblower.

The term hasn't changed, you just can't admit it.

None of this changes the fact that SJW is nothing bad. It's just that snowflakes don't like being called out on being racists or misogynists.

@DarkSim01 Not sure that's a full generational problem. But I see your point.

And clearly the company would have made this response... if there was something to back it up. It feel like they had nothing to defend their promise.

@nessisonett Heh. Strangely, those "anti-SJW"/"anti-cancel" seems to show only on specific subjects.

I stopped giving them any credits in gaming with the whole Battlefield drama, where prototype, never developped weapons or people standing up on flying plane wings was ok, but playable female soldiers was an Unacceptable© breach of History Accuracy©

@TG16_IS_BAE No, my point was that "social media" is neither the oldest, the newest, nor the most ideal tool for that task. It's purpose lies elsewhere. While some people may use it for that purpose, it is a less ideal tool for that purpose than others, and were it to cease to exist, the remaining tools for those purposes are both older and newer and more well suited to that purpose.

The "Socials" were not designed to be a better telephone, better forum, better instant messaging/text client, better video chat. And those functions do not vanish in the absence of the "Socials". The "Socials" were designed to be a large fishing net to pull people in and entrap them within the enclosed space for as much time as possible, and to become people's nearly complete "portal" to all other information and communication similar to what AOL did back in the 90's, but with the sophistication of datamining and utilization of users data that did not exist in the 90's as a monetary backend. They did not offer anything new that improved the ability to keep up with others. They invented something new that encloses you in their datamining and retains you in that space for as much "engagement time" as possible to optimize the amount of information you feed to them so they can monetize it. Similar to what NL does with it's "clickbait" articles, the more controversy created within that system, the more engagement time, the more valuable to harvested data, the greater the ROI.

Using Social media to keep in touch with family and friends is the digital equivalent to using the Jumbotron in Times Square to send someone pictures of your cat. It never even promoted itself as the most useful tool for the job.

@Kamalen Maybe it just seems more prevalent in this generation. Either way, it's sad that people have that mindset.

And you're right, the company had nothing to back it up at all. I hope they grow from this experience, but this project seemed like nothing more than a Beta Male Simulator.

@SSJW Yeah yeah, more complicated explanation, less likely the scenario. Outrage Marketing or people lying in general is not anywhere near that razor, you Sweet Summer Child. Get to the point.

And before you make your next post, re-read my first one — I didn't say that I believed that it was Outrage Marketing (that company doesn't have enough clout to pull it off, I don't think), just wouldn't be surprised to find out that my assumption is correct followed by nipping a hypothetical reply in the bud.

@Kamalen

@nessisonett Anthony Jeselnik makes some of the most "offensive" jokes you could imagine, including some about 9/11. I say nothing is off limits in comedy.

And in general, I stand on the American principle of free speech:
you have every right to say whatever you want, provided it is not a direct call to violent action.

@nessisonett Nice one ! Will re-use it.

@nessisonett Tremendous meme

@SSJW Never heard of it, but I would agree with you based on the name alone, it likely should have been shunned. The point is, there are a lot of terrible things depicted in games. To imply that a topic is entirely off limits simply because it is a "Real issue people are dealing with now" as some of the posts in the original article said, is the part that I think is non-sensical. I only mention , murder, abuse, theft, etc... as those are things that are clearly terrible, yet prominently featured and often glamorized in games. Obviously, if the game is distasteful, it should be shunned. I've no issues with that. I just have issues saying the topic is off limits in the first place.

@SSJW I'm not accusing you of saying it is off the table. I'm saying I have an issue with the posts in the original article that imply a project of this nature should have never been given the greenlight. It sounds like we agree.

@JHDK as a combat veteran I second that.

@Raw_Dawg Thanks for helping to keep us free.

I don't understand why the internet gives people so much power with such little influence?

We shouldn’t try to minimize online harassment. I am not saying this game should not have been made, I don’t know enough about it, but there have been some absolutely DISGUSTING attempts at minimizing this stuff like it’s just “mean people on the internet”.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/twitch-streamer-sweet-anita-terrified-by-stalker-chilling-death-threat/news-story/30b70afdbd6d67dac727316e390d29c1

@commentlife I think this would have gone over much better if you played as the woman herself trying to figure out how to deal with an obsessed fan. Playing as the moderator watching over her essentially demotes her to "damsel in distress" and also gives the game a creepy, voyeuristic vibe in a way I don't think the developers intended. Honestly, I don't think the game's basic concept is bad, but the execution is terrible.

Edit: Oh yeah, I find the term "Gamer Girl" to just be very cringe inducing and it's an overused stereotype. They should have given the main character a cooler sounding screen name, and then used that as the title of the game.

I'm really looking forward to this game. Love FMV and premise sounds really interesting. So I hope the developer doesn't give in and just release the game.

@NEStalgia Funny, my friends and family find it useful. Maybe you just haven't figured out how to incorporate it's usefulness into your life.

@StevenG The term hasn't changed? Why is everyone using it in different ways, then? You have people saying it means real, social change, and you have people saying that it means you're being too sensitive. The usage is out there, you can't stop it by burying your face in the sand.

Sorry, but I can't agree with your extremist views of the police. I've trained too many of them in person, and there are way too many good people on these police forces that really would lay their lives on the line for you, a stranger they have never met. There is always room for improvement, and I believe in the greater good that they are accomplishing. A bad man does not overrule the actions of a good man.

@SSJW Next to nothing, that's my whole point.

@nessisonett,

I think it became a slur when the whole SJW became very political, and their issues became more feeling than fact based, the rise in identity politics and social media platforms like Twitter have not helped matters either, I doubt all the people you mentioned in your last post would be a fan of many of the modern SJW's either, or they would even agree it helps any of their original causes very much.

@NEStalgia.

Awesome post, and to be honest is why I do not have a Facebook or Twitter account, or even follow either of them, too much scope for division on both platforms, and any positives like family interaction is lost in the sea of toxic opinions and comments from our supposed moral guardians.

@Jeff,

Not sure you having a wife an daughter makes your point of view on this anymore valid, I too have a wife and daughter, so does that make my stance against a form of censorship any less important?, of course not, and the old tried and tested argument of asking asking people to check themselves, give me a break fella.

@TG16_IS_BAE,

Totally agree with this, far too many people demonizing the police force in the U.S, and none of it based on any real statistics, it's more feelings than actual facts, the police force is like anything else as you will get both good and bad working within it, but on the whole these are hard working good people that do a great job.

@Doofenshmirtz How was that racist? I have no issue with black people, in fact... I love black people. But saying that every officer kills black people is far from the truth. What about the black officers, hm? Are they bad too?

@Slowdive Equality is good. People want things that the "superior" group doesn't even have. Nobody that wants equality wants things to be equal. They really just want to be the superior group. If we were equal, a man hitting a woman would be JUST as bad as a woman hitting a man. But no, in this world, men hitting women is WORSE than women hitting men. That's not equality. I want everyone to be treated the exact same. But the "inferior" want to overthrow the "superior" and take on the role as the new "superior". They call THAT equality. That's more of giving the "superior that reigned" over the "inferior" a taste of their own medicine. Two wrongs don't make a right.

They are free to publish or not. People are free to purchase, boycott, or not. The issue is when one tries to enforce their will upon others limiting their free choice.

As for social media, I am pretty sure people have been jerks to one another since cave paintings were invented. It is just the barriers to participation have been reduced to almost nil. Eventually we might learn that you don’t change strangers minds by shouting your opinion louder and more aggressively. But then as a political cartoon recently suggested the American anthem might be better as the song that goes “Don’t know much about history....”

@Bermanator Are you doing a Trump impression on purpose? Is this some sort of meta-humour that I’m not attuned to?

@SSJW cancel cancel culture lol

@nessisonett I was not trying to be humorous or anything like that. I was being serious.

I don't think this game is going to be bad because of the context. I think it's going to be bad because the dialogue within looks cringy af.

Also what streamer asks their mods to make decisions for them about their personal life. I think we should totally explore "gamer girl" culture but the way this game was going about it was in the weirdest direction.

@SSJW,

When did I even mention black people?, but just simply stating a group of people get stopped more by the police is not evidence in itself of a bias, you have to look at what percentage of the overall criminal population the group in question represent, and the amount of crime they commit, otherwise it's just a statement with no context at all.

@nessisonett I feel like presenting the argument using a strawman image ends up hurting the points people make like when people repeat a quote adding a stutter or inverted caps.

Yes i do feel like people calling the addition of character choices in games "political" is a silly argument since i feel like choice and variety are great when it comes to games, its why i love a good character creator so much, especially when the character is meant to be a surrogate for the player, its nice to be able to choose a character you can identify with.

its just that more often than not when people make these comparisons its different people making each of the points shown, its similar to how people accuse certain fanbases of "never being happy" when its usually a case of a fanbase being extremely fractured (like the sonic fanbase)

i can see how it can happen, the internet while giving people a broader view of the world has kind of muted individuality (its why there are still a lot of issues surrounding mental health since often its something that you need to know a person to see)

@SSJW Only 1% of the 1% that serve see combat. 10% of the country served during WWII. It was known as the greatest generation. "Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

@SSJW,

You seem to want to argue which is fine, but as I said I never brought up the subject of black people at all in the initial post you responded to, and just because you believe something is true does not make it so, these are complicated issues and there is no definitive right or wrong.

Your flippant replies show you are not interested in a proper debate about this, so let's just leave it at that.

@SSJW They aren't an establish pairing. 99% of the military doesn't have PTSD. Honestly the PTSD is likely higher in the civilian sector. Not sure how many civilians I've met that have claimed PTSD for one reason or another. Hard times only break the weak. You kind of sound like one of those weak men. Be careful not to end up broken.

Think it funny that all these people complain, and just ignore reading facts that prove them wrong. My favorite is the well of course this was written by an man when in fact it was an Woman.

@Raw_Dawg

Sometime arguing with someone is pointless. Especially if you can see in their username where they stand on issues.

Still would not call people who suffer ptsd weak.

@Arnold-Kage I didn't say people with PTSD were weak. Some of the toughest people I ever met I have PTSD. I was talking about these snowflakes that need safe space. I like schooling people like @SSJW. The last person was so convinced they were right that she wrote 30 messages trying to prove me wrong only to realize she was wrong. lol

@SSJW really because I though the left was always complaining about how we flex are military muscle.

@SSJW because Trump isn't flexing military muscle state side? I guess the civil war also didn't happen. Maybe try forming a better argument and get back to me.

@SSJW I didn't say I wanted a civil war but it's always a possibility. I don't think it would look like much of one. I thought you would put up more of a fight. lol

@SSJW I already did. You conceded @Arnold-Kage you gave this kid way too much credit.

@SSJW,

It's not me making flippant remarks, and as I have said on the whole the police do a great job, and the crime rates in particular violent crime and murder do not back up your view, as the group in question commit a disproportionate amount of this type of crime, as for stop and search figures I will bow to your knowledge on that one.

@SSJW,

Without a doubt there are factors that attribute to the figures, and my biggest concern is that black on black murder is very rarely discussed by the left, as it can't be labeled prejudiced in any way, but it's a real problem, there have been something like eight black children killed in the last month or so, totally heartbreaking for the parents involved, and just upsets me so much.