Update: Top Hat has now shared a series of tweets highlighting the messages circulating on social media about Sense - A Cyberpunk Ghost Story and the studio. You can see them in full over on Twitter. Attached to this is a follow-up response:
We originally did not want to make this post, as to not accidentally incite a search for these posters and cause further fights. However, as there are now industry-adjacent people slandering/gaslighting us as liars, we've compiled a sampling from twitter, FB, and email.
Skepticism is healthy in this industry, but it is not universally applied. Not only were many of these comments actively findable in <10 seconds to verify, but many "curious" individuals seem to have a vetted interest in slandering us as liars because of their connections.
We don't blame people for being skeptical; but keep this energy toward other claims. This isn't a marketing campaign. The game released 5 months ago originally. This was a pre-emptive response to what we saw as a rising, ridiculous spread of lies and slurs aimed at us.
We can play semantics, but if you can't understand why a response to such is needed, you're being willfully obtuse. We couldn't let false, hateful info spread, and also wanted to reinforce our stance against creative infringement. It certainly got bigger than we expected.
With that said, we appreciate, sincerely, the overwhelming support - really. As we said we didn't want to make this post, but we aren't going to allow people to spread lies - no less from those with a vetted interest in calling us liars. We aren't changing Sense's content.
Original article [Sat 2nd Jan, 2021 00:15 GMT]: Top Hat Studios - one of the developers of the upcoming side-scrolling survival horror sci-fi game Sense - A Cyberpunk Ghost Story - has issued a statement regarding apparent calls to censor the game after receiving death threats over the art style.
The studio categorically refuses to censor the title - stating how it won't restrict "creative expression" and believes creators should be allowed "freedom" to express themselves. According to the same statement, there have been threats to review-bomb the title and harass its distributors. In addition to this, it's mentioned how it has passed classification.
Here's the full and rather lengthy message shared by Top Hat on its official Twitter page:
If we hear any developments, we'll be sure to let you know. Sense - A Cyberpunk Ghost Story is currently available to pre-order on the Switch for $19.99 and will be released on 7th January. Learn more about this game in our previous story.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 275
Well... if you want to review bomb this game because of these reasons, let me tell you there are millions of games out there that should get the same treatment.
Sad move really. Just don’t buy the game. That already ‘hurts’ the developer.
Good for them! Censorship is never good.
Can you really take these threats that seriously when they literally threatened to review bomb the game? We all know that never works the way people want it to.
Still, good on them for sticking to their guns and not complying because of "many messages from gamers"
am I the only one who has literally never heard of this game, let alone controversy around it
I can't really see anything that offensive based on what I see in trailers. Is there a specific event within the story that may trigger people or something like that?
At least this company is not leting there fanbase threaten them into doing somthing they just don't want to do. but if you think about it there anger is understandable, they have been waiting years for a game that just turned out to suck eggs, but how there exspressing there anger is out of line, giving death threats to the company is just trashy there people to. but this is coming from somewon who has never played this game or look at much news for it just going based of what I heard.
This is some free goodwill points for the publisher, although it needs to be acknowledged that they are small enough to not suffer major backlash for making statements like this.
With that being said, this is a stance many, many other publishers should really be taking. I'm sick of seeing companies censor games for pretty much any reason. If this medium wants to be taken seriously, that kind of stuff really needs to frick off already.
I feel like buying the game just to support them for being so resilient
Regardless of what the three people that are upset said, I think this 'controversy' has helped them tremendously in marketing and making impressions. Still not my kind of game, but I wouldn't have even known this game existed if not for the noise.
Honestly Humans don't deserve this planet.
@Tuulenpoika I agree no publisher should get bullied into doing somthing they don't want to do
@Entrr_username
It's a straight forward attempt to cause "controversy" which they hope will get Nintendo's attention. They want someone with actual power to censor the game but that type of thing only works on Sony and against anime games.
Never heard of the game but this mess is great advertisement.
this is what cancel culture is.
Not sure if what I'm about to say is fair, but this sounds to me like they are bigging up some of the negative reactions to the game so that they can make it appear as controversial as possible, because they know that controversy sells. They want people to think "Gosh! Is the game really so edgy and explicit?" As I say, maybe I am wrong, but it feels to me like they just want to maximise the "controversial" nature of the game, as the statement is a bit too over the top.
Gotta admit, I hadn’t heard of the game but am purchasing it after looking into it. Not because of the controversy (I don’t like gratuitous sex and violence) but because I’m a fan of Japanese horror, which is what the developers are trying to invoke. Japanese horror often has ties to sex and sexuality (Death Mark and NG are good examples of this) and while it can distract from the atmosphere, some might argue that it’s part of the atmosphere. It’s down to personal taste. Though of course I don’t know the specifics of this game yet.
@dustinprewitt No it's not. "Cancel culture" is more illusion than anything.
I really don’t get why people are offended by boobs.
The developers are living out their fantasy and some gamers will experience theirs as a result. It doesn’t hurt anybody.
I would be surprised that people would send death threats to someone for something as minimal as this but then I remembered its sadly a common and worryingly growing thing these days.
Doesn't matter if you're a small developer, Jk Rowling or an average Joe, 1 death threat is 1 too many.
Anyway censorship is never a good thing unless you want that sweet, sweet China money from Winnie the Pooh then by all means bend over backwards for it like CDP or any number of Western companies do.
Even after watching a trailer I can't figure out what's supposed to be standing out compared to other games. The most offensive thing I saw were the walking animations.
Not sure what there is to even warrant a censor here, smh, not that believe in censorship for games anyways - there’s a rating system in place for such matters.
But this looks a bit like Dex, and I loved Dex. Less action here, but still sold. If this gets a 7+ I’ll buy it at launch.
so they'll get a boost/more awareness for their game?
@Ooyah yeah, i'm looking around, and most everything i'm seeing is just people going "wow, this (artstyle/massive pair of honkers) looks bad" or various quips on it being unrealistic/goofy looking
even on here, it doesn't seem to go much farther than that, i don't think there have been calls to change it, just that it looks bad, not exactly "censorship"
I wasn’t too impressed with the trailer for this game. Seems interesting but just didn’t click with me. I’ll wait for a review on this one. But man, death threats over the art style? Come on
@SwitchVogel
Exactly this. If I'm being honest, this really just sounds like a marketing ploy to get people who otherwise wouldn't give this game a second look interested in it.
God bless these developers for having a backbone to stand up to the cancel culture cult. They are a prime example of how businesses should handle such people and put them in their place like the feckless children that they are.
This reeks of a marketing stunt. The people who make death threats are generally the ones who love scantily clad female anime girls.
Well they sure know how to cultivate an audience. This is low. They must have realised that the game looked like utter drivel so now they play the ‘oh no cancel culture’ card and there we go, now there is an audience that love nothing more than to show those lefties who’s boss. This is an absolute marketing stunt. If ever a statement was engineered to generate the maximum reaction from KotakuInAction GamerGate turbo basement virgins, this is it.
@somebread Same. If anything I'm now somewhat interested in the game thanks to this so-called controversy.
Smells like a marketing stunt, but...if the game is good, the game is good and I'll give it a look regardless. I like the art style, so controversy or not, it already had my attention.
So when Neil Druckmann came out slamming ‘fans’ for sending death threats to him and his team for daring to go in that direction with TLOU2, did the censorship lot come out in support of him? No? Well he did refuse to censor the game after all!
@Riderkicker unrelated, but always nice to see another rider fan on here
@mazz
I also want to know, what is the Issue here?
What they want them to take out?
Good for them. I mean, it looks rather tacky to me (and I might be wrong - of course I'll read a review) but my usual course of action is not to buy it rather than get upset about it. If this helps someone sleep at night, then it's fine by me. Plenty more games for me to play. Really no need for all this drama.
@Snatcher I highly doubt the threats of review bombing are coming from their fanbase, fans of this type of game, or possibly even gamers. This reeks of the Twitter puritans that look for something to be offended by, and then attack. And as the comic book industry has found, if you give into their demands, they DO NOT BUY your product.
This is obviously fake. No one is demanding anything. No one knew about this game until this statement. Which was precisely the point.
@TheFox probably not, but the fact that there getting threaten is just wrong, I swear some people act like devs are not people.
I'm really confused (as it seems others are) about what they are invoking demands for censorship for. Are there original sources, NL, to support their claim regarding death threats and a non-PR statement that summarizes what the actual 'complaints' are, or do we only have Top Hats' statement to go on?
@Averagewriter I’d love to know why Anita Sarkeesian lives rent-free in your lot’s heads. She made comments about 7 years ago that people still bring up. Isn’t that exactly cancel culture?
So called 'Cancel Culture' is nothing more than holding people accountable for their actions and words. The furor is (99.9% of the time) from bigots who want a free ride. It's not censorship.
true punk , take note cdpr, rather than heavily censoring your game in regions without equal rights
I see some parts of humanity are yet to evolve past witch hunts and stone throwing against something as redundant and inconsequential as breast size. Pathetic.
Good on the developers for sticking to their guns.
This is great promotion for the game and if it continues to be in the news up until its inevitable review bombing, then it will do very well, selling far more copies than it otherwise would have. Big boobs and triggered snowflakes is a winning combination.
@JimmySpades supports cancel culture.
@Darlinfan Can you please specify a few of those 'delicate sensibilities' you're implying?
I’ve personally reached the end of my tether with character designs such as these, so I can understand the frustration.
The crazy thing for me is always how the design does not mesh at all with the personalities in play; from a story perspective it’s really jarring.
Something like Manuela on Fire Emblem gets no complains from me because of how her design ties to her personality, there’s clearly effort been shown there.
When a detective dresses like THIS; it just strikes me as lazy and taking advantage.
Obviously the response is to not play the game, and ignore it - review bombing is bad!
@SpergParagon SJWs saying cancel culture doesnt exist is like NRA deplorables saying guns dont kill people - people kill people.
lol yeah they’re getting threats, and they’re sticking to their guns. Right. Sounds more like a little controversy to boost sales to me. I ain’t buying that game anyway, though it’s because of the walking animation that makes me think they’ve never observed people in stride, rather than the body proportions that make me think they’ve never observed women whatsoever.
@dustinprewitt I'll take your bait. How did I say (or even imply) that 'Cancel Culture' doesn't exist?
Well this thread is toxic.
@dustinprewitt there’s no such thing
@Darlinfan Erm, thanks for putting words in my mouth regarding my philosophy?
@dustinprewitt SJWs are also imaginary boogeymen invented by reactionaries to rile themselves up. And by all means, keep working straight out of the pre-fascist right-wing playbook.
I assume that as a staunch detractor of cancel culture you will live by your professed principles and defend my right to identify the nature of your rhetoric, rather than trying to censor me.
Fair enough. I was just unclear what you meant. TBH it was kinda hard to parse.
Feels like a set up by the developers to get attention towards the game. Not really sure the threats are real. Which obviously worked to some extent.
@Averagewriter Do you have any examples that (provably) are from her mouth? I've noticed that her hardcore detractors have had trouble providing it, at least in the past.
@Darlinfan Thanks. And also, I'm not disagreeing that this isn't a hyper-cynical publicity stunt by the publisher.
I doubt anyone cares about this game. I didn't even know about it and I'd be called an "SJW" or whatever. Don't know. Don't care. This is clearly marketing nonsense. They got stupid looking big boob characters and think they're being rebellious with this nonsense message. I guarantee most of us don't give a *****. With Hollow Knight Silksong making Edge Magazine's cover and details being shared, there is WAY MORE interesting stuff happening in indie gaming LOL.
@hitherehello I don't doubt that the threats are real, there's a lot of idiots on the internet. But one thing I have seen a lot of, from people on both sides of this kind of argument, is blowing things out of proportion. A handful of idiots without any real following will post something about being upset and call for a boycott. But then the media or YouTubers start talking about it as if it were a big movement and all of a sudden you have what looks like a major force, when in fact all you really have is a handful of people complaining.
A cynical - though no doubt effective - ploy to bring attention to an obviously sub-par game. "We've received death threats" - cease and desist letters from CD Projekt Red don't count, guys. Can't wait to see the reviews for this obvious garbage, it's going to be brutal.
@Kirby_Girl Heh, yeah. I don't care in the least about this game either. I just wanted to try to wipe away some smears about personal responsibility.
Good on them, an artist's vision should never change for others opinions.
If their vision was truly so awful they would reap what they sow.
I wish more devs stand up against this censorship happy twitter community. Censorship is and always will be a bad thing.
@Averagewriter Please give links to your examples. BTW, i've become bored and will be leaving the discussion.
@Averagewriter Sarkeesian is the one saying things you don't like, and Naughty Dog is harmed by anti-SJWs for having a different opinion? Is that what you mean?
@Averagewriter who did Anita fire?
@Averagewriter Anita Sarkeesian doesn’t work for Naughty Dog. In any capacity. She wasn’t involved with The Last of Us 2 either. Please provide evidence to the contrary.
@FireballXTC
"A cynical - though no doubt effective - ploy to bring attention to an obviously sub-par game"
And a cynical-though no doubt effective- article to bring web traffic to an obviously sub-par comments section!
@KillerBOB I can't go along with that, BOB - you killed Laura Palmer!
@nessisonett While I understand the sentiment you are trying to communicate I do believe you're not fully understanding or purposefully misrepresenting the stance the publisher/devs are making as a publicity stunt. They are standing firm that they want to make the game how they want to make it and refuse to let people say how they should/shouldn't make it. They are not breaking any laws and they stated the game is rated M. Games like Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, God of War and many other games have had nudity in them including horror titles. So them having their game misrepresented and threatened is highly frustrating when they have invested years of their lives into making it due to some placement of pixels that look like bare breasts is very silly.
Let's go to The Last of Us 2 example. I disagree with how the game handled its story and characters as I felt it wasn't very good (I do not hold a minority opinion on this). But it was the game Naughty Dog wanted to make so it is what it is. If they are allowed to make the game how they want to and we disavow those who sent them death threats or review bombing the same should apply with Sense. I think Naughty Dog deserves far harsher criticisms for their practices of mistreating their employees rather than their quote "woke SJW agenda" or how I'd just call it bad writing as Joel's actions in the opening hours were exceptionally out of character in order to start a trite played out revenge plot that's message is "isn't violence for the sake of violence bad. And violence just makes more violence" is kind of a crummy thing to do to an established character outside of whether or not they are male or female. Or maybe I'm just a sensible person in the room who just simply did not like the story in the Last of Us 2.
Even if you think the game is bad it is really uncalled for to call it drivel when you and I have yet to have a chance to play it and decide how the content was presented is tasteful or not.
Just wait till NLife management learns it has a guy who was nearly arrested in Scotland for making a joke in it!
It's probably 10 people with nothing better to do.
must say: the whole "i'm buying this game because the creator is so brave" schtick is very tiring (no matter what the situation is)--judging from metacritic at least, the game is extremely middling, so blindly rushing in to support a mediocre product without doing any research beforehand feels foolish
@somebread I happen to agree with how tiring it is. If a publisher/developer wants to censor their product or change things to fit the social norms of another market that's cool. If a publisher/developer doesn't want to do that, that's cool too. I get annoyed when it is a 3rd party removed from the development like console manufacturers or even online busy-bodies try to do it as games are art and the artist should be allowed to express their art as they wish provided it is not violating any laws.
Though I do not plan to buy this game unless there is a major discount. But, if people want to buy the "brave" artists work it is their money I guess... I'll wait for user reviews lol
Date:January first/second, 2021
Time of publishing: 12:15 A.M. UK time, 7:15 P.M. EST
First comment flame war of the year
Topic: censorship, a fairly controversial topic.
Relevance of flame war to the topic:8.5/10
@Wexter It’s already out on PC and hasn’t received a single genuine good review. Now I’m not one to accept critics’ opinions as fact but when so many varying critics reach a consensus, I think it’s fair to say that this isn’t exactly a good game. You could tell from the trailer that it was shoddily put together too. They’ve manufactured this in an attempt to get a few sales from people who care more about upsetting their SJW boogeymen than actual quality.
@nessisonett The game appears to have some very positive user reviews from before the controversy on Steam. Seems to be a heavily stylized 2D point and click adventure game similar to the ones from the early 90s. The art design is nice, seems to have a stable frame rate and the story seems to be getting a fair bit of praise. It feels to me you are projecting which was where I was annoyed... I don't follow critic reviews too much anymore as I love the games by Spiders, who put out Technomancer, Bound by Flame and Greedfall who critics enjoyed calling at best mediocre and at worst horrible games. And in my opinion, they are some of the best classic CRPGs released since Dragon Age Origins. So this idea of what is a "genuine good review" is kinda a bad argument when it's gotten a ton of positive reception from its audience on PC. It doesn't look like it will set the ground on fire, but calling it drivel is a bit much.
Freedom of speech and expression versus censorship has been a major point of contention over the past decade especially. Just a few personal thoughts:
1) Freedom is not some carte blanche entitlement to do or say whatever you please without consequences or ramifications. It is the same as any other great responsibility; it's only as good and noble as what each person chooses to do with it. Treated irresponsibly, selfishly, or wastefully, it can and inevitably will be taken away from us.
2) One person/group's right to expression stops where it violates the rights of or threatens physical damage to another person or private or public property. This includes any form of protest; any and all legitimacy ends where violence, looting, arson, etc. are committed against innocent people.
3) No single person/group should have rights to expression not granted to others, nor should they be able to dictate for everyone else what is acceptable or allowed to remain publicly visible (examples: statues, monuments, brand labels, "controversial" films and TV shows, books, etc.). Such a society is NOT free in any sense, and precedents such as 1930s Germany should be a warning for our society right now.
4) While you may be free to speak or express yourself in so many ways, at the end of the day what really matters is whether you have anything worth saying. In the case of this game or any other, let the consumers decide whether its content has worth by voting with their wallets.
5) No person should see their careers or livelihoods destroyed for saying the "wrong" thing or taking a stance that another person/group doesn't like. The same goes for remarks "interpreted" a certain way, which is a slippery slope that implies reading (and policing) another person's mind and intent. This has been happening for years now and the pop culture warnings about it range from Orwell's 1984 to Babylon 5's Night Watch.
6) Freedom of the press was never intended to cover propaganda for any political party, group, or sociopolitical agendas. It is inextricably tied to a responsibility to tell the TRUTH and report the FACTS in their entirety, without personal, corporate, or political spin or bias. Responsible, objective journalism is a rare thing anymore, sadly.
Again, just my personal thoughts. Voltaire once said, "I may not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." We've wandered way too far from that philosophy as of late.
Never heard of the game, but seeing the way they put Chinese in the title, assumed it was another case of China being annoyed at fictional bears or something.
Also now I see why people were complaining about 'images of text' being a pain to read in that other article a while back, the text in the image is about half the size of normal text.
Based on the fact that no one seems to have heard about this game before even though it's trying to ride the cyberpunk coattail, i'll go out on a whim and guess it's a marketing gimmick to fish for "Now i'm going to support these guys!" people.
And let's be real here, we had plenty of cases like this in the past. ResetEra, one of the internets biggest and most wretched hives of scum and villany that still gets attention form the industry somehow, is infamous for such outbreaks.
But these outbreaks are petty and vocal. You'd have heard about it.
Also, making a Cyberpunk styled game and not using the yellow text meme to propose PR statements...weak PR game
Nah, i think this is a case of a boy who cried wolf.
@Wexter Steam’s user reviews are actually only on 74% which is low by Steam standards for a smaller game like this, where most people only review if they liked it. That’s also including a couple of prominent reviews I can see that mention how glad they are for ‘standing up to SJWs’ and not a single negative one in retaliation. Read the user reviews, they mention the exact same shortcomings as the critics.
Really? Death threats and other threats because of censorship... ... ... I wonder why someone would make a death threat over sexualized material. How about you just don't buy the game? It's like a movie, TV series or HBO or Showtime... if it's not what you like then just don't watch it. Remember "just do it", well this time "just don't do it".
Lol what happened some random people randomly ran across this game, realized they were wrong because no censorship, and then demanded to sensor the game?? On what basis?? I’m sure there’s games that surpass anything this game does. Lol. What is this even about??
@nessisonett But, my point was they like the game and I read the ones from pre-November. A lot of the praise is how unique the game is and the cyberpunk reimagining of Cantonese folklore. The art design also has been heavily praised in these reviews as well and they enjoyed the tension, and atmosphere of the game. It also got a much higher review aggregate than cult favourite RPGs like the ones I mentioned Bound by Flame and Technomancer. Vampyr also got a 78% so that is a similar ballpark to Sense, and people seem to love Vampyr. I know I loved Vampyr!!!! So are you saying Vampyr is drivel as well?
What do you define as a genuine review? If you don't think you'll like the game just say "I don't think this game is to my personal taste" and move on rather than defend your original ignorant comment. That and the name-calling is childish when there are people who genuinely like this game and don't want to see it censored on Switch.
@dustinprewitt Yep SJWs and Wokes are the worst kind of bullies every imagine. People like them who support cancel culture are the reasons why we don't get nice things ever.
Well, this smells phony. A clever(?) way to imply scantily clad characters in dubious situations await the purchaser...and now it's portable!
Probably not a bad marketing bet.
@Tuulenpoika Censorship is still necessary when due to differing cultural norms a game needs to hit the right age rating in other regions to hit their primary demographic. For example, most (although not all) of the censorship in games like "Tokyo Mirage Sessions," "Xenoblade Chronicles X," and certain Fire Emblem games was necessary to get a ESRB T / PEGI 12 or 16 rating in the West (which would match the ratings the original versions received in Japan), when they would've otherwise been saddled with an M/18 rating that would've killed their Western sales to their intended primary teenage demographic (and been a lot worse than the lost sales from censorship boycotters). (This is likely also the reason "Mother 3" has never received a Western release, as they can't censor the game to a T rating without butchering the story.) Sometimes they opposite occurs when Western developed T rated games get the violence censored such as less or green colored blood in the Japanese release to get a CERO C instead of D rating. It's still not required by any means, but developers will do it on their own in order to get more sales.
However, this and avoiding an adult only game rating (which are banned outright in many places) are the only acceptable reasons for video game censorship, as that's why we have game ratings in the first place. This particular game is designed specifically for mature audiences, so they have absolutely no reason to censor their work as long as they don't cross the line into adult only territory, which they say they haven't and have shown no indication of doing so in their trailer.
Since so many people in this thread are omnipotent, can I get the location of Jimmy Hoffa's body? Since y'all know there were no death threats and this is just a marketing scheme with your magic abilities. Cause it's not like death threats are sent privately and directly to the devs/publisher with throw away accounts, like...nah, that can't be how they're sent.
@Averagewriter Hey man hold the spoilers for a major 2020 game, please.
1. This is obviously manufactured.
2. Learn the difference between editing and censorship, people. It's embarassing how many of you don't understand how this works.
https://noisypixel.net/horror-adventure-sense-a-cyberpunk-ghost-story-pulled-from-steam-to-address-bugs/
What is it with cyberpunk games and bugs?
Whether you want to play the game or not it would be highly advised to wait and see what kind of state the port is in before purchase.
They want to use the titties to sell their game; this would endanger their marketing ploy and that's all, there never was anything more to their "stoic" decision not to capitulate.
Looking at this trailer in which the protagonist walks to the right side of the screen and absolutely nothing else occurs, I don't really care how their game performs to be honest lol. Sounds like they have bigger concerns then pointing fingers towards the potential audience.
Happily purchasing this game the first chance I get for their response alone, considering it at the very least. Too often do good people cater to the whims of arrogant neanderthals, and seldom do they stand up to defend themselves.
I love the fantasy clown world opinions on full, brazen display in some of these comments, as well. Is it really that hard to believe there are sheltered adult children who are offended enough by the laughably inoffensive content in this game to produce the exact frothing-at-the-mouth cancel culture response these developers have described? The devs' stance is justified on both fronts: this is their game, and they are right to take it in the direction they see fit. In doing so, yes, this is also a great dynamic marketing tactic for an otherwise under-the-radar game, and is beneficial not only for the developers and the "incels" as described by the 50 IQ white knights among us, whose intimacy with women (who also enjoy scandalous things from time to time — shocking, I know) is as far removed from their lecherous goals as their opinions are from reality, but for all players who enjoy products uncensored and unaccosted by the crude, constantly-evolving arm of intersectionality and hobbyist thoughtcrime policing that so often stifles artistic vision and forces the creation of dull, corporate content that appeals to all and, thus, none. There are unaccountably popular websites with a recorded history of influence in the gaming industry full of cultists who engage in this exact behavior; undoubtedly some of the individuals I've described in this comment are frequent users of these sites, more power to you if that is the case.
Detach your lips from the round, brown internet trash heap from which your non-opinions are derived and learn to co-exist with those whose views and interests differ somewhat from yours without throwing tantrums like spoiled brat children on the internet every time you happen to pass by something that isn't to your taste. You are the fascists you think you oppose.
I'm just here to see if @Averagewriter provides some evidence that Anita Sarkeesian is an "actual part of" Naughty Dog, as opposed to just someone Druckmann mentioned a couple times as a personal influence (among others), because I read that comment and was like "really? hunh, I had no idea", and went looking for evidence of it, and found crickets.
<popcorn.gif>
As for this actual statement, it's very clearly marketing, and 124 comments says it's working. My interest in the game remains at zero, but sure, announce that you aren't changing your game in the wake of hypothetical attacks. Good on ya.
@SwitchVogel Just 3 whiners are responsible for this? They just exposed the game to even more people, lol. I had no idea it even existed previously.
These complainers aren't too bright.
I'm sorry, but is this even real? There is nothing being reported about anyone having a problem about this game, except for today. I can find no evidence of anyone having a problem with this game before today's "statement". It looks to me like the developers decided to make a fake controversy to get the white knight YouTubers to make videos about their game calling out "the puritans of Twitter", while simultaneously promoting their game. This is just free marketing and you are all falling for it.
Possibly a stunt, although pretty much the whole Resetera forum is dedicated to trying to bully and harass people who like this stuff, so it's not really that implausible.
@Losermagnet Like a lot of NL comment threads lately. Articles like these are questionable to me: find a "controversy" or divisive subject from a dubious source (Reddit, Twitter, etc.) and post it as "news", without checking the source or reaching out to the people or companies involved; then watch as the article gains clicks and comments. I know why NL do this: easy money — but I wish they didn't.
Not saying the devs in this story didn't receive death threats, but if I ran a journalistic outlet, I would reach out to them, check into their story. If NL would do that more, I would have no problem with it.
Edit: Not saying NL do this all the time or that they are the only ones that does it, but I see it from time to time and just feel that it's a bit sad. Well, I can do one thing at least: don't click on and comment. Oh... Wait a minute... Doh!
@EVIL-C I was being facetious, but really how many people could it be? The entire number of people that are even aware of this game's existence is already relatively small, then you have to consider what percentage of them are not only bothered by the art, but have gone to the lengths spelled out in this statement. Whatever it is, I can assure you that it is an extremely miniscule group of people! 😂
@somebread You too? So now I've met two new Rider fans in the same article
Who's sending death threats over breasts and why do they hate them so much? Surely just play something else rather than worry about what this game is doing. I do wonder if its even true as how many of us had even heard of this game before this story but if so, those idiots should be banned from breasts or any kind of sexual activity for life
Still don’t know for certain what the issue is. The biggest problem i have with jt is that i don’t like horror stuff in general, but I’d never want to get it cancelled because of that.
And, girls have boobs under clothes, i thought people knew that... there are far worse things that that in a game about violence and horror!
@BulbasaurusRex Publishers have the right to do what they want for the game in order to maximize its potential sales for as large of a potential group of customers as possible, but compromising the original product's contents and artistic vision for a chance of a few more extra sales sends a certain kind of message. And they really shouldn't be surprised when people get mad when changes like those are exposed.
And like you said, in this game's case, there's next to no reason to demand changes in content due to the reason stated above. When conscious adults are involved, reasons like "cultural differences" really don't hold water in my opinion. Either you understand that some games come from different parts of the world, by people with their own backgrounds and opinions and that the games they make reflect on those factors, or you can cry about how you think some game is "offensive" or "problematic" or in some other way not like you think it should be. This, I think is one of the more worrying directions of the last few years, especially in case of Nintendo games like FE Fates and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Those games are not directed exclusively to adults, but the original creators' product is still compromised just because some people are overly sensitive towards things that don't happen to align with their world view.
Let's take this a bit further: Censorship is never, EVER, 100% mandatory. Age rating systems exist for a reason. If you somehow think some content in some game is problematic, that's on you.
Good on them, cancel culture is fascism and should be fought at every turn.
@nessisonett luckily no one has cancelled Anita otherwise should would have been pushed to sudoku herself. I wouldn’t wish that on her.
Not my type of game but good for them. I doubt they're making it up. Every game featuring attractive women with with large chests (and yes women with large boobs exist in real life!) and immodest outfits gets sh*t on by the crybullies on Twitter, ResetEra etc (especially Western games) Look at how people carry on about Bayonetta's design or how DOA no longer gets released in the west..
Death threats and stuff? Screenshots or it didn’t happen. Lol. Don’t like the game or the rating, don’t buy it. Go play Crash Team Racing for free right now and get mad at that instead. Sheesh.
What’s there to cencor?
Or, Are they making this up to get free ads? 🙄
I could review bomb a company for that.
Somewhat alarming that you almost HAVE to make a statement like this for people to understand that a game ISN'T being censored.
I feel like I recall several few false claims about games having been changed due to demands from vocal groups online, when that was never the case. Stories that only exists to dig the trenches deeper between perceived opponents.
That said, this statement also feels like a quick marketing stint. I should maybe have emphasized the word ALMOST instead of HAVE in my opening here. I've heard very little of this game, and I certainly haven't heard any of the "demands" to "censor" it. Now I feel like I'm being taken hostage ideologically.
Controversy sells.
After reading some Comments, what a Kindergarten.
They should all grow up
@w00dpecker Same.
I don't know if is the year, if the success of the Switch is making the fanbase larger, if there is another motive, but every day the comments sections are worst.
Sometimes it feels like a chan board.
Also: is sad to see so much people falling for a marketing stunt just because they need to confirm their own bias
Honestly Humans don't deserve this planet.
HEY EVERYBODY! @pmg86 is hereby awarded the prize for First Needlessly Edgy and Hostile Comment of the Year. Congratulations!
@Menardi LOL Wow. I hope you feel better after all that.
Listen, I despise Kotaku-style race- and sex-baiting too. I think I understand where you are coming from. Still I must wonder aloud why people don't use their Ignore function more. I only had to use it once in reading this thread, and I was still able to gather the nature of the controversy, so I think ignoring the usual suspects (@JimmySpades comes to mind) works pretty well.
Why does this smell like a made up controversy?
@AuroraBoreale We don't know if it's a stunt or not (could be) but this happens enough that it seems feasible. There's a reason DOA doesn't get released in the west anymore.
BTW you do realise that the Twitter mobs would be creating an almighty sh*t-storm about the character in your avatar if Street Fighter 2 was released today? Cammy turning around to reveal her butt cheeks while winking at the camera certainly wouldn't go down well with the new puritans...
But Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't need to be censored?
No of course not, but my point is more that why do devs of this game get forced by some groups to censor it, but Cyberpunk 2077 where the first thing you see in character creator are also your genitals is fine...
Again leave Cyberpunk 2077 for how it is, I liked the game but my point is more why people attack one game but not another.
remember the days something offened you on tv you changed channel you seen something that offended you and you didnt buy it. Most of these outrage gang dont bloody buy anything anyway.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this smelled like a publicity stunt. The sad thing is, if that's what it is, it will work. Just look how many people are talking about this game right now.
@SwitchVogel Not saying you are, but this comment did come off as victim-blaming. Considering some of the name-calling in this very thread about the game (SJW, Virgin Incels, White Knights and more that I can just find with a quick Alt+F search), and the harassment and death threats even small-time YouTubers get over just making video content this does not surprise me at all. Some of the posts here like "pics or it didn't happen" or "smells like a publicity stunt" was the same nonsense we saw in the late-2000s/early-2010s when female YouTubers came out about this very subject. Even if it is a small amount the behaviour is completely unacceptable and we shouldn't excuse even just one. Just because it is a small-time developer and the game is not a massively anticipated title does not mean we should play down the experience the developers may or may not have received just because it may have been a small number of people rather than a large number of people. This idea of they should just 'grin and bear it' is very not okay and the publisher has every right to stand up for their devs if they feel people are mistreating them.
EDIT: Adding this to my post to illustrate that we should generally disavow this behaviour without the need for evidence... but, here it us https://twitter.com/TopHatStudiosEN/status/1345503707203571716
I had no interest in this game, at all. Based on their glorious response to the liberal mob and leftist lunacy, I will be buying it, day one. This is the stance all developers should take. Never give in to those lunatics.
@Rayquaza2510 Hypocrisy and double standards. Some groups wouldn't survive without them.
@Clyde_Radcliffe
1. is a game that screams "sex sells" from every pixel with "cyberpunk" in the title that goes out just after another famous "cyperpunk" title, it's just a step above things like "We Party", it's pretty sure is a marketing stunt, because the worst that you can find is something like "it looks horrible"
2. there is a ton of sexualized games out every week, noone bats an eye, really, noone cares, no, noone that talks about censoring games, there are just some people that WANT to believe that things like that are usual, and those people are used to sell games (just see how many people on twitter are posting images after buying a game nobody ever considered until today, and all the comments here, like the one that popped while I was writing this one -_- talking about "liberal mob" and "leftist lunacy", the sellers are just using people bias to make more money)
3. Cammy is sexualized, is one of my favorite character in vg as a whole, but I can't disagree if someone says that, and I can live with that
4. the last DOA was localized, as every other one, what are you talking about? If a game is not localized is just because it does not sell enough
5. even Nintendo publish sexualized games and noone says anything (Xenoblade 2 for example)
6. my point was just that these comments section nowadays look like chan board (and not the funny part of 4chan)
@AuroraBoreale What are you on about? I can debunk a number of your points without even trying.
1) obviously the vilest comments made at the game were sent to the developers privately as no one will post death threats publically.
2) Have you even read some of the comments in threads for games like Trails of Mana? Take a look at this article right here: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/03/hands_on_getting_our_feet_wet_with_trials_of_mana Or how about every other article about even remotely sexualized characters?
3) Street Fighter was heavily criticized in Feminist Frequency videos and whole articles have been published about their designs: https://pixelkin.org/2016/02/23/its-time-for-new-female-character-designs-in-street-fighter/
4) He is referring to DOA Xtreme which was not brought to the west because of sensibility issues: https://www.dualshockers.com/dead-or-alive-creator-tomonobu-itakaki-comments-on-dead-or-alive-xtreme-3-not-coming-west/
5) Xenoblade 2 got heavily scrutinized when it came out for its character designs. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/xenoblade-chronicles-2-tsuki-character-design-controversy
6) Yes I agree the comments in this thread are completely unacceptable. And I'm not even on the side of sexy-characters and I find the vile spewed in this thread from both sides of the issue disgusting.
Just don't buy it. Geez loweez.
@Wexter [English is not my first language, I don't intend to be disrespectful or caustic and I don't know if something can be misinterpreted, read it as much as plain as possible, I just wanted to give quick responses, I don't want to antagonize]
1. every time someone receives a death treats they post it, really, I have seen comics writer receive it, I can believe, but... where are than? Why post just the response?
2. yeah, so? For every game that was criticized there is a ton that was ignored (just watch the steam releases), and if we talk about censorship we need something more than nl comments
3. Yes, was criticized and survived, noone censored it in 28 years, no lost sales, no boycott, and nothing changed, astonishing
4. I didn't even remember those games, anyway that is probably the excuse, because games like that exists in the west, it's just that haven't sold enough probably
5. Xenoblade 2 was scrutinized and... nothing happened, no boycott, no lost sales, noone cared
6. I study people beaviour and... sometimes it's really awful, and we don't know why
@AuroraBoreale Nah it's okay I'm a rather chill person so don't worry.
1) That is still probably not the best way to go about it as it does create a platform for the behaviour. The developers just released a message of "this is not okay" is fine. And when people have posted the messages I also see comments like "these messages were not that bad" or "how do we know they these are legit death threats" it's a lose-lose situation.
2) I generally agree with this point. I've gotten very anti-censorship myself over the past few years, and even I think some of the people who post here need a bit of a reality check.
3/4) That is true! But, companies like Capcom and Nintendo can generally ignore that kind of criticism. However, smaller developers have had their games censored by console manufactures (Sony) without their consent and have had entire platforms remove their content because of let's say because it was critical of a certain authoritarian state... https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/02/popular-horror-game-removed-from-steam-after-chinese-players-say-it-insults-china/ So, I do get why some developers have gotten very protective of their games because smaller devs have been pushed around.
6) Yeah people suck... I have no idea why people think this kind of behaviour is appropriate when civil discourse will produce far more desirable results than just shouting down someone.
@Wexter dropping the points: I know there are exagitated people that create un unsane environment, and just the fact that we can think that death treats about a game are real means there is something really wrong, but real censorship is something else, the example of removed games after chinese complain it's because that can determine real censorship, because in China the government can really ban something because is "offensive" just because they feel so, so Sony didn't want that type of problems. Here in Europe you shoud, I don't know, create a game were nazis are the good guys (and even there, just in some countries and has to be explicit, a lot of games normalize nazis like they were just wacky people or soldiers like everyone else and are pretty much ignored).
I think that a lot of things that sometimes are felt like censorship are just aknowledging of problematic aspects of games, but a lot of people have their identity built on the things they like, so every analysis and critiques are seen as personal attacks. People can enjoy problematic things (and really, I do all the time, my avatar is a problematic character like other people noticed), but there is nothing wrong knowing what is problematic. But on internet people behave like they are in a mob, and every high cerebral function is off, so everything as to be a fight.
We, fortunately, live in countries where people can't ask for censorship just because they don't like something, sometimes I think that people just want to have problems that they don't have (and, of course, other people prey on that)
Came for the buzzwords. Wasn't disappointed.
I'd immediately be skeptical anyone would care enough to go after a relatively obscure game like this, but people were trying to rally against a Deathspell Omega album last year so the hero complex of finding something evil to slay definitely knows no bounds.
I demand that this game not be rubbish. The animation and art looks a bit naff but I threaten the devs with a disapproving look and an eye roll. I also categorically refuse to buy the game if it is rubbish.
@Snatcher It’s not the “fanbase”. The fans already like the product as it is. It’s moralizing busybodies. The same kind of mindset that wanted to censor Harry Potter, but now they claim they’re progressive. Companies shouldn’t cater to them, all they do is alienate their customers in favor of people not even interested in the product.
This seems fake. There's no evidence of them being threatened. It's an attention-grab.
First I've heard of this game, but it sounds interesting.
@Quarth Yeah I've noticed it too, and I take the bait. Like this article for instance - I couldnt even find out what it was that was going to be censored from the game. Scroll to the comments, see mostly fire, and add to it. I typed up about 2 or 3 lengthier comments before I thought better of it and deleted them. I hate to think NL does this intentionally, but they have to be aware that posting certain articles leads to nerd warfare in the comments.
@idrawrobots NOT SUDOKU!!! ANYTHING BUT THAT. My grandpa was pushed to sudoku, and he hasn't been the same since. Some of those puzzles get pretty hard you know. (Jk, No offense intended 😉)
The movie industry manages to support large studios and the porn industry.
Seems only right video gaming should have big releases and it's own underbelly.
Eh. This stuff in video games is cringey. I don’t know how any self respecting adult can be okay with playing it.
That said. Just don’t buy it. No need for death threats.
@AuroraBoreale I happen to agree. Maybe my politics have influenced how I look at things, but if people don't buy or engage with the products they don't enjoy life would be a lot healthier for a lot of people! I find hypersensitivity is an issue for some as we should be far more critical of actual human rights abuses by authoritarian regimes rather than the size of a fictional character's bust (kinda sad that the latter gets talked about far more frequently than the former). The fact that this consumes hours of someone's life discussing this in a rather toxic way (on both sides) is extremely mentally unhealthy and doesn't help the situation. Though I agree you can enjoy something that is problematic and still understand that it is. I think there is no problem with people discussing these ideas in an open forum in a healthy and productive way and I hope we can get back to more of that than what I've seen the past 24 hours on this thread!
It upsets me when I see people dehumanizing their opposition in the discussion as I think we are all people here and deserve to be treated as such; with respect and dignity. Rather than some of the really vile stuff I've read in here that basically amounts to victim-blaming and even attacking those who disagree with them. :<
Was already likely to buy the game but now it's been pre-ordered. I'm more than sick of the whiney idiots who lose their minds over cartoon boobs like it's the worst thing in the game industry. STFU and don't play the game if you don't like the content. Not a hard concept.
Must've been hired by Sony, those anti-boob-ninjas.
This sounds completely fabricated by the studio to garner interest in their game
@getyourak lmao! Exactly what I was thinking. I've never heard about this game, it almost seems like it's entire existence is based around people mistakenly buying it thinking it was a Switch version of Cyberpunk 2077. I could be wrong of course, just how it appears to me lol.
The game's mediocre at best, the developers know it, they've made up this controversy to try and avoid it getting buried in the depths of the eshop with hundreds of other titles you've also never heard of. Nintendo, give NintendoLife some proper news please.
@nessisonett And since you brought TloU2 into this, out of equality you totally expect the people who defended Druckman to also defend this game right? Equal amount of okays to mock people with a beef against this game as people with a beef against TloU2 right?
Still picking up this game, still think it looks awsome.
@Losermagnet I bet they are aware and while I understand why they post stuff like this, it's still sad, because it just shows how infected everything is and that there's incentive to capitalize on that type of climate. Playing games is no longer about passing some time and having some fun — it's a lifestyle, with all that comes with that.
Have a nice weekend!
Don't care about this game but comments made me want to grab a bowl of popcorn. My guess is the press release was, at least a little bit, to get their game a headline. It worked, I didn't know what this was until today.
I'm 99% sure that this is all completely made up in order to bring attention to a game that nobody would be talking about otherwise. The only people sending death threats over video games are the gamergate types, and they'd be demanding less censorship, not more.
@Chamver and you just illustrated perfectly why some of us cynics read their statement as marketing hyperbole.
This is pretty obviously a fake controversy invented by the developer to get attention for this game, and considering how many comments I’ve seen on this article and on Twitter, I guess it worked.
@SwitchVogel Everything you said makes complete sense. I guess it's like how certain people in the past tried getting various movies, books, and songs censored or banned. Or how infamous Jack Thompson and his crusade on violent games in general.
I'll never understand these "Puritan-minded people" and their world view of "I don't like it, so you can't have it!" 🧐
@pmg86 I deserve it because I respect it as much as I can.
Not sure if these guys are doing this for publicity or not. I wasn't planning on buying the game after seeing the preview, but now I'll buy it even if I don't play it. I want them to know I agree with them. Censorship sucks.
@Averagewriter
You blocked @nessisonett after only 2 comments?! Neither of which were insulting in any way.
Only child by any chance?
@SoIDecidedTo
So you acknowledge the possibility this is just for PR yet are still buying the game even though you know it is on possible false pretences.
The word "sucker" has popped into my head for some reason....
@TheFullAndy Correct, because there is equal possibility it is not. And seeing how people in comments sections will go on the attack for no reason, I could totally believe that it is possible that there have been calls to censor or change this game.
To me, it seems more likely that the developer did receive hate, than they did not. If I'm out $20 because I want to support a small developer (whether they made the story up or not) is only a net positive for me. Even if they made the whole thing up, I want to encourage them to continue making games the way they see fit. And hopefully their next game will be better.
@SoIDecidedTo
Fair enough.
Well now I have my marketing strategy if I decide to make a game. Guaranteed at least one sale!
@Kabloop Even assuming there have been no threats like this, or if there were, they weren't large enough to necessitate a response... I still appreciate the developer's commitment to artistic expression. It's like the Chicago statement on academic freedom. They didn't have to be under specific threat for that to be the right thing to do.
Good on the developer for standing up for their right to create something they like that isn't breaking any laws or whatever. and, whether the story above is actually all the facts or not, don't let the OTT PC cancel culture sheep tell you otherwise regarding creating what you like.
@TheFullAndy Tag me in the launch and I'll buy it... FULL PRICE!
@SoIDecidedTo
Oh there will be a special "Free from censorship mega special edition" at launch priced at only 1 million dollars!
😉
@LunarFlame17 Based on how people have reacted in this very thread proclaiming it has to be fake and PR is kinda sad... how many times have we seen developers get treated poorly by publishers and fans alike? Stories of devs receiving death threats and harassment on their social media accounts just because they were involved with **insert this flavour of the month controversial title** and the publisher does nothing, not even to make a statement protecting their devs... and one does and we assume it has to be fake and made for PR because it is a small indie publisher. That to me is rather sad. I'd rather give the publisher and devs the benefit of the doubt rather than even remotely condoning these actions or implying that because it was only a small amount of death threats it's okay.
I probably won't even buy the game unless there is a steep discount as it does not seem to be my cup of tea. But, that does not make the actions of the people harassing these devs okay even if it is a small amount of them.
@Wexter
If some sad folks actually issued death threats then that is pathetic but if you don't see that statement as anything other than PR then honestly congrats as you have managed to not grow cynical.
Personally my mind immediately goes to that other cyberpunk game dev that tried to treat millions of customers like idiots by hiding how awful the console versions of the game ran before release.
@TheFullAndy It's not that I'm not cynical I'm just equal amounts cynical. I've seen every shade of non-sense the "gaming community" has done these past 10 years that something like this harassing a small-time studio not even remotely out of the question for me.
Could it be a fabricated story? Sure, but no post in this thread has convinced me otherwise as these same people who have defended big AAA studios won't even consider for a moment that the same non-sense could happen to a small indie-dev is rather depressing. Some posts even go as far as to victim-blame the devs (such as proclaiming even if they did get death threats it couldn't have been that many as if that makes it okay) or attack those who are slightly empathetic as "incels, white knights, alt-right, trump supports" and the other side has responded in kind. This entire behaviour drives me up the wall.
EDIT: Adding this to my post to illustrate that we should generally disavow this behaviour without the need for evidence... but, here it us https://twitter.com/TopHatStudiosEN/status/1345503707203571716
@Wexter
Everyone is a hypocrite, that is the sad truth. Me included.
@mazz From what I can tell, the people being 'triggered' are a few Chinese trolls who are jumping on this game for portraying China as a capitalist surveillance state nightmare, and they're using the style and the main character's design as an excuse to try and get the game banned. The game is Chinese and takes place in a futuristic, depressing Hong Kong. This isn't a case of anyone going "Think of the children!", it's an attack on a developer for giving a grim portrayal of a very controlling nation.
@COVIDberry I feel fine, thanks, know how easy it is in the days of the emoji to see a thought slightly longer than a string of Twitterisms strung together and find it out of place. I generally prefer not insulating myself into a bubble from people whose opinions I don't care for, if anything I seek them out for the unintentional humor. The one person I was specifically addressing has a tendency to comment (in arrogant fashion) on nearly every article published on this site and has taken just about every laughably incorrect stance you possibly can, from politics to video games to life's many topics in-between. Then again, it has been a crazy year, maybe craziness is vogue?
Never heard of the game and this article us useless in explaining the issue. Sounds like a fake controversy from the dev to get attention from free speech warriors
People see that trailer and the art is the only thing they complain about is what I find shocking.
Playing blurry cyberpunk 2077 at 15fps looks less janky than this.
I'm in camp 'Itneverhappened'. What on earth would generate death threats about this game? Big boobs? Anyway...day 1.
Good for the devs for standing up to those SJWs and snowflakes who are actually offended by the game. Those people are trying to restrict creative freedom which is a big NO from me. If you don't like it then don't buy it, stop crying about it and making yourself look like a fool
I say good for them as a supporter I rather they push back and say this is our choice and freedom to do as programmers. Those talking Censorship should take a good look at their own Moral high ground and it would look alot shakier then they think. If anyone really thinks about this those advocating Censorship have very little to any Credibility to be talking about this themselves. I would also add to this people or groups talking about Censorship are the very one that insure people would go looking for it and buying it. That's how Book banning and Censorship works the more effort they try to stop the more people buy it.
@Mando44646 I highly doubt they needs such attention getting matters. Why do that when those doing it will give them attention they need already.
@TheFullAndy You're onto something! Regular version of the game $19.99, the "Deluxe" aka "Uncensored" version would be $39.99. I'd pay! Sign me up. I've never understood why games can show heads being ripped off, but a boob is dangerous. haha
@Wexter same thing happens to female celebs when nudes get leaked.
Though in some cases timing does seem suspect
Why not instead send death threats to those who implement loot boxes into modern games which are literally killing the industry we know and love.
@DavidMac Let's not pretend that death threats are some kind of partisan thing, all groups have people that do it.
@Orpheus79V I’m, death threats kinda are a partisan thing though.
I mean, in America you don’t really have real liberals, you have extreme right wing politicians, and you have right wing politicians like Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Schumer, etc. (Technically America does have some actual left leaning politicians but they’re generally kept in token positions and both major parties strive to keep them out of power.)
Still, death threats come from a place of wanting to control, or intimidate. People who think that sort of behaviour is acceptable overwhelmingly support cruel, and hurtful approaches to politics, which means they vote right wing. (Though again, given that America is currently dying of late stage capitalism, I can see how you might have trouble knowing what someone who actually values both personal and community freedoms.)
In my experience, as someone who has been a part of organizations that received death threats, it always always from somebody on the far right of the political spectrum. Generally believing that God was against their enemies so it was okay to threaten to murder and or rape them.
Anyway this game looks kinda lame regardless of the controversy.
@mazz IT all started because of the art style. The woman in the drawing has big tatas and that's a big no-no in twitter crowd
@Ooyah Believe it or not.. The developer knew what type of people was complaining about the game. They are part of the cancel culture crowd and want to control and cancel anything they don't like. AS in this case, it all started because the art cover has a woman (I assume the Main character) with large breast. They didn't like it so they want the game either censored or cancel. Forget artistic freedom, if the cancel crowd don't like it they will scream and complain to the ends of time to have the game cancel. The developers know how they are, that's why they replied in that way. Is literately a big middle finger to them
I must be the only one thinking that just "maybe" there never were any threatening messages or controversies to begin with but that this is a forged story so that major websites would cover it, giving them free publicity.
I'm not saying this is necessarily the case, that could never be proven, but this whole story will certainly have given them exposure in a saturated market that a new franchise from a small developer certainly needs to do well in terms of sales. Plus if it gets bad reviews from users, they could always blame it on the "review bombing", this is very convenient.
Now if it's all true, well, good on those guys for standing behind their creation and not caving in the face of cyber-violence from neurotic self-righteous *****.
This has got to be fake, I've never heard of "gamers" advocating for smaller boobs
for those who were doubting about the threats and whatnot, the publisher released a compilation of screenshots of tweets, dm's and emails they got, which range from simply "people getting unreasonably mad at anime boobies" to actual (death) threats [warning: there's a bit of extremely strong language]: https://twitter.com/TopHatStudiosEN/status/1345503707203571716
Then:
“Violent videogames are turning children into murderers! Kids will grow up and shoot schools!”
“Pokémon is satanic, my preacher said that to me, Pokémons are clearly demons!”
“Videogames are for slobs, playing videogames will give kids no future, you should give sports to your children!”
Now:
“Videogames are sexist! Look at all these sexualized female characters!”
“Videogames are full of racist stereotypes, videogame companies need to get on with the times and stop that!”
“Those military videogames are promoting far-right conspiracies!”
The only thing that changed for the better: At least these people actually play videogames, but rarely the games they are complaining about.
@Averagewriter none of the articles you posted named Anita Sarkeesian as a reason for those people getting fired, I can't find it at least. Maybe you're thinking of someone else?
I want to buy the game now.
Nintendo has M rated games, over 124 of them, in fact. Why is this any different? because someone's mad at some art? get a life
@COVIDberry I'm touched that you singled me out of everyone you could have mentioned. I assume it means that thinking of me causes you to stumble a bit as you and your buddies are goosestepping I mean walking along.
@victordamazio heh, funny thing about this one:
“Pokémon is satanic, my preacher said that to me, Pokémons are clearly demons!”
is that while pokemon was taking the heat for being demonic, digimon flew under the radar despite devimon, demidevimon, ladydevimon & daemon which where all clearly demons. hell, venommyotismon was practically called the beast of revelation with that prophecy that tied to him.
"The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats. The fallen people will invoke the name of the undead Digimon king and when the clock strikes the hour of the beast, the undead king will reveal himself in his true form as the beast. Then angels will shoot arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they've been sent to protect, and a miracle will happen. Please always recycle."
hour of the beast was also 6:06:06 am
still not the most unholy thing about venommyotismon either...
The only problem I have with comically large breast in video games is that so many developers want us to take their games seriously. I don’t have enough cognitive dissonance to simply turn off T&A to enjoy a drama (cough Xenoblade chronicles 2 cough).
@Averagewriter "I've already blocked NESisonett, and I'll probably block you, too."
...oh no? Okay. That's fine.
I am for sure not interested in watching that guy's Youtube video, so, you got me there [edit: I did end up watching the beginning, see comment below], but none of the articles you posted provide any evidence whatsoever that Anita Sarkeesian has any actual involvement in Naughty Dog as a studio or The Last of Us 2 as a videogame, outside of whatever role you think she plays in Neil Druckmann's head.
Like, literally zero. The Forbes piece mentions her zero times, the Polygon piece mentions her zero times, the Twitter link is to him presenting her with an industry award - being an award presenter is not, it turns out, an employment arrangement, and Neil Druckmann probably doesn't decide who wins - and the Bounding Into Comics piece mentions her only in referencing the mention of her that I already talked about as an influence, in a 2016 interview, and it basically just says "I saw her videos and they made me think about things."
I too watched videos 4 years ago that made me think about things, without employing the people who made them.
So I did look at "where [you've] gotten [your] info", and again: I have seen, and you have presented, absolutely zero evidence, at all, that Anita Sarkeesian was connected to the development of TLOU2 or employed by (or even officially connected to) Naughty Dog in any way.
It's just made up.
Now, you can dislike Neil Druckmann, and part of the reason you dislike him can certainly be that he has publicly said he likes Anita Sarkeesian and that she's influenced how he works. He has said that, and it's fair game to think less of him for that.
But she's not an "actual part of Naughty Dog." That's not true. And repeating it more confidently doesn't make it true.
Jeezus. Okay, I did load up the video. It starts with him saying "Anita Sarkeesian might have been involved with TLOU2" and then throws to footage borrowed from another Youtuber, referencing "off the record stories", which themselves reference a conversation she might have had. It also claims "a lot is going to be coming out in the coming weeks and months" (click like and subscribe!), but that was April, sooooooo.
Yeah, if this is what you're tossing out as 'evidence' of your 'facts', definitely block me. I appreciate you saving me the future eyerolls.
I currently live in a semi-totalitarian state. Let me tell you why censorship is evil and why the release of something like this in its pure state should not be tamperred with.
Censorship start with moral sensibilities, it coaxes you to stop things in the name of morality. Where the concept of blocking out those that question moral imperatives as heretics/perverts/dirty people that should be re-educated or scorned in the name of the majority.
So far, the thoughts of the many outweigh the iconoclast. In this sense, society does not view it as a threat, they just ostracize those that they think can lead society to ruin.
Second, once that moral imperative is entrenched after a repeated cycle of false narratives, they come to blot out these works completely, make it harder for people to find these works and starve the people of points of view that do not align with their own. They start labeling these people as incurable and that the only solution is to "rehabilitate" or shame them that they become ineffectual.
In this state, society starts to ponder but does not bat an eye. They will turn away when the people they don't like is tossed on a cliff to die. In fact many of them will secretly support the ruination of a single person to keep their own conviction in tact without question. A good example of this is how a government can have a ban on sex education where its moral imperative is abstinence and responsibility while hypocritically saying that they should teach responsibility to children.
Third, once the active purges increases, the state will begin to implement harsher and harsher forms of censorship to the point where their narrative is the only one that will suffice. In this state, people are grouped merely on to two sides, for and against. And it is here that people die in the droves. Society sees this injustice but it is far too late. It either bends or breaks.
Censorship is the tool of of the despot. The ones who asks for censorship in all forms is asking a small leak from a deteriorating dam.
Don't be like my country. Anyone who asks for the control of anything should be questioned. Don't be sheep to a slaughter.
@AJ_Lethal Well guess I'm vindicated for taking their side and holding firm to my stance that this never okay no matter the amount. Still exceptionally sad.
@__Link__ well, that’s not necessarily true... there are definitely some things that were considered acceptable once but are no no’s today.
I do believe that people take things too far, and are too quick to jump on the moral bandwagon, as evidenced here, but to say censorship is never a good thing, I dunno. Depends on what’s being censored and why.
Like when it’s done out of respect, like that time they removed a scene from doctor who featuring decapitation because a couple of days before it was due to go out, the news was all about isis and how they’d been recording themselves decapitating reporters.
Is that a fair comment? I do see where you are coming from, and I do agree that censorship frequently goes too far, when a simple warning beforehand should do the trick, but I do believe that censorship does have its place.
@AuroraBoreale Well they published the posts and threats... exceptionally sad state of affairs.
https://twitter.com/TopHatStudiosEN/status/1345503707203571716
God people suck
@Averagewriter
So you are anti censorship but your go to move is to block out anyone whose opinion you don't like?!
And you call others hypocrites lol
I mean, blocking folks isn't censorship. Our words are here for whoever to read, choosing to block them out personally doesn't 'censor' them. They can block whoever they want. It's just not a very good way to defend a point.
Also - and this is just my personal nitpick, not related to the rest of the thread, really - let's be very clear that none of this stuff is censorship in the Capital C sense. The market deciding what will and won't sell is not censorship. The government stepping in and telling you that you can't say or sell something is censorship. And that's not even on the table here. Which it's important to point out, because some of us still remember very clearly when it was, frequently.
@ErraticGamer
Yeah but someone who is so anti censorship should not be so willing to block out other people's views, it is hypocritical.
Also no one, yourself included, has been rude or insulting to @Averagewriter but they are throwing hissy fits at the slightest provocation and blocking anyone who doesn't think like them.
Seems to be the mindset of someone very pro censorship to me.
<shrug> As a matter of principle, I never get in the way of somebody happily making their own argument look bad.
@ErraticGamer Censorship is whenever someone in a position of authority steps and prohibits or censors someone's ability to make speech. Art is classified as a form of expression and speech of the artist. So censorship can apply if someone in authority i.e. publisher, console manufacture, rating board, etc, comes in and demands cuts or changes in a work to change the meaning or subject matter of a work.
This can apply in the academic sense like the CCP having state-run media that requires a censor to review, change and approve appropriate articles before publication. Or it can be as simple as Sony (as an example) making a change to the work without the approval of the developers or publishers to change the intention of the work or the subject material i.e. gore, nudity or themes that Sony does approve of. There are different layers of censorship, but if someone in a position of authority is impeding your ability to express yourself then it is censorship.
Definition:
Definition of censorship
1a: the institution, system, or practice of censoring
They oppose government censorship.
b: the actions or practices of censors
especially: censorial control exercised repressively
the censorship that has … permitted a very limited dispersion of facts
— Philip Wylie
So, this would be censorship, just a more mild version of it. And there are socially acceptable forms of censorship like banning the swastica or prohibiting the usage of profanity on a public forum. But, it is still censorship.
@ErraticGamer
Fair enough!
@Wexter Yes, by the technical definition that's true, and by that technical definition there is constitutional censorship (Sony overriding their developers, as an example you provided) and unconstitutional censorship (Jack Thompson trying to get violent videogames banned). But in this specific instance, there is no authority trying to censor anything. The developers are claiming that some people complained about their art - which may be true but those people are certainly not "authorities" who have control over the content - and then saying "we won't be censored".
But nobody was trying to censor them. Your customers can't censor you, that's not how the concept works.
EDIT: I suppose the actual quote is "the game will not be censored", so they're basically saying "we will not censor ourselves." Which, again, I think it's pretty important to distinguish from the sense of the word that carries rightfully nefarious legal / free speech connotations.
@ErraticGamer The thing is they were threatening the artist to make a change to their work or else they would face consequences. Review bombing, threats to their livelihood like appealing to Nintendo to have the game removed from the eShop or threats to their lives so it is a form of censorship as they are trying to impede someone's ability to make speech. Not saying they would be successful, but in the broad sense, it is still censorship. Just community sourced censorship similar to book burnings of the puritan era.
God I hate that comparison because it is overused by a certain group of people I really do not enjoy
@Wexter Review bombing is not censorship. It's disingenuous, and storefronts have an obligation to monitor for and prevent it, but it happens for a hundred different reasons and to categorize it as censorship is to misconstrue both the practice and the concept. It does not change content, and it does not prevent speech. Trying to impact purchasing decisions is a fight over marketing, not a freedom of expression issue.
Nintendo pulling the game from the eShop would be censorship, but there's no evidence (or in my opinion reason to think) that was ever going to happen. Far more risque looking content than anything on display here is happily living on the eShop.
The spectre of censorship being used as an ad ploy is exactly why the distinction matters. It confuses the actual issue, and diminishes what was once a widespread actual tangible threat to this entire medium.
No, it's really not like book burning. Like I understand why you hate the comparison, but also it's just a bad comparison. A review bombed game is very much still available for purchase, it its unaltered form. It has not been censored. A burned book has been burned. It is not available for people to have the option of consuming.
It's really important how different those are.
@ErraticGamer I'm referring to the act of threatening an artist or developer in this case by trying to impose a fear of consequences. That is a form of censorship. Using a manufactured controversy that may not actually apply to a work to have Nintendo remove it or fear backlash themselves is attempting to invoke censorship. They would had probably been unsuccessful, but we have seen it happen in the past to games such as Devotion [1] where it was removed from all regions because of a specific reference so that is case of community incited censorship by forcing Valve to remove a game from Steam. By simply threatening the artist they are trying to censor their speech they disagree with.
Not saying I agree with the usage of the word used by some on this very site who need a serious reality to check. But, still we do need to remember that by the broad definition of the word does apply to this context as well. As I said censorship has layers and we should be very specific when we are invoking the word to provide context. As I even stated there is socially approved censorship and legally disallowed forms of censorship. So, we should specify it and define it when we use the word to minimize confusion.
SOURCE ; https://games.slashdot.org/story/20/12/18/1919237/taiwanese-horror-game-pulled-from-sale-again-after-backlash-in-china
@Wexter I think we're closer to agreeing than disagreeing, so I'm giving that a 'like' and I'm happy to call it a night if you are. Yes, what happened to Devotion was censorship, but the act of censorship happened when that game was pulled from sale. The community did incite that censorship but they did not perform it. I'm happy to own that I'm nitpicking, but I think it's an important nitpick. But I also think I've laid it out as clearly as I'm gonna, so. Cheers.
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/general_discussion/politics_respect_community_standards
@JustPlayNow Nothing I have said is worthy of being described as "griefing," I have quite politely stated my opinion, as anyone here has. You are clearly inviting moderators to ban users you disagree with, which is actual griefing, and is exactly what you are accusing others of doing (while swearing, ironically). I understand this is a topic that attracts a certain degree of debate, but if you disagree with what other users have to say to this extreme degree, you can always ignore them on your main account (as opposed to a fresh account made last night for the sole purpose of reporting other users) rather than backseat moderate and demand they be banned.
@Menardi
Who's their main account?
@TheFullAndy Anyone's guess, I simply read the articles and comment occasionally. I don't frequent the site often enough to know what this anonymous user's primary account is.
@Menardi
Fair enough, sounded like you did so I was curious.
Certainly seems doubtful that this is their first account but who knows.
Also odd they wanted to create an account just to throw the ban hammer around. Maybe they should stay off comments sections if they can't abide hearing opposing views.
@TheFullAndy Lots of oddballs in the world, unfortunately. I wish you the best, whoever you are, hope you find something that's actually worth getting this upset over in 2021.
@AJ_Lethal
I skimmed those and all they are are angry comments because the game’s art style is creepy AF.
If you designed a game with black people and drew them in a manner that they found offensive, would you think it was unreasonable for them to complain? If you made a game where gay people were depicted in an offensive manner, would you not expect complaints? Literally every group complains when people who are outside of their group depict them in a manner that devalues them.
Yet women are constantly dressed up in media as if they’re little more than sex dolls. It’s creepy AF and there’s something deeply wrong both with the guys who made this game, and with the people who want to defend it.
If you put people into your art, they’re allowed to complain about it. What these creeps don’t get is that there’s more to being female than being bouncy.
@Averagewriter Ah, I see. So the author of the YouTube video has proof that Sarkeesian is the reason that the Naughty Dogs-employees were fired?
game looks good
@TheFullAndy pst pst, most of the discussion those two originally had is gone, so that’s why it looks like they blocked nessisonet after just two messages.
In case you’re curious, it was a long string of “no u” sprinkled with politics.
Guess the scepticism from some did not go unnoticed on the developers, who’ve released a taster of the messages they’ve received:
https://twitter.com/tophatstudiosen/status/1345503707203571716?s=21
Talk about mixed feelings from the news. Death threats are obscene and horrendous (no, brony-tier excuses like "everyone knows death threats on the internet mean nothing" don't fly). Review-bomb threats are obscene but hilarious (all the review bombing achieves is even fewer people looking at online scores, not fewer people buying games). And the creators' publicly voiced resolve to disregard either in favour of what they want to create is most admirable and reassuring.
**** audience meddling, and happy holidays.
........alternatively just go and look at the billions of photos of boobs on the internet
@Wexter I've read the comments (yes, I have free time), and I have mixed feelings: on one side, a lot of comments are really horrible ("vile tranny game"... what?), ignorant and stupid, and there are a couple of real treats that are really concerning. But, on the other side it's nothing new and I think they didn't managed the situation in the best way with their statement, it's an escalation from both sides, they antagonized internet trolls, it's like... the first thing not to do on internet.
BUT I think I can't consider them like a big company with years of experience and people dedicated to this type of problem, I would have done much much worse and I don't want to do victim-blaming. So in conclusion... now I feel like an ***** because I said was all a marketing stunt
@Wexter last thing: I am reading the various twitter treads, now we have people that are posting treats to people who commented the game, people that are writing more horrible things, it's a mob that need to hate everything.
People are incapable to understand that they are doing exactly what they are criticizing, just because they are on what they think is "the right part". It's really sad, it's a ***** show that won't have any good side ever
@Eel
Ah OK. Still funny seeing someone proclaiming anti censorship seemingly threatening to block everyone with opposing views!
Ahh, Nintendo life.. If I started a tin foil hat manufacturing company, I would be so rich.. Never change.
why didn't it work?
@nhSnork aren't we past the holidays now?
The radical resetera twitter ideologues are frothing at the mouth 24/7 to find something to take offense to. They live for twitter witch hunts.
I saw them getting worked up into a frenzy over the character's boobs, then doing what they do best- call the devs all kinds of horrible names with insults and threats, and of course, demanded its erasure from existence.
Good on these devs for having backbone. The twitter puritan cancel culture hate mob is very real and comes after anything which violates their radical communist authoritarian dogma, and that includes any woman having breasts or showing skin below the ankles.
People are getting fed up with it, and rightfully so. Calling for book burning, getting books pulled from Target for any opinion that violates their kool-aid creed, attacking and harassing any dev that dares to depict a fictional character how they want, attacking an innocent girl for posting a pic of their Animal Crossing character with princess Leia hair buns because she wasnt the "right" skin color (and they have to gall pretend they're crusaders against racism lol? They're the biggest racist scum I've ever seen). These people would be lining you up in a firing squad or gas chamber for wrong think if they had the power to, all while patting themselves on the back for eliminating "ists" and "phobes" from the face of the earth (which, anyone who disagrees with a single iota of their radical indoctrination is labeled by them as such) just like the Nazis believed they were the "good guys". Biggest fascists on the face of the earth calling anyone who disagrees with them a fascist... The hypocrisy is so ridiculous it would be comical, were these people not so dangerous.
I said it before, and I'll say it again....Why is twitter even relevant when it comes to games/gaming news? (or even relevant at all?)
All controversies start and end on twitter.
@Averagewriter You do understand that those Anti-SJW YouTubers and Bounding Into Comics love to exaggerate about censorship and "politics" for views right? I used to believe in a lot of that Anti-Anita crap when I was younger, but then I actually saw both sides and realize that people love to demonize each other and much of this stuff was exaggerated or a lie. You don't have to agree with her, but these people's obsession with her remind of conspiracy theorists' obsession with George Soros.
@Fido007 That site is full of extremists from all angles and it's certainly frightening.
@DavidMac
"I skimmed those and all they are are angry comments because the game’s art style is creepy AF."
ah yes, they all are simply reasonable, rightfully outraged comments such as:
"how many f-ng real, actual women do you have on your team? any? even one? t-nnies don't f-ng count..." [nice gratiutous transphobia here, m8; also one of the artists are women IIRC]
"If I find my child playing this, expect you and NINTENDO to hear from both me and my lawyers" [ok, Karen: do you want to be laughed out of court on the grounds of being a 0iq halfwit who's a lousy parent as well for not keeping you kid in check?]
"Kill yourselves for giving right-wing f-gs a platform" [demanding suicide in an edgy way, el-oh-el]
"Disgusting. hope you get shot, you f-ng incels" [imagine being absolutely bootydisturbed to the point wish death on people over boobs]
"would be a shame if something was sent to -redacted-, huh?" [if that aint the most transparent threat so far, idk what it is]
"stupid f-ng garbage incel bs you're peddling. hope you get the f-ng rope" [again, another idiot extremely mad at anime boobies]
"Sick, sick, sick. twisted. Hope you enjoy the incoming legal action." [another Karen that is bound to be laughed out of court because a lawsuit over the existence of anime tiddies is 100% bound to fall through]
"stupid AGPs. you're doing irreversive harm to women. off yourselves" [op demanding suicide while lowkey showing they're the ones who has "irreversible harm"]
"vile t-nny game. sincerely kill yourselves and don't repopulate. vile t-nny bulls-t. how dare you to put this in front of youth" [a lot to unpack here]
The fact you either willingfully ignored or even deemed these comments acceptable coupled with the "anybody who draws or enjoys big boobies (read: a big chunk of heterosexual men, alongside a fair size of bisexuals and lesbians) is a creep" either tells me that a) you're simply a troll trying to pull a fast one on us or b) you're one of those too online weirdos who posture themselves as Genuine Women Respecters™ who mostly end up in what I dub "The Peter Bright Zone"
This comment section has been a wild ride.
I'm more offended that in over 250 comments not a single person has addressed the bigger issues with boobs like this on Switch:
1: Does anyone know of a peripheral that will make it easier to hold a switch lite one handed?
2: What is the best screen protector in case of "accidents"?
3: Anyone else excited for the Twitter implosion when Gal Gun Returns drops in Feb!
@Bass_X0 varies per country and calendar - we also have a Christmas celebration (and a bank holiday at that) on January 7 here, for instance.
Tbh women with huge natural breasts do exist.
@SwitchVogel
Whether it was one death threat or 1 million it wouldn't matter. I saw the reaction to the game on Twitter as it was happening and it was freaking ridiculous and I'm glad the devs responded. Don't like the art style? Congrats, go play one of the billion boring Western AAA games that cater to you.
@Kabloop
No the cancel culture folks are not a benefit because 9 times out of 10 the devs are willing to bend to their will to try and sell a few more copies (while losing just as many from people who get upset at the changes, no there's no gain in the end). The only reason this dev is benefiting is because its refusing to change its vision for the game. And you can pretend all you want there weren't people whining about it but there absolutely were.
I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt so I looked everything over and while there are some abusive messages sent to them, a lot of it is just screengrabs of people slagging off the game in public forums like this one. Someone saying your game is crap or that it looks the product of sexually immature freaks is not censorship, it's freedom of speech! I then checked out the game's trailer, I can't see why it would excite any strong feelings from anyone or why it would be on anyone's radar. The Switch and Steam have a veritable ocean of indie games, only the very best and very worst would create any awareness. Of course, there's horrible people out there on all sides of the political spectrum and I'd totally support legal action against the people sending them abusive, threatening messages. Complaining about people on forums saying the design looks trashy isn't really valid. If you're so against censorship, why are you against people expressing their personal opinions about games?
I'm more offended that in over 250 comments not a single person has addressed the bigger issues with boobs like this on Switch:
...
@ChaosBadger777 Oh Mr. Fuggles, I totally disapprove of your post. And it made me smile anyway.
But it does make me sad when I see how people tear each other (and themselves) apart over something we all have. It's OK for boys and girls to look at breasts, and I don't think eroticism is something to shame people about. But a lot of people, men especially, like to attack guys for their fantasies... it makes me wonder how many of these people actually know many women in their lives.
@COVIDberry it's the state of social media in general, everything has become a swing between extremes - usually Political Left & Right. Tribalism at its finest emboldened by the anonymity afforded by an online persona.
I try to escape online to unwind and try my best to avoid the petty (and constant) disputes. This is why a lot of what I post is stupid, because I'm not in a serious mood when I'm browsing forums (and I'm pretty stupid in general and like a laugh).
Now, who do I speak with about changing my profile name to Mr Fuggles because that is amazing!
@AJ_Lethal You've nailed it.
One of the trolls/reactionaries on this very forum once called me a woman-hater, which is, um... LOL, interesting. But automatically resorting to words like fascist or woman-hater within the space of one or two comments exchanged is a sign of mental illness. I've had some of my comments removed by the mods for much less, so I do wonder about the political leanings around here. Ah well..
I don't know many women that get worked up about men's attraction to breasts. Men look; women know that men are looking... some women - shock, gasp - even enjoy that attention.
@ChaosBadger777 You know, I can almost understand the political extremism, because this planet has a load of problems. Left wing people are right to protest racism and sexism, say, and right wing people are right to protest spiralling government debt and anti-religion crusaders (just some examples).
What I find uncool and disturbing is the way people fight about sex. People have fantasies, people look at bodies, people want to have sex. I have no patience for people who cannot accept these realities. As long as everyone is a consenting adult, people need to back off. Trashy porn video games? I'm almost at the point where I think they need defending, because of the people we're talking about.
You were the one that turned me on to fugglers, so yes, change your name!
@DavidMac Reading your posts, I'm curious... do you think Justin Trudeau and Jacinda Ardern are real liberals? Jeremy Corbyn? This is apropos of nothing, but I am really curious now.
I am so tired of games tending to be more censored/bound by pc-ness than books and movies. I don't even see what is really causing the upset here tbh from the screenshots.. good on the devs for standing their ground though. Create things for those who enjoy what you make. Not everyone has to like it.
If someone made a game about hot-as-hell men, only complete douchebags would go and criticize it on that fact alone. I'm just trying to imagine what kind of pathetic man-baby you have to be to care about this stuff. Yet, here we are.
@8BitTit i think thats the real issue jealousy.
@AtlanteanMan “Freedom of the press was never intended to cover propaganda for any political party, group, or sociopolitical agendas”
That is not accurate. I realize many people have this image of a golden past where journalism was “objective” and “without personal, corporate, or political spin or bias” - but that vision is only a myth. Such a time never existed.
The broadsheets and pamphlets and tabloids and other “news media” of the Founding Fathers’ time were faaaar more egregious in their partisanship than mainstream media sources today. There was constant editorializing - and many of them published invective against their political opponents that would never fly in the NY Times today.
And yep - that kind of speech and press was absolutely what the Founders intended to protect. Some of them were open about how much they hated what certain newspapers said about them, but they also realized that a press that’s free to speak out is essential. The only real limits are things like slander and calls for insurrection.
@COVIDberry I think a lot of it stems from the fact everyone still talks about sex in hushed tones like its something to be slightly ashamed of, no sex before marriage and all that crap (really, who buys clothes without trying them on for a good fit - especially if your goimg to be stuck with that one suit for the rest of your life).
Its still not uncommon for parents to take children out of class when they are taught sexual anatomy and reproduction, so is it any wonder there are still people who freak out at the sight of digital boobs and turn to Twitter to vent their fury.
On the plus side, while they are busy arguing about games they can't destroy any more comic franchises.
@Shinden Your post was so pithy and reasonable... then you go and use terms like "man-baby". Seriously, we need to stop sexist attacks on guys too. Man-baby, neckbeard, d**k... so many males internalize hatred against their own gender.
I have to say that plenty of people would criticize a game about attractive men. Homophobia is just the start.
@Mr-Fuggles777 I'm trying my best not to get entangled in mindless political stuff, Mr. Fuggles, but sometimes I'm glad I read the comments all the way through. I had no idea comics were being censored and destroyed like this.
And yeah, parents... it's scary. In France they are fighting over religions, but in the English-speaking world, I'm not sure we will ever get over shame and sex. Damn.
I am honoured to be the first one to welcome Mr. Fuggles to this forum.
@COVIDberry comics have been getting censored and pressured to encourage diversity and inclusion to the point of over saturation - pretty much every male Marvel character has been given an alternative form in the last 5 years (usually a quick swap, where they switch out a characters gender, culture or sexuality - like when Thor was no longer worthy and couldn't control Mjolnir but suddenlyJane was. The problem is that it was never disclosed what made Jane worthy other than being a woman and having breast cancer. It felt empty and unfortunately is the arc they went with for the next movie)
My comic subscription dropped from 10 marvel books a month to just 1, but I did start reading MMPR which has worked out as I loved power rangers as a kid and they are doing amazing work with the lore).
I will leave this bow for fear of further derailing this post.
Lastly following with the superhero theme you havnt just welcomed Mr Fuggles to the forum, you created him. My misdeeds now lay on your shoulders, with great name ideas comes great responsibility!
@COVIDberry Eh, it was used for comedic purpose. Don't mind it.
That's the point. Only homophobic people, or those insecure in their masculinity would go out of their way to attack niche games for featuring something they don't like.
Speaking of phobias, several of the Twitter comments "criticizing" this game noted that one of the developers is transgender. Maybe i'm not that far off from truth.
@Shinden But, but... no joking! Outrage!!
My sympathy for the developers definitely increased after reading some of those attacks. I mean, the making of even a below average game requires some decent smarts, which are clearly far ahead of the cowards making those comments.
I see your avatar doesn't have a nose either, and is also very cute. Noses are so over-rated, don't you think?
I don't see the problem with this game since it is targeted at adults. I am in general in favour of cancel culture when it is about important stuff: slavery, pedophilia, rape, etc because people that committed those crimes, no matter the century they lived in, should not have a legacy. That's my 2 cents.
@SwitchVogel Yes, makes us wonder if this is a marketing strategy.
Good for them! I think I'll purchase the game if only to show my support for developers with the courage to boldly take a stand against a bullying SJW / cancel culture community that usually "wins".
@Entrr_username yeah people rebiew bombed fe3h because byleth got into smash but it stull has a great score on google
@Alpha008 spoken like someone with the privilege who has never been gagged or threatened with real violence for voicing an opinion. The problem with that train of thought is that censorship is a powerful tool of both setting narratives and implying false context.
Case and point, a new vaccine against Dengue fever was launched a few years ago and primarily released to sub-tropic/tropical nations where the disease is endemic. The vaccine was released with little fanfare initially until a study of seronegative patients suffering from a worse form of dengue if the vaccine was given. Two things happened in one particular country:
First is the coverup, links to the study were deemed dangerous and these links were blocked by the previous regime. It effectively removed all autonomy to patients who are on the fence about obtaining this said vaccine while the regime that followed it deemed the vaccine as dangerous and fatal and that some people even without a proper investigation who were mandatorily given this vaccine died of a severe form of dengue that was sensatiinalized thus creating a false context concerning the vaccine and these people in third world countries were used as experiments.
And this was done as a manipulation tactic where the majority now know that the vaccine is bad, never mind the other studies that prove the efficacy and effectivity of said vaccine. In the minds of the masses, the vaccine has proven to be a mistake.
If you think censorship still should be situational even if wanted by the majority, then it is entirely a falsehood.
@Kirby_Girl @nessisonett @JasmineDragon If you didnt see the update to the article, the devs have proved it is true. Yes I know there most likely was more people saying it was fake, only tagging you cause I remember you, not rereading all comments again.
@Tobiaku just because a few ppl do something doesn't mean its a huge problem. Most give a ***** about and that is just truth. Its enough for them to use to get publicity. Period. I don't need to reread ppl who add nothing to a conversation.
@Kirby_Girl The article itself now links to the devs proving what they said is true. I tagged you because I remembered you said something ala its just a publicity stunt. Now they have proved what they said were true. Thats all.
@somebread First I've heard of it too. This was a good marketing move.
@Tobiaku I can acknowledge some of it but its not a huge problem and nothing they can't ignore, right? They are going to release the game as is regardless so the statement itself IS publicity. It gets them attention for their weird game. If you really think a bunch if nobodies will not utilize this then that's just silly. That's all.
I watched the 1:29 video there and I'm not seeing what the problem is. What, the main character has a revealing outfit? How is that different than, say, Streets of Rage 4?
@Kirby_Girl It would be wise to take advantage of the situation. Especially if other option is to take a hit to your reputation and lose money.
What a strange world we live in, where we have to applaud people for making sound business decisions.
@Shinden Their rep can't be high to begin with with a product like this lol. Looks wack. Anyway don't care. Just think the noise is ridiculous. This isn't Hollow Knight Silksong so moving on.
Highlight of these comments: nessisonett making a daft comment that a developer receiving death threats is "marketing", and then proceding to rightfully get competely bodied left and right.
@Friendly
I brought the game just because of all this
I think I'll buy it just because they are not caving into the man bun wearing, skinny leg jean, star bucks drinking snowflakes.
@Mr-Fuggles777
I get it. Funny. Wonder how many here have no idea what you are referring to.
I think that the "Leave A Comment" should be placed at the top of the thread so that people's eyes don't get bombarded by any potential toxic comments & reply.
Look at Magical Girls on Switch. That's a game where the only reward for playing is to see anime girls.
Tap here to load 275 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...