Somewhat off topic, but the names of both the publisher and the developer are also used by unrelated tabletop game companies. Hero Games makes the Hero System tabletop RPG, and GameScience (no space, so there’s a difference) make dice. It threw me for a loop.
I was wondering what “feminist propaganda” was and apparently it’s talking about misogyny.
Another forbidden topic seemed to be targeted at criticism of misogyny at Game Science. The company has come under fire for lewd and sexist comments attributed in media reports to its founders as well as recruiting materials from 2015 replete with sexual innuendos. Those original job postings and comments were deleted, and the company has not commented.nytimes.com/…/chinese-videogame-wukong-censorship…
But this anti feminism attitude is not limited to this 1 gaming company, but government policy under Xi Jinping’s authoritarian rule: www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-08/…/100165360
IGN’s hitpiece was very iffy in the first place, with mistranslated “tweets” from one of the devs weibo and all, but by doing these guidelines they gave ammunition to these people, I’m glad the game is doing well at least so hopefully china keeps making good, AAA games that aren’t also gacha for once.
Edit: downvoted for not wanting to pay attention to stupid controversy about video games? Weird…
It’s one thing to live peacefully in ignorance. I get it. it is exhausting keeping track of every shitty thing a company does when it’s so much easier at the end of an exhausting 9-5 shift to avoid news and play your games guilt free without thinking about who it’s hurting.
It’s a completely separate thing to brag that your ignorance somehow makes your way of life superior.
People caring about these issues, and sometimes leading to actions being taken because of that, all makes the gaming industry, or to be hyberbolic; the world a better place.
It’s fine to avoid news on controversy and just blindly enjoy games, but don’t lie to yourself (and others) by pretending that it is a good thing.
Do NOT include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishisation, and other content that instigates negative discourse.
Do NOT use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’ or ‘Covid-19’.
Do NOT discuss content related to China’s game industry policies, opinions, news, etc.
I see this as them wanting influencers to focus on their game, instead of using the game as a platform to wade into these other topics that focus on the country they happen to live in. And this being an election year in the US ,and the Right having spread wild conspiracy theories about China for years now, them not wanting any of that stuff to overshadow their art doesn’t seem all that crazy of a take. Basically they are saying they want influencers to talk about the game and to leave politics to /c/politics.
Oh and this is of course only sent to influencers, so just people they are giving the game to for free. The rest of the world (including influencers that buy their own copy) are of course free to do whatever they are legally allowed to in their jurisdiction.
Edit - I just want to add an edit after reading the IGN article someone linked above, that I am not siding with or defending any of the gross things coming from people working at this studio. And I guess this would come down to if people can separate the art from the artist, which I personally struggle with in many instances.
Well that explains something, but honestly it has nothing to do with the actual game itself. Would be kinda weird if reviewers focused on that instead of the game.
Yes, you are right. Everyone had to draw the line themselves. And if you only stop buying a game if it is from Putin, that is indeed your decision. But it obviously also means, that you do made your decision not only on the game itself. So I am not sure what your argument is here.
I am using Putin as an extreme example to discuss the broader question of whether the ethics and actions of creators should influence consumer decisions, and not because Putin is directly related to the situation being discussed. Even if a notorious figure like Putin were to release a game, some people, like you in this case, might argue that the game’s quality alone should be the deciding factor in whether to support it, while others might refuse to support it based on the creator’s actions or background. I was just trying to find out if there is a line you are not going to cross or if you will play it no matter the circumstances as long as you think the game is good. And as it turns out, based on this conversation, there is a line for you and it’s literally “the game was created by Putin”
That’s an extremely oversimplified and overexaggerated comparison of someone comitting war crimes versus misogyny.
Supporting the game has nothing to do with it, just because people enjoy the game because it’s a good game doesn’t mean they support misogyny, same goes for the many developers that worked on the game.
It also doesn’t explain the other stuff they requested to not mention in game coverage, all of which seem to have nothing to do with the actual game.
You are judging the entire team of probably 100+ developers by one man’s actions and act like everyone that supports the game supports war crimes. That’s a batshit insane take.
Of course it is exaggerated. That is the point of a hyperbolic arguments.
Examining hypothetical edge cases in more detail is a useful tool for defining where the issues lie in a debate.
Would you support/play a game of 100+ devs if key management DID commit war crimes? I’d like to think probably not.
It’s though it is clear from your response that misogyny isn’t a deal-breaker for you for this case, so the question then becomes; how shitty does a single person need to be before it becomes an issue for you then?
Other people drew a line in the sand at misogyny and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact I’d say it is a respectable opinion.
You probably would prefer to just ignore any controversy and just judge the game on its merits alone, and that is fine in its own way too. It is exhausting keeping up with the news and you would be happier and find it easier to just blindly enjoy a game.
But don’t pretend that just because you are ignoring it, doesn’t mean that you aren’t supporting bad practices like misogyny when you do so.
It’s a difficult issue. If Putin did release a game, did we know beforehand? How widespread was the knowledge? How did this info come to light?
I guess it’s similar to reports about crunch culture in many game studios. Do we want to support that and buy the game?
Or sexual harassment by C-level, same question.
Many people might not care, but some do and it’s still information to consider.
The guidelines are also likely in place to avoid mention of previous reports of misogyny at the studio. Posts from Game Science CEO Féng Jì including sexualised and misogynistic language were reported on in 2020, while IGN also reported on the studio’s history with sexism.
What is "feminist propaganda" and what would COVID-19 have anything to do with the game? What would either of those have to do with the game? Isn't it based on the legend of the monkey king? Are they afraid they'll make a meme of him spreading COVID to kill his enemies or something?
In the conspiracy theories groups China is a hot topic, and I believe this is them telling influencers (who they give a free copy) to stick to the game instead of talking about the country they happen to live in. And I would assume if people stuck to the game few of these topics would be relevant.
Now if an influencer had an issue with say, allegations misogyny at the studio, I would expect them to -
not accept the game from the studio
maybe create content on why they refused the offer of a free game and things they think would need to change to allow them to work with the studio in the future.
You would have thought that by now they would have realized that explicitly banning people from talking about a subject is basically a method to guarantee that they do.
It’s a Chinese game developer. These are the things they’re sensitive to. COVID started in China and I guess feminist is a big fucking red flag for women in China?
It’s a Chinese game developer. These are the things they’re sensitive to. COVID started in China and I guess feminist is a big fucking red flag for women in China?
The Black Myth: Wukong sexism controversy stems from employee reports that developers at Game Science have been making sexist comments for many years, and there’s a suggestion the company doesn’t want women playing its games.
I wonder if any of this has been corroborated. I feel more conflicted about this kind of stuff recently because for every one asshole saying awful shit there are hundreds of other people that poured years of their life into making a game like this.
It’s Chinese developer so I wouldn’t be that surprised that their sexist it just seems to be a very common viewpoint in China.
They obviously know it’s unacceptable because they don’t want to be brought up on it. But rather than improved they’re just going to ban discussion of it or at least try to it won’t work of course. We’re talking about it after all.
The dev has a storied past^[1] of sexism and misogyny, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The COVID stuff is amusing but unsurprising considering it’s a Chinese studio.
Reading through that made me feel gross. It does seem to be acknowledged by women in China as a cultural issue (as well as globally online).
Sexism is, and continues to be, a global problem. But the difference, as both Zhong and Monica F. pointed out, is that the Chinese government and overall cultural attitudes continue to actively discourage women and their allies from fighting back. There’s no one telling harassers “no.”
This feels like the second round of this going around as the AI articles / lazy sites pick it up.
It’s a doc ‘sent’ to one guy who had 12 followers on medium before this started blowing up. It was edited after it was sent out to be the real marketing email of the company instead of a gmail address. The doc is still owned by that gmail account, which isn’t typically how companies operate.
I guess they’re getting their viral moment so good for them for generating content?
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