Sweet Baby Inc Is Awful...

[@SomeOrdinaryGamers]

Today we launched a skincare brand and I wanted to share it with you beautiful people. Took us two years and a lot of formulating but we ended up making something that doesn't require a million bottles or a big chunk of your morning time! got1up.com/discount/SOG

[@Fungfetti]

Hi

[@zenixa]

oil up, ill be there in 5

[@Fungfetti]

SJINCATR

[@Cumbustor]

Get buttered up

[@Fungfetti]

I LOVE YOU MUTA

[@CharityDiary]

Having a black main character in your game only because Sweet Baby Inc made you do it is honestly more racist than not having one at all.

[@optimumplatinum2640]

yeah, how hard is it to just be genuine about it? just do it or don't do it at all, or just ask, i don't know, the community you're trying to represent about it?

[@Spicy_Spores]

This is what infuriates me about this bs.

[@jtg753]

Kind of like requiring blacks to avoid being called racist, is racist. There are more races than black and white.

[@Enigmo1]

Yeah people need to look at games like Enter the Matrix which has you play half the story as a black woman...check the metacritic score for that vs Forespoken's metacritic. These woke mfs in the industry wanna convince themselves that they're activists finally bringing representation for minorities with their cringe scriptwriting but we've had minorities represented far better before activists got in the gaming industry

[@RikkiSan1]

Exactly I've always said this if you have to think about adding diversity, you failed at adding diversity

[@JR-kx3jr]

A lot of companies seem to be adopting a “blame the consumer” mentality when their products fail.

[@longislandicedtea6323]

These companies CLEARLY never heard the definition of insanity

[@Stefantius]

ya and a lot of consumers seem to be to doing the same thing, unless those are just bot accounts- as we know by now, 70% of the internet is bot

[@chickenwillie3785]

companies when they blame consumer and then consumer doesn't buy the product: :0

[@gleipnirrr]

there's a pretty simple reason for this: we havent been the actual clients for a while. their shareholders are.

[@thientuongnguyen2564]

@@Stefantius Shills pretending to be "consumers" to guilt trip others while they themselves don't even support the product? I'm shocked. SHOCKED I tell you!

[@SkeletonS1S1]

Shocking surprise: If you insult your audience they probably won't buy your product.

[@AKiren47]

Yet, there are still those risking their reputation to defend them...?

[@bioswat96]

Blizzard fans?

[@rogerloger1935]

Except they are lichess,not producer of goods. They could not care.

[@RandomPerson-cf3gt]

unless your customer base are masochist

[@andrueanderson8637]

nooooo but we know better than they do, they need to buy it to re-educate themselves otherwise their preferences won't change to what we want them to beeee. Edit: also they're just picky babies, honestly they should just give us their money and we'll spend it for them until they get more mature like us

[@GabrielAlfaroCossio]

As a mexican I never cared if the game I was playing was a black dude, indian, mexican, white. I don't get why companies think we care about it.

[@theexample4347]

Me either dude. Too many developers are concerned with adding diversity. It takes away from good dialogue and makes to the point where I skip it or ignore it. Surprizes me how outta touch they really can be.

[@outofpowder]

Not gonna lie, I do prefer to play a character that represents me. Not that I won't play a character that isn't like me and not that I don't highly value some characters that aren't like me at all. I like it when a game gives me options to choose from, and given the choice between a nerdy white guy and a ganster black guy, I will pick the ganster. Games like Lora croft games I'm just less likely to play because I don't necessarily want to play a female character that is harder for me to relate to, but I know many men will willingly create a female character to play as, and I'm not sure why.

[@saycap]

They don’t. That was the topic of the video- this is for the shareholders, not the consumers. If they were trying to make things for their fans the games would be a lot more normal

[@saycap]

@outofpowder idk if I’m outing myself but I feel like it’s mostly for eye candy reasons. Women definitely do this too, which is why certain gacha games have big female audiences. Personally I got bored of making samey/wacky male characters after a while so I started making both situationally for different games. Not that I’m playing with one hand but it’s kinda fun to feel sexy in the game ig. Long as its not using it to creepy in a multiplayer game or smth

[@squaeman_2644]

Becaus they want you to be racist i guess? I dont think a character has to look 100% like me to feel a connection with them which is how it seems to be...

[@LowKeyJaded]

The CEO just came out saying that she has a method for “Threatening” game developers in order to get what she wants.

[@Blasko86]

Sounds like Anita Sarkeesian

[@KANDYMANIAC]

GAMERGATE 2.0 LETTTTTTTSSSSS GOOOOOOO

[@highwindknight]

Hey, it's what they know how to do. They're the same people who created cancel culture on Twitter. Of course they would make full shameless use of their own weapons.

[@rhomak1955]

she didn't just "came out" that is from a video a couple years ago ( doesn't change the fact that she is awful tho)

[@KANDYMANIAC]

@@rhomak1955shhhhh don’t ruin a good thing. Lol

[@iKevin33]

"You're harassing me by wanting absolutely nothing to do with me and trying to avoid me." -sbi

[@alexoxo1]

I mean it WAS causing hate

[@mchoppityhooper]

@@alexoxo1hating something isn’t harassment

[@BIGJUNK1MILLION]

“GET AWAY FROM ME! WHY ARE YOU CHASING ME?? GET BACK HERE! SO YOU CAN GET AWAY FROM ME!” -Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

[@alexoxo1]

@@mchoppityhooper so getting constant people angry at you and spamming your page and there being a group basically recruiting more to come to your page isn’t harassing?

[@KH-ye8ou]

​@@alexoxo1It's a steam list to avoid the games they touch, no it isn't harassment

[@enthiegavoir5955]

I feel like even people in favor of more inclusivity shouldn't support a company that calls for harassment of a list that exposes their involvement.

[@noodleman4555]

Yeah as far as I'm concerned they basically did a gigantic self report. I don't plan on buying any games they worked on going forward, I don't like their methods.

[@tux_the_astronaut]

The fact they are mad about a list being made that shows what games they worked on is a major red flag

[@trashjash]

​@@tux_the_astronaut A list that _they_ _themselves_ _proudly_ _display_ _on_ _their_ _own_ _pages._ Like, if you're proud of it, why are you mad when other people point it out as well? Wouldn't you like the publicity for your works rather than going apeshit and hitting the nuclear button? It gets the brain jogging, especially when gaming "journalists" immediately run to cover this company's ass too - and we all know gaming journalism is full of fake gamers and people that hate us, as well as people who encourage anti-consumer practices in the game production industry and shriek when you point either of these things out. Just like Sweet Baby, huh.

[@jamesfoss1627]

​@@tux_the_astronautsweet baby are the type of people to make blacklists and pressure companies to not work with certain people or groups as well.

[@Blackpapalink]

@@noodleman4555 They're not the only group of their kind. Be sure to look out for more/warn others.

[@Marmalard]

People like this don’t want racism to be ‘solved’ because they’ve based their entire career around it.

[@tentonmotto6779]

This applies to most jobs based on fighting or ending something bad. They know that once they accomplish their goal, they are no longer needed.

[@mattpage2228]

khazarian mafia. This is the “kalergi plan” for video games.

[@businesswithredbeard5567]

1000% percent. I heard this crazy quote that resonated with me in college 10 years ago: "The goal of every non-profit should be to go out of business."

[@Stormdraka]

This is actually a good point, makes total sense.

[@JeeGurda]

Agree, the same people created a problem and conveniently have a profitable solution for it, which is very exploitative and immoral business, basically the evil part of capitalism

[@HSMtruman]

SweetBabyInc sounds like a really bad E-girl name

[@luismedina5792]

more like a tumbler user

[@Octahedran]

all I can think of is sweet baby ray barbecue sauce lmao

[@MiGujack3]

Sounds like a chomo nickname

[@OCovilDoMarcos]

what? I'd guess like a channel like cocomelon way before ever thinking about e-girl nicknames.

[@ThePopo543]

I thought it was some kinda maternity supplies shop that turned out to be a mlm scam or something.

[@thestoryofafatman5673]

The original saints row from 2006 has better diversity than anything today

[@RainGunslinger]

True, the saints was ment to be a group of misfits unlike the other gangs in the game.

[@key0777]

They couldn't do that today without people calling it "woke" or "pandering".

[@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778]

Halo had better diversity than anything today

[@optimumplatinum2640]

i'd say yeah since you could literally create whoever you wanted, even switch genders in the middle of the story

[@mcnuttington7122]

Gta 4 does the same

[@AdamDarwich346]

ESG scores are funny because Activision Blizzard is given a high evaluation for social scores like being pro-diversity, having good labor practices, etc, when they literally faced hundreds of sexual harassments lawsuits that were attempted to be quelled by executives at the company (they also had employees who stole breast milk), developers being forced to do crunch, and so forth. I wonder what kinda ESG score they have for military contractors lol.

[@contra7631]

Ya the worst company always gets the best scores from these losers.

[@fabianoyaga8610]

It's just further proof that these companies don't care about diversity. However, it's also worrying how these situations are also used by actual bigots to further spread their hatred towards minorities.

[@AKiren47]

Tesla got a low score for producing electric cars but ExxonMobil got a high score for producing oil. Try and figure that one out.

[@srajandikshit7590]

ESG has always been a sham. Ver sus tha it has been heavily pushed by BlackRock CEO. Good ESG score is a get out of jail free card

[@Protofall]

ESG is just a scam with no accountability. It makes sense Activision Blizzard game-d the system

[@peanutdecided6256]

8:06 “had a nightmare i was an SBI employee” post was a direct reference to the head of SBI tweeting: “had a nightmare i was a white male gamer”

[@alex_vee]

Next level: Have a nightmare being a SBI employee who has a nightmare being a white male gamer

[@BjornTorbs]

Next NEXT level: Be a white male gamer employee of SBI and have a nightmare about working at a slightly normal office job@@alex_vee

[@draw2death421]

Yeah someordinarygamers seems to be unaware about half of the things in this video wich is unfortunate.

[@Butiguessilovememore]

​@draw2death421 almost like it's a grift

[@lukacs7161]

​@@Butiguessilovememore or maybe he has other things to do irl and can't spend all of his time on the internet

[@SebSenseGreen]

- "Some one make a list of publicly available information" - OMG we're being harassed, like totally! uhm... what?

[@IparIzar]

If listing the stuff you worked on is harmful to you, you should stop working

[@AKiren47]

How about stop working if you go to a company with a list that offends you. Biggest grift in gaming history...

[@MR3LIXR]

Its been happening for years. The only reason you are seeing it now is that Twitter is not actively one side censoring people's voices anymore.

[@Vanity0666]

@@IparIzar you know they literally put a list of games they worked on up on their website right, you can go there right now and see it for yourself.

[@dogsbecute]

@@AKiren47 the people like this Legobutts person are inherently insane and nothing they say should be taken seriously. Its like their whole mission objective is to sew chaos and discontent.

[@FerVisser]

As a Latino, the problem is corporations gave these individuals unlimited power with no questioning and these people do not represent us, they're abusing their power.

[@eightcoins4401]

Im convinced that corporation only exists to virtue signal to investors - it all being a cynical grift not even involving the people they claim to want to represent

[@IVIRnathanreilly]

​@@eightcoins4401well as long as there's ESG or DEI money on the table you're correct. The more pandering, the more money. The question now is why there's so much funding for it. Do you think people that are buying up swathes of property all over the world care about those things?

[@manolgeorgiev9664]

Someone just needs to get Felix off the keyboard xD Their PR is non-existent.

[@mattpage2228]

khazarian mafia. See the logo?

[@FerVisser]

@@eightcoins4401 agree and ESG scores is the vehicle to it.

[@DOOMStudios]

The fact that one of the Sweet Baby Inc’s employees tried to get the person that created the group banned from steam and instead gets his X Account locked for a week is absolutely hilarious.

[@MiseRaen]

Thats because Twitter is now Elon Musk's property and they cant use it on their culture war anymore.

[@do0Mbot]

Hey I don't know you, but I am compelled to agree with all statements made by Dooms.

[@Timely-ud4rm]

yeah, they really was trying to fight fire with fire lmao.

[@YngolSonofYsgramor]

That's what happens when actual harassment policies are enforced correctly

[@DOOMStudios]

@@YngolSonofYsgramor literally fits “The more you fuck around, the more your gonna find out.” line so perfectly.

[@Kant3n]

"we make games more inclusive" Any competent writer can do that. Being the middleman skimming off the labor isn't admirable.

[@burp2019]

if they were competent writers, their work wouldn't be fucking terrible

[@Cassie_Lyn]

if the work was terrible for something they did. nobody would hire them. you cant have your cake and eat it too. @@burp2019

[@burp2019]

@@Cassie_Lynthey tried and look where it got them

[@jonathanwilkinson4299]

These companies are like those sensitivity siminares. They aren't effective at all but are used so the company has "proof" they did something so if they ever get sued they can be like, "How bad can we be? We paid a company to lecture to use for a few hours once a year". Except with these "inclusive" companies it's to increase these BS ratings that only exist to district us from the real horrors these companies commit.

[@highdefinition450]

but they don't tho lol which is why they have to push them to add them lmao

[@SkywalkerOne1977]

Literally no one says "This is a bad story... if only there was a diverse character in it."

[@TheLegitAlpha]

Honestly, it’s marketing. Look up ‘rainbow capitalism’

[@penroseinspace]

I don't think the goal is necessarily to make a better story, but maybe to add nuance to the diversity-related aspects of a narrative. Obviously the companies do it for marketing reasons and this won't save a game that was already bad to begin with, but added nuance and attention to detail is never bad in my book.

[@Bizcuitt]

@@TheLegitAlpha its dumb marketing

[@Kingcrimson_1456]

Synthetic man

[@cyclecoma7916]

​@@penroseinspaceyes, but they aren't careful or thoughtful in when and how they do their "innovation" like with yngrboda in God of War Ragnarok. We know what giants look like in game. It's not that.

[@bodhithemetahuman2531]

I wonder if this company had anything to do with Spider-Man 2's butchering of the Spanish language?

[@kosakukawajiri5007]

Very likely. I remember that shitshow.

[@yarou3124]

It is infact does

[@CassCat69]

aren't they supposed to be advocating for diversity, but they still fu*k that up? and the whole puerto rican flag controversy? isn't that their job, like what are they even doing?

[@mdb45424]

​@@CassCat69 basically forcing the message into otherwise good games, hence Mary Jane

[@sol9059]

100%

[@caiuscosades1791]

The name "Sweet Baby Inc" is just gross and creepy.

[@lemonlime8949]

What? Like I don’t like them at all but what does their name have to do with anything?

[@conanhighwoods4304]

​@@lemonlime8949P3d0 stuff. Their logo with a baby and spiral(p3d0 thing)is more sus in my opinion .

[@looniemoonie5955]

​@@lemonlime8949would YOU call your company "Sweet Baby"?.... it has nothing to do with gaming or diversity, it's not smart nor witty, it just sounds extremely creepy.

[@kazumablackwing4270]

@@looniemoonie5955 given how often wokescolds like those at SBI get outed as groomers and sexpests, the creepy name of their company shouldn't really be a surprise

[@memevondank1197]

​​​@@looniemoonie5955i mean it works in a very meta sense i suppose they take all the possible offense out of everything effectivily baby proofing stories So its really named after thier target demographic adult babies its clever in a roundabout unintended way

[@the_dark_soul_of_man]

Honestly, I always thought diversity checkboxing is more demeaning then not having it at all. Like "we only have you here to fill a checkbox, we don't think you really need to be here, but hey, quotas are quotas"

[@highdefinition450]

if they didn't think they needed to be here they wouldn't request putting them in lmao

[@squaeman_2644]

Just look at Finn from Disney Star Wars...

[@yohanfye]

Financial need that is

[@ErickhalfLance]

You know as a gay man i'm tired of these sociopathic companies pretending to be my friend while spreading toxic garbage left and right. The way they do things isn't right and is 100% the wrong way of doing things. It's just HATE in another form.

[@SlavTiger]

They make us look bad while claiming to be allies. That is the worst kind of enemy.

[@Gandhi_Physique]

I'd rather someone hate me than use my identities to give themselves brownie points.

[@Gouda992]

As a trans girl, I keep noticing how these companies increase transphobia in the community by being annoying and soulless. I’ve been hoping for a big company to make a story about being trans for so long, and these situations only causes my hope to be lost, all that this accomplishes is an increase in transphobia in the community and it makes me so sad

[@kijuler1752]

​@@Gouda992the only game that did it is Celeste because AAA companies are too scared of doing it on a bigger scale so they will just slap a trans character so they can say that "We have diversity see???" Only to cut it out in some countries

[@gucci1131]

nice to hear a logical take and not a hot take like usual

[@MrHidePatten]

Little Reminder, Legobutts helped Zoey Quinn back in the day destroy a charity and the sister who threw her brother under the bus when Zoey made false allegations about him, which lead to his suicide, works at Sweet Baby. Misery loves company.

[@GrafZ3ppelin]

What was the charity?

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

Hoooolly isht

[@NetBattler]

This is insane....

[@longislandicedtea6323]

And they WONDER why misogyny in the games industry is STILL a massive issue.

[@Onion_salsa]

it's an old news but it a news no gamers should forget, Alec Holowka was the victim.

[@ConcasicoWoodworks]

Being someone from Mexico and growing up playing games mostly from Japan and the US, I think that you will connect with a character and setting because of how well written and likeable they are. I can relate to Master Chief, CJ, Niko Bellic, Solid Snake, even Ratchet and Clank or Spyro, because they are all great characters and I have never stopped for a second and think "Man, I wish Master Chief was mexican" Because reducing your appreciation for a character to just the color of their skin or their ethnicity is just really closed minded and ironically not divers at all.

[@lukeknowles1771]

Dude, even Mario (though basic in story) is a relatable character as I'm fairly certain anyone would try to save the ones they love if they had been kidnapped.

[@jaybeam1466]

Agreed. Wokeism is an incredibly shallow ideology.

[@luispalao7418]

This. Akira Toriyama just passed away , recently, and have you seen Mexico’s reaction to it? Dragonball is Japanese, yet it makes up a great part of the Mexican culture, not because it tries to represent it, but because Mexico loved it.

[@linkholder]

​@@luispalao7418crime is declining in this moment of turmoil for a G.O.A.T.

[@GarzaGoose]

Lmao "Man, I wish Master Chief was mexican " 😂.

[@megadoomboy5412]

Now their employees are making fun of the creator of dragon ball after only a few hours it was announced he had passed away

[@darthgamer9861]

more need to like this comment. SBI is truly awful

[@LetsGoCatchUsSomeFISH]

Sweet baby inc is terrible. Their name is also creepy.

[@MrUltimategamer44]

They have the word baby in the name because they’re babies

[@ThugShakerCentral54]

Isn't that a BBQ sauce?

[@chocobear4078]

Sweet baby rays is what you're thinking of ​@@ThugShakerCentral54

[@countereclipse]

made me think sweet babies method is like an actual baby crying out loud until the little thing gets what it wants

[@someguynamedtrevor6081]

​@@ThugShakerCentral54 that's sweet baby ray's

[@bobtom1495]

They write for the "Modern Audience." Who is this "Modern Audience"? Are they in this room right now?....

[@NetBattler]

Are they mythical creatures?

[@akosv96]

The modern audience is growing huge. If you look at AAA game player numbers upside down you can see the modern audience growing like crazy 😂

[@Derivedwhale45]

U, me Muta, & millions of millions of ordinary people in life ARE the modern audiences already & we have been for quite some time now bud.

[@jellyjohn7881]

Modern audiences include the millions of people who bought GOW and Spiderman 2 right?

[@lancearnedo7837]

@@jellyjohn7881 your examples are good games injected with just little enough shit that people can ignore the problems

[@6Catz]

im a black guy and when days gone came out i remember the game getting alot of shit because the main character was a "boring white guy" but that game was fucking awesome and Deacon was a goon.

[@SamDavies94]

Is that worth playing? I was initially put off by the characters in the trailers

[@MrPeckersmith]

@@SamDavies94yes it takes a bit but it’s a solid experience and the hordes are a lot of fun.

[@baphomette3234]

days gone should be hated for being a garbage game, it has nothing to do with deacon it's just garbage

[@skullservant4417]

Wait since when did people like this game 💀

[@NetBattler]

@@skullservant4417 just because the game is underwhelming doesn't mean people can't like it and yes even I dislike this game too

[@charaznable8072]

Lol no wonder Lex Luthor was ranting about "Toxic Masculinity"

[@kukuhimanputraraharja8084]

thats a bad multiverses clone of lex luthor. just like every other 'modern approved' superheroes/anti-heroes/villains.

[@GrievousReborn]

Yeah I don't need to hear an evil criminal who has tried to take over the world with evil schemes complaining about toxic masculinity

[@GrievousReborn]

A evil villain who tries to take over the world with evil schemes complaining about toxic masculinity he's worse than any toxic masculinity

[@LordColeslaw]

Which show or movie did that happen in

[@charaznable8072]

@@LordColeslaw The new game by Rocksteady I'm not gonna type it because the title would probably get deleted, in the bios of Wonder Woman it's written by Lex and he says something about her being great because she helped eliminate Toxic Masculinity... Lol.

[@kaparaomer7751]

When Gta 4 did diversity better then modern gaming

[@juipeltje]

Gta 4 is still my favorite gta in terms of story to this day.

[@DjunisBRE]

rockstar did it better than anyone, all their games have diverse characters and people love them

[@jase276]

GTA fell off after 4

[@BigBoss-nc7tz]

Red dead also

[@dogsbecute]

@@jase276 gta 5 story was pretty good though, and gta online was a great evolution for the franchise imo. GTA 6 is going to be where gta dies. red dead redemption 2 was a preview of what we will get with gta 6.

[@Wanderer3639]

The irony that the creator of the steam curator page is in fact Brazilian, one of the supposed groups that the company "helps" is priceless.

[@arturpaivads]

Fun fact. I never saw a single good representation of a Brazilian in any modern (or otherwise) game...

[@robertkovarna8294]

Brazilian? Quick! Get a Puerto rican flag! I found this one in France I think works. Don't ask why it looks canadian.

[@arturpaivads]

@@robertkovarna8294 At least get the color right, please? I know its much to ask hahahahahahahhaha

[@HavianEla]

Don’t ask SBI what they think of Latin and Jewish people if you don’t want a racist rant

[@slavicsnek6375]

​@@arturpaivads Jetstream Sam babyyyyy

[@emanueldumea8217]

I hate political extremism of any kind, left or right. Hiring racist people to fight racism is also very stupid.

[@longislandicedtea6323]

The phrase, "fight fire with fire" is becoming more and more outdated by the day.

[@Yarsig]

@@Vanity0666 That's because you're an extremist by all metrics based on your other comments. Of course you would believe that.

[@emanueldumea8217]

@@Vanity0666 That is not extremism in my opinion. I don't hate LGBT people or inclusion. I am referring to things like "you can't be racist against white people" or "all male are born r@pists" etc

[@skdeathxlife]

@@Vanity0666 Inclusion is fine changing an established characters race and making them LGBT and then pretending everyone who complains is racist/sexist/transphobic is not fine

[@Vanity0666]

@@skdeathxlife you are literally making things up to be angry at

[@sendingevac]

14:52 those kind of people would definitely call GTA San Andreas ‘problematic’. Their politics and forced narratives are why representation has become such a red flag over the last 10 years.

[@redcobra6016]

Why? Let me guess, they would complain about how black people are portrayed in the game. Well they did not complain about how black people were portrayed in the GTA 6 trailer, especially the black woman twerking on a car. They must be okay with that now, are they? Or perhaps there is a difference reason to why they haven’t gotten offended by the trailer.

[@Ghost_Text]

Theres organic vs contrived diveristy. Dan Houser for example going out of his way in GTA to talk with locals to get authentic dialogue or exploring life in another's shoes for the sake of the story is organic. Consultants like these are just using corporate reputational intimidation and wedge issues to make franchises that everyone still loved in their early 2k 2010s iterations be rebuilt in their politically correct image. Its just leveraging people wanting to avoid bad press or lawsuits. If pre sweetbaby inclusion was a dire issue, these games wouldnt focus test all that well.

[@lShishkaBerryl]

Shit, I'm a huge GTA fan and didn't know this, that's cool af.

[@Ghost_Text]

@@lShishkaBerryl Yeah I cant remember where I read it but whether it was Shawn Fonteno as Franklin or Young Maylay as CJ. Obviously a scottish game dev isnt going to know south central dialect and phrasing. Gotta go to the source sometimes.

[@FunnyStarRunner]

I've always felt diversity in GTA games felt natural compared to other triple-A studios.

[@ThePopo543]

Ohhh so they're basically just google gemini but in human form?

[@key0777]

But then people call that pandering. There's nothing wrong with having diverse characters just exist in a game without it having to be an "authentic feel". Other groups of people exist, it's not always a unique experience, and it doesn't have to always be a whole project to see Black, Asian, or Hispanic characters.

[@triledink]

The lack of swedish meatball chefs in modern games is disturbing and worth boycotting about.

[@jesuisunstroopwafel]

Scandinavian representation in American media is sub-par, I agree.

[@mjolnirmilitia569]

This^ we deserve more considering we pretty much founded Russia , Greenland and Iceland

[@liammcnicholas918]

@@jesuisunstroopwafelThe only example of this is Vikings.

[@NorthSeaRaider]

“We must show the world our peaceful ways!” “BY FORCE!”

[@clementpoon120]

"war is peace"

[@mikeexits]

Freedom is slavery Ignorance is strength

[@thomaspearce3002]

“Peace through Power”-Nod

[@sigh-cosis]

@@hahayeahokaynope In the name of Kane!

[@fracturedrealitygaming1326]

"Speak softly, and carry a big stick; you will go far" Theodore Roosevelt, 01/26/1900

[@monochromie8107]

This reminds me of some video in which some people said wearing traditional Mexican attire like sombreros was culture appropiation. Me as a Mexican was like "I like people representing my culture around the world, why should I feel offended by that?"

[@jesuisunstroopwafel]

Back in my day, we called them stereotypical and moved on.

[@magiwastaken]

That's the thing, there are all sorts of people out there, and no country is monolithic. I'm Albanian and half of my family would absolutely love to see my German girlfriend in traditional Albanian clothes whereas the other half just would find it inappropriate. It's not even like it's my mother's versus my father's side or women versus men or young people versus old people... there are just folks that disagree. Similarly, there are people out there that will just say that it's cultural appropriation and hence criticize the act of wearing another culture's traditional clothes - and then there are people that don't have an issue with it at all and if anything do welcome it. It's not black and white. Some people have mixed feelings about it either way or are okay with certain clothes (like folk clothes) but not okay with other clothes (like ceremonial robes) which is valid. So, Mexicans aren't a monolith. They won't all agree on the same topic and some of them will not like white people wearing sombreros or something like that whereas other people are fully behind the idea.

[@monochromie8107]

@@magiwastaken I agree with that. However, my point was that people in the video who thought it was cultural appropiation were not Mexicans, whereas most Mexicans said in the comments that it was pretty cool. I know those in the comments don't represent the whole population, but I noticed most people around me in Mexico don't care much about that "cultural appropiation" thing.

[@beanman3113]

I think I remember that. Wasn't that when Mario Odyssey was coming out and some people lost their shit over the fact that Mario could wear a sombrero or something stupid like that?

[@3rdStreetAVolitionite]

What's funny is this company must not have ever heard of tokenism.

[@angel_of_rust]

their Californian and Canadian bubbles and Echo Chambers would never know, or they would think it's a good thing when they do it

[@AKiren47]

Ironically is that they reap in the profits of tokenism.

[@zac-1]

who cares what a gamer thinks lmao

[@mbergamin16]

@@angel_of_rust Canadian here 😌🇨🇦 The echo chambers are small here but they're certainly here. It's mainly entralized in Ontario; not surprised also in Quebec(Montreal). They're in Trudeau's pocket and wanted to separate from the country a while back 😂🤪🤷‍♂️ Many of us are still sane and holding the line 🫡 Cheers neighbor 🍻

[@dogsbecute]

i think we are just of a different breed, id totally get behind a game with a token character that plays on stereotypes. It doesnt sit well with me when they UNIRONICALLY put a token character into their product just to diversify. Like, media went through this shit in the 70's. South park literally has a black character named token. THis has been figured out and satirized for DECADES at this point. You dont push the agenda of "Inclusivity" by shoving it down everyones throats. They murdered what couldve been my favorite new IP in the last of us. When that game came out i beat it twice back to back because it was so damn engrossing. i was hype as fuck for last of us 2. Then i saw the trailer and nearly threw up. It looked like a god damn new age disney film. Forced lesbian scenes, forced trans characters....like b r u h what the fuck i came here for the bond i built between ellie and joel not to get a god damn message shoved down my throat about the patriarchy

[@warbossgegguz679]

Honestly, hearing Kotaku back them up raised more red flags than anything else up to that point. And the contents of the "article" even more so. Never before in human history has there been a publication that has more contempt for it's core demographic than Kotaku.

[@IgnacioGouk]

I can't believe Kotaku still exists...

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

Lol the author of that article tweeted you can’t be racist against white people and got community noted.

[@longislandicedtea6323]

@@ThomastheDankEngine8900 I had that same mentality at one point in my life and ya know what happened? I. GREW. UP. Racism of ANY kind is vile. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. This is coming from a Black man btw.

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

The author of said article got a community noted when she said “you can’t be racist towards white people”.

[@AKiren47]

Guys, stop. It's not like they had a choice. Alyssa already apologized and... oh NVM. She spent the night begging Twitter for $14 drinks at posh Montreal bar. Fake as fuck grift.

[@ijustsawthat]

Naturally? They literally and explicitly talked about using fear tactics to influence companies to hire them.

[@angel_of_rust]

you can tell Muta is the type to sit on the fence even when the wokeness is pretty blatant

[@jase276]

@@angel_of_rust Idk why he suddenly loses his balls when this topic comes up. He has no problem giving the bird to massive corporations, just like everyone else

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

Mutahar has no incentive to give the finger to a company which serves his interests as an Indian man living in Canada. Gaming is accessible to all ages, all cultures, all races, male or female. Video game narratives are about telling the stories of humans, not just young white males. It is only in the western gaming industry is this an issue, because other parts of the world understand that gamers are diverse.

[@zorastin]

@@Robbie-mw5uu video games are meant to be fun not for moralising or lecturing people. most people who want to see the end of this shit are sick of the tokensim and really really bad writing. its clear as day when in a game the person of colour or the woman or whatever the diversity element is spends half the time telling off men or being better than everyone else for no apparent reason while being obnoxious and acting in exactly the way they are complaining about white men acting. the hypocrisy is breath taking. we just want good writing good games and to have fun escape. most peoples lives are difficult and most people deep down are good people. why should some subsection have to be subjected to some lecture when they sit don to let off some steam. the whole notion that we have to see ourselves in a character to have some empathy for said character actually destroys the whole notion of empathy. empathy is meant to mean being able to put yourself into someone elses shoes. not your own. ive spent my life helping people, sick of the jaring hypocrisy of these companies and their polluting self serving narcissism. i will say this though at least allan wake 2 handled it decently without any of that lecturing or double standard shit...... which is the key complaint. and just a heads up most of the rest of the world is way way more racist than the west. if you dont know that you probably havent been anywhere or know much about how the world works. Maybe your just a well meaning kid.

[@Bomberman66Hell]

​@@Robbie-mw5uuOther parts of the world understand gaming is diverse? Like Japan? Because oh boy you're in for a wild ride if you think so.

[@SurrealKeenan]

It's weird to see her interpretation of audience response. She seems to think that the negative reaction comes before the diversity. But that doesn't make sense at all. Men only make up a third of the american audience so even if we're being "picky babies", then shouldn't the industry be getting an overwhelmingly positive reaction to these changes? In reality, the negative response we give is a Pavlovian reaction, a learned association between diversity and bad writing. Whenever a game (or other piece of media) advertises itself as "diverse", we immediately associate it with bad writing because historically, games that advertise diversity have bad writing. If we really were just being "picky babies", then games like Apex and Overwatch wouldn't have been so wildly successful.

[@OneRandomVictory]

"Men only make up a third of the American audience" ...Who are the other two thirds?

[@samgirard8660]

​@@OneRandomVictorymaths are hard man. Fractions and shit you know

[@erreyakendo8290]

@@OneRandomVictory Have you ever heard about woman? If I remember right, women are the majority of game consuming (including Consoles, PCs, Mobiles, Portables) and they are starting to been on half-half on Consoles and PCs consumers. After that, there people who doesn't recognized either or both of gender, that mean they don't see themselves as man.

[@OneRandomVictory]

@@erreyakendo8290 I'm fairly certain there are more male gamers than female. And I am equally as certain that 1/3 of all gamers are not non-binary.

[@finalfantasy50]

​@@erreyakendo8290women play mobile games and shit like farmville on facebook, they arent actually gamers so saying that they make up 66% of the audience is idiotic

[@HenrikoMagnifico]

Instead of hiring a company for diversification, maybe they should actually go outside and talk to people of diverse backgrounds instead

[@arturpaivads]

This. Just this.

[@sabersin5368-c2c]

Or maybe- they could just make whatever games they want without having to implement forced diversity?

[@sol9059]

Just make games

[@オオカミ-r2k]

Isn't this literally what the company does for them??

[@arturpaivads]

@@オオカミ-r2k I dont think so. If it is, its not working right.

[@TheNeonWerewolf]

The worst part of these kind of people is that they think a character being POC is what makes them an interesting character. It's a crutch for subpar writing.

[@HavianEla]

It’s pretty racist, in my opinion. Like using POC as shields to valid criticism and that’s deplorable and makes things WORSE for POC in the world

[@neevko267]

​@@HavianEla It's bad writing AND makes racist people not wanna change their view even more

[@Kamawan0]

As soon as you start using terms like "these kind of people" you're already engaging in the same prejudiced behavior as racists. Might want to rethink that approach.

[@josephsonkwa6728]

Context matters and no one here has said anythjng offensive. ​@ZeroFanfare

[@Kamawan0]

@@josephsonkwa6728 Re-read what I wrote, and find where I mentioned anything about offensive comments.

[@anush_agrawal]

Wait a minute A sbi employee is having nightmare about being a white gamer And a most probably white gamer is having nightmare about being a sbi employee. Are they dreaming of each other

[@JorkinDaily247]

lmao

[@warbossgegguz679]

"Do you think love can bloom, even on the battlefield?"

[@rokkraljkolesa9317]

@@warbossgegguz679 "Dude, shut up and help me dig the tren

[@KrimsonKattYT]

Your Name is real? Does that mean that my dreams of being FemC Persona 3 mean that FemC dreams of being me?

[@Dragolitron]

I like the way you think!🐉🤖 If that isn’t irony idk what is.

[@flamingoodness4923]

I'm so glad we're finally talking about this. Forced inclusivity has downright ruined american writing for so many years now. It's so exhausting seeing the SAME TROPES over and over again. The girl boss, the inferior stupid white guy, the pocs who's only character trait is theyre a poc, etc. Like of course there's nothing wrong with a competent female character or POC or anything like that, but when that's ALL the writing has, and when it sucks off one group only to shit on another group in the process, it just leads to nowhere but pandering writing. Avengers is full of that bs. While blacks and women are held on a pedestal, arabs and russians are treated as nothing more than your terrorists and villains. In the mario movie, I hated movie peach because she felt nothing like the original princess peach from the source material. The worst part about it is whenever you try to bring anything up about it, you're labeled a "racist" or "mysoginist." It's so horse shit Also one last thing I'd like to mention is 99% of people just want to play a good game and could give less of a shit about inclusion. I know plenty of people who down right just skip every cutscene in every game they play lmao

[@gangweed9979]

“Black or Chinese “ ahhh company

[@gangweed9979]

@@XFGHL78E bro doesn’t know the meme😂

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Pilgrim's mission is complete, now everyone is Black or Chinese

[@Goro_Maj1ma]

​@@XFGHL78E 🤦‍♂️

[@angel_of_rust]

how is it a meme if people if SBI makes it real tho@@gangweed9979

[@bingusdingus39]

​@@XFGHL78E I would really like to know what this comment would look like if it was black or Chinese

[@Skedoodler]

Imma be honest, muta running a skin care company is the last thing i expected

[@starryeyes5860]

surprisingly fitting how?

[@donut_jam]

not fitting at all. doesnt matter to me, I trust muta, but this is not fitting lol

[@Hecker9974]

they know youtube ain't gonna last forever so investing into a business for future profits is the only logical thing to do, if successful they don't just get rich for themselves, it's generational wealth

[@realtalkrealthingsent.8024]

Kinda weird how he was doing manscaped shit tho and endorsed rubbing multiple ointments already 😂

[@nom6758]

bro is just spouting nonsense.

[@Kachopper9]

For suicide squad, i’m reminded of the one log of Lex Luther fucking praising Wonder Woman to a downright idiotic extent

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Lex of all the damn villains in DC, Lex is the Last Villain who will Praise Wonder Woman for being an Amazon and a Woman

[@fandyus4125]

THE AMAZONS HAVE ELIMINATED TOXIC MASCULINITY FOLKS

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

​​@@forickgrimaldus8301 If anything, it would just fuel Lex's ... Alienism? Racism? He hates aliens(Supes). 🤷‍♀️ Edit: He's a full on Xenophobe. That's the word I was trying to think of, lol.

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

@@SessmaruKusanagiGaming yup he hates superman for being superman, if anything Lex should be doing the same with WW

[@PlahaKumar]

Doesn't Luthor hate WW in any other media?

[@Jse0607]

Weird how all the companies that benefit from ESG will vehemently deny its even happening

[@Spectrum0122]

Imagine having a company and hiring a sub contractor that actively harrasses and antagonize your customers

[@singithi8556]

What is Saints Row (reboot)

[@engineergaming1669]

And company’s hire and pay them to do it, they pay money for their work to be sabotaged

[@BicBoi1984]

They're not a company more like a government agency censoring art

[@lizaraVR]

funnier is that they probably consist of people that wouldn't have touched the games they worked on if it wasn't for their diversity token inserts.

[@johan13135]

That’s called Denuvo

[@Mightydoggo]

One thing I, as a white guy having mild dwarfism and severe ADHD learned pretty quickly, is that "inclusion" in such groups often just means: "we the cool kids allow you in, as long as we can use your Disability to virtue signal how much better we are than the average human. Not all of course. I did work with some pretty nice people as well, but those didn´t claim to be particularly "inclusive," they just were.

[@eightcoins4401]

The corporation is very blatantly a grift - they only claim to care about inclusion because it gets out of touch investors to invest into their IPs. Its pretty classic rainbow capitalism. Though alot of people in this comment section are braindead and convinced its a far left jewish conspiracy targeting gamers and not just corporations trying to gain favors from people so rich theyre fully out of touch with society by larping as being oh so progressive.

[@michaeldimare3786]

Don’t have mild dwarfism, but, well said sir. My ADHD got certain people at Umass Boston real happy I was joining a rally on their side. Oh well

[@BjornTorbs]

Man, I feel this. I don't have any physical defects, but I have (the now defunct diagnoses of) Aspergers' Syndrome, and I attempt to hide that from all my past present and future employees because whenever I've mentioned being autistic or having Asperger's, I've either never gotten a call back or have gotten the most saccharine offers and I feel as if it's not about my actual work ethic and or experience, it's about the perceived brownie points you get for something intrinsic about my person, how I think compared to you. I could write more about this, but it hurts to type with my shoulder in an odd angle because of my cat. Have a good day.

[@Mightydoggo]

@@BjornTorbs Yeah that or I also had the opposite once, where the guy thought I could be double as fast as the others, because "You guys have creativity as a super power!" He also thought that I´d be on speed the entire day for some reason. lmao Bet he read that in some obscure online magazine. People are weird. Ah the joy of animals. My dog decided to take a nap on the couch, right ontop of my laptop, so I can´t do much work rn. Have a nice day, too and give your kitty some head pats from me.

[@sylv512]

​@@BjornTorbs unfortunately this happens a lot with many minorities be it a PoC or a trans person, many places will hire them simply to have a "diversity hire". diversity doesn't work when you don't treat the people you hire well. it has to come naturally and be accepted and fostered.

[@jonathanrazo3026]

GTA 4 with Nico was a great perspective too

[@unknownman5090]

Rockstar manage to add diversity to their game and stuff

[@ToastieStrudel]

Rockstar have always been the masters of adding amazing diverse characters into their games, no one comes close

[@m0ose0909]

@@ToastieStrudel And they do it in a way that doesn't make it feel like they are just checking boxes, which is why myself, and I think many others, see Sweet Baby Inc as bad. The style of work they do makes the game feel inauthentic.

[@williamzeo2493]

@@m0ose0909 wait until GTA6 releases

[@grinko1222]

But he's white so it doesn't count according to Sweet Baby anyway

[@Magplar]

I don’t care if a main character is a person of color or a woman or both when it’s done right and not so blatantly pushing an agenda.

[@supremeleaderfrancisco9062]

doesn't matter how well its done people always yell that its an agenda

[@Magplar]

@@supremeleaderfrancisco9062 there’s always some detractors but I don’t see this to be true. Like muta said, we think those people are goofy. A good story is a good story

[@hunterlg13]

@@MagplarVocal minorities.

[@cynthiahembree3957]

@@supremeleaderfrancisco9062 And this is a whole different rabbit hole too. I've seen people claim they are all for genuine diversity and call a geniunely represented lesbian couple "pandering" or "part of the woke agenda". They failed to realize that there was over a year of lore leading up to that announcement

[@Big_Bird_Abelardo]

where’s the poorly written poc or woman in video games?

[@stefanyuwono1909]

If Sweet baby actually believes what they're doing is good for their customers, they should be happy and proud, that someone is curating their product. It literally made finding their product and easier. The fact that they meltdown instead, really exposes their intentions.

[@FallingPicturesProductions]

This is the biggest takeaway from this entire thing. Blind idealism spoiling products happens, the good ole mess of 'New Coke' is a perfect example. But actively trying to hide your changes? That reeks of intentional corruption at best or intentional destruction at worst.

[@stellviahohenheim]

nah the knew what they're doing, they're just grifters

[@richterdelgan123]

They think they are doing true progress and healing...

[@arttizkappa2588]

especailly forsaken that game 🤣

[@Blaze6108]

I think one of the issues is that the curator was putting negative recommendations on everything without any regard to whether the game is actually good, which looks like review bombing. By comparison that curator “The Frame Rate Police” had far more class in using the INFO label.

[@mgsgamer]

Let us not forget that while spiderman 2 was pretty good, someone over there thought it was a good idea to invent gender neutral spanish and the company greenlit it.

[@teremleonheart3776]

WHAT, THATS INSANE

[@denjidenji9162]

Hey now they're not good but they didn't "invent" gender neutral Spanish. That shit has been around for several years at this point (personally I don't think it works, but the company is not behind it's existence)

[@rokkraljkolesa9317]

gendered language: exists SB inc.: ungenders the language

[@NewsofPE]

the same people who call them latinx

[@SMEARGLEX75]

@@teremleonheart3776 Le Doctore. An actual Quote in the Spanish Dub.

[@wienerhymier]

Sweet Baby Inc sounds like the studio name of a CP manufacturer.

[@iHaveTheDocuments]

Well they are leftists so CP goes with them like peanut butter and jelly

[@Ki115witch]

Indeed and their logo is sus to say the least.

[@SketchPLAY1]

@@Ki115witch I see a sus spiral in the logo, I guess it supposed to be a lolipop...

[@BeidlPracker-vb8en]

Dude/tte if this turns out to be foreshadowing i‘mma give you a sub.

[@dewmdoomie1730]

The young poison ivy and the Harley Quinn interaction kinda checks out

[@Pundae]

As a writer, I consider almost all of these factors as secondary to their role. When I create a character, I first ask who they are to the main character and their purpose in the story, then I start to flesh out who they are, THEN I ask myself what they look like. It feels like companies like these do it in reverse order. For an example: I actually had a story that involved a kingdom that worshiped the sun, and their nation was on that world's equivalent of the equator, where they would be closest to it. As I was doing this, I went "oh shit, they'd be mostly darker skinned, wouldn't they?" It was just a note that came about due to the way I had written where they were from. It changed nothing about the plot, or how the characters were written

[@triceracopp]

One thing to note here, is that Sweet Baby is funded by another company, called "Baby Ghosts"(this company also funds other diversity companies like sweet baby), this company was created by the sister of the late Alec Holowka, that killed himself because of allegations by who? Fucking Zoe Quinn (she's friends with his sister btw). It all comes full circle eventually

[@PMZaphod]

Holy shit it gets worse every minute

[@Mikeshmit87]

This should be more wildly known, what Quinn did as well, awful people

[@delawarevex4976]

so the exposing of baby inc can be considered a "gamergate 2.0"? I fucking thought sarkeesian and her friends would d1e in irrelevancy

[@mr.jamster8414]

@@PMZaphod 'Holy Shit' is right.

[@pro_154]

Zoe quinn should have been black listed from gaming

[@omega1231]

To these people, it must be a wild idea that a person with alot of melanin and a person with not so much melanin wants the same thing in life.

[@0palOpal0pal]

We're all just meat on bones. We're little lumps of pink wrinkles, encased in a skull. It's so bonkers to me how much racism there is when I think about that... colors wouldn't even exist to us, if not for the way that our eyes take in light and our brain then color codes based on the levels of light absorption that objects have. We're just out here absorbing different levels of light and people get upset about it

[@nlg54]

Hundredth

[@joshuadavis785]

I just hate having be shoved in my face, I don't care about race, I just hate when people make it a big deal, and claim racism when their isn't any. Racism is no where near as bad as it used to be, the bigger problem is poor vs rich, privilege comes with money, not skin color. I'd much rather fight for monopolies to be put in check, and to get corrupt politicians out of office,. If I am blind and their is a bigger issue to racism than I know of, then fighting to have more financial equality for all*, and less corruption will benefit all of us, and put us on a more level ground to solve racism. *I don't mean communism

[@Perfect_Dark_77]

@@joshuadavis785That’s the real battle they don’t want us fighting and why they hate unity.

[@squadbroken962]

They know, they just want domination and a new world order

[@kmjgsdkmjgsd]

Also, I find it wacky that Asians aren’t represented by the “woke” industries as much as not-so-dark black women. And no, I do not want existing characters to get turned Asian. Making complex and fun Asian characters, not just a stagnant and harmless Raya, would show much more care in including others.

[@lemonlime8949]

Lmao try being south East Asian 😂 I don’t want to be represented - I just want a good game

[@kazumablackwing4270]

East Asians are considered "white adjacent" when it comes to the oppression olympics. Probably because of their skin tone, and cultural emphasis on actually working hard to get ahead

[@scorpixel1866]

Asians don't have a victim complex, well at least the ones not from CA.

[@warbossgegguz679]

Because Japan and china actually make games themselves so they dont need to be stroked by American corporations.

[@anaguma90]

My wife is asian and noticed the same thing, apparently making something more "diverse" means sticking a bunch of black people in it. Like if you're gonna do it, actually do it and make it diverse. Or you know, don't overthink it because nobody actually cares if the product is good.

[@ripleyandweeds1288]

Politics aside, if you go and publically call an audience or a group of people "picky babies" then those people are probably gonna hate you and not be receptive to whatever horseshit you're trying to sell them.

[@eightcoins4401]

Its hilarious because Ive seen hardcore leftists think alot of the games they worked on fucking sucked too, so you cant act like the problem is just the usual terminally online capital G Gamers hate those games

[@Mistertbones]

The name alone of the company is just plain awful.

[@Inheritor-m5z]

@@Vanity0666 Why do you exist? You literally waste time with people you don't know fruitlessly trying to explain your point of view. Move on my guy, I've seen 8 comments of yours alone in this section.

[@Vanity0666]

@@Inheritor-m5z so long as you breathe I will remain posting

[@gravemind883]

@@Inheritor-m5z all he did was joke about bbq sauce my man.

[@angel_of_rust]

it makes Junji Ito's Uzumaki wholesome in comparison like nothing is as scary as a woke nepotist spiral

[@tiagobelo4965]

Genuinely thought it was a brand of products for toddlers/newborns and was hella confused when he pulled up a steam community

[@Pyovali]

Sweet Baby Incs mission is not to diversify, they're meant to fill in boxes

[@captainfeish6028]

DEI which is Sweet Baby Incs mission statement is the modern equivelent of whitewashing.

[@saschaberger3212]

Pushing agendas, divide divide divide. And make money for their overlords

[@Scarecr0wn]

Sweet Baby is one the major plagues of modern gaming. And I disagree on Suicide Squad point, the game was not just bad live service, the writing in that game, especially the banter, is the epitomy of what is wrong with modern gaming. Congratz on launching the skin care company man.

[@yungdiablo6484]

I wouldn’t say Alan Wake 2 or God of Was are “plagues” on gaming bud😂

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

The main issue isn't the irrevernt tone really its just that the Game really doesn't give a damn, not even its own Characters

[@umairashraf5167]

Oh yeah I hate the banter, its like it's trying alot to copy guardians of the galaxy but it fails to me because one,suicide squad are a group of villains not whackjobs,they're supposed to despise each other,not become friends

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

@@yungdiablo6484 God of War 2 really so TBF to Sweet Baby inc their track record is Mixed at best, its not that they are being inclusive thats the problem, its how both Lazy and Unproffessional they go about it

[@theobell2002]

The banter is actually pretty good and funny. SSKTJL is "MCU humor" done correctly.

[@lordsickomode]

im a bisexual femboydom and i am MORTIFIED of getting "represented" in some media because I just know its gonna be done in a repulsive pandering stereotype rather than anything meaningful or realistic.

[@Ava-kb5sd]

You should write your own rep, I as someone tremors in her hands I want to write my own rep.

[@zagzeg]

As a straight white male, a game with a bisexual femboy dom could have some potential.

[@asahi5912]

Wtf

[@EvilParagon4]

@@zagzeg idk, as an ace dude who's quite prudish, good characters feel like they're built on exaggeration, but if I mentally exaggerate this sort of "character", they become a sort of crime overlord in a seedy place, a sort of charismatic pimp type character. While certainly interesting, it does feel very... unflattering and sort of inhuman.

[@zagzeg]

@@EvilParagon4 It may not work for you, and thats okay, we are all different. It would sureeeee work for me! :D

[@DJYunkHank]

The more i thought about it the more i realise how good an example GTA:SA is for representation and diversity. You have : corrupt white cops,corrupt black cops,a good mexican cop ,a white hippy stoner, a columbian crazy gf, a mexican best friend, a blind asian triad, the white Italian casino owners, 2 English guys (one from Manchester and one from London ) and a rapper with a learning disability...

[@deadshot5007]

Yeah but people will call it "woke" or "BLM propaganda" something if it was released today.

[@loganmacgyver2625]

And obesity representation

[@angel_of_rust]

diversity used to be organic... i say used to be because the likes of Anita Sarkeesian and SBI made it so that the way most studios try to do it now is so forced and you can notice if you compare newer works to old ones before the 2010s

[@TailsGuy72]

Woozie is such a goddamn legend....

[@avramnovorra]

I was thinking something dimilar about GTA:SA myself and how organic the diversity felt, both when i played the game for the first time as a kid back in about 2010 and when i replayed it 2022

[@TheMinidow]

the bit that people aren't considering is these consultant companies are bloating development budgets.

[@forestmanification]

And destroying creativity by instilling fear or blind hatred zealotry against their own customer base.

[@NoName......]

What percent of the budget do you think are being used on these consulting groups? I highly doubt it goes above 2%

[@TheMinidow]

@@NoName...... That's 2% of tens of millions these days. There are absolutely bigger wastes of money around, but gotta deal with the potholes and the cave ins.

[@NoName......]

@@TheMinidow I'm not saying their not a waste of money. I'm saying that their just a fraction of the real problem. Which is out of touch shareholders with no idea on how games are made

[@charliekelly735]

Tbf they probably aren't paid very much at all.

[@Protofall]

The "Had a nightmare about being an SBI employee" is actually a reference to an old tweet by an SBI employee made that said "Had a nightmare about being a white male gamer". SBI employees are saying the most braindead things. The jokes practically write themselves. Its good that this shady company has been brought into the spotlight.

[@noless]

Oh wow. These people are truly awful.

[@idenney]

😌

[@lizardman9494]

I can’t think of a single time when I’ve related to a character based on what they look like. It’s always been about their morals and strength of character

[@a2d]

Diversity can be done well, there are tons of examples out there. As you pointed out with GTASA, they told a story in a time and place where having a black main character made the game better. I think about Moana. The first time I watched that movie, I didn't have high expectations. It's now one of my favorite movies. It was fun to peek into the lore and culture of her world. Moana is vulnerable and feminine, not just a male role played by a woman. The other day, I heard a factoid that even though it was made in 2016, Moana was the most streamed movie of 2023. Not sure if that's accurate, but even so, it's a widely beloved movie. Diversity can be done well, yet companies are pushing this weird brand of saccharine diversity where known and loved characters are getting race and gender swapped for no other reason than to pander. Then to add insult to injury they spit on the old character for good measure. It's unnecessary. If you write a good story, the audience will come. I'd play a game about a pansexual South Asian non-binary zookeeper... If it has a good story and good gameplay. The fact that Lara Croft is a woman doesn't stop me from enjoying playing Tomb Raider.

[@SuperSmashDolls]

The reason why you're noticing the "saccharine diversity" is because parallel with the diversity push, games (and other media) wiped the politics out of their videogames and movies. And all the other meaning went with it, too. Think about the live action Little Mermaid remake. All the Disney LA remakes are utter trash pandering garbage, but the fact that they made Ariel black is the thing that attracts attention. To be honest, they absolutely could have made it work, if they had fully committed to it and did *more race swapping*. You heard me right. *Make all the mermaids black*. But because Disney has no appetite for creative risk, they make one character black to virtue signal the concept of a creative risk on an otherwise completely risk free and creatively bankrupt remake.

[@NetBattler]

Megaman battle network even done diversity right too they even have their own Russia 😂

[@dogsbecute]

@@SuperSmashDolls theres a movie called "The Wiz" that is an all black version of "The Wizard of Oz" and even stars Michael Jackson when he was like 19. He played the Scarecrow. I like it 20000x more the the actual wizard of oz lmao oddly enough, thats probably because they didnt ignore the politics of the day by trying to pussyfoot around the tough realities minorites actually face.

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

I think diversity is fine, too. My favorite example is Ms Marvel tv show. I thought it was going to be a "poc superwoman" being pushed on people, but it was so much more. The protagonist is a combination of all facets of her identity: a teenager, a girl, pakistani, muslim, second-generation immigrant family. All of these things merely contribute to who she is that create conflicts and advantages. That is how humans should be written.

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

I agree. I would love to see a Little Mermaid live action film with an all black cast based upon African folklore similar to mermaids. The worst thing about diversity push is that they are only skin deep. They dont want to do the foot work of actually learning about the incredible, diverse cultures around the world.

[@celem12]

Kotaku : it's happening naturally!! Kim at GDC : Go see your marketing team and TERRIFY them

[@forestmanification]

Also Kotaku: It's normal! It happens all the time in the industry! Me: Continue your confession.

[@BushDid420]

@@forestmanificationit’s okay if you’re unfamiliar with how business in the real world works, just say so

[@Dozarman]

​@@BushDid420Just because it became a norm doesn't mean it's fucking normal.

[@BushDid420]

@@Dozarman if it’s a normal practice, it’s normal. Stop crying lmao

[@flamingoodness4923]

This is legit the most "Kotaku" thing I've ever seen them do lmao Completely ignore the point of the conversation, make some bogus clickbaity argument, farm clicks. We've seen it a thousand times from them by now

[@Gooseh]

This is the problem with the modern day anti-racism groups. They try to fight racism with more racism. They vocally claim to be against racism but have 0 issue with it against groups that they dont like / align with. All it does is reinforce the idea that it's okay to treat people differently based on the colour of their skin.

[@TheTwinkelminkelson]

And as predicted, it caused people to start retaliating by being racist back a third time. Wish we could just all agree racism is bad and leave it at that, like we used to. :/

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

Racism is not inherently evil or morally wrong. We need prejudice to prevent harmful prejudice. I don't think Sweet Baby as a company was looking to treat people differently based on skin, that was just that employee.

[@kizoaoy7423]

​@@Robbie-mw5uu what kind of bot ass opinion is that bro hahaha

[@warbossgegguz679]

@@Robbie-mw5uu "Racism is not inherently evil or morally wrong. We need prejudice to prevent harmful prejudice." I think I lost IQ points reading this. Congrats. "The only way to solve racism is to be racist in the other direction!" "The only way to solve one wrong is with another wrong!"

[@kotlolish]

I think you mean to say: "Discrimination comes from the heart and fear of bad expirences or being taught." But it is WRONG regardless. You can get discriminatory towards a group of people due to bad expirences and abuse or be taught of terrible things a group does and then you think they are bad. As a smart JRPG once said: "If we all become the same race and able to change our size, age, gender and everything. People will find ways to discriminate. Discrimination comes from the heart and fear of others." (Not the exact quote but it's a dialogue so this is heavy paraphrazing) But what you are saying is... really dumb. I also think it's not a singled out employee. There have been all kinds of things coming out this company lately since they brought the investigations upon themselves. It has a certain culture that's for sure. @@Robbie-mw5uu

[@jimhalpert0]

BREAKING: In the upcoming mario games, Mario will be a black Somalian electrician instead of an Italian plumber.

[@IndoorSitup]

These people have admitted to essentially extorting game developers by saying people will cancel them on Twitter if they don't employ them. Literal fear tactics.

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

My question is how are they not in prison yet???

[@voidimperial1179]

@@SessmaruKusanagiGaming If you have the correct opinions and say the correct things, you get a lot more leeway in this system

[@Vanity0666]

Fear tactics is when you are afraid of your cellphone because all the people are being mean on website

[@kmmm16]

​@@voidimperial1179no, just no. It's money, money is power, not having opinions on twitter. You want leeway in the system? Pay the people off. They don't care whether you support group A or B, but money talks.

[@alejandrocamberosrodriguez4222]

Holy cow. Do you have a source? I don't mean to just go against you: if you do have it, I'd like to read it. It doesn't seem out of character for Sweet Baby Inc. judging from what I've heard, though.

[@grintcoalways]

South East Asian is probably least represented region when it comes to game characters despite having big population of gamers, but we never actually cared about that. We just want to play games.

[@1000MilesAway]

Yessssss. We're not trying to form a parliament in video games

[@unknownman5090]

I prefer they dont talk about our country around here. Like Thailand or any of that. Why? Cuz usually it create a total crap. They dont even bother doing some in-depth research. Most of them. I think Far Cry 3 kinda manage to capture it, at least the atsmosphere. Yeah they represent savages in the wood that kill people cuz why not. But at least they dont say "It indonesian", rather it inspired by it. Genshin too. They kinda manage to capture that Tropical + Desert atsmosphere, ofc except for the clothing of most playable character from there (Sumeru). Both of these are inspirational fictional area however. I dont see game that represent ASEAN the best yet. not that I care. ASEAN best represented by ASEAN. like Sekiro, where they manage to represent the japan culture properly because it was made by japan company

[@NetBattler]

Same here bro I'm from SEA too but I don't care if they represent my people in video games...

[@warbossgegguz679]

Realistically, gaming needs more Indonesians and Brazilian characters than any other demo if we're talking volume of people, but these people aren't. It's entirely an american political thing, not a genuine interest in other cultures and perspectives. Same reason they're more concerned with not stereotyping than actually representing other cultures. "Ya know what's cool? When a character's cultural, racial, economic, and religious background contributes absolutely nothing to their character! Why learn about cultural nuance when we can just portray them all as generic americans? And that way we'll never get anything wrong!" That's what I have a problem with in all of this. There's more meaningful diversity in something like Street Fighter or KOF than there is in any of these AAA flops because they at least make people's cultures RELEVANT in some way. It's not just palate swapping the same annoying writing tropes.

[@Sed_Wes]

@@unknownman5090but then there’s Sucker punch with their Ghost of Tsushima, produced entirely by a western studio and that represents Japanese culture. From what I’ve heard people liked that game in Japan. People can make great representations of other cultures if they approach them with respect and with good research

[@indeed8211]

my favorite thing is when people were complaining kingdom come wasn't diverse enough so the czech developers brought in their historian advisors in to explain gays and minorities were just not there at the time and women were not knights they complained even harder and the devs assumed they were mentally ill trolls and stopped responding to the criticism

[@Verienn]

I mean it was a reasonable assumption

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

That's a copout though. Kingdom Come is not a historically accurate telling of real life, it is a fiction fantasy based on themes taken from reality. There is no reason they couldnt have non-whites and women. Also, even in real life Europe has always been diverse so it is historically inaccurate to claim everyone was white.

[@warbossgegguz679]

Shame that game also deliberately paints Christianity like a comically evil entity because the lead dev was a fedora edgelord. And, ya know, also the game sucks.

[@alessandrobaggi6129]

​@@warbossgegguz679Are you sure it wasn't just the church being depicted as bad? Because, as a christian myself, i don't really like the roman church, even in its current form... (sincere question because i haven't played the game myself, i've just seen pieces of a playthrough, so i haven't noticed it)

[@warbossgegguz679]

@@alessandrobaggi6129 Well I'm Christian, catholic, and into history, so yes a-historical representations of christianity and the church bother me. There's entire DLC dedicated to it, and the lead dev's social media is full of him bashing christians for calling out how inaccurate it was. I'm not saying there isn't corruption in power structures (which extends well into protestant churches, as recent headlines demonstrate) but it's cartoonish. As far as the game sucking... yeah I just stand by that. It's been almost a decade and it's still jank AF, glitchy, and boring.

[@dancerocker815]

I hate this idea that you have to look like someone in order to relate to them. People are far more than just how they look. Intentionally reducing yourself to that doesn't do any good for anyone, including yourself.

[@iburuma3621]

It's a common problem with the types of people who are in that company. Completely superficial and condescending to the people they love to claim they "stand up for".

[@burp2019]

best evidence of this is Latin/South America loving Dragon Ball to the point of El Salvador having an official notice about Akira Toriyama's death, despite almost none of the characters "looking like them"

[@KeytarArgonian]

SB ceo ~ ‘I actually have a marketing degree. Funny, right?’ *DOESN’T UNDERSTAND HOW DEMOGRAPHICS WORK*

[@warbossgegguz679]

"If we want games to sell, we should market them with a emphasis on a group that's

[@bigmyke2008]

It is funny, funny she thinks we care

[@francisxavier8374]

you're right, nobody cares! which is why everytime a mainstream game features diversity people start up outrage trains about diversity being the harbingers of death.@@bigmyke2008

[@medzawesomeness69430]

This company trying their hardest to hide their involvement in games just proves they are doing something wrong.

[@elchavode6479]

Even though you didn't see this in the Latin American version of Spider-Man 2 they made Spanish gender neutral which became ununderstandable by those who speak Spanish

[@forceawakens4449]

These companies man, they try so hard without putting in any common sense

[@Gltch-mj3zf]

I only speak English and don’t have many Spanish speaking friends these days. Just searched this up. WHAT THE FUCK they made up words lol

[@karere1s]

Unbelievable...

[@RobizGaming2024]

Latin America ?. Bless ya. Correction: South America. Latin America was coined by idiots.

[@REVOLVERDRAGONNnn]

Wouldn't gender neutral Spanish just be masc Spanish 💀

[@TheDezembro]

It's not easy to see exactly how much impact they have in the games they're a part of but it is getting suspicious. For example...I find it weird that in Spider-Man 2 - despite it being an incredible game with very positive reviews - there is a sizable chunk of story on the side of Miles that is just abhorrent. Miles, instead of being used to be SPIDER-MAN, fight bad guys, help people, investigate the sh*t going on in the main plot, etc, he's allocated to this hoooorrible side-plot where he heads out to investigate a robbery of musical instruments meant for display at a Black History Arts Center in Harlem. This entire side-story plays like a horrible predictable telenovela. You go out to find them, fight thugs to retrieve them, and they have this "bad guy" they talk to over the phone who ordered them to steal them and has very cliché sh*t to say about how he owns them and they're his by right. With jabs directed at the people of Harlem. By the end of this incredibly tedious "side-quest" it is revealed the big bad villain is of course a very racist white man who had already showed up looking suspicious in other cutscenes with the owner of the Arts Center. And he just goes off about how these instruments are his because he owns them and their talent because he was the one putting the money forward to produce the music these black artists composed... I found it all incredibly useless and out of place in a game that is already too damn short as it is. 23 hours for 100% completion + platinum trophy ._. Not just that but the game then also gets you another "side-mission" in there to go to the unveilling of the stolen collection at the Arts Center and you can interact with a few characters there and read up & listen to every single presentation with the instruments you recuperated. There's another useless string of "sidequests" too... Where, once again, Miles, spends his time at Brooklyn Visions Academy/University - as Spider-Man - helping students with their f*cking school projects. I don't even remember all of them, there's one about flying a drone... There's another I don't recall... And the last one is helping a student do a surprise thing for their crush to invite them to prom. You gotta check if his sh*t is working, and then lead the other dude to the right spot. .... What a f*cking waste, man. This is why despite having loved Spider-Man 2's main story, I sold it after being done with it to buy a different game. It was 70 dollars being burnt on my shelf. This is why I like physical media. I'll buy it again some day in the future when it's cheaper and has more content but at the time I was pissed because Spider-Man 1 was amazing, it struck a perfect balance between being Spider-Man and being Peter Parker, and the silly side missions like catching pigeons for Harold didn't take away from the big and exciting main plot. In Spider-Man 2, the main story is cut WAY shorter, things all move much faster, there's a lack of side activities and challenges compared to the first game and even compared to the shorter Miles Morales game, and then there's supposed to be this HUGE emphasis on Miles becoming the new protagonist in upcoming games. And instead of giving his character more relevance, involving him with more villains, and overall just giving us meaty story content to see him developing, we get to spend our time with him chasing the same Prowler collectibles as were in the previous game, then doing that horribly written and presented telenovela with the instruments, and lastly, helping morons with their school projects that they should be doing on their own in the first place. The only redeemable thing Miles had in this game aside from the obvious stuff of helping Peter with Venom was the very good arc with Martin Li. We actually got some great character development and closure from that part of the main story. But aside from that, it looks more like Miles was allocated to doing "SWEET BABY INC-like" shit to fill their 'progressive quotas' through some of the worst "sidequests" I've ever played. There's more games missing on that list, for example they're associated with a studio called Deck Nine which makes narrative adventure games, namely, they took over the production of "Life is Strange", a series that started off with 2 bangers from their original developers (Don't Nod) and now have 2 stinkers produced by Deck Nine, one of which has Sweet Baby Inc involved (the more recent one, "True Colors") The first one they made on their own is caked with issues too so there isn't much to take away from here in terms of "evidence". Then of course we have the disaster that is Suicide Squad where they're actually credited with directly working on the writing. Suicide Squad is so incredibly terrible that it immediately sets off any alarms whenever I see Sweet Baby Inc in any game. The overall fault of the game is that its a live service trash bin, I know, but if the plot and the writing were good it could've at least had THAT going for it. Instead its just terrible sh*t all around. And that scene with ARKHAM Harley, a criminal who actually killed kids with experimental TITAN formula trials, morally grandstanding and berating ARKHAM Batman, the Hero that saved countless people countless times, before blowing his brains off is the cherry on the cake of bad writing. It's bits and pieces like this that immediately alert people to OTHER stuff. Such as, for example, Angrböda in Ragnarok being a black woman. It just screams forced inclusion because you're doing a game set in Norse mythology, that's Nordic/Scandinavian culture, and you're going to pretend like it's a totally normal and immersive thing to see a black person as one of their Jötnar, just because the same game also has Elves and Dragons and Dwarves and stuff like that. That sh*t is just a ridiculous excuse for it and and given the fact that we didn't see Santa Monica present to us a black Baldur or Freja, it's totally understandable to look straight at Sweet Baby Inc thinking if that wasn't one of their "Progressive Empathetic Inclusivity Suggestions".

[@melancholyentertainment]

Okay that’s cool and all but True Colors was actually great, couldn’t really get into the other Life Is Strange games when they came out.

[@JayWolf1985]

23 hours is too short for a game? (raises brow) You're kidding me, right?

[@TheDezembro]

@@JayWolf1985 ​ @JayWolf1985 Depends on the game. And depends on how it all FEELS when it's done. Different games feel perfect at different lengths, some feel too long, others feel too short, others are just perfect without even reaching the 15h mark. Spider-Man 2 was a perfect example of something feeling too short when it was all said and done. Spider-Man 1 was longer than it and it only had one character to develop and center its story on, with a couple of additional relevant characters on the side like MJ for example. STILL, Insomniac saw fit to pepper the game out with plenty of content. There was a bunch of stuff to do, bases to clear from different factions, combat, stealth and traversal challenges, each with its own narrative point too, for example the challenges were there as part of side-story involving Taskmaster. The stuff with Catwoman, Several side-missions, so on so forth and then the usual collectible sh*t. Spider-Man 2 had much less content of all kinds in comparison to the first game, some of which was completely unforgivable such as not having traversal challenges after overhauling the traversal to such an extent that it revolutionized how you get around. Playing the first game now, a relatively fast game, feels slow because of how fast, fluid and free it is to swing and glide in SM2. It also had less story missions and the pacing was just bad. There was little time to take the story beats in, everything moved very fast in a game that should have moved slower and had more missions and side-content overall to better flesh out and include BOTH Spider-Men. SM2 has double the relevant characters - if not more - with much less content to flesh them out, their relationships with eachother, and their future prospects. And the way they did Miles was dirty as f*ck. Instead of setting up future plot points and villains for him, he's just "there". Helping kids with useless school projects, saving one art center that will be utterly irrelevant in future games, and giving part of his short screentime in the game to a mission as Hailey in a construction site covering up graffiti. Spider-Man Miles Morales, for example, was shorter than Spider-Man 2 and it was just perfect the way it was. The screen-time was used competently, there were combat, stealth and traversal challenges tied to his mentorship with Peter, he expressed himself and his personality traits, his insecurities going forward, and grew as a character throughout the entire campaign, while also getting us a decent foundation for his mother, Ganke, his uncle and a bit more about the man his father used to be. It also didn't cost 80 dollars. So yeah, when you put out a 80 dollar Spider-Man main sequel, I expect more and I expect better. I loved the story, I really did, but the pacing issues only served to make this game feel even shorter when running through it. The missing side-content and the misuse of Miles' side-content make this an unfulfilling conclusion. Peter was fine, I would've liked to see more of his LIFE, of course, thank god we got that Coney Island mission before everything started moving fast and his new workplace gets wrecked -- (tf was the point of showing us all that and meeting all those people when they just take it all away after an hour or two. Istg, his little lab in the first game had more of a personality and environmental tidbits of story for Octavius than that full entire Foundation) -- But Miles was done dirty. I'm happy that we got a great conclusion to that arc involving Martin Li, I absolutely loved what they did there, but Miles now feels like he has nothing to look forward to. His uncle, the prowler, is still very much retired, the Green Goblin mainly wants the "main" Spider-Man (as it should be, anyway because of the personal history Peter has with him), Carnage and Chameleon have been allocated to Peter as well... and uhh yeah... Maybe Mysterio might be one? Unless he's retired as well 🤷‍♂ The only "villain" Miles tangled with was that old white racist man who stole the instruments lol idk maybe Insomniac will create a huge badass villain arc with him, maybe he becomes the new Morbius or some sht 🤣 like, yeah dude. When the majority of a game's problems could've been solved by simply having MORE content, akin to the previous games, then yes. The game feels short and incomplete. Remember, this is 23 hours to FULL completion, not 23 hours to finish the story.

[@Idolhands360]

You can accept dragons, elves, and talking trees, but you can't accept a 2021 BMW 5 Series 530i with optional heated seating? Why are you so bigoted?

[@TheDezembro]

@@Idolhands360 I fucking love this comment 😂

[@RaveSault]

Games made with "global standards" for "modern audiences" usually just means some small groups in western countries.

[@VivekYadav-ds8oz]

Now I wouldn't lie, as an Indian it does feel nice if someone portrays a character of my race and colour accurately, but I would NEVER ever have that as a tradeoff with what the writers originally wanted. If an Indian character was not originally in the script, I don't want it shoe-horned in. It'll just ruin the storyline.

[@lemonlime8949]

It should be a nice thing that is cool to see but should never, ever be a requirement

[@KaneMeadowsGaming]

So you want them to be scam artist in the game as well?

[@NoName......]

I don't see how that would ruin the story line, but yeah I agree that it shouldn't do that

[@VivekYadav-ds8oz]

@@KaneMeadowsGaming I know it's a ragebait, but honestly idc if it's necessary for the story and is actually portrayed correctly (say by doing research using those YT people that scam the scammers etc.) but importantly doesn't indicate the guy as a "generic Indian man" but a specific character that yes, is a scammer.

[@VivekYadav-ds8oz]

@@lemonlime8949 agreed 100%

[@CamoranWasTaken]

Inclusivity is great, forcing it is not, its like putting you and a stranger in a room and forcing you to have deep meaningful conversations with them, the connection with that individual ain't there.

[@luske2]

Yep, in the same way that diversity is great. Having a group at work become naturally diverse through time can be enriching and add to quality output, but forcing diversity lead to far worse output since you're not hiring by competence anymore. I also dislike how it's always about diversity in skin color. At my work we are a very diverse group. We're all of varying ages, genders and political views. There are so many things ways in which we differ from each other. According to wokescolds however we would not be considered diverse since we're all white. I strongly disagree with that notion. It cheapens every other aspect of ourselves by reducing it to skin color at all times.

[@arkosilaura]

People nowadays consider trans people merely existing "forced".

[@supereststinger]

Exactly. That level of pandering can ruin a movie or series if it gets bad enough. In my opinion, the way to do it is to do it casually. You don't force it, you just let it happen and let the story flow. You should be like "Oh cool" and move on with the story.

[@MrTigracho]

​@supereststinger yeah. Diversity in video games should be an avenue for creators to be more creative, not a enforced principle that is meant to restrict and push some creative decisions out below others just because said decisions have been "overdone", or they are the norm that should be taken down for new norms. There will always someone willing to genuinely make characters with traits that deviate from the norm that the "STRAIGHT WHITE CIS-MALE" character is. But that can only work well if is done from place of a genuine interest and care from the CREATOR, and NOT from checking the "diversity" and "Inclusion" checkboxs.

[@WokioWolfy]

You know who is forcing it on people? BlackRock.

[@JohnDoe-ph7pz]

As a "gamer" of color, I'm of an opinion that forced diversity is more offensive than "no diversity" at all, if you want diversity then do it well, if you can't just don't

[@IAmMeomeo]

him mentioning GTA reminds me of how diverse GTA actually is, GTA:SA had plenty a different cultures, you interact with mexicans, white people, asians, in gta 4: your an eastern european person escaping a war ridden country via ship to america, and getting used to the changes (Niko), in GTA 5: the diversity is the same as GTA:SA, theres also the fact that you can play as a white american, a white canadian but also a black person (michael, trevor and franklin)

[@BrokeAssassin]

yes, also when i heard niko is serbian., i was so shocked cuz i am too.. it is so weird to have a huge video game like gta 4 have a main protagonist who speaks my language.

[@gnerus1972]

Did none of those people ever play Ballad of Gay Tony???

[@IAmMeomeo]

@@gnerus1972 you make a good point mentioning the ballad of gay tony DLC

[@Wilus0]

also main protagonist of GTA Chinatown Wars is asian

[@NotAigis-]

Insane that nobody complained about forced diversity back in 2013

[@ChibiTenshi1000]

``I dont think its necessarily crap for the writing`` Bro when I heard that I had a flashback of the fucking Lex Luthors ``toxic masculinity`` shit, trust me Muta the games writing was fucking garbage

[@ThaumaturgistGuard]

Are these the same people that wrote the "fun sized package" for child version of Poison Ivy? Why are such people always being weird and sus when it comes to children stuff? Do they have something to hide?

[@Dragolitron]

They’re not even doing a good job at “hiding” it either if SBI is willing to make a “joke” this blatant.

[@NetBattler]

Highly likely yes.

[@zZ---]

yes

[@lukew6725]

Yes

[@mrwhiskerz7028]

For a company who calls themselves Sweet Baby, they sure are full of salty toddlers.

[@arandomstreetcat]

amen bruther. the Zuck would be proud.

[@Skarka47]

Really funny how Sweet Baby Inc says that they are all about inclusivity and then in Alan Wake 2 there is a character Vladimir Blum who is Russian, and in his diary he writes "Do svidanya", writes in broken english and of course buys vodka to celebrate. I guess we Slavic people are a bit too white for these guys to consider us. These guys are no different from very same people they hate. It's just the skin color that they don't like is different. It's not like i care about representation of us in media, it just shows their true colors

[@BobBillies]

I've noticed this too In the US it's cool to shit on people with paler skin, regardless where you are from, if you have pale skin, you're the bad guy

[@lemonlime8949]

It’s not even that the Russian guy is bad, idk I find it funny. If sbi didn’t help out with the game I would’ve just laughed, it’s just a funny scene. But it’s so choosey.

[@warbossgegguz679]

@@lemonlime8949It's more principle than actually being offended. They write non-whites like they're the perfect human beings with 0 flaws and none of the stereotypes of their cultures (positive or negative)... but when it comes to representing Europeans they have character depth on par with Punch-Out!! Except unlike punch-out, Alan Wake is trying to be serious. But these are people who also address all europeans, americans, canadians, and australians as homogenous "whites" so they already don't know and/or don't care about the nuances of ethnicity.

[@NoName......]

That's not necessarily bad. He's just enjoying his drink. What's so wrong with that?

[@KABLAMMATS]

​@@NoName...... Stereotypes

[@michaelknox3715]

This is literaly Gamergate 2: Eletric Boogaloo

[@juanfranciscovillarroelthu6876]

Gamergate: Brazilian Edition.

[@lampwizard4871]

Moot Moot 🐧

[@Z3RO5286]

Gamer gate single handle ruined an entire generation and internet as a whole.

[@Deadsu-sensei]

@@Z3RO5286you mean gamers that spotted corruption and questioned the legitimacy of game journalists/major news outlet?

[@Calvin_Coolage]

​@@Z3RO5286Yeah I really do not want to go back to that era. But honestly, this time the issue is way bigger than the original Gamer Gate was. Companies like Sweet Baby Inc. are an existential threat to gaming as a hobby.

[@Dante...]

The fact that diversity consultant groups like this exist is one of the many things that prove we live in the clown timeline.

[@sherlockowiec1693]

Consultant groups existed for a long long time now. Way before the golden age of social media. It's a common practice everywhere not just games; books, movies too.

[@Dante...]

@@sherlockowiec1693 I know, I'm talking about diversity consulting groups specifically.

[@sherlockowiec1693]

@@Dante... They're not diversity consulting group specifically, they do everything other firms do. They just advertise that aspect on their page the most.

[@kls1836]

​@@sherlockowiec1693because that's their selling point and advertise it as such. did you watch any video on them or are you trying to be obtuse?

[@sherlockowiec1693]

@@kls1836 Of course it's their selling point, corpos care only for the brownie points nowadays. It's an understandable strategy. That doesn't mean it's all they do and you can see that in games they put on their home page. Alan wake 2? God of war Ragnarok? It's a perfectly normal consultant firm. Did you actually played the games that company worked with or simply watched some KZbin videos and called it research?

[@Litepaw]

I see games like GTA San Andreas, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Telltale's The Walking Dead and i see absolutely no one whining about the characters. But then i also see games like forspoken which was a shitshow where their only goal was making everything as "diverse" as possible and the actual game and story was just an afterthought. The problem isn't seeing other than "white male" characters in games. The problem is seeing how they were just forcefully inserted into games to pass diversity quotas and there was absolutely no effort in making good characters.

[@paparoxo3606]

I don't understand this idea nowadays that people think we have to see ourselves on the screen to feel relatable to a story or character. This is not how humans work. We relate to characters' struggles, universal themes, and the drama of being alive. It doesn't matter the character's color, gender, or nationality. Companies like Sweet Baby Inc are doing a disservice to storytelling.

[@VespasianJudea]

Yeah, I didn’t have to be black to feel something when Angela and Marcus both finally agreed to quit destroying each other’s self esteem on Why Did I get Married by Tyler Perry. I just did.

[@pepperonipizza8200]

We don’t relate to Walle or Marlin because they’re a robot or a clownfish. We relate to them because of their struggles with love and family. Movies nowadays always sing the same tune of finding yourself. Your interests, your power, your impact, your identity. Many writers and actors will actually say that (but replace you with their character who looks suspiciously similar to them). Their movies are nothing more than narcissistic power trips about how powerful they are. I know I’m talking about movies, but games have followed a similar path.

[@marakrofitcac3425]

I’ve never been a middle-aged Korean man working the post-apocalyptic equivalent of a salary job, but Roland from Library of Ruina is still my favorite character in any video game and I can still relate to his struggles. The idea of ‘needing to see yourself’ is bullshit and only applies to minorities. You’ll never see these people break out this argument in favor of caucasians or straight men.

[@juliany.1558]

You don’t understand it because you haven’t cared to research it yet. Hope this helps!

[@marakrofitcac3425]

@@juliany.1558 Alright let’s do this. What lack of understanding has OC demonstrated that you possess? What about my insinuation that the concept of ‘seeing yourself’ within a story is bullshit and used as a double standard? If we’re ignorant please, enlighten us.

[@CrimsonFIame]

Inclusion and diversity is fine. People just don't want it to be forced and definitely not by a group of racist preaching it to everyone. If someone wants to make a film or game with an all white cast then they have that right. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it if that's what the creator wants. Don't include just because it's trendy or because you feel guilt. Do it because you want to or don't, it honestly doesn't matter. People just want to be entertained

[@ddwkc]

I miss the 80s and 90s attempts at inclusion. For the most part it meant well even if it was stereotypical. At least it tried to be original and creative. This type of inclusion is divisive and destructive. They aren't really interested in creating.

[@mdb45424]

There's actually laws against that. At least a few token actors have to be diverse or face huge fines

[@nicwelch]

Inclusion of what? Diversity of what? Those are just words and I have absolutely no idea what you mean when you say it.

[@Seority]

I'm sorry sir, this post is too based and true. Please delete now before a poor sheeple shts themselves from having an individual thought. 🙅‍♀️

[@yuo3670]

Both sides of this argument are terrible for art tbh. The right side of this argument calls EVERYTHING woke, they called spiderverse woke, anytime a children's cartoon had a black character (Craig of the creek) they called it forced and ask stupid questions like "Well why does this character have to be black?" Which is just wildly dumb. The left side of the argument won't allow certain groups or talking points to be represented if they feel like they could be offensive in any way at all. Both of them, in the end, are interested in censoring creatives. They just wanna make sure that art is censored to THEIR liking. They make me sick.

[@creator_mayo]

100% agree I’m in ways a minority and I HATE WHEN PEOPLE SAY THAT THEY HATE WHITE STRAIGHT OR MALE PEOPLE LIKE IF YOU WANT EQUALITY WHY ARE YOU DEMONIZING A WHOLE GROUP OF PEOPLE

[@HoLeeFuk317]

Because they are the racists

[@npcimknot958]

It’s come to the point where people don’t know how to joke around.. it’s why these peopel aren’t funny.. When everyone is jabbing at everyone it’s racist jokes.. theres no problem.. when suddenly you can’t joke - you found the real racist

[@HavianEla]

@@npcimknot958If a group of people or a person are off limits from joking about, that’s a red flag.

[@AFpaleoCon]

Lol imagine thinking Prager and Ben Shapiro are people "fighting back".

[@AFpaleoCon]

@@user-jw5rl1go1r I did, when I was like 12. But then I progressed along my character arc.

[@dantepr1566]

Them folk seen as normal as much as the other end is worrying

[@wudderbottles]

Controlled opposition

[@aFLYER1980]

Straight white guy here... I'm happy playing any type of character (nationality, colour, faith), as long as the character comes first and any forced DEI crap is left out. If a characters sole contribution is "hay, I'm gay", then they're worthless... Its not a character, that's simply a statement.

[@eggtaco5345]

It crazy how many people don't understand that as a black guy I don't like it when there a black guy just there to be black like Deadshot from kill the justice league but I do like when the there a well written black character like Marcus from watchdogs 2

[@aFLYER1980]

@eggtaco5345 100% agree 👌 I loved GTA San Andreas playing as Carl, Watch Dogs 2 as Marcus, Crackdown 3 as (forget the name). Sure, there is space for other races in games, but they MUST be actual characters, and not be placed there to tick boxes to try and attract the 0.0000001% of weirdos who don't want to play games in the first place.

[@joeblow5214]

@@aFLYER1980 You had a half Asian as the MC in True Crime: Streets of LA and a Black dude who was a gangster from Harlem become a NYPD officer in True Crime: NYC. I loved both of those games because they had fun writing and mechanics.

[@Desmond-Dark]

What counts as "Forced DEI"? What does that even mean? If game companies have been INTENTIONALLY creating white characters forDECADES, is that forced? If not, why is that not forced by DEI is?

[@scurrwalker]

There is no forced diversity. Not every black character in a game has to be an ex prisoner or some shit.

[@andrueanderson8637]

The whole "picky baby" thing is just.. sociopathic. It's such a weird paternalistic view of the role of a game developer. They're literally working in service of the customer, that's how economics works. You can't even engage in the free market, you can't sell something, while simultaneously holding the belief that you have a responsibility to change the desires of the customer. It's cognitive dissonance. The premise of selling goods or services is that you're selling something that someone is willing to pay for, that you're selling something they want or need. You really have to have dangerous levels of ego to think you know what someone needs better than they know what they need and to then get up on stage and make that assertion so casually. You're provoking people to attack you just to defend their right to make their own decisions, and then you're calling them "picky babies" as if you're somehow older or wiser than them without any sort of proof of that fact. It's extremely cringy to make such a socially unhinged statement. Then again, on some level, it's our fault as a society for not being willing to speak the truth to them. Ironically, they've probably learned to take this paternalistic view from us from the way we have treated them in the past when they cried out about "lacking representation" and "experiencing bigotry". We should have had the courage and wisdom to speak the truth when we had the chance. Now the tumor has grown to the point that the cure could very well destroy us as a society.

[@papascronch]

These people are legitimately just doing what Larry Fink said to do, The CEO of Black Rock legit talked about using consultant companies as loan underwriters to force behaviors on the consumers of the companies that they consult. He almost literally said that "companies who do not subscribe to our narrative should be artificially choked out by the competition that we choose to invest in." What you're watching isn't simply a grift, It's the fundamental rise of corporatocracy.

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

The problem is that the gaming industry is NOT comprised of young white males. It is a long tired stereotype. Gaming is enjoyed by all ages, all races, all cultures, male or female. We need companies like Sweet Baby because western game developers don't realize that. Western game developers keep making games for young white males and this alienates everyone else as a result because everyone else wants to be the hero too.

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

Grand Theft Auto is such an important game series because it has protagonists of diverse cultures. Their backgrounds affect who they are and their perceptions, and this in turn affects the story to create a vibrant engaging tale. No one would like Grand Theft Auto 4 if Niko was a tired stereotype. They like Niko because his background is just a facet of who he is. We don't like Grand Theft Auto 5's Lester because he is handicapped, we like him because of his charisma and intellect. We need that kind of diversity in western gaming. The Japanese were able to make games for women since the 80s, the Japanese are able to write black characters today, so why cant the west do the same?

[@fakeorchestra4260]

That's because they don't believe in free market to begin with. They want to engineer society to suit their liking.

[@lambertstarr1218]

@@Robbie-mw5uu who would’ve thought rockstar games of all companies is the one handling inclusivity with the most mastery lol

[@watsonwrote]

I feel that diversity follows naturally from good writing, like Muta was saying. If we allow writers the freedom to tell interesting stories and bring in real life experiences, the diversity of life will be reflected in those story. I think it's also naive to say there's no pressure on writers at some companies to create stories that are homogeneous, like having a cast of all white characters, or men, or straight people. But there are also companies that do want to showcase other perspectives and cultures, so I think over time it will become more normal to just tell stories about interesting people and backgrounds, without severe bias in one direction. I think we're actually well on our way. We'll never have every story have every race and sexuality in it because that is not reflective of real life either. People do form more homogeneous groups and often live in more homogeneous communities. Rather, there will be gay people here and there, different communities with different levels of diversity will be present in stories across the board. I think the main difference between now and then is that it will be more like restaurants in the US, with lots of options and different styles, and people will have preferential tastes across the board. Marketers won't act like "white men only like X, black women only like Y." Nearly everyone likes Chinese food, Indian food, Mexican food, Pizza, Burgers, etc. Sure there's someone in the friend group who doesn't like sushi but it's not because sushi is Japanese and it's not because he's white, you know? The guy as an individual doesn't like sushi.

[@BallisticaMetal]

NO BRO NO... EVERYBODY MUST BE GAY AND QUEER, EVERYBODY MUST BE TRANS, CAN'T YOU GET IT? IT'S 2024 EVERYBODY MUST BE GAY AND BLACK, YES, WE ALL MUST BE BLACK AND IN VIDEOGAMES TOO BECAUSE THAT'S GOOD

[@WokioWolfy]

​@BallisticaMetal you like getting 4 billion dollars everytime you add a black woman for no reason?

[@RevanJ-c6x]

First time I've ever seen a leftist admit that homogeneity is not just an evil white people thing and a fact of life for many people

[@ruffrack737]

@@WokioWolfymake that 4 quintillion

[@RedHaloManiac95]

Your first sentence of the second paragraph is completely wrong. The tech industry is closely tied to left ideologies, there’s literally no relevant game company that is pressuring their writes to have an all white cast.