Burnouts3s3 said:
There's been a lot of debate recently concerning social justice and video games. What I want to know is how will this change anything, business wise.
Feminism has been around for a long time and feminist critique of mass mediums, such as television, radio, movies, music, stage, has been around for even longer. The other mediums are aware of the accusations of sexism and objectification, but sexism and objectification still run rampant. People still make money off of it. So, what's the harm of letting journalists say what's wrong with it in social justice terms.
Even if a work of art is considered harmful or 'bad' or 'not helping', what can criticism do to stop the work from being produced or published? Even if people are aware of its ill effects, won't people consume it anyway? People know that fast food, alcohol, drugs and Michael Bay movies are bad for you, but they're still in business (and I say this as a person who enjoys Michael Bay films. Oh, c'mon, I thought that forest fight in Revenge of the Fallen was sweet).
In the end, what happens? Isn't it more likely that the critics will say their word, the consumer will still consume en masse of the product and at best all that's changed is a token representation or a disclaimer waving responsibility or lip-service will be provided?
What harm will it bring to a business?
I'l paraphrase from Terry at metagearsolid.org.
"gaming as an industry (has not yet but its getting there) been controlled by special interests, and therefore isn?t allowed to penetrate into mainstream acceptance, ( to the degree of film, music and literature ) creating a vacuum of authority in which honest gaming communities, self-appointed representatives, and cynical corporate media fight for mindshare of each other and (the narrative of what should be made celebrated and mostly paid attention to)"
and megapublishers have been dumb over the years with this freedom from special interest control of the medium, psyched that outsiders have shown commerical interests in their digital properties from special interest groups, cheap filmmakers, browbeating politicans who'll chastise till they get their election dontation cash, and now shady extremist academics who work in complete sociopolitical echo chambers. Unlike Valve shutting the door on EA's constant bidding offers like Green Eggs and Ham. The rest of the industry learned far too late to lobby and scruntize the crows, and vultures that have gathered around the industry.
When the Weinstein company decides it wants to back a very contentious film that's guaranteed to make mega bucks, you can bet they are bringing out the massive WMD's and ICBM's of marketing and PR campaigns to validate it, and shutup any parties that present a danger to it.
Does video games have hollywood's level of 'speak softly and carry a big stick?' for whatever it wants to push or sell? Hardly. Its a home for the shit gamers like.
In our modern world where people have more capability than ever before to communicate ideas into an open marketplace and find their audiences, we have evolved laws and protections, public dissent for people that speak unpopular social firebombs, and social progression and the fear of shame high speed tecnology and vast amount of internet accrued knowledge or the ability to sleuth through B.S. for actual empirical data. We havent had it this good.
It makes social justice complainers and those who've found a platform in media journalism look like whiny people, whos crusades are just their dopamine rush, while most people prefer to just pleasure themselves physically or mentally instead of constantly scrambling for the world's validation, and running in the "reflected dignity olympics" all day, and such complainers are not for the betterment of mankind, but to leech of the latest topic to raise their profile.
Every society has its share of opportunists. Especially considering how many come out from academia with degrees that won't lead to bill paying jobs.
In journalism when social complaints largely misrepresent and ignore the mechanics of a game and how well the visual kinaesthethic experience comes together, or how thematic elements serve the game (narrative, player response, latency, flow and balance) It becomes annoying self-insertion and clickbait that internet mainstays are all too familiar with.
We know on the web there is an economy of paid web space filling writers, putting out literally whatever to help get volume or one up each other on the sensational ladder for clicks. We see it in paranoid health scare articles, and other google news sections with bogus headlines. Mixing this with largely apolitical players and int dwellers who have noses for bullshit, is essentially anchovie pizza flavored ice-cream. It just don't mix.
