Celebrities in Video games a Good Idea?

[CyberBobber]

About Gaga... I think it’s a waste. At the price of one Gaga, you’d get 10 normal actors who’re just as good as VA’s, and a normal gamer (who’s not some Lady Gaga superfan) is none the wiser whether it’s her or someone else.

I personally think it was the right more, if I see thigns right, Ubisoft is going TV-series path, so they are working mostly with unknown actors/stars, GTA6? Who knows how much they are gonna throw on marketting and does it include celebrities, probably? So that said I think CDPR is good with one very famous star. Ultimate its GTA6 which points the direction of the game industry, imho. If Rockstar chickens out or no.

 

[lelxrv]

Gaga is just a PR move.

 

[Marquis_deShade]

To be honest, that does come across as some half-hearted attempt at virtue signalling when you’re putting those people in the position of marketing pawns. ”Lookee here, we dun hired some handicaps because they’re handicaps and we have some handicaps in our game!”

Their experience and expertise is of little help in a fictional universe whose technology far exceeds that of ours, and where prosthetics are no longer just to aid amputees, but a choice (sometimes of fashion, sometimes of practicality, sometimes of both).

By all means, hire those people. I’m sure they’re fine actors. But don’t do it because of some dubious pseudoprogressive internet-fashionable reasons.

They don’t need anyone to give them ailment-specific ”representation”, unless you’re making a documentary about amputation, limb loss, and prosthetics.

... meanwhile, actors and folks in the industry with disabilities are ALL about that representation. If your project calls for a blind character, cast an actually blind actor. It's a sidebar on the old argument and controversy concerning white-washing of characters that are written as X-other ethnic/cultural background, but, hey, let's cast a white dude/girl instead. Scarlet Johansson was the best Motoko Kusanagi ever and could never be outdone by someone that's actually Japanese, yep, uh-huh, f'realz.

... but, yeah, go ahead, ignore the folks well suited for certain roles when they live those roles every day, and are seeking those roles specifically.

 

[Metropolice]

I see little to no issues with this. This is a good PR move and will raise more attention and allow them to sell more, thus make more money.

I as consumer benefit from not just a good product, but the company being well rewarded for it. To give a good example, more funds may allow them to take other considerations with pricey or time consuming things like creating a proper support or foundation for modding. Or making more other content like DLCs.

Win/win/win of sorts. For the "celebrity" or actor, for the company and the consumer, whether directly or indirectly, abstract or not.

 

[SarahGabriella]

To be honest, that does come across as some half-hearted attempt at virtue signalling when you’re putting those people in the position of marketing pawns. ”Lookee here, we dun hired some handicaps because they’re handicaps and we have some handicaps in our game!”

Their experience and expertise is of little help in a fictional universe whose technology far exceeds that of ours, and where prosthetics are no longer just to aid amputees, but a choice (sometimes of fashion, sometimes of practicality, sometimes of both).

By all means, hire those people. I’m sure they’re fine actors. But don’t do it because of some dubious pseudoprogressive internet-fashionable reasons.

They don’t need anyone to give them ailment-specific ”representation”, unless you’re making a documentary about amputation, limb loss, and prosthetics.


About Gaga... I think it’s a waste. At the price of one Gaga, you’d get 10 normal actors who’re just as good as VA’s, and a normal gamer (who’s not some Lady Gaga superfan) is none the wiser whether it’s her or someone else.

What virtue signaling tho? We dont even have a full role call for the casting of characters.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

...hey, let's cast a white dude/girl instead. Scarlet Johansson was the best Motoko Kusanagi ever and could never be outdone by someone that's actually Japanese, yep, uh-huh, f'realz.
...
... but, yeah, go ahead, ignore the folks well suited for certain roles when they live those roles every day, and are seeking those roles specifically.

That is not at all what I said or implied. It's not even a "sidebar" here.

This here is a completely different medium from movies where the actors are physically present and in front of a camera. Being a paraplegic or having prosthetics doesn't help you with voice acting. But since acting is their job... if they are good at it an possess the sort of vocal talent you look for, of course hire them.

[Sard Edit: Nope]

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

I think you guys misunderstood kofeiiniturpa's words.

 

[Garrison72]

Someone has a low threshold for offensive posts.

 

[Marquis_deShade]

That is not at all what I said or implied. It's not even a "sidebar" here.

This here is a completely different medium from movies where the actors are physically present and in front of a camera. Being a paraplegic or having prosthetics doesn't help you with voice acting. But since acting is their job... if they are good at it an possess the sort of vocal talent you look for, of course hire them.
.

... okay, so why the (rumored) motion capture for Gaga? What's the rationale? She can just do voice, no? Give her some rando CGI NPC body picked out or designed by the dev team, no?

... but, we also have Viktoria Modesta, another voice artist, pop artist, fashion designer, and model ... that also happens to be a real-world amputee that embraces her "disability" as an improvement, and accessorizes it almost to fetishism; a little like the underlying philosophy of a thing I might of heard of somewhere called Cyberpunk.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

Because lady gaga is one the most famous people in the world who has just won an oscar, Viktoria Midesta is not.
Marketing, as we (almost) all have said from the beginning.

Btw, Cyberpunk is not a game about disabilities, hellblade is.

 

[Marquis_deShade]

Because lady gaga is one the most famous people in the world who has just won an oscar, Viktoria Midesta is not.
Marketing, as we (almost) all have said from the beginning.

strange, because, although I've heard that Gaga is a singer, I've yet to knowingly ever hear anything she's ever done, and am only really familiar with the name from her appearance on the show American Horror Story for one season.
Meanwhile, I'm WAY more familiar with and aware of the work by Viktoria Modesta.
I wonder why that is?
Perspective?

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

strange, because, although I've heard that Gaga is a singer, I've yet to knowingly ever hear anything she's ever done, and am only really familiar with the name from her appearance on the show American Horror Story for one season.
Meanwhile, I'm WAY more familiar with and aware of the work by Viktoria Modesta.
I wonder why that is?
Perspective?

Go on twitter/instagram and look how many followers the 2 have. You will have your answer.

 

[Sild]

Btw, Cyberpunk is not a game about disabilities, hellblade is.

Ofc it's not.. if anything it's about enhanced humans.

Being "normal" IS a disability in Cyberpunk at least in term of having an edge. So i don't see how disabled people would improve or better relay that.

 

[Gun_Show]

Nope, not a good idea. It tends to break immersion and horribly dates the game. I would much rather the time and money get spent on creating fully-fleshed out in-game, NPC celebrities.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

... okay, so why the (rumored) motion capture for Gaga? What's the rationale? She can just do voice, no? Give her some rando CGI NPC body picked out or designed by the dev team, no?

I have no idea on the how’s or why’s of that matter. My only comment on Gaga (and any other ”supercelebrity” being cast) is that I think it’s ultimately a waste of money. Her salary and visibility would be better spent on giving someone less known a break. And if that character is meant to be someone ”special”, more work on the voice direction (especially more than went on Meredith or Royce).

... but, we also have Viktoria Modesta, another voice artist, pop artist, fashion designer, and model ... that also happens to be a real-world amputee that embraces her "disability" as an improvement, and accessorizes it almost to fetishism; a little like the underlying philosophy of a thing I might of heard of somewhere called Cyberpunk.

I’m not sure how healthy it is to fetishize ones ailment, but it is mechanism of coping and if it makes her happy... good. It’s her business.

But what I don’t see, is how that would aid her voicework (or mocap for that matter... the tech in CP is much more advanced than ours, their movement is much more fluid and natural). If she’s a great VA and fits for a role of certain type, I’ve nothing against hiring her (obviously).

Although, the earlier comment about celebrities still apply.

And for a note on an earlier comment. I think Al Pacino made a better job in The Scent of a Woman than someone else (actually blind or not) would have, simply because he’s a great actor (his lack of the deficiency did nothing there). But that’s really not the topic here.

 

[Has_Neyn]

How about letting CDPR do the casting and enjoy the results?

I was just stating my opinion. [Sard Edit: Nope.]

 

[Sardukhar]

I was just stating my opinion.

And you are welcome to state it! Whole point of these forums.

Try not to engage in non-productive descriptors, though. Thanks.

Applies to everyone else, too. Keep It Friendly and Productive, people.

 

[Snowflakez]

You know that there is a difference between a ingame characters design and the person portraying said character, right? Her character might have a bunch of cyberaugments for all we know.

There seems to be some pretty heavy miscommunications and misunderstandings going on here. Let's drop this.

I have no idea on the how’s or why’s of that matter. My only comment on Gaga (and any other ”supercelebrity” being cast) is that I think it’s ultimately a waste of money. Her salary and visibility would be better spent on giving someone less known a break. And if that character is meant to be someone ”special”, more work on the voice direction (especially more than went on Meredith or Royce).



I’m not sure how healthy it is to fetishize ones ailment, but it is mechanism of coping and if it makes her happy... good. It’s her business.

But what I don’t see, is how that would aid her voicework (or mocap for that matter... the tech in CP is much more advanced than ours, their movement is much more fluid and natural). If she’s a great VA and fits for a role of certain type, I’ve nothing against hiring her (obviously).

Although, the earlier comment about celebrities still apply.

And for a note on an earlier comment. I think Al Pacino made a better job in The Scent of a Woman than someone else (actually blind or not) would have, simply because he’s a great actor (his lack of the deficiency did nothing there). But that’s really not the topic here.

Well said. Particularly this bit:

"Her salary and visibility would be better spent on giving someone less known a break. And if that character is meant to be someone ”special”, more work on the voice direction (especially more than went on Meredith or Royce)."

Merit and ability will always matter more to me than anything else, at least in this context.

If a voice actor is good at their job, great - it doesn't matter what else is going on in their lives, nor does it matter if they're little known or well-known.

Plenty of our favorite voice actors were nobodies before they did an amazing job in that one big project. And now they're household names - not because they were celebrities or famous singers or disabled or anything else. But because they did good work.

Forget all these so called stars what about Mike Pondsmith himself ?

Asking the important questions...

I would love Pondsmith to voice a character in the game, even as a minor role. I genuinely think it will happen. I read somewhere that in some build of the game, he was actually voicing Dexter DeShawn. I don't have a source for that, sadly, it was a couple months ago.

 

[Marquis_deShade]

Go on twitter/instagram and look how many followers the 2 have. You will have your answer.

I wonder if there's any game developers that have a larger following than CDPR on Insta-whatever?
According the old logical fallacy of the bandwagon argument you're waving around there, it would then follow that a more "popular" game dev studio "should" be making (insert game name here), and that includes CP 2077.
That might risk the fallacy of false equivalency, but, I'm sure there's other similar comparisons that bump off the old popularity argument in favor of other factors.

... and, with that, there ARE, other factors, like artistic interpretation, as well as role credibility and suitability. An actor that's lived with bionics, embraces the technology, and even sells it as "better" than having some generic organic limb, in my opinion, adds more credibility to a character role where the character they're playing is closely related to their real-world philosophy, personality, and physical image.

Sure, there are valid arguments for specific talents certain actors might bring to the table, but, that doesn't exclude the inclusion of others in other roles, that embody and express more suitable expressions relevant to a character and genre.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

Ehm, you really don't think that GTA V is the most sold game ever thanks to the brand itself being that famous? TW3 is the most awarded game in history (goty), but GTA V has sold several times more (100+ millions copies) and is the only game which has made $1 billion in the first 3 days after launch.

It's not a matter of how good the actor is or how s/he fits in the role, it's a matter of how popular the actor is. It's pure marketing. Why do you think commercials have famous people? Why are those famous people paid that much by companies to advertise their product? Why do you think "influencers" are a thing?
Does Natalie Portman smell good? Does she fit in a Dior's ad contest more than anyone else? Why this thing exist and is broadcasted on tv?

She is an excellent actress (oscar winner for best actress in 2011 and well deserved), but she's not showing any of this in the ad. She is there for the only and single reason that she is famous, very famous.

Just to make it clear, I'm contrary to the presence of lady gaga in the game (I fear more "damage" than "gain"), I'm just saying why CDPR has decided to hire her instead of any "relatively unknown" (sorry, but followers are an excellent data, used by companies themselves) actor for that specific role she's gonna play. Lady gaga will help CP2077's sales thanks to the simple fact that she is in the game. Need another demonstration? there are exactly 100 posts about this topic just on this forum, people are talking about the game. And it's just a rumor, not even confirmed. That's how marketing has always worked and always will.

Now, if you really think that marketing doesn't affect sales, I honestly give up this conversation and don't have much to add.