A thing about all the gaming world direction.
First of: inclusion and so called 'woke' – do we need it? Or we don't?
The thing is that inclusion is NOT the problem at all. The problem is that the 'modern trend' things that it's right to include by excluding other things... that's where things really went wrong.
The problem is not an Afroamerican character in a game, the problem is that there is not even an option to have communities of single origin, no matter how fitting the setting they are.
The problem is not in characters being respectful, the problem is that even absolute antagonists are made to be respectful and that absolutely everyone in the whole universum is supportive.
The problem is not that characters are bi/homo/trans or non-binary. The problem is that women can't now be too sexy, can't have too much appeal. And male characters can't be stereortpical old-fashioned alpha-heteros or complete doushbags...
What is done wrongly is that it's not inclusion, is prompotion of what's opposite to what was considered standard for ages while by default excluding tons of things that may not be pretty (or are too pretty?) but are very common nevertheless.
I am bisexual myself. And for me all this inclusion stuff is done wrongly and is harmful to LGBTQ+ society. It's simply unnecessarily controversial. And it doesn't allow players to appreciate the existance of LGBTQ+ themes if you are told that such things are the absolutely only options you have...
Second: By univarsally agreeing on some set standards of 'love, peace and respect' we're killing the whole point of game wrolds. There are already tons of games for children, so it pains me a lot that there is a trend of making games rated Adult the same fairy-tales for 6yo children, just with blood included...
If the game settings say that there is a lot of sex, vular language, drugs, gambling, murders and whatever other nasty bussiness... You DO NOT tone down ANY of these aspects. Otherwise we are going in the direction where every story will need to be exactly the same with just names for the characters changed.
My definition of creativity is that it should NEVER be bound by any limits other than what authors want to create.
But to the main point:
We went pretty far with violence. Violence is great and no matter how respectful the policy is – we want blood to be raining and pouring in such amounts that in many cases it's getting ridiculous.
It's a bit more restrained with vulgar language. Swearing is usually alright BUT when it's addressed as particularly insulting or discriminating – well it's in most cases a solid 'meh' or avoid. Games more and more often want to pretend that such things don't happen – even if the universum for ages is known to have prejudice as one of the key points...
And then there is sexuality and nudity – my absolutely biggest complaint. And NO, argument about 'play yourself a porn' is not an answer. I am more than sure that there are films with blood as well and somehow nobody never comes up with 'play yourself a horror/thriller/action film' instead of slicing opponents with swords in the video games. And we are forgetting that in most games you CAN'T avoid content with killing your opponents in bloody ways one after another but you almost always COMPLETELY can avoid any forms of nudity and sex – they are almost always the most optional stuff in games...
There are HUNDREDS of ways to stop pretending that sex, erotism and such things don't exist in specific worlds.
For once – I am more than sure that one day a good RPG will allow complete nudity (of course naturally implemented and not as a ridiculous excuse of something) and will be then remembered for decades as a brave trend setter with highest ratings and GOTY titles. It may be on par with other aspects such as story, gameplay, but will still make a cut for breaking the absurd stereotype of nudity not being a part of ADULT world, because we are talking only Adult rated games.
Two – even if a game is afraid of showing nudity for some ridiculous reason there are tons of way to show such aspects without showing male or female organs... You don't have to cross that out completely simply because you decided you are scared of protests people will come up with for showing particular parts of bodies... Somehow, I get the feeling that even bravest companies, despite their initial plans, in the end decide to tone down such things because of the policies. Wasted potential.
Three – by trying to be inclusive and follow some policies many games have changed sexual identity into a mockery and became actually enemies of the respectful and diverse society.
The main point in being a gay/lesbian/hetero or in fact probably in being any kind of identity is that you are not the same as everyone.
What is the point in my female heroine being hetero/homo if all the NPCs are bisexual? I want to feel special for particular characters because they want me, not just about anyone. I want some of the characters not to be interested in me because they have some actual preference and some to really be into me because they also have preference.
And then... there is a huge trend to show any kind of sexual encounters as standing front to front, kissing and that's that... the reason? It doesn't dwell on whatever equipment any of the partners have... I want my heroine to be bent over by a male character, or to go for scissoring with another girl – sure I am using stereotypical positions just to emphasise my point – I want to see that things DO matter.
I believe CDPR can do most of these things well by themselves. There's however one thing that I think I will not see in CDPR games, which is a shame in thsi aspect for me.
Namely – different approaches towards sex – and it wouldn't even need nudity to be included.
Let's face it:
Ciri is going to be thrown into universum where sexism is VERY common and even regular peasants would want to do things with our heroine. Yet, I am pretty sure that the heroine will be able to have sex with let's say 2-4 characters and absolutely every one of these relationship will be a magical love story. For me, we should be able to find love with respectful partners – sure. Not even necessarily a sexual relationship. But there should also be guys who want to simply take advantage of the heroine or trick her for a one night stand or whatever or those who would try to exploit her sexually for some personal gain. Not because those are some fantasies of mine... but because that's how the universum looks like and it pains me that from the universum and quests we always learn that such things can happen to every peron in the game's world but never to the heroine we are in control of... making the player feel as a bystander and spectator and not a part of the world.
First of: inclusion and so called 'woke' – do we need it? Or we don't?
The thing is that inclusion is NOT the problem at all. The problem is that the 'modern trend' things that it's right to include by excluding other things... that's where things really went wrong.
The problem is not an Afroamerican character in a game, the problem is that there is not even an option to have communities of single origin, no matter how fitting the setting they are.
The problem is not in characters being respectful, the problem is that even absolute antagonists are made to be respectful and that absolutely everyone in the whole universum is supportive.
The problem is not that characters are bi/homo/trans or non-binary. The problem is that women can't now be too sexy, can't have too much appeal. And male characters can't be stereortpical old-fashioned alpha-heteros or complete doushbags...
What is done wrongly is that it's not inclusion, is prompotion of what's opposite to what was considered standard for ages while by default excluding tons of things that may not be pretty (or are too pretty?) but are very common nevertheless.
I am bisexual myself. And for me all this inclusion stuff is done wrongly and is harmful to LGBTQ+ society. It's simply unnecessarily controversial. And it doesn't allow players to appreciate the existance of LGBTQ+ themes if you are told that such things are the absolutely only options you have...
Second: By univarsally agreeing on some set standards of 'love, peace and respect' we're killing the whole point of game wrolds. There are already tons of games for children, so it pains me a lot that there is a trend of making games rated Adult the same fairy-tales for 6yo children, just with blood included...
If the game settings say that there is a lot of sex, vular language, drugs, gambling, murders and whatever other nasty bussiness... You DO NOT tone down ANY of these aspects. Otherwise we are going in the direction where every story will need to be exactly the same with just names for the characters changed.
My definition of creativity is that it should NEVER be bound by any limits other than what authors want to create.
But to the main point:
We went pretty far with violence. Violence is great and no matter how respectful the policy is – we want blood to be raining and pouring in such amounts that in many cases it's getting ridiculous.
It's a bit more restrained with vulgar language. Swearing is usually alright BUT when it's addressed as particularly insulting or discriminating – well it's in most cases a solid 'meh' or avoid. Games more and more often want to pretend that such things don't happen – even if the universum for ages is known to have prejudice as one of the key points...
And then there is sexuality and nudity – my absolutely biggest complaint. And NO, argument about 'play yourself a porn' is not an answer. I am more than sure that there are films with blood as well and somehow nobody never comes up with 'play yourself a horror/thriller/action film' instead of slicing opponents with swords in the video games. And we are forgetting that in most games you CAN'T avoid content with killing your opponents in bloody ways one after another but you almost always COMPLETELY can avoid any forms of nudity and sex – they are almost always the most optional stuff in games...
There are HUNDREDS of ways to stop pretending that sex, erotism and such things don't exist in specific worlds.
For once – I am more than sure that one day a good RPG will allow complete nudity (of course naturally implemented and not as a ridiculous excuse of something) and will be then remembered for decades as a brave trend setter with highest ratings and GOTY titles. It may be on par with other aspects such as story, gameplay, but will still make a cut for breaking the absurd stereotype of nudity not being a part of ADULT world, because we are talking only Adult rated games.
Two – even if a game is afraid of showing nudity for some ridiculous reason there are tons of way to show such aspects without showing male or female organs... You don't have to cross that out completely simply because you decided you are scared of protests people will come up with for showing particular parts of bodies... Somehow, I get the feeling that even bravest companies, despite their initial plans, in the end decide to tone down such things because of the policies. Wasted potential.
Three – by trying to be inclusive and follow some policies many games have changed sexual identity into a mockery and became actually enemies of the respectful and diverse society.
The main point in being a gay/lesbian/hetero or in fact probably in being any kind of identity is that you are not the same as everyone.
What is the point in my female heroine being hetero/homo if all the NPCs are bisexual? I want to feel special for particular characters because they want me, not just about anyone. I want some of the characters not to be interested in me because they have some actual preference and some to really be into me because they also have preference.
And then... there is a huge trend to show any kind of sexual encounters as standing front to front, kissing and that's that... the reason? It doesn't dwell on whatever equipment any of the partners have... I want my heroine to be bent over by a male character, or to go for scissoring with another girl – sure I am using stereotypical positions just to emphasise my point – I want to see that things DO matter.
I believe CDPR can do most of these things well by themselves. There's however one thing that I think I will not see in CDPR games, which is a shame in thsi aspect for me.
Namely – different approaches towards sex – and it wouldn't even need nudity to be included.
Let's face it:
Ciri is going to be thrown into universum where sexism is VERY common and even regular peasants would want to do things with our heroine. Yet, I am pretty sure that the heroine will be able to have sex with let's say 2-4 characters and absolutely every one of these relationship will be a magical love story. For me, we should be able to find love with respectful partners – sure. Not even necessarily a sexual relationship. But there should also be guys who want to simply take advantage of the heroine or trick her for a one night stand or whatever or those who would try to exploit her sexually for some personal gain. Not because those are some fantasies of mine... but because that's how the universum looks like and it pains me that from the universum and quests we always learn that such things can happen to every peron in the game's world but never to the heroine we are in control of... making the player feel as a bystander and spectator and not a part of the world.
