IGN’s hitpiece was very iffy in the first place, with mistranslated “tweets” from one of the devs weibo and all, but by doing these guidelines they gave ammunition to these people, I’m glad the game is doing well at least so hopefully china keeps making good, AAA games that aren’t also gacha for once.
So a video of the game overlaid by a feminist manifesto?
excuse me wtf
However, it’s clear Game Science, through Hero Games, is keen to control the narrative around Black Myth: Wukong to avoid negative coverage and ensure focus is on the game itself.
Given that this is the first I’ve heard of this game and I know nothing about the game itself, I feel they’ve shot themselves in the foot a little, eh?
Nah for a while now, this was highly anticipated within the gaming community. Journalists have covered allegations and controversies but honestly no one really cared. People wanted a good game and they got one. Politics or not, their steam review is 96% at overwhelmingly positive.
Reading through that made me feel gross. It does seem to be acknowledged by women in China as a cultural issue (as well as globally online).
Sexism is, and continues to be, a global problem. But the difference, as both Zhong and Monica F. pointed out, is that the Chinese government and overall cultural attitudes continue to actively discourage women and their allies from fighting back. There’s no one telling harassers “no.”
This feels like the second round of this going around as the AI articles / lazy sites pick it up.
It’s a doc ‘sent’ to one guy who had 12 followers on medium before this started blowing up. It was edited after it was sent out to be the real marketing email of the company instead of a gmail address. The doc is still owned by that gmail account, which isn’t typically how companies operate.
I guess they’re getting their viral moment so good for them for generating content?
What is “feminist propaganda” and what would COVID-19 have anything to do with the game? What would either of those have to do with the game? Isn’t it based on the legend of the monkey king? Are they afraid they’ll make a meme of him spreading COVID to kill his enemies or something?
It’s a Chinese game developer. These are the things they’re sensitive to. COVID started in China and I guess feminist is a big fucking red flag for women in China?
Hehe, red flag, China…
It’s Chinese developer so I wouldn’t be that surprised that their sexist it just seems to be a very common viewpoint in China.
They obviously know it’s unacceptable because they don’t want to be brought up on it. But rather than improved they’re just going to ban discussion of it or at least try to it won’t work of course. We’re talking about it after all.
It’s a Chinese game developer. These are the things they’re sensitive to. COVID started in China and I guess feminist is a big fucking red flag for women in China?
The Black Myth: Wukong sexism controversy stems from employee reports that developers at Game Science have been making sexist comments for many years, and there’s a suggestion the company doesn’t want women playing its games.
https://dotesports.com/black-myth-wukong/news/black-myth-wukong-developer-controversy-explained
I wonder if any of this has been corroborated. I feel more conflicted about this kind of stuff recently because for every one asshole saying awful shit there are hundreds of other people that poured years of their life into making a game like this.
In the conspiracy theories groups China is a hot topic, and I believe this is them telling influencers (who they give a free copy) to stick to the game instead of talking about the country they happen to live in. And I would assume if people stuck to the game few of these topics would be relevant.
Now if an influencer had an issue with say, allegations misogyny at the studio, I would expect them to -
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not accept the game from the studio
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maybe create content on why they refused the offer of a free game and things they think would need to change to allow them to work with the studio in the future.
You would have thought that by now they would have realized that explicitly banning people from talking about a subject is basically a method to guarantee that they do.
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So we’ve moved on from no minorities to whatever we can find?
I’m not sure how that’s supposed to be relevant to the game and reviews of it anyway?
The studio and the CEO have a history of misoginy and sexism, so they’re trying to block reviewers to speak about it
Well that explains something, but honestly it has nothing to do with the actual game itself. Would be kinda weird if reviewers focused on that instead of the game.
Yes, who cares if Putin releases a game as long as it’s good?
Did he release this game?
Yes, you are right. Everyone had to draw the line themselves. And if you only stop buying a game if it is from Putin, that is indeed your decision. But it obviously also means, that you do made your decision not only on the game itself. So I am not sure what your argument is here.
You are avoiding the question.
What does Putin have to do with this?
I am sure you know that, but if not:
I am using Putin as an extreme example to discuss the broader question of whether the ethics and actions of creators should influence consumer decisions, and not because Putin is directly related to the situation being discussed. Even if a notorious figure like Putin were to release a game, some people, like you in this case, might argue that the game’s quality alone should be the deciding factor in whether to support it, while others might refuse to support it based on the creator’s actions or background. I was just trying to find out if there is a line you are not going to cross or if you will play it no matter the circumstances as long as you think the game is good. And as it turns out, based on this conversation, there is a line for you and it’s literally “the game was created by Putin”
It’s a difficult issue. If Putin did release a game, did we know beforehand? How widespread was the knowledge? How did this info come to light?
I guess it’s similar to reports about crunch culture in many game studios. Do we want to support that and buy the game?
Or sexual harassment by C-level, same question.Many people might not care, but some do and it’s still information to consider.
For anyone not clicking thru:
In full, the don’ts are:
- Do NOT insult other influencers or players.
- Do NOT use any offensive language/humour.
- Do NOT include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishisation, and other content that instigates negative discourse.
- Do NOT use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’ or ‘Covid-19’.
- Do NOT discuss content related to China’s game industry policies, opinions, news, etc.
I see this as them wanting influencers to focus on their game, instead of using the game as a platform to wade into these other topics that focus on the country they happen to live in. And this being an election year in the US ,and the Right having spread wild conspiracy theories about China for years now, them not wanting any of that stuff to overshadow their art doesn’t seem all that crazy of a take. Basically they are saying they want influencers to talk about the game and to leave politics to /c/politics.
Oh and this is of course only sent to influencers, so just people they are giving the game to for free. The rest of the world (including influencers that buy their own copy) are of course free to do whatever they are legally allowed to in their jurisdiction.
The use of “feminist propaganda” over “misogyny” seems very deliberate.
Yes, because it seems the studio doesn’t have any problem with misogyny
Oh for sure. I do wonder what part the Chinese government takes in shaping the wording of “exports” like this too.
I might give them the benefit of the doubt and say its a translation issue
Pirate the fuck out of this game, got it
Are analogies using A.A. Milne characters OK for describing the game?
Oh bother…
I was excited to play this game until I saw this. Now I kinda don’t want to play it.
Somewhat off topic, but the names of both the publisher and the developer are also used by unrelated tabletop game companies. Hero Games makes the Hero System tabletop RPG, and GameScience (no space, so there’s a difference) make dice. It threw me for a loop.
I have a simple solution to all of this. Just simply don’t read video game news articles. You’re welcome. But seriously, all of these “game journalism” sites are just AI garbage at this point. Just go on discord and talk to real people about games, or watch a digital foundry video. Like i have literally never heard of this “controversy” until reading this post. It’s just simply not on my radar. Idk why people even engage with this nonsense. I don’t watch influencers. I don’t have social media. I NEVER have to see this dogshit unless it comes up here on Lemmy lol.
Edit: downvoted for not wanting to pay attention to stupid controversy about video games? Weird…
It’s one thing to live peacefully in ignorance. I get it. it is exhausting keeping track of every shitty thing a company does when it’s so much easier at the end of an exhausting 9-5 shift to avoid news and play your games guilt free without thinking about who it’s hurting.
It’s a completely separate thing to brag that your ignorance somehow makes your way of life superior.
People caring about these issues, and sometimes leading to actions being taken because of that, all makes the gaming industry, or to be hyberbolic; the world a better place.
It’s fine to avoid news on controversy and just blindly enjoy games, but don’t lie to yourself (and others) by pretending that it is a good thing.
Fucking pathetic
