Veilguard Isn’t the First Dragon Age Game to Face ‘Woke’ Criticism (questalerts.com)
from Rider@eviltoast.org to games@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 05:35
https://eviltoast.org/post/9878868

#games

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Phegan@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 06:15 next collapse

Anyone who doesn’t play a game because it’s woke, has their head so far up the culture war ass, they have lost all reason.

It’s also the same people where the message behind more subtle media is lost on them. Starship troopers, for example.

bread@feddit.nl on 05 Nov 06:36 next collapse

There usually aren’t many complaints of something being woke if the product is actually good. I think the main takeaway is that nobody wants to be lectured, and told they are wrong for having a different opinion, and amateurish writing can easily come across as preachy or being a self-insert.

Carighan@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 07:00 next collapse

Yeah but have you seen the cutscenes of DA:V?

If that childish word salad sounds “preachy” to you, you need to go to a different preacher! Yours can’t even english.

How can this sound preachy to anybody? Has the fascist right lowered their own standard of education enough to where they think Marvel-style dialogue is normal?!

PunchingWood@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 08:25 next collapse

Pretty much this.

I will likely get downvoted into oblivion for saying this (as usual), and I will prelude by saying that I generally never care if there are gay, trans or whatever stuff in games. But transgenders and pronouns were never ever a thing in the Dragon Age franchise, and now they suddenly feature these so prominently. They just handled this very badly.

The fact that writing is generally just plain bad for this game, these inclusive options also seems to affect the rest of the game as well. And it indeed makes it look like they focused on the wrong narrative so much. The way Skill Up reviewed the game was perfect, his best summary was “it’s as if HR is standing in every room” or something along those lines. Like nobody is allowed to insult, or be insulted, in this franchise that used to be pretty dark and grim.

Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com on 05 Nov 14:32 next collapse

But Dragon Age was never good, either.

The first one was mediocre at best with some good ideas, and it was all downhill from there.

november@lemmy.vg on 05 Nov 17:01 collapse

But transgenders and pronouns were never ever a thing in the Dragon Age franchise, and now they suddenly feature these so prominently.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krem_(Dragon_Age)

Every Dragon Age game has had pronouns because that’s how fucking language works. Your brain has just been poisoned by right-wing outrage over “pronouns”.

Also, “transgenders” isn’t a word. “Transgender” is an adjective, not a noun, not that I expect that to mean anything to someone who freaks out about “pronouns”.

Case@lemmynsfw.com on 05 Nov 22:25 collapse

I picked up Veilguard because I enjoyed Origins and Inquisition. The second game… at this point, I don’t think I took it right and its my problem and I need to give it another chance.

I’m still very early into the game, but the only “woke” thing I’ve seen so far is variable gender identity during character creation.

You want to play a “woman” who looks masculine, with atypical male traits, even a penis, and a deep voice? You know what, I’m glad the option is open to people. It doesn’t vibe with me personally, but I’m glad that people I care about can make a character that is “them,” because who hasn’t made themselves in an RPG at some point in their life, best they were able.

Again, I’m early to it, but that is all of the “woke” shit I’ve seen.

For the record, I have friends and family in the LGTBQ+(whatever, doesn’t matter) that I support.

I don’t want hate in my heart, and I’ve worked very hard to overcome some biases that came from my more “southern” upbringing. Hell, one of those biased views from the past is now openly trans, and I was the only family member they talked to because they couldn’t talk to anyone else.

I’m imperfect, as all humans are, but it isn’t hard to fucking TRY, just a little, to realize that someone else’s self image and happiness doesn’t affect mine other than what pronouns I use to refer to them. Fuck, its not hard. Just don’t be a dick.

acosmichippo@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 06:38 next collapse

agreed, there is so much lore more to criticize about this game but of course this is what gets headlines and rage clicks.

Vega@feddit.it on 05 Nov 06:49 collapse

Imho it’s marketing. The game is bad, writing is bad, gameplay is boring after a while, it seems (except for technical optimization) the game itself is a big mobile game. The “woke criticism” is exploited by ea to sell more, since it create engagement and hide the real flaws of the game

zecg@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 08:25 next collapse

Take my lemmy gold kind stranger

ms_lane@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 14:10 collapse

Remember when EA did a whole gaywashing thing after being voted worst company in America, two times running.

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

overload@sopuli.xyz on 05 Nov 06:45 collapse

For some reason the second most followed curator on steam is Sweet Baby Inc Detected. Its pretty widespread brain rot.

Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 09:11 collapse

Sweet Baby Inc Detected

Never heard of this. It took me some time to even figure what their comments meant.

It’s almost comical to see how obsessed people are about this stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, the commercialization of minority themes and the preachy attitude can get annoying, but it’s hardly a dealbreaker if the gameplay and/or story are good.

Games are full of extremely stupid and lazy tropes.

overload@sopuli.xyz on 05 Nov 11:53 collapse

That’s it. The Alan Wake 2 “race change” actually allows for some interesting links between Quantum Leap and the Alan Wake stories, but it was seen as a DEI situation. If a game is bad, it’s generally bad for reasons beyond DEI or wokeness.

TGhost@lemm.ee on 05 Nov 06:57 next collapse

I will play it but piracy version.

I’m annoyed about EA and their LGBT washing to dump sells.

Lgbt member speaking

Blaze@lemmy.cafe on 06 Nov 10:09 collapse

Interesting feedback, thanks!

zecg@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 08:24 next collapse

Its problem is not that it’s woke, but that it’s shit.

EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 17:32 collapse

Are you sure? I’ve seen generally favorable responses to the game from critics and players alike. Literally the only criticisms I’ve seen levied against the game so far are that it’s woke.

Stovetop@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 21:20 collapse

I’ve seen a few valid criticisms, which I get. It’s hard to make a choice-driven narrative in the post-BG3 market and not get held to a higher standard. “Written by committee” is one such descriptor I’ve heard.

For me, as a fan of Dragon Age: Origins, I also can’t say I prefer the dip into the actiony, grindy sort of combat mechanics the game appears to have now.

hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works on 05 Nov 10:03 next collapse

Veilguard is shit and woke. Let gaming journalist love it. Gaming journalism is a fucking joke.

TGhost@lemm.ee on 05 Nov 10:34 collapse

So for you, “woke” and “shit” are the same ? 🤔🙄🙄

hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works on 05 Nov 10:49 collapse

I had to stop and think of a time. Something was woke but wasn’t shit. I couldn’t think of something, so yes.

MarcomachtKuchen@feddit.org on 05 Nov 11:04 collapse

Could you share what qualifies as “woke” for you?

hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works on 05 Nov 11:38 collapse

A piece of media who pushes politics. The politics doesn’t belong in the media’s story and world. Like the creator(s) just added it in to push an message.

Before someone ask. Yes, Right wingers do this. But I mainly see the Left do this.

TGhost@lemm.ee on 05 Nov 12:06 next collapse

Lmao, you clearly don’t deserve your avatar.

All the sci fi is majority woke and leftist, before we named things as “woke”. Tell me u don’t understand things without telling me 😂😂

ZeroHora@lemmy.ml on 05 Nov 12:22 next collapse

He need to watch some star trek to see some “woke” or Dune, one of the most powerful organization in the galaxy is just women, so “woke”, not even gonna say of the plot been about colonization, too much leftist wokerism on this series.

TGhost@lemm.ee on 05 Nov 13:13 collapse

The day they will understand, they will got an hearth attack

hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works on 05 Nov 12:27 next collapse

Do you know the difference between a story who haves politics weaved into it, and a story who they just added to it without a care?

TGhost@lemm.ee on 05 Nov 13:12 next collapse

You lost my interest and I will not educate you 😂🙃

ZeroHora@lemmy.ml on 05 Nov 13:20 collapse

How that is fault of woke and not bad fucking writing?

If you add a bad character in the story without a care is fucking awful and what I gonna say may surprise you: their genitalia doesn’t fucking matter.

hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works on 05 Nov 13:54 collapse

How that is fault of woke and not bad fucking writing?

The reason why the writing sucks. The creator(s) don’t about the quality of the writing. Because all they want to do is push an message. All of that type of stories are woke. Like I been saying all this time.

ZeroHora@lemmy.ml on 05 Nov 14:14 collapse

No dude the writing sucks because the writer is underpaid, is sucks because someone want quick cash, is sucks because who make decisions doesn’t want quality he wants money.

Mad Max Fury Roads is a fucking woke movie but was been made for a long fucking time, the storyboard was made decades ago and when they finally film it they got all the time in the world for editing and even after numerous setbacks during production and the “woke” plot is one of the best action film ever made.

Stop eating right wing propaganda.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 05 Nov 23:32 collapse

You’d think, but there’s actually a pretty big subgenre for fascists in space.

TGhost@lemm.ee on 06 Nov 07:33 collapse

1vs1000, im really shocked.

All the sci fi is majority woke and leftist

MarcomachtKuchen@feddit.org on 05 Nov 12:31 next collapse

Would you consider military operations in a foreign country a political theme?

Also do you think it’s okay for artists include a message in their work, even if it feels “pushed” to you? Maybe it feels essential to the creator, but since you disagree with the message it feels pushed to you.

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 13:42 next collapse

Ever stop to wonder who decided that sexuality was “political”?

Sim City is a political game, because you’re the goddamn mayor.

Please explain to me how and why my genitals should have ANYTHING to do with politics.

acosmichippo@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 14:03 next collapse

The politics doesn’t belong in the media’s story and world. Like the creator(s) just added it in to push a message.

literally all of literature is created to push a message. who are you to say what “belongs” and what doesn’t? it’s their story.

Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com on 06 Nov 09:42 collapse

That’s a potentially interesting definition.

Dream Daddy, the daddy dating sim isn’t a woke game in this context because the conceit of it being an LGBT friendly town with a bunch of single gay dads makes it all make sense.

But a game set in 1300s Japan with a lesbian white protagonist would be woke because that seems incongruous?

Pachinkopete@lemmy.world on 05 Nov 18:45 collapse

Guarantee you the people complaining about woke don’t even know what the term means and probably never even played the series to begin with.