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> it's not just nerdy white males who play video games nowadays Not to defend them or anything but the irony is that your indignant reaction illustrates precis

> it's not just nerdy white males who play video games nowadays Not to defend them or anything but the irony is that your indignant reaction illustrates precisely why your viewpoint is so unwelcome to gamers. Having observed the games industry over many years, the gaming public really does want their comic book-like power fantasies and unrealistic heroes and heroines. The rather unsubtle ways that developers tend to shoehorn diversity into games or self-censor in the name of diversity[0], often at the behest of people like you, damages their immersion in the game regardless of whether they are morally right to feel that way or not. And then people come along and lambaste them for feeling that way, as above. That's not going to win any friends. One cannot cram broccoli into a filet mignon and persuade people that it's just as good nor can one attempt to dictate what people should think by slipping a message into their entertainment, from their viewpoint, and not expect ferocious backlash. [0] To avoid being pilloried, I will say this very explicitly: the point is not that diversity is bad. (Perish the thought.) The point is that its representation in media is often done very badly.

che_shirecat 9y ago
That's some hardcore mental gymnastics. > gaming public really does want their unrealistic heroes and heroines > diversity damages immersion So which is it? You don't like shoehorned diversity because it's unrealistic, but you're fine with unrealistic heroes? When have "gamers" ever raised a fuss about the immersiveness of white characters in exotic countries? And of course, games are "fictional settings in a fictional story" whenever it suits the narrative, but somehow a black assassin in the new Dishonored "damages immersion in the game." It's just interesting to see the obvious bias when the same people who comment "who cares," "it's just a fantasy story," when tilda swinton plays the Ancient One or emma stone plays Hawaiian-Chinese character but turn around and cry "muh immersion" whenever any character in a video game coincidentally isn't white. Diversity isn't some morality piece that you shove in a game to fit some "SJW agenda" (and please, 99% of video games made are not filet mignons by any stretch of the imagination), it's a reflection of a multicultural reality that has been warped for decades - the kneejerk reaction that some "gamers" have to any counterbalancing is honestly just thinly veiled racism.

che_shirecat 9y ago

That's some hardcore mental gymnastics. > gaming public really does want their unrealistic heroes and heroines > diversity damages immersion So which is it? You don't like shoehorned diversity because it's unrealistic, but you're fine with unrealistic heroes? When have "gamers" ever raised a fuss about the immersiveness of white characters in exotic countries? And of course, games are "fictional settings in a fictional story" whenever it suits the narrative, but somehow a black assassin in the new Dishonored "damages immersion in the game." It's just interesting to see the obvious bias when the same people who comment "who cares," "it's just a fantasy story," when tilda swinton plays the Ancient One or emma stone plays Hawaiian-Chinese character but turn around and cry "muh immersion" whenever any character in a video game coincidentally isn't white. Diversity isn't some morality piece that you shove in a game to fit some "SJW agenda" (and please, 99% of video games made are not filet mignons by any stretch of the imagination), it's a reflection of a multicultural reality that has been warped for decades - the kneejerk reaction that some "gamers" have to any counterbalancing is honestly just thinly veiled racism.