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Interesting how GOG is willing to take such a hard stand of this and fight Blizzard on it, when they immediately pulled the Taiwanese horror game Devotion for

by maeil 2y ago

Interesting how GOG is willing to take such a hard stand of this and fight Blizzard on it, when they immediately pulled the Taiwanese horror game Devotion for political reasons [1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/17/taiwanese-horror-game-pulled-from-sale-again-after-backlash-in-china https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/17/taiwanese-horr...

fwipsy 2y ago
I guess it's not a principled stand in favor of free speech. They just want to sell games. The CCP can block them in China; Blizzard can't.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  Maybe they don't feel that opinionated over free speech, which is easy when coming and living in a society where that's a given; however, they may feel much more opinionated about businesses fucking their customers over and doing the usual business shenanigans. In a way, this issue is GOG's whole shtick - selling games without DRM bullshit.
shakna 2y ago
Scale of difference between being threatened by China, and threatened by a company within America, though. There's nothing surprising about bowing to a government to keep their citizens as customers.
cocacola1 2y ago
> But shortly after release, Chinese players found a poster hanging in the apartment that serves as the games’ setting that said “Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron”. > Almost 10,000 negative reviews soon flooded the game’s review page. The developer, Red Candle Games, posted an apology saying it was “purely an accident” that the poster was left in the game. 10,000 negative reviews is wild for something so banal. I can't imagine defending a politician over what might be the mildest insult ever conceived.
- propoganda 2y ago
  That’s because politicians here have lost your respect to such a degree that it’s unfathomable that you’d have any loyalty to them. It’s understandable of course, but it’s not the case everywhere. Old Russian joke about insulting Reagan in front of the kremlin etc.
  - gambiting 2y ago
    >> that it’s unfathomable that you’d have any loyalty to them. It's unfathomable that anyone anywhere has "loyalty" to any politician. They are just doing a job - what do they need loyalty for? Especially from the electorate.
    - TeMPOraL 2y ago
      Look, it may be unfathomable to your alien mind from outer space, but it is what it is. Human beings tend to entangle their sense of self with causes and people they care about, whether it's a politician, a singer, a sportsball player, or a spouse. You need to accept that if you want to understand humans.
      - propoganda 2y ago
        Can only say it so many times, I suppose.
  - hackernewds 2y ago
    Great propaganda you have sold here, propaganda :)
  - wiseowise 2y ago
    Politician is just another administrative job. If you have “respect” to the point where you’re willing to destroy someone over mild insult you need to be isolated from democratic society. Obviously in this case it was most likely bot farm, but given 1,4 billion Chinese population I wouldn’t be surprised over a couple hundred million brainwashed to the point of frenzy.
izacus 2y ago
It's more interesting how y'all always find ways to tear into everyone that makes a stand - no true scotsman style while giving a pass to much worse actors. Companies like Activision, Ubisoft, EA and Microsoft can do outright horrible things and you'll be sitting by quitely, but god forbid someone like GoG shows up with an idea to fix something and you tear into them just because they didn't solve all the worlds political problems at once.
- Etherlord87 2y ago
  It's not about not solving a problem, it's about being a part of the problem. GOG took part in bullying a developer for political reasons. We don't want to live in the world where you can't criticize China or you will be cancelled. Of course Microsoft is guilty of removing the Tiananmen Square massacre result from Bing on an anniversary of that event. Did they ever explain why that happened? I think not.
  - BlueTemplar 2y ago
    Yes, what GoG did is bad. Unfortunately, very few (non-giant) developers still let you buy and download DRM-free games from their own websites, and so far, as far as I am aware of, GoG is still the least bad option for the others (there's also the likes of Matrix-Slitherine and itch.io, but they are much more niche).
graynk 2y ago
I like GOG, but I'm still pissed off about this one, yeah. BTW you can buy it from the developer's website, it's great. https://shop.redcandlegames.com/app/devotion https://shop.redcandlegames.com/app/devotion

by maeil 2y ago

fwipsy 2y ago

I guess it's not a principled stand in favor of free speech. They just want to sell games. The CCP can block them in China; Blizzard can't.

TeMPOraL 2y ago
Maybe they don't feel that opinionated over free speech, which is easy when coming and living in a society where that's a given; however, they may feel much more opinionated about businesses fucking their customers over and doing the usual business shenanigans. In a way, this issue is GOG's whole shtick - selling games without DRM bullshit.

shakna 2y ago

Scale of difference between being threatened by China, and threatened by a company within America, though. There's nothing surprising about bowing to a government to keep their citizens as customers.

cocacola1 2y ago

> But shortly after release, Chinese players found a poster hanging in the apartment that serves as the games’ setting that said “Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron”. > Almost 10,000 negative reviews soon flooded the game’s review page. The developer, Red Candle Games, posted an apology saying it was “purely an accident” that the poster was left in the game. 10,000 negative reviews is wild for something so banal. I can't imagine defending a politician over what might be the mildest insult ever conceived.

propoganda 2y ago
That’s because politicians here have lost your respect to such a degree that it’s unfathomable that you’d have any loyalty to them. It’s understandable of course, but it’s not the case everywhere. Old Russian joke about insulting Reagan in front of the kremlin etc.
- gambiting 2y ago
  >> that it’s unfathomable that you’d have any loyalty to them. It's unfathomable that anyone anywhere has "loyalty" to any politician. They are just doing a job - what do they need loyalty for? Especially from the electorate.
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    Look, it may be unfathomable to your alien mind from outer space, but it is what it is. Human beings tend to entangle their sense of self with causes and people they care about, whether it's a politician, a singer, a sportsball player, or a spouse. You need to accept that if you want to understand humans.
    - propoganda 2y ago
      Can only say it so many times, I suppose.
- hackernewds 2y ago
  Great propaganda you have sold here, propaganda :)
- wiseowise 2y ago
  Politician is just another administrative job. If you have “respect” to the point where you’re willing to destroy someone over mild insult you need to be isolated from democratic society. Obviously in this case it was most likely bot farm, but given 1,4 billion Chinese population I wouldn’t be surprised over a couple hundred million brainwashed to the point of frenzy.

izacus 2y ago

It's more interesting how y'all always find ways to tear into everyone that makes a stand - no true scotsman style while giving a pass to much worse actors. Companies like Activision, Ubisoft, EA and Microsoft can do outright horrible things and you'll be sitting by quitely, but god forbid someone like GoG shows up with an idea to fix something and you tear into them just because they didn't solve all the worlds political problems at once.

Etherlord87 2y ago
It's not about not solving a problem, it's about being a part of the problem. GOG took part in bullying a developer for political reasons. We don't want to live in the world where you can't criticize China or you will be cancelled. Of course Microsoft is guilty of removing the Tiananmen Square massacre result from Bing on an anniversary of that event. Did they ever explain why that happened? I think not.
- BlueTemplar 2y ago
  Yes, what GoG did is bad. Unfortunately, very few (non-giant) developers still let you buy and download DRM-free games from their own websites, and so far, as far as I am aware of, GoG is still the least bad option for the others (there's also the likes of Matrix-Slitherine and itch.io, but they are much more niche).

graynk 2y ago

I like GOG, but I'm still pissed off about this one, yeah. BTW you can buy it from the developer's website, it's great. https://shop.redcandlegames.com/app/devotion https://shop.redcandlegames.com/app/devotion