So I've had this post written-out in my mind for a while now, and I figured that I should post my thoughts on the "ban the game" discussion here.
As someone who's been following sites like GAF and ERA for almost a decade, I feel as if I know the general behavior of the members to know exactly what would happen should a ban on CDPR content happen.
I'm sorry to say this, but a ban on CDPR content will most likely do way more harm than it will good here. Before you respond to this post, I ask that you please hear me out on this.
A look at what Cyberpunk as a whole is should be had. That is to say, it's currently the most anticipated game of the generation. Not just on ERA, but across the entire gaming spectrum.
It having transphobic content is undeniable.
So why not ban it? Well, imagine the reaction for yourselves. Don't think about how you want people to react to such a ban, but think about how you know people will act.
While you'll have many of the LGBT community here praising the admins and mods for their bravery, that praise will undoubtedly be overtaken by the swarm of angry posters bashing the decision. The thread will have a massive wave of bans, with the overall message that people will take from the decision being a stigma of condemnation for anyone buying the game, despite what any message from the mods about it says.
If your first reaction to that is "Good, fuck those people.", think about what a reaction like that does for a moment. Bigoted gamers leaving the site is a good thing, yes. But with Cyberpunk being such a hotly anticipated title it cannot be assumed that everyone looking forward to the game has bigoted views. But with all the discussion related to the ban on CDPR content being completely overtaken by people screaming: "THE MODS SAID THAT EVERYONE WHO PLAYS CYBERPUNK IS A TRANSPHOBIC BIGOT!!!!1!", it won't be long before people simply leave the forum en masse to discuss the game elsewhere.
Of course it probably wouldn't be as big of an exodus as the GAF to ERA transition was, but it will certainly be a big loss of posters nonetheless. Said posters will move on to subreddits and Discord groups to talk about the game there. I think it goes without saying that subreddits and Discord groups dedicated to the game aren't exactly going to be as strictly moderated like ResetERA is, since said areas will be places most likely dedicated to the game completely.
What happens from there on is anybody's guess, but what's almost guaranteed is them not getting the kind of awareness of these issues there as they would here. If you want more awareness, you don't want the snowball effect of lots of people leaving the forum all at once.
Another thing that should be looked at is ResetERA's status as an online forum. How much influence does ResetERA have within the gaming community? Nowhere near as much as the old place used to have, I'd say. NeoGAF was mentioned at E3 before, it was name-dropped in Sunset Overdrive, and let's not forget that one time the "I'm an expert!" phrase was put into Persona 4's localization.
You can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that ResetERA has anything close to that kind of reach. Jim Sterling doesn't even post here, and he's one of the more vocal people about issues like these.
The point being, ResetERA is not a popular forum. Online forums in general have by and large been replaced by subreddits and Discord groups. ResetERA is pretty much the only one to my knowledge that hasn't been overtaken by bigots and right-wing trolls. If you want awareness to the issues regarding CDPR's transphobia, will an action that causes a not-insignificant part of ResetERA's userbase to leave the forum truly be the best course of action? Do you want people to learn and be vocal about the issues or do you just want them to move all discussion of the game elsewhere and not bother with it at all? Banning CDPR content from ResetERA won't outright kill the site, but it will definitely push the already rolling snowball of ResetERA's irrelevance further down the hill, making less and less people aware of these issues.
I can't see that being worth it. It may come off as a victory to you, but it will only be a short-term one, as it won't have much of an effect beyond maybe an article or two.
This is why I agree with the mods decision of locking the OT on its release date. This action alone will force people to at least turn their heads towards these issues. Banning it is just overkill. Banning Cyberpunk discussion is about as useful as setting up a blockade at a local McDonalds to stop people from eating meat. Like it or not, there are other McDonalds for people to go to and the most you'll accomplish with that are just a few screaming matches and being confrontational with strangers.
You may respond to that by saying that we SHOULD be confrontational, but the overall point that I'm trying to bring across here is that it just doesn't work.
Being confrontational with anybody, especially on the internet, never works. Even if the person being confronted is 100% wrong. Any time someone is angrily confronted by someone else online immediately triggers a defense mechanism within themselves that causes them to swell their egos up to say that they shouldn't be confronted, with all facts and logic being thrown out the window in the process.
If you do an action that is the equivalent of a confrontation to a mob of people excited to play a highly anticipated game, it won't lead to anything but frustration, personal attacks, harassment, and an overall lack of progress on this issue as a whole.
So what's the solution? Well, I don't have that answer. As I said, I agree with the decision the mods made for locking the OT on Cyberpunk 2077's release date. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. The only thing left for me to say here is well, I'm sorry for all the treatment you all must get here from others on a regular basis, and I hope on Cyberpunk's release day that this thread gets more attention.
