For several years now, I've had the sinking belief that the broad "gamer" culture is increasingly toxic, not just in terms of message board or twitter arguments or movements like Gamergate, but in the way that many of the biggest companies in the business, particularly those such as Sony, EA and Microsoft engage with and foster that culture. Earlier today, Sony wrapped up its Paris Games Week presentation, a stream being watched by thousands of people with an interest in games around the world. Jim Ryan proclaimed how there had never been a better time for gamers, and then showed us a brand new trailer from one of Sony's most anticipated games, The Last of Us Part II. For all of the people watching the presentation, without warning, we were greeted with what can only be described as torture porn. Numerous gruesome acts were committed against women; a couple of things even being so unsettling that I had to turn away from my computer for a second.
Now, before people jump on my case, I want to state that I'm not passing any sort of preemptive judgement on what The Last of Us Part II will be. It's entirely possible t hat within the game this will all be handled delicately, used to create a very real point about violence in our culture, and that the story will justify these moments being in the game. That's not what this thread is about. Even if the game justifies all of these moments, they'll be coming in context within the game. I'm also sure that there will be a few reviewers who give people a heads up before the game comes out about possible trigger warnings for people who have been in situations similar to those depicted in the game, or who are particularly sensitive to such matters. But what we saw earlier today was a trailer being shown to thousands of people without warning of any sort of content. This is how Sony chose to sell this game. As people in the audience "ooh"ed and cheered as we saw some really horrifying stuff, I found myself wondering if this is what the audience of games is today.
Tough stories, and games that hit on challenging subject matters should absolutely exist, but I also think that it does the medium no favors to sell a game with a trailer like that. When movies hit on similar subject matter, they don't usually put out trailers showing 2-3 minutes of raw torture porn, particularly in the previews before a PG-13 movie or at a trade show or convention (that's the best equivalent I can come up with for what Sony's event would be). Instead, trailers usually are more suggestive than revealing, letting people know about the tone and content of the movie without subjecting people to a relentless display of violence and gore when they were just expecting to see a short trailer.
I don't think the way that The Last of Us Part II was shown off today does the game any favors, nor does it really do the medium any favors if we're interested in making video games a more welcoming environment where everyone can feel safe and welcome. To reiterate, the game should absolutely be allowed to exist in its current form, but I don't think that within the current social climate, this is the right way to sell the game. A trailer like this would work better being put out online with a very strong content warning beforehand, perhaps also accompanied by an interview discussing the need to dispaly such content in the game, how it is serving the themes of the story, and an assurance that the development team are aware of how it could make people feel and how they're committed to be sensitive in their handling of it.
Instead, it was presented for everyone to see as an obvious example of why this is the best time ever to be a "gamer", with the implication being that this is the sort of game that any real "gamer" would love to play. I think that this is a bit of a troubling notion, and I hope that this is something that we can start to push back against over the next few years. We've made some strides in recent years to try to become more welcoming, but there's still a lot of work left to be done, especially by some of the biggest names in the medium.
Now, before people jump on my case, I want to state that I'm not passing any sort of preemptive judgement on what The Last of Us Part II will be. It's entirely possible t hat within the game this will all be handled delicately, used to create a very real point about violence in our culture, and that the story will justify these moments being in the game. That's not what this thread is about. Even if the game justifies all of these moments, they'll be coming in context within the game. I'm also sure that there will be a few reviewers who give people a heads up before the game comes out about possible trigger warnings for people who have been in situations similar to those depicted in the game, or who are particularly sensitive to such matters. But what we saw earlier today was a trailer being shown to thousands of people without warning of any sort of content. This is how Sony chose to sell this game. As people in the audience "ooh"ed and cheered as we saw some really horrifying stuff, I found myself wondering if this is what the audience of games is today.
Tough stories, and games that hit on challenging subject matters should absolutely exist, but I also think that it does the medium no favors to sell a game with a trailer like that. When movies hit on similar subject matter, they don't usually put out trailers showing 2-3 minutes of raw torture porn, particularly in the previews before a PG-13 movie or at a trade show or convention (that's the best equivalent I can come up with for what Sony's event would be). Instead, trailers usually are more suggestive than revealing, letting people know about the tone and content of the movie without subjecting people to a relentless display of violence and gore when they were just expecting to see a short trailer.
I don't think the way that The Last of Us Part II was shown off today does the game any favors, nor does it really do the medium any favors if we're interested in making video games a more welcoming environment where everyone can feel safe and welcome. To reiterate, the game should absolutely be allowed to exist in its current form, but I don't think that within the current social climate, this is the right way to sell the game. A trailer like this would work better being put out online with a very strong content warning beforehand, perhaps also accompanied by an interview discussing the need to dispaly such content in the game, how it is serving the themes of the story, and an assurance that the development team are aware of how it could make people feel and how they're committed to be sensitive in their handling of it.
Instead, it was presented for everyone to see as an obvious example of why this is the best time ever to be a "gamer", with the implication being that this is the sort of game that any real "gamer" would love to play. I think that this is a bit of a troubling notion, and I hope that this is something that we can start to push back against over the next few years. We've made some strides in recent years to try to become more welcoming, but there's still a lot of work left to be done, especially by some of the biggest names in the medium.
