"I don't buy X game because person Y is in/involved in the game"

[Aztorian]

While spending some time on this forum I have been reading through numerous posts about actors, voice actors, directors or people involved in a studio or game doing shitty stuff. Or are accused of doing shitty stuff. A lot of response on these posts are people saying they won't support these practices by not buying that game, or a game where those people are involved.

Now, I get that. I really understand that if some actor does shitty stuff you strongly disagree with you wouldn't want to have anything to do with them, even in a videogame where you would normally escape reality for a brief moment.

My question however is, how far would you let this factor in your decision to not buy a game with their involvement anymore? We have had a lot of questionable situations in this industry involving a lot of people. If I would have to check on every game and every fuckup of X person I doubt there would be many games left to buy. Do you lookup a game before you buy to make sure some people weren't involved?

I am not trying to say to just handwave these things away because there are a lot of people involved and a lot of people did shady stuff, but I am genuinly curious about how you guys handle these situations in your everyday life of game consuming.

 

[L Thammy]

It's just another factor that affects my purchasing decisions. Maybe it'll be the deciding factor, maybe it won't, depends on the circumstances. No one's entitled to me buying their product, so I can decide based off whatever stupid reasons I want.

What I find to be more strange than that are the people who seem to be genuinely frustrated with other people making purchasing decisions for ethical reasons. I often get the sense that they feel like they're being compelled to do the same even if no one has actually asked them to or suggested that they should.

 

[Bastos]

I just play what I want to play. The only thing I lookup is if the game is good or not.

If I skipped games because of piece of shit people that worked on It, I wouldn't have played the amazing Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

 

[massoluk]

Uh, it obviously depends on the level of involvement of the individuals and the company's overall stance. I'm gonna have to reserve my right to absolutely arbitrary and inconsistent threshold with no quantifiable logics in my decision

 

[It’s Time To Go]

James Woods means no kingdom hearts for me.

 

[Radeo]

For me, it purely comes down to the content. I love Mission Impossible movies but absolutely despise Tom Cruise as a person for example.

I understand why people do factor it in, it's just not important for me in the buying process.

 

[Eumi]

If I want to buy a game I buy it. If I don't I don't.

If I want to buy a game despite an asshole working on it, I buy it. If an asshole working on a game makes me not want to buy it, I don't.

I don't owe anyone any kind of ruleset or consistency in my purchases, and the only reason I can ever think of anyone challenging me on it is in an attempt to hand wave away the issues I have.

This obsession with purity is ridiculous. It shouldn't matter who chooses to buy what.

Like, OP, actually put into perspective what you're talking about here. People choose not to play games because the cover is bland. Because they don't like the title. Because they don't even know what it is and don't want to go to the effort to find out.

The amount of games that a person buys is a minuscule amount of the total available for purchase. Any given person will have made the decision, consciously or not, to not purchase hundreds of games daily, for reasons immensely more trivial than the one this thread is focusing on. So ask yourself: why are you focusing on this specific reason for not purchasing a game. Why is this the reason that gets challenged? I got the feeling that if a lot of people actually did some self reflection there, they wouldn't like the answer they found.

 

[Concelhaut]

David Cage games for the toxic homophobic environment in his studio

 

[Catshade]

I'm not on the 100% boycott team, but I try to give them as little money as legally possible (deep discount, key sites, buying used, etc.)

 

[Richter1887]

I judge each game by it's own. If the person in question is ruining the game for me then I skip it.

If they are a small part of the game then I might have to think about it.

 

[CortexVortex]

If there are more than 10 people working on a project, chances are high you will always have at least someone you don't agree with in there. So yeah, I don't see the point in it, but each to their own. Games like Mordhau are a completely different story though and I fully understand why people are boycotting it.

 

[Deleted member 54216]

Where Sony is in.

 

[Bremsstrahlung]

It really depends on the severity of the stuff and our personal tolerance for it, I guess.

Personally I take things on a case-by-case basis.

 

[spineduke]

I am not trying to say to just handwave these things away because there are a lot of people involved and a lot of people did shady stuff, but I am genuinly curious about how you guys handle these situations in your everyday life of game consuming.

Click to shrink...

its very very easy.

there are thousands of games, you can be okay skipping some because of your principles.

 

[svacina]

its very very easy.

there are thousands of games, you can be okay skipping some because of your principles.

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Not within certain niches there aren't.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

I'll just buy it used so the person involved gets no profit from me.

 

[spineduke]

Not within certain niches there aren't.

Click to shrink...

i would feel worse giving money to the individual behind that niche game, knowing how its probably a smaller team, and they're more directly involved.

 

[Samanyolu]

Sounds petty, really.

 

[Theef]

No effect for me. I only consider the game itself when buying.

 

[Deleted member 54320]

I just play what I want to play. The only thing I lookup is if the game is good or not.

If I skipped games because of piece of shit people that worked on It, I wouldn't have played the amazing Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

Click to shrink...

Pretty much this.

 

[Valkerion]

I can understand people doing this but also, kinda can't. Games are made by hundreds of people, just because you can name one kinda shitty, or extremely shitty person doesn't mean they should represent the whole imo. At worst there are multiple ass-hats even on games without controversy.

I respect peoples decision to skip out on a game though if they think it makes a difference or they really are just that offended by a person being involved. I'm all for voting with your wallet in these situations. Personally have not had this happen yet, but if I had a game I was excited for have some dude, I dunno spouting the N word or something I'd hard out on it most likely.

At the same time I don't follow individual devs or dev teams enough to really know who many of these people are.

 

[Deleted member 203]

It really depends. As OP insinuates, there's a strong likelihood that just about every game by a major studio/publisher involves some unsavory people and/or business practices. I don't go out of my way to study up on them, because that's a good way to not want to consume anything anymore.

My rule of thumb is basically, would the knowledge about behind the scenes stuff significantly distract me from my enjoyment or make me feel uncomfortable about purchasing/playing it? If yes, I skip out on it.

But sometimes I don't, if I want to play a game badly enough, and in most cases, a LOT of good, talented people worked on a game, and I don't want to not play it because of something they had no control over.

It's usually the deciding factor if I'm on the fence though. A recent example: MK11. The involvement of Ronda Rhousey was the deciding factor in me not getting it, but it was compounded by stories about workplace culture at NRS studios, as well as crappy monetization / metagame stuff.

In the end, it's just one of the many factors to consider for me.

Sometimes it spills over into the game as well. Like, Mordhau only letting you make white dudes was bad enough BEFORE the devs put their collective foot in their mouth. Now there's zero chance of me ever playing it, basically.

Cyberpunk is another example where I'm really on the fence. CDPR has a bad track record with trans stuff, which, being trans, obviously weighs into my decision-making. A lot of the stuff I'm seeing from the game just makes me not have faith that these people are equipped to handle this genre in an interesting, considered way. But I'm still gonna wait and see.

This turned out longer than expected!

 

[Deleted member 5491]

Really easy:
Do I want to support shitheads? No, so I'll skip it.
And that applies to senior staff, higher ups and studios that treat their employees like crap. They don't deserve jack shit and if I really wanna play it, I'll buy it used

 

[spineduke]

Sounds petty, really.

Click to shrink...

whats pettier, the person who wants their videogame no matter, or the person who cares that the person behind said videogame is a known bigot?

 

[Kliemie]

Many just talk and dont walk the walk.
So dont take it serious when someone calls out a game ban because of person x or company y

 

[Nugnip]

If you boycott stuff because of shitty people and shitty work practices or labor issues, pretty soon you'd live in a cave dressed in palm tree leaves eating rocks. But you still have to factor in this stuff so finding a balance is hard. If shitty ideas find their way into the game, that's a problem. If say Borderlands 3 does have quests actually mocking people they've fucked over like it's rumored to have, that's a real problem. So each case is different.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

It's just another factor that affects my purchasing decisions. Maybe it'll be the deciding factor, maybe it won't, depends on the circumstances. No one's entitled to me buying their product, so I can decide based off whatever stupid reasons I want.

What I find to be more strange than that are the people who seem to be genuinely frustrated with other people making purchasing decisions for ethical reasons. I often get the sense that they feel like they're being compelled to do the same even if no one has actually asked them to or suggested that they should.

Click to shrink...

This was going to be my take.

 

[CrazyAndy]

You do you, but if a game looks interesting and I want to play it, I am going to buy it. Same for movies, music etc.

 

[Famassu]

I don't think anyone expects people to, like, go out of their way & look up credits to a Ubisoft game with 1500 people who have worked on it and check out that no one involved in the making of the game/product has ever done anything condemndable. Just maybe consider acting on information you DO have. It's up to you if you let a single sexual assaulter or racist VA affect your purchase.

Personally, I have too many things (games, movies/TV series, books, music, manga/comics) to buy so it's not all that painful for me to drop individual releases even for what others might feel are fairly light reasons, if I feel there is reason to. Not buying Dragon Quest XI because a relatively significant portion of my purchase would go to support a war crime denier & massive bigot who actively uses his money & influence to opress minorities & spread his hateful ideology is really nothing too significant away from my life when I can just spend that on thousands of other pieces of art/entertainment that I can enjoy which are made by people who aren't such massive shitgibbons (based on my current knowledge).

 

[spineduke]

What I find to be more strange than that are the people who seem to be genuinely frustrated with other people making purchasing decisions for ethical reasons. I often get the sense that they feel like they're being compelled to do the same even if no one has actually asked them to or suggested that they should.

Click to shrink...

because they feel that this implies they are bad people for not giving a shit

ive seen so many variations of this take, where people are just challenging others for taking a position. like who cares? its my business who i boycott

 

[Rover]

Most of these cases, if not all of them, involve more high profile and visible members of a production. It's not fair or reasonable to say that any random team member could possibly trip this objection. Nobody is combing through the credits that deeply.

But often times you don't have to look far, and the people in question have more influence on the product and its image than most; i.e. the director of the game, the writer, the music composer, a voice actor for a major character, etc. If there is some kind of problem with these people, it reflects badly on what they make, say, and do

 

[Aztorian]

I can understand people doing this but also, kinda can't. Games are made by hundreds of people, just because you can name one kinda shitty, or extremely shitty person doesn't mean they should represent the whole imo. At worst there are multiple ass-hats even on games without controversy.

I respect peoples decision to skip out on a game though if they think it makes a difference or they really are just that offended by a person being involved. I'm all for voting with your wallet in these situations. Personally have not had this happen yet, but if I had a game I was excited for have some dude, I dunno spouting the N word or something I'd hard out on it most likely.

At the same time I don't follow individual devs or dev teams enough to really know who many of these people are.

Click to shrink...

That's true. I am just trying to understand why some people really are skipping these games because of this. You might skip the best game you've ever played because some shitty person was in it. Is it really that personal and are they willing to take that risk of missing out because they strongly disagree?

I get hyped about certain games pretty easily so I would find it really hard to just ignore a game because of shitty people working on it.

 

[spineduke]

You might skip the best game you've ever played because some shitty person was in it. Is it really that personal and are they willing to take that risk of missing out because they strongly disagree?

Click to shrink...

its a game at the end of the day, and i care more about my sense of self and my principles than about what games im potentially missing out on.

 

[Deleted member 1849]

If it is someone leading the project, or some other position high enough that they can use the games success as a platform, then that absolutely matters to me. A single voice actor? Not so much.

For example, Daniel Vavra is a scumbag and I refuse to ever buy Kingdom Come Deliverance because of it.

 

[Eggiem]

If there is someone blatantly racist involved who did his very best to avoid implementing black people in the game he worked on (like with Kingdom Come), I will definitely not play the garbage.

 

[Hours Left]

It's a case by case basis for me. Depends on the person and what their role in the game is.

 

[svacina]

That's true. I am just trying to understand why some people really are skipping these games because of this. You might skip the best game you've ever played because some shitty person was in it. Is it really that personal and are they willing to take that risk of missing out because they strongly disagree?

I get hyped about certain games pretty easily so I would find it really hard to just ignore a game because of shitty people working on it.

Click to shrink...

People buy or ignore games for various reasons, so why not because of principles?
You probably wouldn't do it, me neither, but it's pretty valid and no skin off my back. They care, I don't, big deal.
Unless you are actually secretly feeling bad about it.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I get hyped about certain games pretty easily so I would find it really hard to just ignore a game because of shitty people working on it.

Click to shrink...

So do I, but that hype is ephemeral. Games aren't so important that I absolutely need any one of them.

It's possible to ignore stuff that you don't have to go out of your way to experience, let alone stuff you'd have to buy/play.

 

[Bremsstrahlung]

Also, "but you're punishing other people who worked on the game" is a weak defense. Like they're entitled to your money in the first place.

because they feel that this implies they are bad people for not giving a shit

ive seen so many variations of this take, where people are just challenging others for taking a position. like who cares? its my business who i boycott

Click to shrink...

There's an Innuendo Studios video about this very thing, iirc.

 

[Eumi]

That's true. I am just trying to understand why some people really are skipping these games because of this. You might skip the best game you've ever played because some shitty person was in it. Is it really that personal and are they willing to take that risk of missing out because they strongly disagree?

I get hyped about certain games pretty easily so I would find it really hard to just ignore a game because of shitty people working on it.

Click to shrink...

Do you purchase every single game that releases just in case it's the best game you'll ever play?

If not, why not?

 

[Bishop89]

I don't let external factors dictate what I do / watch / play, so doesn't affect me if there is 1 rotten apple.

 

[derFeef]

I won't buy anything from THQN again so yes, it is a factor for me if someething like ths comes to light. Or the Kingdom Come situation, fuck that guy. It's a game coming from a Nazi's mind so yeah.. no thanks.

 

[OrdinaryPrime]

If you know there's a game like Mordhau out there that is embracing certain people who are hateful, bigoted, etc, it's not hard to move on.

I think it's interesting there are people in this thread that genuinely don't want to know if someone is shitty. As if being ignorant is preferable.

Theres no science behind it, most of the time I just play a game because most of the time there isn't this information available.

That's true. I am just trying to understand why some people really are skipping these games because of this. You might skip the best game you've ever played because some shitty person was in it. Is it really that personal and are they willing to take that risk of missing out because they strongly disagree?

I get hyped about certain games pretty easily so I would find it really hard to just ignore a game because of shitty people working on it.

Click to shrink...

Who cares? If someone told me a particular THQN game was the best ever, not only would I be doubtful, but I genuinely wouldn't care. The fact that some people don't care about shit like child pornography and try to dissemble like you're doing is discouraging. These are video games. Put it into perspective.

 

[reminiscingLemon]

X: Borderlands 3
Y: Randy Pitchford

 

[Aztorian]

Cyberpunk is another example where I'm really on the fence. CDPR has a bad track record with trans stuff, which, being trans, obviously weighs into my decision-making. A lot of the stuff I'm seeing from the game just makes me not have faith that these people are equipped to handle this genre in an interesting, considered way. But I'm still gonna wait and see.

Click to shrink...

What do you think about the response from CDPR about the trans woman in the ad of NVIDIA RTX? Despite the history of the studio, I found the response to be a good one if they really involve these 'mix-it-up' kind of behaviour in their storytelling for Cyberpunk. Atleast it seems like something that could happen in the future so displaying the 'reality' of this in marketing strategies for some soda seems about right for that universe.

Do you purchase every single game that releases just in case it's the best game you'll ever play?

If not, why not?

Click to shrink...

I don't believe every game coming out could be the best game I ever played. There are only a few that trigger this thought based on what I've seen so far. I do buy a lot of games because I think I might like them though. If I don't think I'd like them I won't buy them. My decision will be based on things I have heard, seen or played before my purchase.

 

[L Thammy]

I also feel it's worth noting that just about every game we purchase is a decision made only on the information available. Occasionally I've bought a game shortly after release and it ended up not being what I expected, because pre-release information didn't provide a full picture. I don't think it was a bad decision - it was the best one I could make with the information available, which is the only kind of decision we can make.

Now, if I have reason to know that I'll dislike a game and buy it anyway - say, purchasing things that Ubisoft is involved with despite personally finding just about everything they touch to be bland as a rule - than that's a bad decision.

 

[Kaim Argonar]

I'm completely okay with everyone that chooses to not buy anything from a company because of certain individuals or company policy. It's nice to see people standing by their principles.

That said, I don't do it myself because I honestly don't care and I just want to play what I want to play.

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

Oh I'm sure most of the "I will NEVER buy a game from them" people here are first in line at the store.
The phone you're posting from, the clothes you're wearing, the food you're eating, the house you live in, EVERYTHING you use will have some dark stories behind them, and went through many assholes in the chain.

I'll do what I can, but I won't go out of my way to boycott this or that.

Besides, I find the high moral ground attitude very childish. The "we demand a remake of game of thrones final season right now online petition" kind of childish.

 

[SixelAlexiS]

Doesn't affect me, I play what I like, otherwise I shouldn't use or see or play anything in my life to be coherent.

 

[svacina]

Oh I'm sure most of the "I will NEVER buy a game from them" people here are first in line at the store.
The phone you're posting from, the clothes you're wearing, the food you're eating, the house you live in, EVERYTHING you use will have some dark stories behind them, and went through many assholes in the chain.

I'll do what I can, but I won't go out of my way to boycott this or that.

Besides, I find the high moral ground attitude very childish. The "we demand a remake of game of thrones final season right now online petition" kind of childish.

Click to shrink...

Fuck, I left my bingo card at home.