• Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Oct 25, 2017
4,798
I am not sure we have reason to insinuate they have even a slither of decency or common sense at this point.

We don't, unfortunately. But hidden content doesn't roll as well with consoles, and if they want to push this thing out on Xbox and PS4, I just don't see them being able to publish it with a well-documented slur. Maybe they won't be loud about removing it, but I think they will.

I really wish the original thread had remained open about the subject, and we had encouraged journalists to cover the story *after* the initial apology. It might have made a difference, and kept 3DR / VP on the hook.
 

Tony72495

Member
Apr 26, 2019
112
I feel like there's more and more of these controversies now adays, I can't even keep up with them anymore. I already bought the game, I'll just play it and ignore the controversy I guess.
 

Pankratous

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,238
Yep. There aren't that many progressive gamers unfortunately.

I don't think this is true.

The internet just breeds toxicity and gives arseholes a voice. It's the only place they can convene. Every gamer I know is a reasonable and well adjusted person, across all age ranges. None of them participate in online discussions or forums at all.
 

Deleted member 42

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 24, 2017
16,939
Isn't terminx the dev that kicked off all the Discord stuff to begin with? Why is he still doing PR lol
 

JAGMASK

Member
Jan 3, 2018
422
Homophobic shitty Gamers are gonna be so insufferable after this "win" for them. I'm not going anywhere near steam discussions or youtube videos relating to this.
 
Oct 25, 2017
13,246
Yep. There aren't that many progressive gamers unfortunately.

Yep, and plenty of people, who care little about these issues, always dismiss any form of concern by spouting something to the effect of "only Era cares about this, no one else is talking about it."

They don't realize how damning that sounds for gaming as a whole.

I've known folks that get upset at being reminded of the THQ debacle just because it might dilute their engagement of a product. It's sad, it's pathetic and it's unfortunately the gaming audience.
 

Mothballs

Banned
Aug 17, 2019
91
This isn't censorship, but whatever you need to call it to make you seem like victims, Voidpoint. Let's forget the rampant transphobia on your Discord while we're at it, too!

Of course it's censorship. It's a textbook case of censorship. Whether or not the censorship was justified is up to the individual. What walking back on the censorship does is show where the majority lies on this issue. In the end I would imagine they will be thinking twice about what content is in their games going forward, I can't imagine being one of the devs who put a lot of effort into this game to have it all thrown away over some crappy "jokes" thrown in. Is it all worth it in the end?
 
Donation to The Trevor Project still to happen

Vivian-Pogo

Member
Jan 9, 2018
2,033
Well at least they're not walking back the donation.



"We are absolutely still donating. "

"We've actually had some people pissed off about that. How do you get mad at someone donating to a suicide prevention hotline? It's a great cause. "
 
Mar 29, 2018
7,078
They're framing it here as the creative contept "gaming's most controversial facial wash" when in reality it was low-effort gotchas inserted by transphobes and homophobes on their team

People dont want to censor the game, they want to censor the transphobes
 

Arkanim94

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,108
Well at least they're not walking back the donation.



"We are absolutely still donating. "

"We've actually had some people pissed off about that. How do you get mad at someone donating to a suicide prevention hotline? It's a great cause. "

The second tweet should have made them realise what audience they are courting.

Bunch of idiots.
 

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,041
Of course it's censorship. It's a textbook case of censorship. Whether or not the censorship was justified is up to the individual. What walking back on the censorship does is show where the majority lies on this issue. In the end I would imagine they will be thinking twice about what content is in their games going forward, I can't imagine being one of the devs who put a lot of effort into this game to have it all thrown away over some crappy "jokes" thrown in. Is it all worth it in the end?

It's really not. They're obviously not censored. They're selling their homophobic game as we speak without any legal repercussions.
 

Narpas Sword0

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,087
So are they leaving in the slur text in the hidden area too?

It's pathetic that this is not addressed in their new statement, and very telling.

I'd love to see how their sensitivity training covers "jokes" like the one they are choosing to preserve.

As I said in the last thread, I'd love to hear what proof we are getting that the $10k donation was ever actually submitted.
 
Nov 13, 2017
459
I mean, the donation is still going ahead, so Trevor Project won out on it. Shame the whole situation is a mess.

Honestly the homophobic joke were a bit tasteless, but that didn't bother me as much as the reaction to the criticism from the devs. I think if the devs reacted respectfully while sticking to their guns, this situation wouldn't have got this much out of hand.

But they pretty much did proudly show off just to 'stick it to the SJWs' and now ended up pissing both sides.
 

Zipzoom

Member
May 27, 2019
399
It's pathetic that this is not addressed in their new statement, and very telling.

I'd love to see how their sensitivity training covers "jokes" like the one they are choosing to preserve.

As I said in the last thread, I'd love to hear what proof we are getting that the $10k donation was ever actually submitted.
Is it possible to ask The Trevor Project directly?
 

BAW

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,938
They're framing it here as the creative contept "gaming's most controversial facial wash" when in reality it was low-effort gotchas inserted by transphobes and homophobes on their team

People dont want to censor the game, they want to censor the transphobes
Good, then you should be very happy that they are still doing the donation while keeping the crass and juvenile humor that me and so many others were specifically looking for in a game like this.

God, this simple truth is too difficult to grasp sometimes it seems.
 

Pop-O-Matic

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
12,861
Well at least they're not walking back the donation.



"We are absolutely still donating. "

"We've actually had some people pissed off about that. How do you get mad at someone donating to a suicide prevention hotline? It's a great cause. "

*Cue another week of alt-right review bombing that ends with them rescinding the donation*
Era and the people who were initially upset by this are by far the minority. They've chosen to back to majority, the ones with the money.
This is bullshit defeatist thinking. The reality is that the chuds who are legitimately offended that a game is removing bigoted shit are themselves a minority, if not smaller than even us. They are just way, WAY better at organizing their members, spreading their message and vocalizing their grievances. We could easily cause just as much, if not more damage than the alt-right trolls if we properly organized a review bombing campaign like the one they perpetrated.
 

Narpas Sword0

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,087
I feel like there's more and more of these controversies now adays, I can't even keep up with them anymore. I already bought the game, I'll just play it and ignore the controversy I guess.

Wow, sounds realy hard for you to keep up with the rise in hate speech and violence against marginalized groups. Imagine how much worse it is to actually be a part of those groups.
 

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,041
Good, then you should be very happy that they are still doing the donation while keeping the crass and juvenile humor that me and so many others were specifically looking for in a game like this.

God, this simple truth is too difficult to grasp sometimes it seems.

You really liked the ogay bottle that much, huh?
 

rras1994

Member
Nov 4, 2017
5,742
I don't think this is true.

The internet just breeds toxicity and gives arseholes a voice. It's the only place they can convene. Every gamer I know is a reasonable and well adjusted person, across all age ranges. None of them participate in online discussions or forums at all.
Only something like 20% of a games community will read news and forums/social media about it, and only 5% will actually post about it. They have a disproportionate voice of actual consumers but these are the ones that news and social media and thus alot of devs will cater to.
 
Nov 13, 2017
459
*Cue another week of alt-right review bombing that ends with them rescinding the donation*

This is bullshit defeatist thinking. The reality is that the chuds who are legitimately offended that a game is removing bigoted shit are themselves a minority, if not smaller than even us. They are just way, WAY better at organizing their members, spreading their message and vocalizing their grievances. We could easily cause just as much, if not more damage than the alt-right trolls if we properly organized a review bombing campaign like the one they perpetrated.

Uh, I think you're underestimating their size tbh.
 

Deleted member 5596

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,747
Good, then you should be very happy that they are still doing the donation while keeping the crass and juvenile humor that me and so many others were specifically looking for in a game like this.

God, this simple truth is too difficult to grasp sometimes it seems.

Yes, the game really needed the homophobic joke and secret room to keep intact it's humor. It was totally integral to the experience.
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,798
This is bullshit defeatist thinking. The reality is that the chuds who are legitimately offended that a game is removing bigoted shit are themselves a minority, if not smaller than even us. They are just way, WAY better at organizing their members, spreading their message and vocalizing their grievances. We could easily cause just as much, if not more damage than the alt-right trolls if we properly organized a review bombing campaign like the one they perpetrated.

Sometimes it's not about causing damage and a ruckus, but instead just supporting devs when they do the right thing. This forums response to 3DR / VP doing the right thing was closing the thread. It wasn't the right call, didn't support anybody against a massive influx of trolls on their forums, discord, etc. Nobody reported on the harassment going on there. So what do you expect to happen when a small company is at the end of their rope, losing sales, and getting no support from industry?
 
Mar 29, 2018
7,078
Good, then you should be very happy that they are still doing the donation while keeping the crass and juvenile humor that me and so many others were specifically looking for in a game like this.

God, this simple truth is too difficult to grasp sometimes it seems.
What? I agree with you. I want this bullshit to be removed from the game. What I'm saying is that removing it from the game isn't simple "censorship", i.e. deeming something un-PC or inappropriate - it's silencing transphobic culture that the devs purport, which is a good thing.
 

Arkanim94

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,108
Sometimes it's not about causing damage and a ruckus, but instead just supporting devs when they do the right thing. This forums response to 3DR / VP doing the right thing was closing the thread. It wasn't the right call, didn't support anybody against a massive influx of trolls on their forums, discord, etc. Nobody reported on the harassment going on there. So what do you expect to happen when a small company is at the end of their rope, losing sales, and getting no support from industry?
This is indeed... A take at least.
 

Tony72495

Member
Apr 26, 2019
112
Wow, sounds realy hard for you to keep up with the rise in hate speech and violence against marginalized groups. Imagine how much worse it is to actually be a part of those groups.

Is this a case of hate speech and violence against marginalized groups? Are they shitty things to say? Sure, but it's like 12-year-old edgelord humor. I'm sure there are many things put in games over the last 3 or 4 decades that today would be considered problematic, but I'm not going to avoid every single game ever that has something in it that could offend someone, there'd be like 10 games to play.
 

fiskyfisko

Member
Mar 23, 2018
182
After such reviewbombing I'm not even suprised they did a 360. You gotta accept that that's the fanbase you have.
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,798
This is indeed... A take at least.

It's not an unreasonable take. I kept track of this incident long after the initial thread was closed; most people were happy, content, and figured everything would blow over. It didn't -- over the next couple days their forums got hit *hard* with alt-right trolls. Like, hundreds of them. Their devs were getting doxxed. Their discord was flooded.

I mean, it was bad. It was a targeted harassment of their company, and it was all triggered by 3DR and VP doing the right thing. And they got nothing but shit for it, honestly. Nobody reported on the harassment, and the instigating thread we had here calling them out for the issue closed unceremoniously.

And I'm saying that's bad. In the future, we should be more active when a dev / publisher does the right thing, even if it's for the wrong reason.
 
OP
OP
Biestmann

Biestmann

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,411
Sometimes it's not about causing damage and a ruckus, but instead just supporting devs when they do the right thing. This forums response to 3DR / VP doing the right thing was closing the thread. It wasn't the right call, didn't support anybody against a massive influx of trolls on their forums, discord, etc. Nobody reported on the harassment going on there. So what do you expect to happen when a small company is at the end of their rope, losing sales, and getting no support from industry?

The thread continued for a good while and reported on all of that as well. In the end, it was closed when it became evident alt-righters will continue to do as they please and the thread became an outlet for amusement over something not really any funny to begin with.
 

Deleted member 5596

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,747
I take it you must not have played many Build Engine games
Bad humor is, like, 80% of the experience

I played build engine games... That were made in the 90s. Just because Eddie Murphy could make homophobic jokes in the 80s doesn't mean he can in 2019.

In any case, is just a sprite and a secret room. What makes these 2 things, that are homophobic, totally indispensable for the game that can't be removed? The rest of the crass humor would be there, so what would be lost if these 2 things were removed?
 

Gotdatmoney

Member
Oct 28, 2017
14,487
Isn't that a bit limited of a definition?

Make no mistake, the way censorship gets thrown around in gaming circles is absurd, but I don't believe censorship is strictly limited to government mandate.

Even "if" I broadened the definition, it makes 0 difference to the topic at hand. Consumers saying your product contains garbage and I wont buy it if you dont change it isn't censorship. That's the free market at work. A publisher forcing change on a developers game in response to criticism is not censorship. That's business.
 

Spamlynguist

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,271
4a4.gif
 

Tony72495

Member
Apr 26, 2019
112
Even "if" I broadened the definition, it makes 0 difference to the topic at hand. Consumers saying your product contains garbage and I wont buy it if you dont change it isn't censorship. That's the free market at work. A publisher forcing change on a developers game in response to criticism is not censorship. That's business.

It's still, by definition, censorship.

"The suppression or prohibition of of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security."
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,798
The thread continued for a good while and reported on all of that as well. In the end, it was closed when it became evident alt-righters will continue to do as they please and the thread became an outlet for amusement over something not really any funny to begin with.

I do recall there were people tracking some of those events, but, on this forum 'off site drama' is not approved, and a lot of what we were reporting kind of fell into that category. I think it was the responsibility of the industry at large, and press, to follow the story further, and they didn't. I personally feel the thread closed a bit too quickly considering the notable behavior and response to their apology. And I think, ultimately, that played a large role in this reversal.
 

Arkanim94

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,108
It's not an unreasonable take. I kept track of this incident long after the initial thread was closed; most people were happy, content, and figured everything would blow over. It didn't -- over the next couple days their forums got hit *hard* with alt-right trolls. Like, hundreds of them. Their devs were getting doxxed. Their discord was flooded.

I mean, it was bad. It was a targeted harassment of their company, and it was all triggered by 3DR and VP doing the right thing. And they got nothing but shit for it, honestly. Nobody reported on the harassment, and the instigating thread we had here calling them out for the issue closed unceremoniously.

And I'm saying that's bad. In the future, we should be more active when a dev / publisher does the right thing, even if it's for the wrong reason.
So era must be the police for off forum things?
Yeah sorry not gonna happen lol.
 

Deleted member 203

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,899
This is what I posted in the other thread, just reposting here:

I said this before, but I don't think many people really cared about that sprite. It was Voidpoint using their platform to spread hateful and transphobic messages (and what they discussed is a bad faith argument made to harm trans folk, it is hateful). Removing the leftover slur from the game, and everything else I think is the right thing to do. That sprite was just a lame joke to me that didn't land at best, and at worst was just indicative of larger issues at the studio with everything else going on.

So long as they are sincere with the rest of their previous statement, then I think it's ultimately fine, if not ideal. Though it's a shame they're acknowledging what is ultimately a concern troll on censorship by this type of crowd.
It's not really "fine". They acknowledged they fucked up, and now they're walking that back and calling removing hate speech from the game censorship? They learned nothing.
Good, then you should be very happy that they are still doing the donation while keeping the crass and juvenile humor that me and so many others were specifically looking for in a game like this.

God, this simple truth is too difficult to grasp sometimes it seems.
You were specifically looking for homophobic jokes? Okay then.