It is an ad selling a product that is as far away from transphobic a corporation can get.
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Polygon: CDPR responds to sexualized trans advertisement in CyberPunk 2077 (Read Staff Post Before Posting)
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They never actually made a statement or gave an apology for those tweets?
And I actually don't know a whole lot about Hellblade - but that's good to hear.
But the satus quo framed in Cyberpunk isn't our real world perceived status quo of the respective sexualities. That's the point she was trying to make. Sexuality in general seems to be used to an obscene and absurd degree, not just LGBTQ sexuality. And my first post disagreed with your notion that that's not the case.
Updated my comment, but my statement still stands about using it outside the context of the story.
Again, I doubt anybody involved even realized the ad was a part of the promo image. Which means they probably didn't give much thought to how to would be read removed from context.
Very much this.
OP, you say don't say it seems fine now that it's in context, but that context was well explained and showed artistic vision/thought behind it.
I thought that was a pretty fair comeback from CDPR.
I never understood the ad myself so I wasn't able to get upset over it, but that was a more reasonable and thoughtful response then I was expecting.
I don't know how people can say that Cyberpunk 2077 has no messages or that they are not making a statement about particular themes, i mean
Cyberpunk 2077 quest designer says it's 'inherently political'
Also discusses why they've made their new RPG first-person.
User banned (1 day): Drive-by trolling.
Gotta love folks jumping to conclusion in the beginning without input from the creators.
So, I'm not confident about CDPR ability to handle this subject properly, but the art director response is decent, obviously to see if they do justice to the subject we will have to wait for the game come out and see the larger in universe context, so far material shown from the game has demonstrated issues and CDPR recent PR has been terrible particularly with the issue at hand here.
I wouldn't hope for them to overall deal with the subject well, though, time will tell...
I wouldn't hope for them to overall deal with the subject well, though, time will tell...
It does, actually, the explanation being that they're portraying this kind of thing in order to criticize / explore it.
Better response than I expected. They need more of this though. Not less. If your game has something to say and you're making it because you think it's interesting then shout that shit from the rooftops rather than waiting for people to question you about it.
I fully expected them to come back with some edgelord response about how audiences can't handle the world they're envisioning, so this was at least a step in the right direction for their ongoing PR shitshow.
I fully expected them to come back with some edgelord response about how audiences can't handle the world they're envisioning, so this was at least a step in the right direction for their ongoing PR shitshow.
I'm open to waiting to see if the rest of the game lives up to her statement, but it's certainly a better response than I feared might be coming on the subject.
In the context it was perfectly understandable. Way to dismiss peoples concerns
100% this. People are talking about context as though we've seen the context of it within the game world because none of it's been apparent through what they've shown. Also I'm not too keen on them using the obsession over aesthetic beauty of mixing anatomy as a theme when that doesn't speak for the majority trans women/men who just want to be seen as their gender. It just comes across as them using a trans woman (a persecuted minority that's fetishised especially by gamerbro/anime nerds) for a theme similar to the aristocrats from "The Culture" series who'd modify themselves with extra limbs and external organs to achieve perfect beauty. They really need to show the difference between this and well rounded trans characters in the game to get me on board along with gender fluid options in the character creator.
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I think people can reasonably disagree on Kasia's stance or rationale behind the imagery, but I will say this much: I'm at least happy that CDPR has someone on the team, in a high position, that appears to have a progressive mentality. I'm comforted by her wording even if the depicted imagery leaves something to be desired. It's a far cry, at least, from their twitter messaging, as there is an element of genuine concern in her words.
but there are people like that who don't identify as trans.
I mean, I highly doubt the guy selecting the screenshot was even consciously aware this was in the background.
If she's Polish, all nouns and adjectives in the language are gendered. There's a male, female, and "neutral"
That kind of predisposes how you think about the world, if that's your native language.
I'm Ukrainian and even though I've been living in Canada for most of my life, I also struggle with this- simply because my brain's been wired from childhood to categorize things a a certain way. And I've been using English as primary everyday language for the last 19 years of my life.
Don't expect someone who probably doesn't use English regularly to be super gender sensitive oftentimes there's no offense meant through it- your brain just translates things from your native language into English, word-for-word.
I don't know if I'd go full "opposite of" yet, but it is advertising doing what its always done. I posted this in the other topic.
It's the continued evolution of advertising using what is deemed as sexually exciting or in demand of those times. If you look back at marketing to earlier eras, what was a "sexy ad" then, probably looks tame as fuck compared to what we see these days.
I mean you go back far enough and both women and men would have what resembles clothing, but nowadays you have aftershave ads where men prance about topless or there was even one in the UK with an arse on show. During daytime TV.
Or things like this
But maybe 50~60 years ago our time, and just having knees or thighs flashing for a second was the sexually stimulating ad of those times.
So you take that to the Cyberpunk world where modifications are the norm and sexuality is far more varied and less restrictive to "man/woman", and you presumably get corporations doing sexual ads that reflect that.
I mean, this is in Cyberpunk
I didn't expect such a reasonable and in depth answer to be honest. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt for this one for now.
I think Policenauts may have it beat, but Snatcher is definitely at least number 2 on the Kojima Perviness Hierarchy (the KPH, as we academic call it).
If this person was also behind writing and depicting trans characters in the game, I would feel pretty confident.
She's not though, so we'll wait and see.
However I do feel pretty confident about the in-fiction media in the game, as she's primarily responsible.
She's not though, so we'll wait and see.
However I do feel pretty confident about the in-fiction media in the game, as she's primarily responsible.
Yeah I thought the OPs edit was odd too
I'd like to know how they could make the point they wanted to make, in a way people who don't think the context matters, feel wouldn't be an issue
If I remember correctly, their statement boiled down to "we're sorry you were offended" which isn't a real apology.
One of Hellblade's central themes is mental illness and it handles it in a very mature, serious manner. They talked to experts, they talked to people actually suffering from psychosis, they took loads of notes, they had those people watch them play the game and tell them if they got shit wrong,... And they were very open about how they approached the issue and that they were doing all of these things. They've also donated significant amounts of the money earned from the game to related charities.
I don't know how people can say that Cyberpunk 2077 has no messages or that they are not making a statement about particular themes, i mean
Cyberpunk 2077 quest designer says it's 'inherently political'
Also discusses why they've made their new RPG first-person.www.pcgamer.com
Can't wait.
I'm ready to fucking dive into some weighty political messages and social themes. That's what I'm excited about. We'll have to wait and see if they pulled it off or fucked up royally. But it's way better than Ubisoft "we are very carefully trying not to be political in any way, please enjoy."
I find it funny that what was picture on the wall in the background of an image attempting to show off RTX ray-tracing features became a controversy.
That's where the image got posted on Twitter from, but the Polygon article mentions they have the same ad posted in their E3 booth.
That person might have been misinformed about it being on-stage, but they're absolutely promoting this.
i would've liked an acknowledgment of CDPR understanding our distrust in them, based on the past
Glad they didn't feel the need to "fix" it and remove it like immediately like 99% of western game companies would have.
Over "ashamed of your words and deeds with Quiet" perv? I never played Snatcher so I can't argue. Keep in mind being in the helicopter with her is basically her being like YO CHECK OUT THIS BODY constantly.
It is? What am I missing?
I can see how the image can be used in the way described in the quotes the OP offers, but it's hard to believe CDPR or give them the benefit of the doubt, considering their previous instances of problematic nonsense.
Yeah i had this in mind too. For me this was reasonable explenation.
I've updated my Edit and hope that clarifies what I mean
It still doesn't excuse that ad in particular. Like, even if that's the only transphobic thing in the game, its still really bad.
If we lived in a society where trans panic wasn't a valid legal defense for murder, I'd have the patience to hear what CDPR have to say. It still stands as blatant sexualization of a trans woman's genitals. I guatentee their 'broader message' is no where near nuanced enough to warrant imagery that gets trans people killed in the present day
Edit: I'd love to be wrong though. Trust me, I want to love this game.
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It looks like you would be never satisified with their response no matter what.
You won't. It's in the game.
Hmm, alright. Wonder why we haven't heard about it yet from any of the journalists in attendance.