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How can the games industry resist and push back against Trump & his fascism?

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Lime

Member
With the incredibly depressing and demolishing election results, Trump and his white supremacist, sexist, Islamophobic, homophobic, imperialistic ideology will be sitting with the world's strongest military, a mass surveillance apparatus in the form of NSA and Homeland Security, an extrajudicial drone program, a militarized police force that shoots an kills black and brown people without punishment, an embrace of fossil fuels in the face of cataclysmic climate changes, a legitimization of white supremacist militia like the KKK, a rise in hate crimes following the results, the LGBTQ suicides following the election, deportation of immigrants, and the list goes on and on. And all of these alarming capabilities of fascist ideology is unchecked with the Republicans controlling the house and the senate, and even being able to put in a Supreme court justice.

Whether you like it or not, the games industry and culture are not detached from this fallout and "we" cannot escape into the comfortable nature of entertainment away from what's going on "outside" (especially if we are affected by his policies). Games are part of society and can (should?) reflect what we are going through as human beings. Therefore, publishers, developers, journalists, critics, Youtubers, players, consumers, etc. have to take a stand in this ugly downturn in history. Being neutral doesn't cut it in the face of oppression and fascist ideology.

Here are some examples of what some game developers and writers have done:

What other avenues can publishers, developers, writers, communities, players do? Will EA/Activision/Ubisoft/Square Enix donate profits to more civil rights unions? Will they hire more from the groups who will face the oppression of the government? Will they emphasize diversity and multiplicity in their games and their marketing? Will IGN, Gamespot, Eurogamer, Polygon, etc. include address the societal context in which they do their coverage and reviews? Will Microsoft consider how their own company is situated in a country with a white supremacist government? Will Gaming Youtubers address their audiences about what's going on and remind them that this is serious business and that people, especially Muslims, LGBTQ, Black, poor, etc., will be fucked over by the policies?

I think the important thing is that the games industry in as many instances as possible does not accept or normalize Trump's and the Republicans' fascist platforms. That they don't continue the status quo and that they don't ignore it. Feel free to add or contribute with other articles or videos or PR statements by companies that touch on this.

EDIT: Two good posts on how to consider the issue: Aeolist on what you can do as a consumer and Stump on using formal politics rather than art
 

finley83

Banned
Bioware already doing a great job with LGBT characters, hopefully the rest of the industry follows suit in character driven games. Racial issues in Mafia 3 are a bold idea, a pity it came in a game where you play a minority character who murders hundreds of people - an LA Noire type detective game would have been a bit more complementary to the message.

Just keep diversifying playable characters to make things like this the new normal. The internet is a horrific echo chamber hate machine but these things will make a difference over time.
 
Realistically? Use whatever economic leverage they have, and shift production out if the US if any policy Trump puts forth is beyond acceptance. Doesn't matter if it's even industry-relevant. If he wants to enact religious purity tests, move the whole of this multi-billion dollar industry into a more tolerant territory. If the state wants to avoid the economic hit? Enact protections for all citizens (there's talk of California taking this approach, though it's ask very hypothetical).

Take the financial hit, and stand up for principle. That's the only way this industry contributes to the larger political conversation in a larger way.

Things like inclusiveness and diversity are good measures, but it's not going to shift minds on a voter level. The demographic that plays games already votes liberal. The older generations aren't going to shift their vote because of any game's content. They may change their vote if their state takes an economic consequence.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Sim Tyrant.
Trumpenstein The New Order
The Last of Pence
Carson the Educationhog
Conversion Therapy played like those Surgeon games where you control the hands directly.
 

Ninjimbo

Member
By making more games like Animal Crossing that promote communal activities and neighborhood ethics. You know, instead of shooting each other in the face all the time, how about planting trees and giving gifts to your fellow man as a change of pace?

It seems like a good idea.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
WD2 already got a head start.
screen-shot-2016-10-26-at-10-57-22-am.png
 
While I imagine many won't explicitly say anything due to the potential loss of customers, I'm sure most studios will continue to add more diverse characters and hire more diverse people. For example EA's donations to organisations designed at helping women into the industry probably aren't going to disappear under tr*mp.
 
Just what the gaming industry needs to be taken seriously: taking sides in politics with an aim to undermine the results of a democratic election.

The FUD echoing the chamber on GAF right now is unbearable and the mods would do well to confine it to OT.
 

norm9

Member
I hate generalizing, but I think gamers (myself included) are too busy worried about when the next shipment of nes classics is coming out or wher her FFXV will be good to be too concerned about it.

From the developers end, I think they're on the right track already with minority main characters, and offbeat narratives.
 
Just what the gaming industry needs to be taken seriously: taking sides in politics with an aim to undermine the results of a democratic election.

The FUD echoing the chamber on GAF right now is unbearable and the mods would do well to confine it to OT.

Yeah, no serious art form - art, literature, film - has ever produced works that comment on contemporary politics.
 

Drackhorn

Member
Just what the gaming industry needs to be taken seriously: taking sides in politics with an aim to undermine the results of a democratic election.

The FUD echoing the chamber on GAF right now is unbearable and the mods would do well to confine it to OT.

Amen to that.
 

PSqueak

Banned
Just what the gaming industry needs to be taken seriously: taking sides in politics with an aim to undermine the results of a democratic election.

The FUD echoing the chamber on GAF right now is unbearable and the mods would do well to confine it to OT.

You act as if no game ever had made political commentary or as if devs existed in a vacuum separate from the real world.
 

Lime

Member
Just what the gaming industry needs to be taken seriously: taking sides in politics with an aim to undermine the results of a democratic election.

The FUD echoing the chamber on GAF right now is unbearable and the mods would do well to confine it to OT.

How is pushing back against fascism undermining the results of a democratic election? Being neutral in the face of oppression means we side with the oppressors.

Also,
Cw7occ1UcAAZX6P.jpg
 

benjammin

Member
Maybe, just maybe, they'll continue behaving exactly how they have and not involve themselves in embarrassing hyperbolic political propaganda. But I'm just spit balling here.
 

kunonabi

Member
By making fun escapism that takes us away from reality for a while.

Yeah, that's been off the table with western games for awhile now. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing Presidents in games and movies stop being Hillary stand-ins and be ugly(well, uglier) caricatures of Trump from now on though.
 
Honestly the games industry just needs to keep making the best games they can.

Games provide the necessary therapeutic escape that I think a lot of us need these days. And things will get worse before they get better.
 
How can one half of the population's extremist control freaks combat the other half of the population's extremist control freaks?
 
Hiring and promoting minority developers of all kinds would be a real good start. Openly supporting minority causes would be great too, things like EA having strong presence in pride walks should motivate others to engage in similar things.

How can one half of the population's extremist control freaks combat the other half of the population's extremist control freaks?

There's no need to control anyone, helping those in need is a good enough start.
 

blackjaw

Member
How is pushing back against fascism undermining the results of a democratic election? Being neutral in the face of oppression means we side with the oppressors.

Also,
Cw7occ1UcAAZX6P.jpg

No his problem is that you make very little argument here in gaming than "trump bad, how can we fight back"....which is exactly what people are doing in OT.

If this was a "EA backing Trump policies" or "Nintendo making game against Trump" it would make more sense for a discussion than your hypothetical "discussion" you put over here.
 

DocSeuss

Member
At the rate games take to develop, we'll be in the next election before any AAA game commenting on him will launch.
 
Wow. Maybe keep this stuff to non gaming. If you wanna debate Trump and the election that's cool.
But this seems a bit of a stretch to have in the gaming forum.
 
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