Schopenhauerian
Member
I agree, at the end of the day teams, especially big budget AAA teams, that want to engage with other cultures should consider it a responsibility to have those cultures represented on their team, and honestly in more than just a token way.
It really says something about the games industry and particularly Ubisoft that Far Cry 3 managed to go through development without any correction to its racist narrative and that few mainstream media publications and gamers at large didn't react to it.
Im hoping theres still time for Naughty Dog to do something along these lines, for The Lost Legacy:
In light of the recent, problematic statement from someone at Naughty Dog (specifically, the Creative Director for the upcoming Uncharted: The Lost Legacy), I'd like to commend CDPR for taking the following initiative, with respect to Cyberpunk 2077:
CDPR has posted some new positions on their website, among them:
Cultural and Linguistic Consultant
This individual will play a part in designing the cultural/linguistic aspects of the game world. They will also be called upon to provide various references and source materials/knowledge about the melting pot that is American culture (California in particular) to be used in game design, implementation and dialogue writing
Clearly, they want the world of the Cyberpunk 2077 to be as accurate in its depiction of the American society as possible. This was one of the worries that people have expressed before - whether or not a Polish dev will be able to catch the nuance.Working closely with the Story, Quest and Localization teams to catch cultural misconceptions and errors.
Providing various references to the melting pot that is American culture (California in particular) to be used in game design, implementation and dialogue writing.
Deep understanding of American society and culture.
https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/careers/jobs/cultural-and-linguistic-consultant/
Hopefully Naughty Dog will take a similar step, and soon:
https://failbluedot.com/indiana-jones-racist-sexist
...Note that, a lot of the problems would have been pretty easy to fix if they cared enough to spend 0.5% of the budget on a consultant. Then what made the movie memorable (the darkness and tension, the inventive action scenes) would stand the test of time better. The idea that the stereotypes were somehow necessary to make it a success imply that there isnt enough creativity out there to work a few more constraints into the million other constraints people already face when creating movies. Which should offend movie-goers and movie-makers alike...