Support NeoGAF

[DeltaPolarBear]

SBI is not the source of the problem, but what happens to SBI will be an important focal point for the industry. The fact is people had been mad that their games had been made unfun against the gamer's will, they just didn't have someone to blame until now.

SBI planted a target on their back by deliberately making it their business to earn money making games worse. By being a company they are vulnerable to being boycotted, where as otherwise the gamer's anger would have no one in particular to blame.

Market forces now have a crack in the dam to break the thing that is stopping gamers from getting what they want. And the market forces will win.

 

[Clear]

Market forces now have a crack in the dam to break the thing that is stopping gamers from getting what they want. And the market forces will win.

Which is why we need to be careful how we articulate the reasons for the pushback.

Most people go along with the idea of DEI -even if they aren't that ideologically motivated- because its hard to say the opposite is good. The trick is not to try and argue on those grounds because that's how the activists will try and trap you - "You don't want x alternate lifestyles represented because you're a bigot", which is a hard thing to argue against because they've created a narrative where they are the supporters of a virtue, therefore you by definition of your opposition must be the corrupt one.

Its a cheap trick, but its an effective one rhetorically.

Same deal applies with activists presenting themselves as Anti-"bad thing". They do this so any opposition is immediately smeared as being pro-"bad thing"... Its a misdirect so you end up fighting the virtuous position they claim to uphold, rather than them on their own merits and failings.

Don't fall for it.

 

[PSlayer]

101+k followers! congrats everybody...

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Which is why we need to be careful how we articulate the reasons for the pushback.

Most people go along with the idea of DEI -even if they aren't that ideologically motivated- because its hard to say the opposite is good. The trick is not to try and argue on those grounds because that's how the activists will try and trap you - "You don't want x alternate lifestyles represented because you're a bigot", which is a hard thing to argue against because they've created a narrative where they are the supporters of a virtue, therefore you by definition of your opposition must be the corrupt one.

Its a cheap trick, but its an effective one rhetorically.

Same deal applies with activists presenting themselves as Anti-"bad thing". They do this so any opposition is immediately smeared as being pro-"bad thing"... Its a misdirect so you end up fighting the virtuous position they claim to uphold, rather than them on their own merits and failings.

Don't fall for it.

See, I can only speak for myself, but I made it my philosophy that i don't care what ANYONE thinks of me. I obey the law, I take care of my family, that's where I end what i care about. Peer pressure is only a thing if you need it to be, I just don't care what anyone say or claim about me. i buy what i want, i refuse to buy what i don't want. That is where the line is. SBI is just an example of a company that I would avoid supporting financially, as a consumer. Not because I hate them, but because i don't enjoy their work and thus refuse to pay for them.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

 

[ReBurn]

SBI is not the source of the problem, but what happens to SBI will be an important focal point for the industry. The fact is people had been mad that their games had been made unfun against the gamer's will, they just didn't have someone to blame until now.

SBI planted a target on their back by deliberately making it their business to earn money making games worse. By being a company they are vulnerable to being boycotted, where as otherwise the gamer's anger would have no one in particular to blame.

Market forces now have a crack in the dam to break the thing that is stopping gamers from getting what they want. And the market forces will win.

You're right that they're not the source of the problem. SBI would be out of business if dev studios didn't use their services. What happens to SBI will be inconsequential because it's easy to shut down a company and start it up with a new name. The same people will still be paid to do the same work. The target on Sweet Baby is insignificant. If they fold these studios will just just get someone else to do the same thing. The only thing that matters is whether people stop buying the games.

People will follow the group because people love to virtue signal. That's easy. How many of the people who follow the group will boycott the games?

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

You're right that they're not the source of the problem. SBI would be out of business if dev studios didn't use their services. What happens to SBI will be inconsequential because it's easy to shut down a company and start it up with a new name. The same people will still be paid to do the same work. The target on Sweet Baby is insignificant. If they fold these studios will just just get someone else to do the same thing. The only thing that matters is whether people stop buying the games.

People will follow the group because people love to virtue signal. That's easy. How many of the people who follow the group will boycott the games?

You make the mistake of thinking this a boycott as such. I want to be in the group in order to know if a game would have bad writing, i didn't sign up to boycott.
If I join a group that informs me "which companies sell poisoned cookies", it doesn't mean i need to boycott these companies. it means I want to avoid being poisoned.

We have this list not for political reasons, but to avoid buying a bad game that we wouldn't enjoy. You are looking at it all wrong; I am looking at it as a consumer, not some political activist. I don't want to waste my money on shit games, nothing more and nothing less.

 

[LegendOfKage]

You're right that they're not the source of the problem. SBI would be out of business if dev studios didn't use their services. What happens to SBI will be inconsequential because it's easy to shut down a company and start it up with a new name. The same people will still be paid to do the same work. The target on Sweet Baby is insignificant. If they fold these studios will just just get someone else to do the same thing. The only thing that matters is whether people stop buying the games.

People will follow the group because people love to virtue signal. That's easy. How many of the people who follow the group will boycott the games?

It is far, FAR easier to avoid a single player game purchase when there are indications that the game is going to be preachy and divisive in their storytelling, than it is to avoid a mutliplayer game that all your friends are playing. There are hundreds of great single-player games out there. I think that's the difference here, and I think that's why this image doesn't mean a lot in this situation.

 

[thismeinteil]

Well, since the other thread was closed.

101K+

 

[semiconscious]

It‘s just a terrible consultancy firm, hired by awful games executives who are trying to milk a new audience of woke idiots. Terrible consultancy firms are everywhere, giving terrible advice. Sweet Baby Inc just get more press right now because they base their entire operation on political ideology - which games companies love, and gamers largely hate.

see, I'm not so sure about this. while it could be 'love', I'm thinking the folks in charge of these companies are kinda too old for this nonsense to be really taken in by it. I think it's much more to do with maintaining cred with a certain gamer demographic (not really appreciating that pleasing this particular demographic can result in a cascading counter-effect). the fact that they're so unsure of what's 'woke' & what isn't that they'd see the need to bring in a consulting firm to get it all 'correct' kinda tells me that they themselves are far from personally invested/on-board, & are simply posturing to cover their asses. now, these companies' other employees? good chance a number of them definitely are invested (which I guess is another reason their bosses probably feel obligated to go this route)...

 

[iorek21]

Just now I discovered that this curator is a fellow Brazilian.

We don’t disappoint

 

[Tangerine]

Such a shame to see hyperlight drifter sequel on the list. What is wrong with people.

 

[Nickolaidas]

He’s talking about the effect of Sweet Baby Inc on the writing in Spider-man 2. You were shitting up that other thread with conspiracy bullshit about Covid and climate change being ‘based on ideology and control’.

He’s right. You're a lunatic.

It’s perfectly reasonable to look at who works for Sweet Baby Inc, and arrive at a sensible conclusion that their contributions to video games are ideologically based, and largely bigoted against the main audience for video games.

No one needs to descend into idiocy about grand conspiracies and ‘control’.

It‘s just a terrible consultancy firm, hired by awful games executives who are trying to milk a new audience of woke idiots. Terrible consultancy firms are everywhere, giving terrible advice. Sweet Baby Inc just get more press right now because they base their entire operation on political ideology - which games companies love, and gamers largely hate.

THANK you!

 

[Hydroxy]

Glad to see it crossed 100k followers. People are starting to get fed up with forced diversity and woke narratives and politics infecting video games. Even though this may not change anything but atleast it shows that we don't want this crap in video games.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Such a shame to see hyperlight drifter sequel on the list. What is wrong with people.

What really gets me is they've sunk their teeth into Remedy, and Control 2 is coming out

It hurts.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Glad to see it crossed 100k followers. People are starting to get fed up with forced diversity and woke narratives and politics infecting video games. Even though this may not change anything but atleast it shows that we don't want this crap in video games.

Why wouldn't it change anything? If we can stop one consumer from paying for a product he didn't actually want, i would consider that a win. People deserve to buy only what they want to buy and not what is forced against their will.

 

[nkarafo]

But why? They can't all be wanting this. Is there that many investors who have billions What happened to just making good products for everyone? Why does every game have to have this?

Are you asking how it's financially beneficial for anyone to push wokness to people when the concept itself is not profitable and actually loses money?

Because that's what i have been asking all these years. Movies and games that push this stuff bomb and lose money but they still get financed anyway. Why is that? Is it some kind of distracting people from real problems effort?

 

[Nickolaidas]

All the woke west managed to do was to make me remember Japan again. I uninstalled almost all western games from my Steam library and now focus on games made in Japan or China.

Dear West, you told me time and again your games are not for me.

I finally listened.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Are you asking how it's financially beneficial for anyone to push wokness to people when the concept itself is not profitable and actually loses money?

Because that's what i have been asking all these years. Movies and games that push this stuff bomb and lose money but they still get financed anyway. Why is that? Is it some kind of a distracting people from real problems conspiracy theory?

It probably started with trying a lazy reaction to concerns by putting the most troublesome employees in certain DEI roles that did not have lots of power initially and then escalated.

They are convinced that pushing DEI (as extremely as possible) will actually make the company more productive, more profitable (modern audiences = modern workers), and is one of they keys to success and they have “graphs” to “prove” it too.

The fact that it is a good way to Divide your employees and Conquer (get away with whatever you were planning to do) is probably one of the things that the consultants going CEO to CEO (do not put down how much companies copy each other as if they were devoid of original thought or were all part of a super close knit frat).

Consultants are still out selling it as best practice , disgruntled workers think it gives them an advantage against their company, it helps the slacktivists that would want to do something big and meaningful but with little effort on their part so they are convinced this is like their great grand father fighting for civil rights or against the Nazi in WA2, and more companies listening creates a snow ball effect where you do not want to be the one going against the trend.

 

[Panajev2001a]

All the woke west managed to do was to make me remember Japan again. I uninstalled almost all western games from my Steam library and now focus on games made in Japan or China.

Dear West, you told me time and again your games are not for me.

I finally listened.

B…b…but the CCP! The commies!!!

 

[nkarafo]

By the way I wouldn't physically follow them if I was any of you. The era crowd are mentally unwell and they will use any bit of evidence they can to ruin your life. Even following a curator on steam informing about woke shit.

If you are afraid of them, they won.

Also, if you are so afraid of the internet being used against you, stop exposing your self on social media or anywhere else. Browse anonymously, create many different avatars and usernames, don't use bio, etc. It's actually very easy.

 

[nush]

B…b…but the CCP! The commies!!!

Dong Dong Never Die is a legendary game that could only have come from China.

 

[Nickolaidas]

Well, South Korea only, then? XD

 

[laynelane]

Same deal applies with activists presenting themselves as Anti-"bad thing". They do this so any opposition is immediately smeared as being pro-"bad thing"... Its a misdirect so you end up fighting the virtuous position they claim to uphold, rather than them on their own merits and failings.

Don't fall for it.

I think this recent debacle gave a prime example of that. A Sweet Baby employee who responded on Twitter said people are describing the curator as "a way to avoid inclusivity" (and they can't stay quiet about it, etc.) . I imagine that will work to some degree because that's the way they normally frame any opposition. For me, however, the fact that the initial response was to encourage reporting to cancel the curator and targeted harassment towards the creator showed all we need to know about this employee and company. I do hope this is getting through to more people, as well. Disagreeing with people like this does not make you a bigot or 'part of the problem'. It's a normal reaction to extreme words and behavior, especially when it's noticeably impacting a medium we all enjoy.

 

[GymWolf]

And still "Game journalists" remain absolutely silent on this story.

It's been what 3-4 days now?

Do you expect modern media to do actual journalism?

Cmon.

 

[Fart Knight]

 

[GymWolf]

What really gets me is they've sunk their teeth into Remedy, and Control 2 is coming out

It hurts.

At least control is gonna have good gameplay and combat, in aw2 the writing and plot are the whole fucking carrot.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

At least control is gonna have good gameplay and combat, in aw2 the writing and plot are the whole fucking carrot.

Very true. I've completed Control on all major systems, I backed out of Alan Wake 2 after three hours on one. It was complete bunk to me.

 

[lifa-cobex]

And still "Game journalists" remain absolutely silent on this story.

It's been what 3-4 days now?

I mean it's kind of a good thing right!?
It's a non story.

A steam group lists a bunch of games from X company has worked on.
Because the group doesn't really announce the reason in a positive or negative light.
You only know why if you're already in the know.

The only story they could wright up on is "Sweet Baby isn't happy this list exists and is calling it a hate movement because........reasons?"

 

[makaveli60]

Are you asking how it's financially beneficial for anyone to push wokness to people when the concept itself is not profitable and actually loses money?

Because that's what i have been asking all these years. Movies and games that push this stuff bomb and lose money but they still get financed anyway. Why is that? Is it some kind of distracting people from real problems effort?

Caution! If you think and research too much about this question you will reach to conclusions that the people who don’t do the same will consider “crazy conspiracy theories”.

 

[MetalFreak]

All the woke west managed to do was to make me remember Japan again. I uninstalled almost all western games from my Steam library and now focus on games made in Japan or China.

Dear West, you told me time and again your games are not for me.

I finally listened.

All this woke shit reminded me that I still have a long and great backlog of games to go to. Just replayed Mass Effect 1 (Legendary Edition) and had a blast!

 

[Kenpachii]

What u have here is just a generation shift in opinion.

While the older generation of gamers sits there confused / disgusted and basically doesn't want any of it. The newer generations are brainwashed from there youth to accept this shit and more will flow into the work places the time moves forwards. A good example is Harvard where everybody just wonders wtf is going on over there, well those people are brainwashed to the max and will start to radicalize the work environments around them the moment they are enough pushed into the market there is no stopping it.

This is why u won't see after endless failures in movies, the woke shit end because the people making the movies all come out of those clubs and can't fathom another world where this isn't the reality.

Sweet baby isn't the problem here, it's the company's that make games that hire people such as sweet baby, and when u see a visit into there game offices u always see blue haired freaks and other weirdo's presenting themselves and those people are exactly the problem and they won't go away, it will get even worse.

The best solution to avoid this is to buy games where story's aren't the main focus.

 

[SNPlayen]

110,000!

 

[MayauMiao]

 

[Terenty]

What u have here is just a generation shift in opinion.

While the older generation of gamers sits there confused / disgusted and basically doesn't want any of it. The newer generations are brainwashed from there youth to accept this shit and more will flow into the work places the time moves forwards. A good example is Harvard where everybody just wonders wtf is going on over there, well those people are brainwashed to the max and will start to radicalize the work environments around them the moment they are enough pushed into the market there is no stopping it.

This is why u won't see after endless failures in movies, the woke shit end because the people making the movies all come out of those clubs and can't fathom another world where this isn't the reality.

Sweet baby isn't the problem here, it's the company's that make games that hire people such as sweet baby, and when u see a visit into there game offices u always see blue haired freaks and other weirdo's presenting themselves and those people are exactly the problem and they won't go away, it will get even worse.

The best solution to avoid this is to buy games where story's aren't the main focus.

That's a great point actually. I would say we have like 10 years before the old guard completely gets replaced by the new generation and every game becomes woke. In the West at least

 

[darth.shrimp]

Currently the 9th most popular curator on Steam at 111k, holy Batman...

 

[Gallard]

Such a shame to see hyperlight drifter sequel on the list. What is wrong with people.

They listed Zoe Quinn in the credits of Hyperlight Drifter, so their inner rot predates Sweet Baby Inc.

 

[Fredrik]

Sweet baby isn't the problem here, it's the company's that make games that hire people such as sweet baby

We don’t know who’s contacting who, SBI could be the ones contacting them and make them an offer they can’t refuse…

But that’s not really important, right now it’s clear that the SBI Twitter persona dislikes white straight males going by past blunt tweets. Why would a serious game dev want to be associated with that? It’s likely a huge chunk of their userbase.
And to me it explains so much going by the games they’ve been involved in, there will never be any official statements about it but the proof is in the pudding and imo can’t be unseen.

 

[GymWolf]

Such a shame to see hyperlight drifter sequel on the list. What is wrong with people.

Switching the camera and graphic style already soured me on the sequel way before sweet baby was involved tbh.

 

[SNPlayen]

What u have here is just a generation shift in opinion.

While the older generation of gamers sits there confused / disgusted and basically doesn't want any of it. The newer generations are brainwashed from there youth to accept this shit and more will flow into the work places the time moves forwards. A good example is Harvard where everybody just wonders wtf is going on over there, well those people are brainwashed to the max and will start to radicalize the work environments around them the moment they are enough pushed into the market there is no stopping it.

This is why u won't see after endless failures in movies, the woke shit end because the people making the movies all come out of those clubs and can't fathom another world where this isn't the reality.

Sweet baby isn't the problem here, it's the company's that make games that hire people such as sweet baby, and when u see a visit into there game offices u always see blue haired freaks and other weirdo's presenting themselves and those people are exactly the problem and they won't go away, it will get even worse.

The best solution to avoid this is to buy games where story's aren't the main focus.

Hopefully the blue hairs are a big part of the lay offs. This list with such a large and growing following sends a clear message to these companies. With Sony in particular I wonder if their Japanese head office is cracking down on wokeness affecting their bottom line both in terms of sales taking a hit (eg last of us part 2) and cost of DEI crap and contractors like sweet baby inc.

I work at a Japanese company in another country but large portion of staff and directors are Japanese. In the 2 years I’ve been there not an ounce of wokeness has been witnessed it’s all about performance

 

[ResilientBanana]

It would if they did any writing on Spider-Man 2, but they didn't. But no one seems to be able to engage with that. Everything bad is their fault, they're a "cult", people calling them pedophiles? Like it's all too sweaty, just be normal, and buy games you like and don't buy games you don't.

The problem is they exist at all and they are pushing their agenda in video games and are ruining every sane gamers experience by consulting with major developers. They’re actively making the premise and stories in these games have an LGBTQ+ element to them that is forced. The hard part about this is that they are going out of their way to tell me these characters in video games are gay or ethnic and are purposefully making women in these games ugly. They’re going out of their way to make great games have a cringey element to them and that sucks. Kind of like the all inclusive world war soldiers of Battlefield. It’s unnecessary and shouldn’t exist in the first place. Not to mention they are aiding in demonizing the white man and dividing people rather than being truly inclusive.

 

[Kenpachii]

Hopefully the blue hairs are a big part of the lay offs. This list with such a large and growing following sends a clear message to these companies. With Sony in particular I wonder if their Japanese head office is cracking down on wokeness affecting their bottom line both in terms of sales taking a hit (eg last of us part 2) and cost of DEI crap and contractors like sweet baby inc.

I work at a Japanese company in another country but large portion of staff and directors are Japanese. In the 2 years I’ve been there not an ounce of wokeness has been witnessed it’s all about performance

Well i was more talking about western side of things, we can hope japan is taken over and wokeness gets a backseat but i highly doubt so if they keep there company's in the west.

The reality also is, that i wonder how much older gamers are actually still representing the average player base of sony for example, from what i remember i do think a sharp drop off with gamers happens at 40+ and i do believe older gamers are already hitting those ages pretty soon. New gamers will just replace them and the woke train is going to continue at full steam then.

 

[Tangerine]

They listed Zoe Quinn in the credits of Hyperlight Drifter, so their inner rot predates Sweet Baby Inc.

Fuck. Well I suppose I have to be consistent. I really enjoyed hyper light drifter, so maybe I'd enjoy the sequel. Knowing these baby sweet freaks are involved may be enough to sour me from ever buying it to find out mind you.

And as GymWolf said, they have already made it less tantilising with their stylistic choices.

117,000 members now

 

[geary]

 

[Scotty W]

In 10 years when wokeness has been abolished from public life, people will look back on the past 15 years of games and snicker at how cringe they were. An entire 2 generations, irretrievably tainted.

 

[Eiknarf]

Fuck. Well I suppose I have to be consistent. I really enjoyed hyper light drifter, so maybe I'd enjoy the sequel. Knowing these baby sweet freaks are involved may be enough to sour me from ever buying it to find out mind you.

And as GymWolf said, they have already made it less tantilising with their stylistic choices.

117,000 members now

Holy crap! Every time I REFRESH the screen there’s at least two more members!!! Hahaha!! That’s wild

 

[crackajack]

All the woke west managed to do was to make me remember Japan again. I uninstalled almost all western games from my Steam library and now focus on games made in Japan or China.

meh
Japan has often totally vague lore, cringe epic Hollywood wannabe pandering, or writing that feels like someone never growing past his puberty. Going back to retro games isn't great either with their sort of naive also infantile sounding versions of action plots.
It's a pick your poison right now.

I am ready to have gaming its RRR moment. Let's have some dance or musical numbers in pretentious af action games.

I hope they train our coming AI writers with actually good writers. I guess a plot itself will be tougher than style points for actually unique sounding characters, which none of it our current human quest writer farms can't produce.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

What u have here is just a generation shift in opinion.

While the older generation of gamers sits there confused / disgusted and basically doesn't want any of it. The newer generations are brainwashed from there youth to accept this shit and more will flow into the work places the time moves forwards. A good example is Harvard where everybody just wonders wtf is going on over there, well those people are brainwashed to the max and will start to radicalize the work environments around them the moment they are enough pushed into the market there is no stopping it.

This is why u won't see after endless failures in movies, the woke shit end because the people making the movies all come out of those clubs and can't fathom another world where this isn't the reality.

Sweet baby isn't the problem here, it's the company's that make games that hire people such as sweet baby, and when u see a visit into there game offices u always see blue haired freaks and other weirdo's presenting themselves and those people are exactly the problem and they won't go away, it will get even worse.

The best solution to avoid this is to buy games where story's aren't the main focus.

That’s like saying “don’t blame the hitman, blame the one who hired him!”

There’s plenty of blame to go around. Obviously Sweet Baby didn’t invent wokeness. But they’re a company whose job is literally to inject woke DEI stuff into video games. That’s their specialty. They are a valid target. Avoiding games they worked on harms both SBI and the developers who hired them.

But mostly it’s about sending a message that people notice this shit and they’re getting tired of it.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

BTW it’s gone up like 7,000 members in the last hour, holy shit. This is really snowballing now.

 

[Clear]

BTW it’s gone up like 7,000 members in the last hour, holy shit. This is really snowballing now.

Its going to. There's a lot of resentment that's been building up for years. This is just a focal point.

Which is why I'm stressing the importance of how we approach this. Gamergate ended up being delegitimized by the enthusiast press cherry picking extremists to show everyone involved was a hard right-winger. Very useful for deflecting from the VALID criticisms of cronyism and corruption that were a big part of the early movement and something that affects every gamer.

For my money, the "win" here is simply demonstrating what I said before; that companies like SBI add nothing of value and exist solely to cash-in on DEI funds for their own enrichment and empowerment.