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Gabe: Singleplayer games are like a film where your lead actor is retarded & autistic

For what it's worth I work in a group home with one guy with MR and an autistic woman. I watched that talk about 3 days ago and wasn't offended at all. I actually agreed.



I do understand that the word choice was poor and that people are offended by such talk (when I started working in this field 13 years ago I was very sensitive to it... now it doesn't bother me in the slightest). He should be smarter than that. But what he was saying is true. There are almost zero social cues being read in a single player game and your vocabulary whether it is movement or your interaction with the environment is incredibly limited. The fact that people can make moving games in this structure is impressive.


They say on gaf you will find a defense force for anything. I guess it's my turn.
 

Polari

Member
From Wikipedia:

The terms used for this condition are subject to a process called the euphemism treadmill. This means that whatever term is chosen for this condition, it eventually becomes perceived as an insult. The terms mental retardation and mentally retarded were invented in the middle of the 20th century to replace the previous set of terms, which were deemed to have become offensive. By the end of the 20th century, these terms themselves have come to be widely seen as disparaging and politically incorrect and in need of replacement.[2] The term intellectual disability or intellectually challenged is now preferred by most advocates in most English-speaking countries. The AAIDD have defined intellectual disability to mean the same thing as mental retardation.[3] Currently, the term mental retardation is used by the World Health Organization in the ICD-10 codes, which has a section titled "Mental Retardation" (codes F70–F79). In the future, the ICD-11 is expected to replace the term mental retardation with intellectual disability, and the DSM-5 is expected to replace it with intellectual developmental disorder.[4][5] Because of its specificity and lack of confusion with other conditions, mental retardation is still sometimes used professional medical settings around the world, such as formal scientific research and health insurance paperwork.

Basically my view on it is while there's something wrong with calling someone a retard, there's nothing wrong with the word retarded when used with approriate context. I don't see any problem with Gabe using it as he did.
 

Atruvius

Member
That's not how a CEO should be talking, really. Act like a respectful adult in the public domain.

He was speaking to a young audience. You usually try to keep peoples attention, underline something by using "shocking" language. Nothing wrong with that.
 
Not sure I even get what he's saying here.
I think he's saying that innovations in player-game interaction in single player games are treated like an amazing advance in storytelling because the player character has a big handicap when interacting with his world. Little things like bullets causing permanent holes in the environment will really increase immersion.

This doesn't hold true in multiplayer games, I suppose because the majority of interaction is between players, not a player and his environment. So you need new strategies to keep people immersed.

The whole autistic thing is actually a pretty apt description.
 
Well, I thought his comment was rather funny.


But maybe I'm just a bad person.

I didn't really think it was funny, but it was an apt way to get a point across. I know what he is talking about.

Gabe is kind of bad at talking. I've noticed that when he makes speeches and stuff, he doesn't seem comfortable, and he stutters and says odd things sometimes.

Are you IMPLYING that he had to take it one lump sum?

yea

something about taxes
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
That was the one part of the entire talk that caught me off guard, really. I didn't even really get where he was going with that.
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
seems like Gabe's Ego is becoming larger than his waist

How is this indicative of ego? At most he used words that trigger negative reactions in people regardless of their context. Those words make sense in the sentence in which he uttered them. He's not insulting players.

Gabe is kind of bad at talking. I've noticed that when he makes speeches and stuff, he doesn't seem comfortable, and he stutters and says odd things sometimes.

Maybe he's on the spectrum.
 
I think Gabe is a little too self aware of his status in the industry. He just needs to hunker down with the team and focus on output.
 

Brinbe

Member
Nope... get back to work, Gabe.

And no, retarded isn't acceptable. I'm glad people are viewing that word as they are. Stamp that shit out now. There are tons of other words to use.
 
In Valve's single player games it sure does feel like the character is mentally ill and/or autistic, Gabe.

Not in all of them, but definitely in yours.
 

wutwutwut

Member
In this day and age of words making you look insensitive/ignorant, it's mindboggling that people in the limelight and high positions keep spewing them out.

Stupid comments, stupid because of the consequences.

All around stupid.
The types of people who have a problem with "retarded" usually also have a problem with "stupid".
 
Gordon Freeman actually appears as if he may have mental retardation.

He really doesn't though.
In Portal 2 they make light of this brilliantly with the 'press space to talk' and you jump.

Its a really horrible description and very elitist imo. For example, if I made a game where my lead character has any form of disability, physical or mental - they'd be significantly different from a protagonist.

A protagonist in a game is an extension of the player.
I have no fucking idea what his point is. At all.

The types of people who have a problem with "retarded" usually also have a problem with "stupid".

Don't be so stupid. And by that I actually mean obtuse but I think you can see am making a point.
 

RoKKeR

Member
Neogaf is basically the political correctness capital of the internet, so most members here get bent out of shape when words like that are used.

Rather than grow thicker skin, people here expect everyone to conform to their own sensibilities.
I can't believe how arrogant people are to this. It's not an issue of growing thicker skin or sucking it up, it's an issue of a public figurehead such as Gabe using politically unacceptable language.

I don't give two shits about what he says, but the CEO of a company shouldn't be talking like this. Period. End of discussion.
 

Axiom

Member
I didn't know that a term for transgendered people was considered offensive, and when I saw people getting called out on it I was surprised but did my best to eliminate a term from my vocabulary that rarely came up regardless. I still hear people using it though, as we're still in a period of transition.

However it's not the 90s, the time for understanding if not excusing retarded used like that has long passed - especially for someone in his position.
 

Kukuk

Banned
I can't believe how arrogant people are to this. It's not an issue of growing thicker skin or sucking it up, it's an issue of a public figurehead such as Gabe using politically unacceptable language.

Unacceptable by whose standard? Yours?
 

Aguirre

Member
what the heck, gabe?

has he been possessed by a demon? he's usually polite, insightful and on the mark with regards to what he's talking about

gaaaabe whats happening
 
doesn't Portal 2 more or less jab at this? They don't use the term "retarded" but it's mentioned a bunch of times that the playable character has brain damage.
 

heyf00L

Member
They've trained us to be this way. For decades worlds have been mostly non-interactive maps with 1 or 2 neat things to play with hidden away somewhere nearly randomly. You have to poke everything to sift through the static background and find something to play with. If you don't do this, you miss the neat stuff. Oh, you didn't find the magnum in level 3? Yeah, you had to search one of the toilets in one of the bathrooms.

Maybe they should make games that make sense. Hide the magnum bullets in a desk drawer, not in a ceiling vent. Then I won't feel the need to try to jump on anything that looks climbable and spam the action button on every surface.

I can't believe how arrogant people are to this. It's not an issue of growing thicker skin or sucking it up, it's an issue of a public figurehead such as Gabe using politically unacceptable language.

I don't give two shits about what he says, but the CEO of a company shouldn't be talking like this. Period. End of discussion.
Maybe, I don't know. "Retarded" was the standard, PC, acceptable term throughout the vast majority of the 20th century. "Retarded" just means "delayed". It was only replaced by something else in the 90s. I'm not even sure what we're supposed to say now. Is it handicapped or disabled? Or is it now differently-abled?
 
I don't even get the analogy. In what way are main characters autistic? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

I assume it's Gabe's way of describing how characters remain silent / don't respond to social cues in many games to allow the player to impress themselves onto the character.
 

Lancehead

Member
I don't even get the analogy. In what way are main characters autistic? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

He's talking about the intrinsic disconnect between the player and the character, which can make the character look like retarded and autistic within the context of the game world moments.
 

BibiMaghoo

Member
"I like to tease Yanis [Varoufakis, Valve's resident economist] about the fact that Steam is five times the size of Greece," Newell said, "and that we have less debt."

Da fuk Garry?

That aint cool man. ''My company has five times as much money as your home country, and no debt''
 
I'm really sick and tired of this insinuation that people in high ranking positions need to somehow forfeit their humanity. Isn't that what we say is everything wrong with our Politicians that we blast so much?
 
I can't believe how arrogant people are to this. It's not an issue of growing thicker skin or sucking it up, it's an issue of a public figurehead such as Gabe using politically unacceptable language.

So? Given the context there's hardly anything worth to get this bent out of shape for
 

Kusagari

Member
GAF getting incensed over such nonsense never fails to amuse me.

I get what Gabe's saying, even if he could have worded it better. Games like BioShock and Portal poke fun at this.
 
I don't see the problem here, I also found his comment about Greece and paypal transactions about hats funny. Is it not true that autistic people are not as good with social interaction as people without it?
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
I don't even get the analogy. In what way are main characters autistic? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?
That you are unable to properly communicate with other characters in the game world. I actually don't think many games are like this...mostly just Valve ones.
 

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
I started falling out of love with Valve (to the point where I try to buy all my Steamworks games from other retailers) back in 2008, when I emailed them asking why Left 4 Dead only had about four hours of single-player content (each mission was ~50 minutes long at the level I was playing). The response?

Something along the lines of:

"Well, we really want you to play it as a multiplayer game, but come on, there's a lot of variation in Left 4 Dead! Sometimes, health packs and hordes spawn in different locations!"

I don't like nor care about multiplayer gaming, and I'm becoming increasingly frustrated that Valve seems to look down on it.

What a bizarre reason to "fall out of love" with a company. They aren't allowed to make a game that doesn't exactly appeal to your tastes? And as retribution, you're deliberately buying as many products (that still activate on their store) from their competitors?

They released Portal 2 two years ago. A great single player game. They're working on a multiplayer game now and, after that, who knows? Maybe they'll push out another great single player game.
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
"We'll go up against Bungie, or Blizzard, or anybody but we won't try to compete with our own user base, because we already know we're going to lose."

I like this quote. Valve fucking gets it. For fuck's sake, don't try and piss of your (potential) customers, that's not how you create a loyal fanbase. And that's not how you make them feel happy for doing business with you.
 

gryz

Banned
Cool, Gabe me email and password now. Getting rid of your Steam account is the best way to do it.

Also anyone care to clue me in, what's the offense here?

Gabe forgot to account for how retarded and autistic his main userbase is before he made this comment.
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
I don't even get the analogy. In what way are main characters autistic? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

The way they interact with the world and other characters is extremely far from realistic, and extremely limited.

Here's the dictionary definition of autism.

A pervasive developmental disorder characterized by severe deficits in social interaction and communication, by an extremely limited range of activities and interests, and often by the presence of repetitive, stereotyped behaviors.

It describes most video game characters and their actions almost perfectly.
 

RoKKeR

Member
Unacceptable by whose standard? Yours?
No, by the standards of our society today. Just last week the MVP of the Super Bowl took loads of heat for saying 'retard' from both media and fans alike.

Again, Gabe can call me a cunt for all I care, but the CEO of a company can't be talking like this.
 

Mononoke

Banned
He's talking about the intrinsic disconnect between the player and the character, which can make the character look like retarded and autistic within the context of the game world moments.

That's how I took it. Why aren't people getting the analogy? Didn't think it was that hard to understand.

Not to say, you should agree with what he's saying, or think his use of words was appropriate. But, I didn't find if confusing or baffling.
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
Kinda disappointed you focused on that phrase for the title, especially considering there were many other interesting topics during the conference.

doesn't Portal 2 more or less jab at this? They don't use the term "retarded" but it's mentioned a bunch of times that the playable character has brain damage.

Yeah

GLaDOS: You know what my days used to be like? I just tested. Nobody murdered
me. Or put me in a potato. Or fed me to birds. I had a pretty good life.
GLaDOS: And then you showed up. You dangerous, mute lunatic. So you know what?
GLaDOS: You win.
GLaDOS: Just go.
 
This thread is amazing.

It's not about being politically correct or not (generally, don't be an asshole to be one) it's once again "our industry" potentially looking juvenile when it comes to the broad picture.

A large figurehead in the industry is talking like a teenage boy when it's just as easy to get your point across in a more intelligent manner. He should know what he represents and the role he's in and should respect that role and the industry.
 
They've trained us to be this way. For decades worlds have been mostly non-interactive maps with 1 or 2 neat things to play with hidden away somewhere nearly randomly. You have to poke everything to sift through the static background and find something to play with. If you don't do this, you miss the neat stuff. Oh, you didn't find the magnum in level 3? Yeah, you had to search one of the toilets in one of the bathrooms.

Maybe they should make games that make sense. Hide the magnum bullets in a desk drawer, not in a ceiling vent. Then I won't feel the need to try to jump on anything that looks climbable and spam the action button on every surface.

To get some good discussion from all this; I think the above is a massive learning curve for new players. RPG's used to have this issue when I was growing up; Pokemon was a great 'way in' ofc; but it wasn't enough that when I was older they seemed overtly dense.

I'd prefer to play Fallout and know what rooms am looking for...as you would irl.
Why am I finding rounds that are usable...in a bin?
 

Sentenza

Member
what the heck, gabe?

has he been possessed by a demon? he's usually polite, insightful and on the mark with regards to what he's talking about

gaaaabe whats happening
Nothing, really, just listen to the whole talk.
He wasn't even implying nothing particularly bad against single player games, just taking about the technical limitations in terms of interaction.

But apparently people like to ride a pointless "controversy" for the sake of it.
 
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