At least just the censorship crytrolls posting numerous threads daily on the Steam forums by pushing off legit conversations is enough to keep me away. I imagine they will be in the game doing the same thing and shouting people down and drowning out meaningful conversation on purpose just to make everything hostile. They must be paid to do this because no one in the goddamn right mind would camp a forum daily posting the exact same nonsense about a topic like censorship in a game just to get themselves censored by the mods for being spammy asshats.
SWG Bloodfin vet
Elder Jedi/Elder Bounty Hunter
Comments
Hopefully it'll be real easy to block them in game.
Fingers crossed it doesn't suck.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Freeloaders have the right to be content for everyone else, that's about it.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
What triggered so much defensive and more agressive tones is the fact there's a group of people just because Amazon Games publishes this have restlessly had a go at Lost Ark, it has already lived through dramas because some people care waaaay too much about Amazon and act like their past failures, that are in-house development related problems, mean the failure of a title that ain't developed by them.
This includes a hell lot of misinformation and hyperbole, such as the censorship or p2w topic mudslinging takes.
Beyond that, for those who couldn't care less about those nuances, the game is great and will have a great time playing it, which I believe is the field where the majority of the people who's playing stands.
oh boy. I feel a Klash rant coming. Apologies in advance.
This censorship/blackface claim is coming from one group only.
Incels.
Only incels think changing an NPC skin tone or changing a skimpy female outfit to something less skimpy is censorship. Blackface? you have to be kidding me. Im black. I think I know what blackface is. I don't need an incel to tell me I should be offended at a game's creative choice if I don't find it offensive. Respectfully shut the hell up.
Here's the thing about this group, the incels. They hate women because women don't want to sleep with them. After all, they are pathetic examples of human beings. Most of these guys look like they don't even wash their asses.
They hate POC or LGBTQ folks being added to anything they like because they think it "erases" straight white men. When really it is just that new people are creating new stories they don't like and refuse to relate to.
It crushes their frail egos to no longer be the center of attention.
They really believe that only straight white men should exist and everyone else should be a servant to them. Nobody else is important enough. Everyone else has to explain why they exist in whatever setting they are in. Im seeing it right now in the Lord The Rings TV series announcement. A bunch of Ads came out with hands but guess what color hands got the fire going for incels? that's right. The black hands. As if Black people have no place in the universe of LOTR. 23 Posters. 4 were POC hands. Suddenly the show is gonna be trash.
(Full poster list here FYI https://variety.com/gallery/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-first-look-cast/fkrjbg0vqamsoot/ )
Their default setting is to be trash human beings. It must suck.
It's why every time a POC, Woman, or LGBTQ (or all 3 at once) is added to any type of media in nerd culture they have mental breakdowns. This is led by YTs like the quartering and his type.
It's hilarious to watch their false sense of reality unravel every time a new game or show is announced. They lose their hair over this shit! I can't even count how many times I've seen this. Countless times.
They only care they don't feel sexually represented because a game decided to show less T&A which is funny as hell to me. Incels wanna be victims of hate so bad because they have been perpetrators of hate for so long. They think making themselves victims of what they actually perpetrate gives them a moral high ground.
It's the same group that was bitching about The Last of Us 2. Ellie was a lesbian but not the type they can rub one out over. Same people that cried over Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn and Laura Croft from Tomb Raider reboot games.. the characters aren't sexy enough for them to fap to so they rage and review bomb the game talking about censorship and whatever else bullshit they can make up.
Now Lost Ark is censorship and blackface. smh. Hilarious. Good job incels. 0/10 IGN.
I guess Games aren't going to be a hobby they wanna do much longer because as far as I know, it's going to get worse for them.. better pick up taking a hike as a hobby...
As for me, Im going to be playing the shit out of Lost Ark on my black, curved sworded, Martial Artist character when it releases in a few days.
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
Lost Ark likes to present a more diverse cast of characters for their new more diverse audience. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. This is a sane marketing choice. I mean Asian games have been doing that for a long time.
Comments regarding the blackface is completely retarded. Because, if one has played any Asian games before, one would know that white people in Asian games (or Anime for that matter) always had the same model and looks with only a whiter shade of skin color. So they are doing the same thing for black people. It is part of the art style and it has got nothing to do with racism.
That aside; diversity is good when it is done right. Like this upcoming game 'Forspoken', I think it is a sleeper hit. What an amazing game. I really hope that it would become a series and gets sequels. The character, the world, and the story is just brilliant.
But when it is done in lame and lazy way, it is awful. Like in the new Viking series, they have changed a known Nordic king to a black woman. That means the show-runners don't really give a shit. This is just a marketing stunt. If they cared, they would've crafted a good character. The show is filled with imaginary characters. And stupid decisions like this would fuel a lot of people who do come from very dark places.
Or when they wanted to change Bond to a woman. That just doesn't work. Bond could be a black man though. Because his race isn't relevant, but his gender is. Idris Elba would've been a MUCH better Bond than Tom Hardy. How about using your creativity and fucking imagination and create a new series with a leading woman, instead of just pulling lazy publicity stunts.
Regarding Lord of the Rings, people say it is based on Nordic myths so it shouldn't have black folks. Based is the keyword here. It means that's were the author got his inspirations from. And yes, race is very important in LotR universe; but not black or white, but men, elven, hobbits, dwarves, orcs, ents, trolls, Valar, and Maiar. And even those races come in different colours. So unlike the Vikings series, I really don't think there needs to be any lore or explanations here. Even Aragorn could be black and it would've still been the exact same story. Imagine Samuel Jackson as Gandalf; you mother fuckers have a third breakfast!?
I personally enjoyed a lot of African Amerinan movies.. especially groundbreaking ones (Boys N Hood, Friday movies, Lion King, Glory, 7 years, Tarantino films...etc. )
I literally have zero idea what this Lost Ark issue is... I did watch Arcade on Netflix and it was a new IP that was well done (that pretty much is very diverse). This is how it should be done, not retcon'ng authors for diversity sake.
Tolkien stated he was writing a mythology for the English people (meaning England 1900s)... so I'm confused...
Should they reboot BoysNHood with white gangbangers... I'm sure everyone would be awesome with that? We know the answer...
There are awesome stories from African culture... and around the world.
My position, don't slip in characters into an existing IP for a particular message... it's just a different culture.
The shame is, I really enjoy different cultures when I travel around the world... let's not homogenize them completely.
Yeah I'm a terrible person for acknowledging cultures should be preserved and not put in a smoothie blender.
It's absolute hyperbole and assumptions with the "butchered all the cosmetics" (absolute BS statement it has been stated so many times the skins are not being removed/altered to a specific west version), "blackfaced half of the npcs" (played the betas and this is obviously not the case), or ruined character creation.
In fact this version has MORE character customization options, as requested to SmileGate, it's insanity to me to be throwing this tantrum over black faces when they added more possible customization to players.
Just move on already, unless you're unable to co-exist with a version that has some black faces here and there, then go play the other versions.
There are MMOs with very healthy communities both in-game and within community creators, that is where you tell the difference.
Yeah So here's the thing. You are gatekeeping and gaslighting. Stop this. Your post is full of microaggressions and I think you are being willfully obtuse.
As usual, let me break it down.
YOU: "Should they reboot BoysNHood with white gangbangers... I'm sure everyone would be awesome with that? We know the answer..."
TRANSLATION: "You have black films that white people cant be a part of why can't we have films that black people can't be a part of"
YOU: "There are awesome stories from African Culture"
TRANSLATION: “Isn’t there a Black-centered fandom you can be a part of?”
YOU: "Tolkien stated he was writing a mythology for the English people (meaning England 1900s)... so I'm confused..."
TRANSLATION: "Well, I’m not trying to be racist, but [insert fantasy character name] is white.”
Boyz in The Hood was based on reality. It's a literal story. Los Angeles isn't some mystical, magical, fantasy world. so yes it would be weird to see white crips and bloods in a movie about crips and bloods living in 1990s Inglewood CA. Nobody is gatekeeping it though. Anyone is welcome to try. Whether it's successful or not is different. It's the same thing with any example you can pull out of your ass.
Black people in fantasy works because there is a whole lot of black folks that are fans of fantasy. Myself included. We see ourselves in those stories because it's such a big universe. We also read the books too. We are genuine fans. Some of us grow up and write stories for the fantasies we grew up on. It's what a lot of folks in nerd culture do. any race. Saying to write stories about "African Culture" is wrong because Im not from Africa. Im from America. Im not against African stories at all, I would love to see some but Im also part of American culture which includes NERD culture which includes Fantasy. LOTR is a big part of American Pop culture. I don't care who wrote it.
Also, FTR.. Fantasy isn't based on JUST English anything. Cut it out. Fantasy is also based on things from THE BIBLE which was created in the middle east by BROWN and AFRICAN people. This includes Tolkien. Im very curious what real-world English culture had Dragons, Demons, and Magic. Please let me know.
So, What you and others are saying is we cannot participate because we are black. WTH type of shit is that to say.. Capital R. Fantasy IPs have dragons, vampires, Lycan, starships, laser beams, walking dead, and magic but POC can't be written in?
Again the gatekeeping is ridiculous.
Also, There are "White" gangbanger movies. Have you ever heard of The Godfather? Pick any Mafia movie. Very successful films. Idk what you thought you were doing with that reference but moving on.
You are saying black people can't participate in LOTR because the story was written by a white man. That's like saying white people can't listen to, be inspired by, or create rap music because Hip Hop was created by black people.
Let's address Mr. T and his books. There has been a long discussion for decades about how he wrote certain things about certain races leading many people to believe he wrote the orcs of his world as black people. Now whether is true or not idk (Prob is) but what it did do was create this environment where white fans think they can gatekeep LOTR from black fans simply because it was written by a white English dude and there are no main black characters. It's like you believe there were no black people in the world until 1960.
Never mind that Tolkien wrote the Haradrim into the story.
Unlike you, I don't mind if new characters are slipped into Fantasy stories if it makes sense. If it's well written, Im all in.
White LOTR fans gatekeep LOTR lore and Fantasy in general as if it's real-world history. It's not. Its fake. Newsflash. F A K E. F A N T A S Y.
Nerd Culture is for everyone that wants to participate that's including Tolkien and anything else.
During the protests, Wizards of the Coast promised to “share what we’ve been doing, and what we plan to do in the future to address legacy D&D content that does not reflect who we are today”. In addition, it also pulled several racist cards from the card game Magic: The Gathering, such as Invoke Prejudice, Jihad, and Pradesh Gypsies. It's crazy that it took the murder of George Floyd for companies to start making sweeping changes in NERD culture. Notice I said NERD CULTURE. Not white culture. Not English culture.
It's like you don't realize there are other people around the world DIFFERENT from you, that like what you like and want to see stories that also represent them too in their favorite worlds. Without judgment.
Look I don't care who wrote it. Telling black people (Or any people) we aren't allowed to see ourselves in Fantasy is morally wrong and downright racist. Ive been seeing this rhetoric for years in nerd culture and it's tiring. Adding black people to Fantasy changes very little if anything at all. Aragorn could have been Black, Asian, Mexican, queer, etc and the story would have been the same story. Maybe even a little more interesting. I don't think he NEEDED to be those things, but It would not bother me much if he were.
Representation of characters from ‘uncivilized’ worlds and nostalgia for colonial cultures have been problematic from the start and its past time for fantasy fiction and role-playing games to shed this racist history.
It's 2022. Black people still have to explain why we belong in different spaces.
If seeing a black person in a fantasy setting upsets you or makes you think it compromises "the vision" then you are morally bankrupt and are the reason why "Diversity" is even an issue. It wouldn't be an issue if people that think as you do, would simply accept that there are different people in the world that like the same thing you do.
(Edited for Spelling and Clarity)
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
Just a joke guys don't kill me. You know why many people even Frodo had a problem with destroying the ring? It is a white thing, whenever white people find an artifact they think it is theirs and they take it to their homes, put it on display, charge people for tickets,...
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
"In short, I value free speech, not so much because I’m right and you need to hear from me, but rather because I’m very often wrong and need to hear from you. Free speech rests upon a foundation of human fallibility."
I'll just leave that there.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Nah nope. They call themselves that stupid shit. You aren't about to sit here and act like I personally made this up. The oxford definition is below.
They think it's a badge of honor. For you to not feel as if it's a personal attack, you def are defending it like it's a personal attack.
It's not even up for debate. they are damn near a hate group. 1 march short of joining the proud boyz. Lookup Alek Minassian and Elliot Rodger literally murdered women for not wanting them sexually.
They were self-described incels.
I don't need to know their personal sex life to know that the people in this community are losers and dont belong in gaming at all. I also don't need you to agree to anything I write. It's true. Google is still free. Some of the things they say and believe are so bad I won't repeat them here, but you can look it up. They openly say they hate women and say the worth of a woman is equal to whatever amount they are worth in the bed.
They have this viewpoint because they can't get sex partners even though they want one. It's self-induced. Again, for you to not be affected you sure are acting affected.
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.