I'm not going to take sides on the whole freedom-of-expression vs someone-may-get-offended argument.
Lets say that I were to release a game that included some elements that may poke fun at or include negative aspects of some of the political correctness crusade that is currently smothering all aspects of society today.
Would you play such a game? Would it be able to advertise freely? Would the creator get shot?
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As for marketing, conventional media may have an issue with it, but that can be largely irrelevant nowadays.
Your poll questions indicate that you are not considering the power of social media and viral marketing. Do you really think that no product or event can be successful today without conventional marketing ? 0.o
Ravism, can you do it? Based on your posts so far, I don't think that's a road you should travel.
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I doubt you could pull off a game that included actual slave trading in the 15-16th century America, or the colonization of the America's with the corresponding slaughter of the native American peoples.
One reason I think western games are few and far between is they have a hard time dealing with "Indians" in the lore.
When I was a child it was acceptable to play cowboys and indians, and the indians usually lost, because everyone knew from the movies that is what they were suppose to do. Same thing when we played war as Americans vs Germans, Nazi's always lost too. Now days I'm pretty sure no children play such games, but maybe its SEALS vs ISIS, I dunno.
You can have WWII games, and even play as Germans/Nazi's, but no one is going to include a death camp simulator as a mini-game. (and of course this idea should be unthinkable.)
So, it's a very fine line to walk if you decide to be politically incorrect, and if not careful the outcry could doom your game to failure.
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Lets say the game had libertarian overtones to the lore.
Libertarians seem to be controversial to people who identify themselves as liberal and conservative for example.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Poking fun at PC sounds amusing, as long as it doesn't cross the line to promoting hatred.
things like killing Jews in death camps, or making a game where you reanact pearl harbour by playing the Japanese and slaying Americans may be seen as unacceptable.
Killing Germans apparently is fine judging by all the WWII crap we are getting.
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You bring up killing Nazis, which is another area of PC... The icon/flag/symbol used is the Iron Cross. Most developers avoid the swastika (actual flag of the Nazi party) for PC reasons.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
A game that pokes fun at some element of political correctness that 5% of the population tries to zealously enforce and the other 95% thinks is nuts wouldn't have such problems. Indeed, if the 5% tried to create a backlash, that would just be free advertising for the game and probably make it more successful.
I've always felt that games are not to be taken seriously. They are the place where you can do things you can't in real life and enjoy because it's not hurting anyone. It's a guilty pleasure so to speak. Unfortunately many people seem to be offended by many different topics.
I'm sure Grand Theft Auto V had a lot of people speaking out against it. It just made so much money that there isn't much any protesters could do I'd imagine.
Another game of note is the Witcher series of games. They have a lot of sexism and racism. A lot of that was toned down in the third installment. It made the bad guys feel more real (which was good for me). It also made the good guy feel more real as he had a lot of flaws. One being his sleeping with every woman that showed interest in him. There were also a few scenes in the first Witcher game with threat of rape by some unsavory characters. There was never any actual rape as Geralt always save the girl. None the less I believe this was complained about quite a bit by various people and organizations. There was also a torture scene of a woman in the begging of the Witcher 2 that was modified I believe due to lots of complaints. It had nothing to do with sex. It was simple torture.
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