What is a "Woke" Game

[KLXVER]

the-pi-guy said:

KLXVER said:

Even though I am impressed by your knowledge on the subject, it doesnt really change my mind. There can be many reasons why Alan Wake 2 didnt sell well. The fact is that some people were put off by the game when it was labeled "woke". Go look on several comment sections for Alan Wake 2 videos on Youtube or X or whatever and you will see several of them. Now you might just shrug them off and call them mindless sheep influenced by grifters, but these are gamers saying they wont buy the game because of it. 

I know several of you dont want to admit that woke is hurting video games, because that would maybe mean that you are wrong in your beliefs. I dont think that is the case, but I mean according to you, the anti-woke crowd is just loud and doesnt really affect game sales anyway. Yet you hate them so much. Yes anti-woke people hate woke stuff, but woke people hate anti-woke stuff. So neither one is better that the other. Its just that you have such low opinions of eachothers and you both think you are on the right side of history, that the hate for eachother becomes justified in your mind. "I mean so what if I call these people racist, bigots and sexist? They are on the evil side after all, right?"

Yes I hate the fact that people are bothered by inclusion. 

Yes I hate the fact that people are bothered when they see black people included in video games.

I hate the fact that people are bothered when they see a woman on screen, that doesn't fit their type.

I hate the fact that people are bothered when they are reminded of the existence of trans and nonbinary people. 

"So neither one is better that the other."

There's a huge difference. One side hates the fact that there's so much vitriol and hatred directed at people for simply existing, and the other side hates that there is a push for those people to exist at all. "Woke" people are not trying to push anti-"woke" people out of the gaming industry, they just want them to grow up and accept the fact that they exist too. 

"Woke" people don't feel that they're opposed to anti-"woke" people. They're not trying to push white and straight characters out of the industry. They don't throw tantrums when a character happens to be a straight white male. They're just pushing for everyone to be included in the conversation. 

"Woke" people want everyone to be included. Anti-"woke" people do not. They're not opposite sides of the same coin. 

I have no problem when people complain about badly written characters, badly written stories. There are plenty of stories that are written badly with awkward inclusion, and plenty of "woke" people have no problem calling out bad stories. But to act like everything bad that happens is because of inclusion is absurd. That is the crux of the problem. 

I had a conversation with a friend about Dragon Age Veilguard, despite being a "woke" individual, he had no problem calling out how awkward a lot of the writing was. But he did it without blaming nonbinary people. 

It is possible to have conversations about how badly written a nonbinary character is, without it devolving into whether that nonbinary character should exist or not. 
It's even possible whether it makes sense to have pronouns on a character selection screen, without devolving into whether trans characters should exist in a sci-fi game.

You lump all anti-woke people together. Just like anti-woke people lump woke people together. People who hate the inclusion of a character simply because they are of a different skincolor or sex than themselves is not in any way the majority. There are too many of those people, but thats not what most people have a problem with. It usually is about forced diversity just for the sake of it, it feels disingenuous. It is the writing that is the main problem. Its not that they only want pretty characters, its that the less attractive characters feels like a statement from the developer. I think a lot of this is just people being so sick of wokeness that any indication of a game being so will set them off. Its like with the latest presidental election. I dont think a lot of people voted for Trump because they like him. I think they voted against the democratic party because they are sick to their stomach of having to walk on eggshells and the fear of being cancelled. So as soon as people see red flags, they will react. Some times in an aggressive way. 

Its like me saying woke people hate straight white men, because I have seen several woke people say that. But thats obviously just a loud minority. 

Of course you can have a conversation about how badly written a nonbinary character is without accusing eachother of anything. I just think that is a conversation that is very difficult to keep under control on a public forum where anyone can just join the conversation.

Last edited by KLXVER - on 26 December 2024