DjchunKfunK wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 12:59 pm
I don't think that's true. A bad story is a bad story and people point it out regardless.
I'm not saying people don't point out a bad story, what I'm saying is that people use a bad story to argue that politics shouldn't be in games but people tend not to mention individual themes when critiquing stories without explicit political themes in them.
I'm sure there are places and people where that's the case, but equally I've had many discussions with many different people where specific non-sensitive themes in stories have been explored. I don't think what you're describing is remotely typical of these sorts of discussion.
DjchunKfunK wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 12:59 pm
I think that shoehorning in societal elements or issues in a clumsy way often comes across as pure tokenism and likely a boardroom decision to tick a box.
This is what I am talking about, why is trying to address something political seen as shoehorning and box kicking from the boardroom if it is done in a poor way? Why is it not just like most other attempt at telling a story in games and just another story that has been executed?
Bad writing is bad writing. But where a bad story about redemption is disappointing, a bad story which implements tokenism can be actively harmful by perpetuating stereotypes.
Again, the issue is not that sensitive topics should be avoided in games. We should be doing more to encourage true diversity and representation in games, but also remain critical of tokenism.
As an example, I remember some people claimed Steve Cortez in Mass Effect 3 was a token gay man as that was his only defining trait in his story, but I actually thought he was a more rounded character than that and was relatively well implemented into the overall story. I'm blanking on other examples - I'll have a think.
EDIT - As another Bioware example, people levelled the same criticism at Dorian in Dragon Age Inquistion. The thing is, I don't recall anyone saying that Dorian or Cortez should have been straight or that homosexuality shouldn't have been explored in those games. The criticism was more that people wanted the characters to be better implemented. Similarly to Cortez, though, I thought Dorian was great, and he had a difficult and complex relationship with his father and culture that tied into his sexuality in a way that felt natural.
An example which I think was largely accepted as positive is Krem in DA:I, who is a transgender character who is well-liked and accepted by his squad mates for who he is. He's handled well as the topic of gender isn't raised until later in the game when you have the opportunity to ask about it in a respectful way, and you learn about his past struggles on the road to becoming a mercenary.
I think what I'm saying is that while there is almost certainly tokenism in gaming (even if firm examples elude me), I don't believe games that have explored sensitive topics for better or worse have been criticised for doing so. If anything, people demand more and better diverse representation rather than wanting games to exclude those topics entirely.