Tim Sweeny says to get dem poltiks out his games!

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

That's messed up B

[AlucardNoir]

@Antiboyscout More politics is actually part of the problem. Take the example of Far Cry 5.

What progressive reviewers thought of the game:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/29/17176308/far-cry-5-review-xbox-ps4-pc
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/03/27/far-cry-5-is-apolitical-to-the-point-of-absurdity/#49fadbb65c2e

What the people who actually played the game thought of the game:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/552520/Far_Cry_5/

The people that actually bought and played the game loved it, the people that reviewed it as their day job complained it wasn't political and progressive enough.

And speaking of buying games:
@BridgeConsoleMasher You alright there mate? Thinking someone refusing to buy something because of historical revisionism is messed up is, well messed up unto itself. clearspira was under no obligation to buy the game, let alone after being told by the studio making said game that if he disagrees with their historical revisionism he shouldn't buy it.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Well the world's a twisted place.

That's not a statement of challenge or objection or anything btw. More of a "to each their own" sentiment.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

I don't know whether he has a specific game or situation in mind, but I do agree in a general sense with the quotes in the article.

Any worthwhile novel, film, or tv show has a theme(s) that's being communicated, and in some way the writer/director is sharing their worldview. Some of the works best ever are explicitly political, others more subtly and others tangentially at best. I do think there's a real difference between art as expression, communicating a certain point of view, and some "preachy" works that come across as less concerned with the artistic endeavor than creating a pamphlet for your pet cause. Some of the frustration audiences have now is that some choices seem to be made for the sole purpose of checking off certain boxes rather than servicing the story.

All that is to say that political expressions are a natural part of art if they're coming from the actual creators of the work, and Sweeney acknowledges that. Coming from marketing departments or from higher-ups who aren't the ones actually telling the stories, that threatens to delegitimize things. Another way of expressing the point is to trust the integrity of the artistic process and allow creatives to pursue their vision rather than interfering from outside that process.

One other factor, games are a different animal than books and movies, so they don't necessarily need themes in the same way. Narrative-driven games do, but even there player choice can complicate things a bit.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I feel like people complain about any shred of introspective material as if it's propaganda. C'est la vie I guess.

Not wanting revisionist in gaming is fine I think btw.

[Enterprising]

Politics in any fiction is absolutely fine, as long as it’s within a proper subtext and meshes with the world/characters created for it. It only becomes a problem when the subtext also becomes the pretext, that leads to very boring, in your face, and easily applauded to messages.

When it comes to specifically gaming journalism, they need to get back to reviewing just the games themselves, and forgo with trying to weave in their own political leanings into it. I stopped reading a review of the game Savage Planet the other week, because a big chunk the review got dedicated to the use of the word “savage” in the game’s title. Even something like a more brainless game like Apex Legends, another review I stopped reading because it was going into the colours/gender/orientation of characters you could select. Which is completely needless to begin with, but even more so for a game of that nature that’s not even looking to make any sort of “point” on such subject matters.

Also, well done to IGN for the click-baity title to completely misrepresent what Sweeny said, which they had to correct later. I’m not a fan at all of Sweeny and his company’s shameless drive via exclusives, but on this one we’re in agreement.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

When it comes to specifically gaming journalism, they need to get back to reviewing just the games themselves, and forgo with trying to weave in their own political leanings into it. I stopped reading a review of the game Savage Planet the other week, because a big chunk the review got dedicated to the use of the word “savage” in the game’s title. Even something like a more brainless game like Apex Legends, another review I stopped reading because it was going into the colours/gender/orientation of characters you could select. Which is completely needless to begin with, but even more so for a game of that nature that’s not even looking to make any sort of “point” on such subject matters.

You find an outlet or two that becomes hip to this and just kinda reviews the *thing* for what people more traditionally play games for.

[Rocketboy1313]

You know what is weird?

I have multiple degrees in political/government fields and I am working on another.

I seem to have less an issue of the inclusion of politics in a game than people who have no intellectual or professional connection to real life politics.

I wonder if this all relates to a mentally lazy public. "Get politics out of my games, I don't want to think about things that matter... Just like how I don't in real life."

Anything can be politicized. Allowing ideas to be explored in the harmless realms of gaming is perhaps the best way for people to experiment with or entertain ideas so that they can form new opinions in the real world. I find it frustrating the things people try to de-politicize (the Tom Clancy material from earlier being a prime example, but really gun violence in general) because you are ignoring a whole level of thought. They are willfully making themselves dumber and it is hurting the world around us.

[Antiboyscout]

You know what is weird?

I have multiple degrees in political/government fields and I am working on another.

I seem to have less an issue of the inclusion of politics in a game than people who have no intellectual or professional connection to real life politics.

I wonder if this all relates to a mentally lazy public. "Get politics out of my games, I don't want to think about things that matter... Just like how I don't in real life."

Anything can be politicized. Allowing ideas to be explored in the harmless realms of gaming is perhaps the best way for people to experiment with or entertain ideas so that they can form new opinions in the real world. I find it frustrating the things people try to de-politicize (the Tom Clancy material from earlier being a prime example, but really gun violence in general) because you are ignoring a whole level of thought. They are willfully making themselves dumber and it is hurting the world around us.

OR, It's because you agree with the politics in question

Never is it an honest exploration of the politics in question. When has progressive ideology been painted in a negative light or even in shades of gray?

[Rocketboy1313]

OR, It's because you agree with the politics in question

Never is it an honest exploration of the politics in question. When has progressive ideology been painted in a negative light or even in shades of gray?

Well, there aren't too many games that are about Medicare for all, Unionization, the minimum wage, universal suffrage, or whatever else you may qualify as progressive.

I guess you could say, environmentalism is a big part of games, but a lot of that depends on magic versus technology as a metaphor and in the real world magic isn't real, so the literal-ness of many environmental messages falls flat and you have to think in terms of the bad guys being metaphors for climate change and magic in terms of renewable/sustainable development. But even then, most of the time the metaphor involves using violence to win the argument.

I guess you could look at games like "Stardew Valley" but that isn't a commune, it is still a capitalist game, it just looks down on corporations sucking the life out of people.

Most games are conflict based and the use of fire arms or strength is often the deciding factor on defeating the bad guy.

I don't know if you would qualify that as inherently Progressive, but I don't.

I would argue the overwhelming amount of games out there tilt toward points 11 and 12 of fascism rather than anything related to Progressive politics.
http://www.openculture.com/2016/11/umberto-eco-makes-a-list-of-the-14-common-features-of-fascism.html