Blog #2: Of Gaming and Gabbing
This month’s blog entry will be a critique and a bit of a rant because there are some things that I’d like to get off my chest. I do apologize if this comes off making me look a bit foul tempered, but these are subjects I'm quite adamant on. That said let’s go!
1. “Gamergate 2.0”
One month ago, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was released. Since then, things in the gaming industry have gotten crazy. For those unfamiliar this game got panned for being a bad product. Not only for the woke content, but also for the bad gameplay and all the microtransactions.
After that fiasco the name Sweet Baby Inc came to light. Said company worked in a "consulting" capacity on the game. Later people found out Sweet Baby Inc. played a major role in the downfall of the game. As well as the downfall of the company that made the game Rocksteady Studios.
On the heels of that a gamer on STEAM name of Kabrutus created a group called Sweet Baby Inc Detected. The purpose of the group was to list games that Sweet Baby Inc had worked on. And in an ironic twist a lot of the information came from Sweet Baby Inc’s own website. At least it was there before the consulting company decided to hide it from the public. Gee, now why is it they did that?
And yet Sweet Baby Inc flew into a fit over the fact someone was listing the games they’d worked on. One of Sweet Baby Inc.’s members Chris Kindred organized a harassment campaign on X/Twitter. The purpose was to pressure Valve the company that owns STEAM to ban the group and Kabrutus.
The public when they learned the truth did not take well to this move. So much so that this move by Sweet Baby Inc has had what’s called the Streisand effect. Many more gamers have joined the group. I’m proud to say I joined to show solidarity with Kabrutus.
As someone from the time before the Internet, I can say this. What Kabrutus is doing is not harassment or illegal! Informing and educating the gaming populace is not a crime! It’s no different than what Consumer Reports and its kids subsidiary Penny Power did back in the day.
In an update Kabrutus has created a website called DEI detected. This site lists games that have had DEI used in them or the making of them. Again, he isn't harassing anyone! Kabrutus is only informing the public so they can spend their money on better products. Anyone who says he's harassing or committing a crime is selling something!
But the response from Sweet Baby Inc has opened a proverbial Pandora's box. It highlights the fact that gaming is suffering the same issues as the rest of entertainment. This problem is a twofold one. Now the first issue is of course the wokeness. This creepy cult-like set of very bad ideas companies have tried to beat the public with.
Now to be fair everyone has their opinions. But the real problem is the fact gamers don’t want any of this modern politics stuff in our games. What the public does want is beautiful, wonderful escapism.
It’s clear the activists in the industry aren’t doing that. Besides Sweet Baby Inc another example of a woke consulting firm is Black Girl Gamers. This company claims to be about empowering Black female gamers. Yet, this company helped Luminous Productions create Forespoken. And that game was another one that got panned by gamers, and critics alike.
Right after its release Square Enix sold Luminous Productions. Not that I blame them for cutting their losses. And Black Girl Gamers consultancy was a big part of why the game failed. And their actions towards one Vanessa AKA Gothix were horrible. For context best to let Gothix herself explain that.
Bad enough they had politics shoved into the game and production. But there were two other things of note in there. The gaming controls were atrocious in that they were very hard to work. And the black female had a whole bunch of black stereotypes shoved in!
This is what they call empowering black women? This is more like disempowering them! Again, Forespoken got panned by many critics and gamers alike and it was well deserved.
Yet so many gaming companies and consulting firms are continuing down this path. Which begs the question how did things get so bad? How did these activists in artisan clothing gain so much control? For that matter why did they gain so much control?
This brings up the second issue which is true in all mainstream entertainment. The gaming industry has for the most part gotten taken over by glorified bean counters. People who are intent on profit by any means necessary. So much so that they sacrifice quality of gaming, story, and character development. They put race, gender, and sexuality quotas in, all so they can save money on labor costs and virtue signal.
All this so the company execs can save money and make themselves a fast buck. These executives could do with reading “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. In it the ghost of Ebeneezer Scrooge's former partner says people were his business. And in this case that holds true that Gamers are people. So thus, people are the gaming industry’s business.
Stan Lee once said this in an interview on the Sci-Fi channel. "We mustn’t become so commercial that we’re only thinking of the business deal.”
This is a statement that should hold true in the gaming industry. It's obvious the bean counters in charge have forgotten this or they don't care. A prime example of this is EA Games. Their sports games are dropping in quality as fast as they put them out. Another prime example will be the subject of my next part of this commentary.
2.Unworthy Ubisoft
I hate to have to do this, but I must! I cannot sit by idle any longer while Ubisoft engages in some very bad behavior. It’s become evident that the executive board of the company care nothing about gamers. Nor do they care for their product. This company is only interested in making money by any means necessary.
Even if it means listening to the false promises of DEI and ESG. Yeah, that's right ESG and DEI are full of false promises. I've done some research into both these subjects. DEI is another word for quotas based on race, gender, and sexuality. It's impossible to make great games based on diversity quotas.
Also, ESG sacrifices product and service quality. And it does so for some kind of investment from woke investors. ESG is an old-fashioned sucker's game. And the only way to win at a sucker's game is to not play! Going for ESG money is very…unwise.
Ubisoft is another case of a company getting taken over by glorified bean counters. It’s infuriating to me because these are the guys who own Might & Magic, a franchise I love. Though with the way Ubisoft has treated said franchise they make it clear they don’t share in my enthusiasm for it. A prime example is Heroes of Might & Magic VII or as the title goes Might & Magic Heroes VII. If you’ve read my commentary on Why I want Might & Magic I’ve made my thoughts on that game clear.
But for good measure I’ll put a link to it at the end of this blog entry so anyone who wants to can go have a look at it.
And Might & Magic isn’t the only franchise that’s suffered. The quality of workmanship in Assassin’s Creed has been decreasing since the end of III. But the real issue that comes into play is the attitude of the executives and the company. The first issue involves an article involving a Ubisoft executive. In it he mentions how gamers should get used to not owning their games.
So, what’s getting said is that Ubisoft will allow someone to buy a game. Then when it’s no longer useful for them they’ll take it away without a second’s warning. This is what Ubisoft did with The Crew. And thereby ran off with the money of gamers who did buy it. Thus, showing their sense of entitlement. You will own nothing, and you’ll be happy, is that it? Yeah, from a historical angle this got tried before. It's called Communism and it always ends in disastrous failure.
Whether it’s streaming or gaming no company, person, or group should ever have that kind of power. Instead leave it up to the players to decide if they do or don’t want to play it. Leave it up to the market to decide what people want.
All gamers want are good games. Lecturing them and then stealing their money are scummy business practices. As I’ve said before Ubisoft shame on you for being so disrespectful to your customers! You are the company that gave us the iconic Ezio Auditore. You are better than this so get your act together!
This kind of greedy and disgusting behavior is unbecoming of this company. This situation has made me want to buy the Might & Magic franchise away from Ubisoft. Or take it away from them by legal means, though I would prefer to buy the franchise. For that matter there are a lot of franchises that could do better out from the Ubisoft banner.
It’s become clear Ubisoft's execs only care about themselves and their profits. Not about the quality of their games and pleasing their customers. Scummy business tactics indeed!
3.Gab goofed and then listened
I had planned to do a takedown of Gab for a bad idea. That being Gab charging at least $9.99 a month to be able to put up pictures and video links on said platform. But things have taken a sudden and delightful turn. I don’t pretend to know what happened. But my guess is that a lot of people on Gab complained about this getting used to force more people on to Gab Pro.
This idea was a bad business practice right up there with what Ubisoft and EA Games pull. As in microtransactions level bad. I am thankful for the fact Gab reconsidered and made it so anyone can put pictures and video links up again. This is a very wise move on their part.
Now I understand that money is tight these days. And having Far-Left activists trying to shut a site down because they’re the wrong politics is not cool. Banks should do business with Gab based on fiduciary ability, not political ideology. I say this because unfortunately my bank is one of those that doesn't do business with Gab. And I can't change because my visual impairment makes travel a tad bit difficult.
For those who would try to use the Las Vegas shooter tactic this is the proper response. When Gab learned the guy had an account, they took it down at once. And they handed over all his information to and cooperated with law enforcement. So, Gab did nothing wrong!
As I said I’m very glad that Gab chose to take a step back and allow everyone to post pictures and video links. again. I understand Gab wants a free and vibrant Internet. Most everyone wants that to be.
I do though have a message for the people at Gab. For the love of God and his son Jesus Christ, please-please listen. Don’t ever do anything like that again. I want Gab to continue to grow and thrive for many years to come. I’ve enjoyed myself on the site even though I don’t have that many followers.
Yet I still want to put my stuff on this platform and spread the word about what I do. Not only to promote my work, but to help get modern politics out of entertainment once and for all.
So, with that I will also say thank you staff of Gab for listening to the people. Doing that will get you very far.
This concludes my blog entry, see you next month good readers.
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