It's funny how that Sweet Baby Inc. employees were mad with that Steam curator even though all he did was list a bunch of games with their involvement. And unknowingly made that Steam page more popular than ever and showed their true colors with their awful behavior.
If Chris Kindred weren’t such a hostile jackass with a raging victimhood narcissism streak this whole situation could’ve been avoided. He could’ve just said something like “Love my games? A new Steam group has popped up that tracks the studios I’ve worked with. Follow them to get some great titles to try next!” and this would’ve fizzled out without a problem. Of course, as a raging SJW, he literally can’t resist flying into a rage whenever anyone dares to question his ideology
It's even more hypocritical because these woke types are the same people who use those twatter mods or blocklists to automatically block people based on who they follow, and this steam curator group is basically the same, except not as extreme (with the twatter blocklists, you don't see those people's tweets at all and they can't see yours, but with the steam curator, it just tells you on a game that the curator says it's sh*t). So it's okay when they do it, but it's bad when other people do it... This seems to be a trend with the radical left.
Just goes to show the double standard. It's a poorly kept secret people with the mindset of SBI have lists they share around to keep people out of the industries they've infested. Heck, even one of their supporters came out and said he was keeping tabs on people to be sure they won't work in any place he has control of. Yet when a curator list is made not suggesting games they've been involved in they scream harassment.
Why is it so freaking shocking these days to get a divisive topic broken down with both sides of the situation and presented to the viewer to make their own decisions? Thank you for doing this. It's a breath of fresh air.
Of course people will be annoyed that youre trying to be fair to a side that attacked a steam group first and asked valve to ban its owners profile because of 'harashment' and i quote: 'He likes his account so much'. They claimed that the group was harashing them even tho they were the agressors, not the group and besides they didint even harash them! All the group did was highlight the games sb worked on, the group didint even say anything negative about the group just why the group existed wich was to detect sb games. After wich Kotaku decided to once again stab players in the back and say players started the whole thing while also purposly leaving out the whole steam group part. After all that yeah id be pretty pissed too if anyone tried to defend sweet baby even a little. They started it, have been caught lying and News sites refuse to report truthfully, of course people will pile on the big guy harashing the little guy.
@@robinnewhouse1563 That media is hiding facts? Many times. Unless you think Hiding info from the public is someting to be accepted then fine you can have that opinion but i wont.
@@draw2death421 what excactly is the BIG MEDIA hiding from you?😂 And if you say they where "hiding" that game studios do use the work of consultancy agencies, like script doctors do in Hollywood, then that's because youre uninformed, and not because they are maliciously omitting facts. You probably feel that way because that whole discourse arose out of the fact that channel like this very one, live on your outrage, and to stay relevant they have to concoct some weird narrative that the "woke" are ruining your whatever. Insert Thing I need to be outraged about.
i don't think you clearly mentioned what they did at the beginning. they tried to get his personal gaming account taken from him. that is not just the loss of money put into the games he purchased but also the progress he has made in the games. If i lost my MMO account not only would i loose money, i would loose a large amount of free gifts i would have to pay money a ton to get back and it would take years to regain the progress i have. They attacked his personal account because they did not like his opinion on the games they were involved in, that is truly malicious behavior. That was way worse then just trying to silence him.
Notice how the only race in the specific group is white. Like don’t get me wrong I hate the woke shit but yall literally pioneered invented racism. Are all white people now gonna stand up and point the finger at every other race and call them racist. Yall can win the argument without the reverse racism victim card cause it’s genuinely stupid and not gonna work on them, next tactic
They've been brainwashed into believing this nonsense by radical leftist woke ideologies, such as CRT. What's worse, CRT not only insists that it is not possible to be racist against white people. It also claims that it's not possible for black folk to be racist. At all.. In any way... Thus, we get this madness. Black supremacist racists who feel free to be as hateful and racist as they please...
Someone from Sweet Baby decided to spit on the grave of famous manga author Akira Toriyama. He claims that Akira created the most racist character in all of manga and anime: Mr. Popo. He was based off of a Hindu god named Mahakala
At the time and place it was pretty black face looking. I get Japanese don't get American racism, why should they? The original dB isnt aim at western markets, so I never assumed the guy was racist. Also after seeing the Team Four Star version I don't see race. All I see is that all these squares make a circle.
I personally dont care about being labeled as a "horny 14 year old boy" just because I like attractive, or even scantily clad female characters in the games I play. What I DO care about, is the assumption that liking those things is somehow bad, or means that I hate women. There are even women who like playing as or with sexy characters. It has nothing to do with hate, nor does it make anyone a bad person.
same, i mean i have a fair amount of NSFW Skyrim mods (among other games) and am not ashamed of it, but the thing is is that i am pansexual (not limited to one or 2 genders that i can be attracted to), have multiple "types" i prefer and am non-binary (neither identify as male or female besides biologically)
it sucks. what kind of escapism is there for me to enjoy when every female PC is ugly af? got that covered irl lol now give me my fucking power fantasy back. male chars can be "ideal" versions of men and no one gives a shit about it but the second a game features a attractive woman you can her screeching coming over from twitter.
He is missing some extremely important information like the fact that Aneta Sarkisian lied about what she was going to do, lied about the content of the games that she was supposedly calling out. Lied about what type of gameplay was encountered and encouraged. She also helped a certain person lie about the misconduct of their ex and organized a harassment campaign that resulted in the suicide of the victim. There are other problems like the fact that Aneta Sarkisian never producing the content that she claimed that she would and Zoe Quinn lied about the assault charges and later admitted that. Then you need to consider that Aneta Sarkisian and two other people were involved in false charges that they later admitted were false charges and they only did it because they thought they could get away with it and they were jealous of the person who was getting attention from someone that they fancied. I can easily keep going but these are just part of the issue.
What Sweet Baby Inc did in Suicide Squad is beyond inexcusable and they werent' even subtle about it. The game could've been fun with a few tweaks, make Batman the only hero who isn't possessed by Brainiac, have him eventually develop a way to save the League without killing them, have him die tragically fighting off an Evil Superman and eventually be immortalized both in game and in turn immortalize Kevin Conroy as well. Instead we have Harley Quinn giving a hamfisted speech about how Batman is evil or some shit, despite the fact Harley is a mass murdering psychopath, and have her shoot him in the face and die on a park bench like a complete loser.
Batman could have grabbed the gun and told Harley, pleaded with her to do it because the mind control was too much. Harley could have had a great emotional scene being forced to do the deed. OR Even easier, just have it so each Justice League member, when defeated is simply knocked out of mind control but too weak to help, but will assist you or the plot in some way. So many others ways it could have gone down. Whatever though, the game is non canon anyway despite what these chumps say.
@@stephanreiken9912 Dude Rocksteady isn't Woke or atleast weren't Woke initially. They made all the Batman Arkham Games which were amazing and this latest game was made with Sweet Baby Inc helping. THey were involved and share the blame.
@@stephanreiken9912yes and the great thing about all of this, is that no one has to take the critics seriously at all... anyone who cries "woke" as a negative term or is upset about DEI can just get ignored and left behind.
When you mention that Belaire contradicts herself within the same GDC talk, from my experience it's very common. Last year I did a reaction video to a GDC talk, a dev talks about how he doesn't like being asked "where are you from?" because he's being singled out for his appearance. Within the exact same talk, he also mentions he intentionally dresses colorfully so that he stands out among other people, and he also intentionally hires people of different race, ethnicity, and geographical locations because he intentionally wants a diverse team. His two main points of his GDC talk are that you shouldn't acknowledge his differences, but yet celebrate his differences. Also, as a side note, I'm in a few different indie dev discord servers, and I noticed no one is talking about this Sweet Baby situation in any of the servers. I think people are afraid of being shunned by their peers.
its particularly interesting to me how this sweet baby stuff meshes with the indie scene. I mean, indie devs arent exactly trying to go after ESG stocks, right? Its the AAA industries that rely on that. So why are *they* doing it?
@@Yipper64 To put it simply, the industry is one big club, and even the outliers want to be part of that club. They want to rub shoulders with the big names of the industry, so they want to prove they are worthy of being accepted with the virtue signaling.
@@RealCoachMustafa Ah so basically the social contagion mixing with the monetary corruption. big companies do it for a better ESG score, the little guys see the big companies doing it, incorporate such things into their culture (also using the consulting companies) not for monetary gain via stocks, but rather to virtue signal to their peers. Basically the sweet baby grift can profit off both because it abuses identity politics.
@@Yipper64 I also forgot to mention that there's a fear of being cancelled by their own peers. I've spoken to many other game devs who don't buy into the social politics but don't say anything due to fear of being cancelled. Woke culture is also a bully culture.
I would like to point out that the 'Cosby Room' photo was taken before any allegations of Cosby came out and was named such because the carpet matched the sweaters that Cosby always wore in the show. Specifically the shirt in that picture. Not saying anything did or did not happen but it doesn't mean what we now assume it to mean.
People don't appreciate that the past was different from the present and now we just take it as a given that it was meant to be rapey reference instead of a relatively innocent visual reference
I hear they replaced the Cosby picture with one of Harvey Weinstein. I believe it was because they found out Cosby was black. And as we all know, any game dev's main purpose is the furtherment of the white race.
There is no talking past each other, "journalists" lie intentionally, we also don't "feel" that gameplay and story are taking a backseat we KNOW because they keep telling us over and over again. You also underestimate the influence SBI &Co have on a game, if you cross reference the names of SBI employees with the credits from games they worked on you quickly realize that they are not just "consultants" their employees also get hired as developers by studios. Take Suicide Squad for example one of SBIs employees is referenced in the games credits as lead scriptwriter but not as an SBI employee but a Rocksteady one. In other words, they get their employees hired as developers then additionally get their company hired to "consult" (no doubt by using the employee on the inside to push that idea) which means they have far greater influence than they pretend. The same is true for an upcoming game called "Unkown 9: Awakening" SBIs co-founder was hired as narrative lead for that game and, to nobodies surprise, they additionally also hired SBI as well to "consult" just like Rocksteady did. See the pattern?
LOL i love this take. just so reactionary and surface-level, with almost zero understanding of the actual things they're talking about. but somehow SO confident and outspoken.
But when you put black people in games as enemies they complain too. Remember Resident Evil 5 and they bitched about killing black zombies... In Africa..? Or when Left 4 Dead came out and they bitched about killing black people... In New Orleans.
The response to the curator page was most telling: SBI reacted very much like Roaches when you shine a light on them: They panicked. Surely you'd expect people engaged in honourable and just work to be proud of it, right? And yet, they reacted with shame and panic when exposed. Hmmm.
I'm copying and pasting my own comment from another video because it fits the discussion being had here: As a child of the 90s, I easily took to heart all the non-racist messaging we had back then. I had no problem making that a central part of my personality, to not judge people based on ethnicity or skin color. I judge people based on their *character*, and these characters HAVE NONE. It's not the representation anyone has a problem with, it's BAD representation. They call us racist for asking them to be less racist via their incredibly poor, high-school level amateur writing.
i am non-binary but i am guessing they mean biologically female but still it is counter-productive, like, just replace "Women" with "biologically female person" if they wanted to say what i think they want to say, but still you can argue it is not needed unless you are going to date, go to the bathroom or medical stuff.
I like how fair and objective you try to explain this topic considering how much propaganda and misinformation there is surrouding Sweet Baby Inc. Subscriber earned, will follow you.
I've wondered in the past if *some* microagressions are actually unresolved trauma or projecting in the offended person's life. Obviously, that's not to detract from the very real hurtful things people do, but at a certain point, reacting negatively to something the other person didn't mean to be negative does become your problem, not theirs.
@@ProjectKhopesh I agree, but with one clarification: there are some things that no matter your reaction, whether you're okay with it or not, no one should have to deal with. That's what people claim microaggressions fall under, and my main point is that some things people call "microaggressions" should actually fall under "maybe the offended person just needs more therapy, especially if the offender never meant it to be that way". We're probably just saying the same thing two different ways though. Internet communication can be hard for me lol
Yeah, this is something I totally agree with. Obviously, I don't want to invalidate any actual microaggressions people have gone through, so I usually stay silent on it. However, there are a number of times where people have told me about a microaggression they experienced, and I can't help but feel that maybe they're just projecting their own insecurities. Good example of this happened to me when I was a teen and I was having a discussion with a friend of mine. She had said something that I strongly disagreed with, and I wanted to get my point in. I ended up raising my voice and using a lot more body language (I wasn't angry or anything. I just have ADHD so I can be very excitable). Afterwards, she told me that I was "using my power as a man to silence her," even though all I wanted to do was state my opinion on the topic. This made me feel attacked and misunderstood, and I think contributed some anti-feminist sentiments I had at the time. Looking back, it's clear that she felt a bit intimidated by my behavior, and if she had communicated her thoughts in a less antagonizing way (i.e. saying something like "could you please tone it down? It's difficult to speak up when you get like that"), there wouldn't have been a problem. Obviously, the fact that she felt that way suggests that she had some real experiences with microaggressions in the past, which probably caused some trauma which she didn't deserve. Hopefully she ended up getting therapy to help work on that issue.
I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring and say micro-aggressions are largely a fabrication. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding something. Micro expressions are visible especially when viewing repeated recordings of peoples faces as they interact and can sometimes fall under the category of “tells” in poker for instance. I imagine folks in the Intelligence agencies or military are trained to spot these very quick and subtle pieces of facial “body language” in order to better detect deception. All that being said the thing that makes the credibility of micro aggressions suspect to me is not their existence itself but those who decry them. It goes beyond saying we’re witnessing specific rapid, slight facial movements we are also inferring intent. That intent was based on the movements themselves and often seems to dwarf any substance of conversation or overall body language. Someone can say they’re not racist and is in an interracial marriage but they are a “cis” white male and I saw micro aggressions and now feel uncomfortable for example. I’ve met many different types of people who all communicate in unique ways. I think it would be sort of arrogant to assume that I can determine someones true nefarious motives or racial attitudes based on a pattern or sequence of mouth twitches or quick glances. Do legitimate micro aggressions happen? Yeah, probably but most of the time they are coupled with clear passive or active aggression imo. I also think the people who are the most “sensitive” in detecting micro aggressions are not be trusted. They seem to almost always interpret those micro expressions through oppressor/oppressed narratives and racial identity or gender theory worldviews that are so biased and rigid they don’t provide room for anything other than assuming the worst about someone based on little else than subjective feelings. So simple micro expressions become micro acts of aggression, allegedly fueled by racism/bigotry/homophobia etc… I just want to give people the space to show up and present themselves as they desire so I can evaluate their statements as accurately as possible in order to communicate effectively.
I also want to add about the Zoe Quinn thing. Didn't she encourage the guy who mine crafted himself, to do so? (Which is a crime). Then, it was found out that he didn't do anything to her afterall. And she never got introuble for it, but instead she was defended from people like Anita? Zoe was more than happy to sleep her way to the top. Anita made it what it ended up being.
Yup she did with Alec Howloka. Despite the Post Millenium debunking her claims (even did a DDOS on them), she's still there scotts free. This woman is evil.
@@CommenjouerFr-gplusjust like that woman journalist in the pro smash brothers scene who was in a sexual relationship with a child competitor. She never got in any legal trouble at all
Bro... Best Vid yet! You distilled so many topics into a nice, tight 40m video. I honestly think this segment was perfect. And hopefully, it will lead to us restoring our favorite parts of gaming. For me, it's mansplaining to women on team speak, smoking cigs and spamming racial slurs in chat. Thanks for advancing the cause brother! TOTALLY KIDDING! Seriously tho, I'm about to replay the entire vid. You nailed every aspect of the core controversy and included elevator-pitch explanations for the peripheral topics. Also, my focus group feedback... the cutaway clips really enhance your vids and you have been hitting homeruns with your selections. If you could ever work in The Sopranos clip of Tony telling Davey Scortino to "Get back in your fxckin' hole", I would be quite pleased. Anyway... awesome job bruh. You articulated every element of this whole saga beautifully. You also have a real talent for conveying those biting criticisms without sounding malicious. I'll watch your orphan vids too. I always make a point of mentioning that you have fostered multiple kids when I recommend your channel... and that most of the kids have survived. 90% is still impressive. Jk. Alrite, go make me more videos. Thnx.
@@gregowen2022 You rock dude. I was actually wondering why you hadn't put out a couple slop videos on this controversy just to grab some easy clicks. No shame in paying yourself once in a while when a click-baity story is blowing up. But getting a 45 minute banger works too.
Sir, I would like to thank you for a legitimately well thought out and sincere video that lays out arguments without being overly aggressive or dismissive. It is refreshing to watch someone who can relay a disagreement without resorting to attacks, admonishing, dehumanizing, etc. It seems to feel rarer and rarer to just have a disagreement that doesn't become a screaming match and you have a way of relaying your arguments that appeals to providing an understanding of where you are coming from (and even acknowledging that you understand others' points of view even if you don't agree with that view) and not focusing on simply "winning" the argument or "owning" the other side. I actually tend to not always agree with you, but I legitimately respect you, sir, and will continue to watch (and respectfully disagree with) you in the future.
With GOW Ragnarok, many theorized that Angraboda was black because one of her parents was from Egypt, tying or hinting to the next game saga Sadly... no
The funny thing about this is that's actually not a half bad idea. It's like the writers want diversity, but they're so painfully uncreative that they have no idea how to implement any of it.
@@theanimeunderworld8338I think this about the sequel trilogy of Star Wars all the time. They started out with a stormtrooper defect; they could have done so much cool stuff with that idea. The actor that played him was also quite good and happened to be black, so it would have been good for diversity. Bad guy turned good fits well into the current deconstruction trope. This character should have basically written itself. But they did absolutely nothing with him. It's almost like they went out of their way to make Fin a bad character. And that's just one example.
Honestly there was so much cope with fans in that game. As fan of the trilogy and its spin offs, i personally hate the reboot. Kratos now apologies excessively, capitulates to everyone including Odin and Thor, why Kratos hasn't snapped Freya's neck when she tried to kill him and his son. The girlbosses and raceswaps finally made it. Its not deeper lore guys. The reboot and Ragnarok is written by the people who hate the original Kratos. Angrebodda and her nan is not Egyptian (Egyptians are not even black to begin with), Its DEI before Sweet Baby came in. Simple as.
A LOT of channels are making content about this topic. Thank you for giving a pretty balanced perspective and actually showing the source material. And not just 2 sec clips of source material, but WITH context. Some channels show clips that are so short that it FEELS like its taken out of context, whether it is or not. That makes it feel like a strawman argument. By showing MORE of the source material, you make your own arguments against the stupidity stronger. I like some of the other channels out there. But....... much of the time they just sound like incoherent ranting, rather than well-reasoned arguments. And that makes for an easy target for the opposition.
Agreed. This is why I love Greg. He seems pretty balanced and gives both side a fair shake when needed. Even when I disagree with him I respect his opinion and believe it actually is his and not just trying to please a certain group.
Also agreed. The fact that his video is over the algorithm length is a testament to his research and perspective. I've been waiting for this kind of view since this whole mess started, Cheers!
It is hard trying to find a balance in a controversial topic I want games to be fun, apolitical, and interesting again yet I get what the whole "representation" argument but they're doing it wrong
I'm a pretty casual gamer. I want engaging gameplay (not difficult) and a great story. I recently played KotOR for the first time and Mass Effect and Batman Arkham. I'm WAY far away from the bleeding edge of games. But very few modern games look very interesting to me....... I did enjoy Hogwarts Legacy and Jedi Survivor. Fun games, not at the level of KotOR or ME, but good. Outside that...... I play some casual mananagement games like Cities Skylines, Tavern Master and Timberborn. But if a book, a movie, a game, or ANY other media starts to preach AT me. I'm out.
@@newmancl0 I'm writing a book (hopefully a franchise) that will strive to make it entertaining. One thing I'll do is make it like light novels from Japan
Dude. Absolutely awesome recap. I’m right there in the gamer dad group (exhausted and spending most play sessions at night trying no to fall asleep) that I’ve heard about some of this but never fully understood what gamer gate was. I’m so glad gamers are pushing back
It's actually interesting that the quote works in reverse, too. People don't want to self-police until they get told they're doing their jobs wrong. If Sweet Baby didn't cast such a massive light on it, they'd probably get the same amount of influence without any pushback.
This is the first video I've watched of you, and I am very impressed and happy with your insight on this drama. I was so freaking tired of seeing videos suggested from the POV of either extremes, and you've given what I consider to be a leveled, reasonable overview of the problem. So thank you so much for that, and please keep up the good work!
Even if the game is good, the sudden intrusion of this bs destroys the immersion. Also, actual gamers want games not animated stories with political messaging.
Yeah. I remember playing Timespinner and it was fun as heck! And the LGBT romances that popped up during the sidequests were cute as heck and felt completely natural. But then, right before the final area/fight, there was a LONG cutscene lingering on all of those romances that felt VERY forced and out of nowhere. Like, 99% of the game is FANTASTIC. But that campfire scene was like someone dropping a *_precision nuke of cringe_* to the pacing and story. And yeah, it would have been equally strange if they were all straight. I'll play it again and still reccomend it to others, but I'm hammering through that campfire scene.
The amount of cutscene in some of these is astounding. I was getting B-roll of Suicide Squad and that scene with the villains trying to get info from Justice League HQ and getting attacked by Wonder Woman was like 10 minutes long! Suicide Squad: Metal Gear edition.
This is why I'm a fan of the Helldivers approach. Despite their political satire, likely because of the satire, they're banning all political/culture war conversations. They recognize they are there to entertain not explain
31:00 she says “I’m a black non-binary woman.” This shows the grift - non binary refers to being “gender queer,” supposedly, so for her to also say she’s a woman means she either doesn’t know what “nonbinary” is or she’s just grifting with victim points
WTF Wow doesn't she know that most games were made bought by asians and white back in my day Iwas broke.....people I don't take her seriously 😂😂 She sound to the about her own people but yet put her own people down both men and women I'm not even listening to 22 minutes of that crap. Because I bet you she's not even gonna mention one game. That was very, very conservative and then it was because there was a woman lead It was a good game it was called Remember me, gamplay combat was very very good Story wise was very sweet baby inc crap
THIS!!!! THIS is why I am subscribed to you, Greg! Your takes are thoughtful, witty, informative, and acknowledge the nuances of each topic. I will say this, though, aS A bLaCk WoMaN, you’d be surprised at how many times I’ve had to tell other black people “White people aren’t actually thinking of you, remotely as much as you think they are.” Anyways, great job! DJ Khaled voice “ANOTHER ONE!” (Oh! I will certainly be tuning in to you Foster videos)
Thank you! That’s a lesson we all need to learn, most people aren’t thinking about us, they are thinking about them and imagining everyone is, too. I can’t wait to see you in May!
Its an allright video tho he did miss a lot of background from many sweet baby workers like the head of sweet Baby Inc convincing her bf to... minecraft himself.
Loved the dad mode (and the Ben Folds insert)!!! Goes perfectly with my new video. LOL. What a fantastic video. I agree 100 percent with every word. I can't imagine how long this took to make. And that's my absolute favorite Katt Williams stand up special. Love that you included that clip.
Now would be a good time to go back and check your favorite channels and see who was grifting on that bandwagon hating on the guy. Now you know who is fake trash. Actman being one of them sense they were suppose to friends and AZ backed him up way back only to be stabbed in the back by Act just for clicks.
@@PhyllisLane-xj5uf Citation needed. I've scrolled back through the last three years of Upper Echelon videos, and I see no mention of SBI earlier than 13 days ago (as I post this). So unless it's buried in another video about GamerGate, game development, or game journalism…
Kim Belair: "Gamers are like picky babies who get mad when they don't get what they want lol" Also Kim Belair: "Threaten to throw a big tantrum and attack people unless they give you exactly what you want"
33:23 I'm a programmer, so when I saw "Head developer" in this I was surprised. I didn't think someone that acted like her would be the lead programmer on anything. She's not. She was the head narrative writer, and just knows so little about video games that she doesn't know the developers are the programmers.
@@arnezbridges93because it’s not radical leftism, it’s radical grifting. Diversity is them using minorities as human shields, so they can dismiss criticism. They don’t care about anything other than money.
What do you mean, are you saying a “non-binary milf in training” doesn’t pop up in your mind when you think senior programmer? She can probably write atleast write a one for loop😂
i mean it was kinda proven later she did sleep her way up, and has a big history of lieing, being a professional victim and even lead her ex bf kill himself.
Gamergate was originally about integrity in gaming journalism because it wasn't about Zoe sleeping with 1 guy. It was 5, and it was all about circling the wagons and journalists attacking the gamers who were calling out the collusion. It was never about sexism until it got co-opted and retargeted by the journos. Edit: on Zoe, it was the fact that she made a really unfun game, but it somehow made the number 1 Steam Award best game blah blah blah, and its because Zoe slept with two of the guys on the panel. It was everywhere that was infected. What should have been something based on gamer feedback was just about who slept their way to the top. Edit 2: if you want to see the scope of the coverup and misdirection, change the language on the ganergate article on wikipedia to Chinese, and then google translate it to english. Youll see just how drastically it's built onto the harrassment campaign narrative.
Holy shit. Having not read the wiki page before, I went to check it out and immediately changed it to Chinese like you said. Other than some rough translations, it was a bit banal as most articles tend to be. When I switched the language back to English, it was night and day! The narrative was completely different!
@@felixfeliciano7011 exactly. One is a wiki article. The other is a hit piece. If you enjoy video games, never let the news lie to you about who you are. Gamergate 1 never ended. There are still almost 0 ethics and integrity in journalism. And looking from the outside in will prove it.
@@Harley_Mitchelly if his channel hadn't been nuked from Orbit, the original breakdown of how it was all starting used to be on Mister Metokur's channel. Not sure if mirrors are around, but he was there to cover the start of it all, if anyone cares to see the initial onset.
Thank you for all this information. I certainly learned more about this issue than I did before, though I had watched other videos about or that touched on it. Having the linear explanation of "it started with" to "here we are now" in some detail helped.
I love how most people who demand representation live in rich 1st world cities. Have you seen anyone demand representation for Afghans, Serbs or Ethiopians?
The big problem for me with the Ubisoft accusations is that they hit right at the height of the MeToo movement/hysteria. While I certainly think that sexual harassment is a big deal that should be roundly condemned and investigated, we've seen so many cases of women abusing the "believe all women" mantra and abusing the tendency of an entire half of the political specturm to simply side with anyone who throws those accusations out there, that my _immediate_ and perhaps kneejerk reaction was and still is abject doubt. I mean, it retroactively made me quesiton the Cosby accusations, and if it weren't for the man suggesting that it shouldn't be an issue instead of just saying his accusers were lying, I'd probably still be arguing for a closer look at events. It made me especially staunch about due process. I'm not saying Ubisoft is innocent, especially not with the whole "Cosby Suite" thing, but I've yet to see anyone put anything forward _except_ for accusations. These things should be investigated by a genuinely unbiased, politically-unaffiliated outside group. The problem is that I don't believe anymore that such a thing even exists. Meanwhile, even complete normies are now aware of Sweet Baby, Inc., and when I suggested on Twitter that; while investigating and fighting against the company is a massively important, justified, and righteous effort; getting rid of them won't solve the problem because it's the attitudes in the industry that allow them to exist in the first place (for we wrestle not against flesh and blood...), the few responses I got gave me the impression that people genuinely think simply not buying games made by SBI will solve the problem. Devs in no way needed to listen to SBI, but they did it beacuse they believe in those values. Moreover, anyone with a functional brain should be able to realize that for every SBI that is defeated, four more will take its place. And like you said, the only reason SBI is taking heat at all right now (outside of TH-camrs like Cyael, who's been on their case for months already) is the Streisand Effect and their own repsonse to the criticisms; I'd wager SBI replacement groups would be way wiser about revealing their existence in the future. There's already a major problem in gaming around the homogenization of gaming archetecture toward monetizable gameplay structures, the nickel-and-diming of players with the microtransactions themselves, the already risk-averse entertainment publishers, an obvious desire at top levels to do whatever keeps the most control in the hands of the executives and out of the players' hands (always online, the slow death of physical media, actual comments from Ubisoft's digital marketing department saying that players should get used to not owning their games, etc.)...gaming probably won't crash, but the industry's future outlook isn't healthy. If the only way gamers can avoid DEI intitives and political propaganda is to just not buy any new games, then this whole SBI kerfuffle could seriously or fatally wound gaming as a whole. And yet, I'm at a loss for other answers. Gamers *have* to find the spot where they'll draw their lines in the sand, or the specific hill on which they're personally willing to die, or these people _will_ prevail even as the entire pitchfork- and torch-weiling gamer base backs publishers into a corner.
It is a rather bleak outlook for gaming right now. Diablo 4 is not fun by most accounts, and Immortal was a straight up cash grab, and yet preorders for Diablo 4 were great and the game sold millions of copies, plus I’m sure they are getting a continuous stream of purchases for cosmetics. The depressing thing is that the longer it goes on, the more “normal” it becomes and slowly people will forget that a game used to be complete upon purchase and you didn’t have to keep paying for it or any outfits to wear in the game. I’m mad at the studios and publishers, but I’m also mad at the customers who keep buying this garbage. That’s why I get excited to see a Suicide Squad or Avengers fail. I want these practices to be so financially risky that the studios quit trying them
@@gregowen2022 _"I want these practices to be so financially risky that the studios quit trying them"_ So do I, and I've been on Rocksteady's ass since the first Suicide Squad footage came out because of it. But even at the best of times, we already knew from film and television that executives somehow manage to learn the wrong lessons from these pushbacks every single time. Did you see WB's recent statement on how their future is focusing on live services?! I mean..HOW?! How do you walk away from the Avengers and SS debacles thinking, "Oh, players clearly want more live services."? It's SO antithetical to any reading of the data that it practically confirms on it's own that the industry's movement toward the woke and political isn't in any way organic. I can't fault anyone for thinking there's a literal conspiracy here, though saying so out loud draws completely understandable laughter. Normalcy bias is unfortunate, and people won't see it until it's too late. I'm just saying: it's getting harder and harder to not take the black pill on this. I knew immediately when Microsoft backtracked on the Xbox One's always online plan that it wouldn't be the end of it, and that feels like a lifetime ago. The same thing happened with the resistence to net neutrality. It's in the financial interests of those pushing these ideas to keep trying, and people eventually get tired of fighting it and give in, EVERY time. The true power of the consumer has always been in voting with their wallets, but ESG has made sure that these businesses can make more money by listening to "stakeholders" than their actual customers. Until such things are outlawed at the national level, I don't know how we win this. And as a libertarian myself, I can't stand the sound of my own voice saying "regulate them."
@gregowen2022 one of the few comforts I have is that indie games seem to have the player's interest at heart(some of them anyway) so while the future for gaming dose look Bleak at least there why still be some that still bring out true finished good game the will be fun to play
the best most equitable thing that democratizes diversity : is OPTIONS. lots and lots of customizable options. the problem is that they keep trying to force feed their "diversity", while robbing the rest of us our options, as long as they get their mary sue self-inserts as the protagonist, and then accuse the rest of us as racist for not wanting to participate in their delusion. she claims she can't relate to a white male protagonist as the reason for creating black female characters? but using her same "logic", how tf does she expect the rest of us (i'm asian) who are non-black and non-female to relate to her character, if she herself proclaims she is unable to connect to a character that is not like her? seriously, i find it so ironic that they claim they love diversity, yet they hate character customization so damn much.. despite it giving everyone the option to create the character that the player wanted to play.
"...Olivia Munn did not exist to be nice on the eyes for you." Ummm... Actually, that's exactly what she was for. It was explicitly stated in interviews that she was not interested in gaming or tech prior to being cast for the show. Not sure if that's changed, but she was very explicitly cast because she was noce to look at and not because she was the best woman for the job from a "qualifications" point of view.
Mr. Owen, your channel may be one of my favorite on this site. You bring both passion and well thought out takes on the hobbies that I have enjoyed for years, and I greatly appreciate that you spend your free time creating these videos for people like me to enjoy. The best part is that your videos feel different to other "critics" in the space, in the sense that you're not obsessed with literary analysis or have an air of "this is how you should feel about XYZ" Your videos are unique in the sense that you're a regular, blue collar guy like myself, speaking about the hobbies that you enjoy. It's refreshing. Keep up the great work, Mr. Owen!
Great video. I enjoyed the “Dad Mode” segment. I watched a few of your videos regarding The Wheel of Time. After watching this video, I’m looking forward to seeing more of your content.
She's right in the sense that big studios treat their audience like "picky babies", but that doesn't mean the audience actually is or has been turned into that. That's their (and her) fault for thinking of gamers that way, so she should blame them. How would she explain the success of the indie sphere if it's true that gamers just want the same thing all the time?
Agreed. It’s an issue of studios playing it safe, just like the movie industry right now. That’s not the audience’s fault, that’s the fault of large studios putting themselves in a position of being unable to take creative risks
The whole analogy is nonsense because there's nothing wrong with being picky about entertainment. Video games are a luxury that no one needs, especially considering the nearly uncountable backlog of video games that already exist and the alternative forms of entertainment (books/movies/shows/etcetera). You can't force people to buy video games. If they don't like what you're offering, then you either change or accept that you need a day job.
The bottom line is that consumers and the market will always decide if you are successful or not. Insult your customers till the cows come home, but we have final say on the matter. Period. The End.
Exactly. I’m the one with the money and this is a luxury market. None of us NEEDS video games and there are so many to choose from. It’s time these studios get back to trying to court us and our money.
8:00 You should have noted that the one that wrote the article at Kotaku (Alyssa Mercante) is also the same one that Tweeted the Tweet you had previously mentioned at 7:30... In reality Gamer Gate NEVER ended... We are just now finding out that what was being said in 2014 - Was actually true...
I'm halfway through the video and in the part where you're talking about needing to appeal to the audience and learn and grow with them to keep them around. I personally think you've done a great job of keeping things fresh enough to where I always excitedly click the next video, but not doing something crazy out of left field too frequently to where I have a hard time describing your stuff to myself and those around me. Especially in the past 10-ish months, I feel like the content has really stabilized in a healthy way. Even that puns video, which I admittedly found eye roll inducing a number of times, was still fun and engaging to me, and I enjoyed the odd ball video as a break to the more standard videos and essays you've been putting out. I feel like you've got a really healthy balance of experimenting and consistency going right now content wise. The more important thing that I want to mention is that you as a creator feel very unique to me and fill a unique role that is sorely lacking on TH-cam in my opinion. I think it's because your life revolves around your family (and Faith I'm presuming, based off past comments you've made), and not around the topics you cover. You comment on a lot of the same stuff as others, but you don't come off as a vindictive, angry, dispossessed nerd like so many others do. You generally bring a level of maturity and often bring a level hand to the subject matter, even if you're obviously slanted in the video one ay or the other. There's a wholistic feel to most of your content, where I feel like not only am I getting a fun video on a topic, but I'm actually getting valuable advice. When you breakdown a piece of media for being bad or good, I not only feel like I learn why it's bad or good, but I feel like I get information that is useable when it comes to my own creative endeavors. And a lot of the time, I feel like I get actually useable life advice as well, whether it be something on maturity, being a man, or something else that society has degraded and obfuscated from young men. I really enjoy the mix of mature and nerd that you bring to the table, and it's a mix that I think many people enjoy (and need) as well, and one that is sorely lacking online. I think that fact by itself already makes your content really special. This ended up way longer than anticipated. Anyways, I hope you continue doing your thing. You're one of the few creators that I love telling others about because of the wholistic nature of your content.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. I do think this direction is the right one. I’m an everyman sort of person, so I think leaning into it is the way to go. Like you said, there are already plenty of really extreme people online, so why not go for the “normie” crowd, since I am one? Thank you so much for saying this!
@@gregowen2022 I find it funny that the more balanced "normie" type of person is probably the rarest type of person to find online these days. And I find that as time passes, quality "normie" people and content are who I actually want to engage with because they're usually more balanced and willing to engage in a dialogue as opposed to knee jerk around like more "unique and non-normie" creators.
The sooner people internalize the truth about DEI, the sooner we can remove it from public life. First, the "Diversity" in DEI has nothing to do with race, gender, or sexuality. Diversity, in this context means literally "trained in diversity," which is just a fancy way of saying activists. Activists use race as a lever to get more activists installed into positions of authority. Inclusion means to include or accommodate people who have views antithetical to the capitalist west. And thought they've changed the definition lately, the definition of equity is the same as communism. Do with this information what you will.
Nice video on this topic! Something that recently occurred to me. Pandering to one specific group like Sweet Baby has been encouraging is one thing, but no matter what group you pick it is easy to forget that they have options. And the "modern audience" has so many options that they don't need to pick low quality stuff. The way this is being done is industry suicide if it drives the quality down below other things that appeal to that crowd, which I think we are seeing play out in real time.
“Consultation company” aka people who pretend to be experts in something. No one who can DO something chooses to merely “consult” on it, unless they are a retired expert just helping out a buddy. I’ve been in construction for 20+ years. I don’t call it “consulting” when a friend asks me to take a look at something for them. I call it a favor or being a good neighbor.
Let me make this clear. My father was actively teaching me wrong and in a way that stunted my growth. But I didn’t get better, more comfortable, and start actually Publishing my novels until I let that villain perspective of him go. I had agency. I could have made the decision ages ago but I didn’t. And I had my reasons and it was probably a more comfortable existence then the alternative, but that was still my call. My decision. For right or wrong, I failed myself. And so I refuse to stop walking this new road I have found because it propels me to enjoy what I do.
Your dad mode just confirmed that I’m coping and need to just start writing. Thank you. Hopefully I’ll be back to show some stuff I’m proud of. Your approach and ethic to creation is exactly what’s missing. Good stuff
I really appreciate your measured, nuanced and insightful coverage of all of this. As irritating as SBI are, I've been seeing some equally irritating and antagonistic people popping up in my feed to criticise them. I firmly believe that becoming hateful and reflexively dismissing all criticism of gaming and gamers is folly, and that we should do our best to be calm and reasonable in situations like this. There are genuine issues in the industry that have never been addressed because people within the industry are always able to point to the lunatics who send them death threats and paint all gamers with the same brush. I hope more people are open and receptive to your way of communicating these issues, and that we'll actually see some genuine positive change after this all dies down. Instead of GamerGate2: Electric Boogaloo simply going down as a "coordinated harassment campaign" enacted by "evil bigoted gamers" and being stripped of the important message at its core.
I appreciate the kind words. I’m glad the video is being enjoyed despite me being a bit calmer. Normally, I would add more jokes and energy or whatever, but, as you said, I wanted to keep this one down a bit so I can’t be used by someone to illustrate how gamers are reactionary istaphobes.
This is perhaps the best and most balanced account of the whole Sweet Baby Inc. story. Many thanks! Of course, as a libertarian, I can follow you more easily. Perhaps a small analogy to my view as a gamer: Alexandre Dumas wrote wonderful adventure novels about early modern France. He was black. Doesn't matter.
GREG GREG GREG GREG GREG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 28:49 You just became my favorite youtuber. It's tough competition with Disparu, but honestly. You just hit on a topic I am most passionate about. Which is foster care. Now I don't want everyone adopting because honestly too many bad people out there, but I know lots of homosexual Christian men who are doing fantastic financially, but don't wish to adopt because they don't want to be a bad influence on children, and it's in these homes that really could take in teenage boys. You have the resources, you have the morality, you're often strong and decent men, and you aren't going to influence a teenager to be gay they're a teenager and by that point they are what they are and they really just need a father to help guide them. To be supportive. To teach them life skills. To give them a home to come back to for Christmas. To be a shoulder to cry on when life gets hard. Others in most cases the worst happens to these boys. They will either age out, end up on drugs, and worse which would likely get censored by youtube. So I'm very glad to see a youtuber I like who also shares this passion. God bless you Greg! Seriously. Even just mentioning it gets my passion aflame!
They are not primarily journalists, game devs or consultants. They are radical activists first and foremost, anything else they participate in is just a vehicle for their activism.
Hi Greg --- this will probably come across wrong, but I assure you it's in good faith: I hope you send this to the "Blocked and Reported" podcast. B&R is a heterodox thinking podcast (so of course people call them TERFs). But Jesse Singal was asking online about SBI, and I think your video is a great primer. I just suggest you send this to their email (if you reply and ask for it, I'll get it to you, but I'm afraid of it coming across spammy) because it would serve them well if they're working on covering the SBI drama. Anyway, this is a great video. Thanks for the primer.
My Dood. I'm unsure how I came across your content, but this is the first video I watched and hot darn! Amazing long-form content and subject-material. Keep up the AWESOME work!
Sexism in gaming was not anywhere near that big of a problem. They created & inflated the problem so that they could indefinitely provide the solution. And all they've really done is harm the industry as a whole & hurt actual women gamers/developers.
Very thorough, balanced and nuanced coverage, going over a lot of the details that both sides like to ignore. But as far as I see it, games media has the greater responsibility to report accurately and as free of bias as possible and in that regard they have failed miserably. The distrust everyone now has for games journalism is thoroughly earned.
Did she just describe herself as a "non-binary woman"? Are you non-binary or a woman? Sounds like she's adding the non-binary for purely fashion reasons.
I really enjoyed this vid. You did a great job being balanced but not getting agro when criticizing issues This is the best explanation I've heard of the whole situation.
Good work Greg! This is probably the best thing Ive seen on the topic. You're fair minded, identifying the ways journalists and gamers speak past each other. You also incorporated the larger rot w/I game development, like monetization nightmares. Sweet Baby is a co-evolved parasite on a stinky and bloated game industry. It shouldn't be ignored that this ideology goes beyond consultants and and journalists. Its in the C-suites and development houses. They've been playing w/ house money so far. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. You pointed that This decade long controversy seems to involve the same small community of Canadian game consultants and developers. It also involves the talking turd and Fez creator Phil Fish. It looks like a clique that achieved a huge amount of political power w/I the entirety of the western game industry. From there it seems that a fantastic ecosystem of self dealing has developed w/ the entire industry ready to call the whole world bigots just to defend this clique.
This seemed like a fairly balanced video on the matter. Thank you. I had no idea what gamergate or anything was till this sweetbaby stuff and i play games constantly. Just knew i wasn't a big fan of much of the new stuff because it seemed preachy, now i know why. Also my issue with her analogy (if thats the correct term) is that the customer base the aka: picky baby... Is paying them for the food. It isn't charity, you give the person paying what they want, it doesn't matter what the person selling stuff wants. They aren't privileged to my wallet.
I don’t care what stories are told in games by and about anyone as long as they are good and I suspect that is the sentiment of the vast majority of gamers.
"Sheesh, games are all about the male power fantasy... I know, let's just make the exact same games, but have a female player character instead. So now they're about female power fantasies. Or actually just about the male power fantasy, but now you play as a woman.. Or something.. We're doing important and revolutionary work here!!"
Yep. Just like movies. We made the exact same stoic overpowered dude, but we cast a woman! Don’t you love it now? Wait, why aren’t people buying tickets?
You can't win this. If the Player Character is a Man it's about male Power Fantasy, but if the Character is a Woman it's not about female Power Fantasy it's rather for the male Gaze. Either Way they will call it sexist.
I'm a mixed race man. I have never seen myself physically in a game without a character creator. It's irrelevant. The stories are everything. The character aspects that aren't inherent unalterable traits are far more important. Devs can make whatever story they want. But make them good stories and good characters. It will be far more lucrative yo your company than hiring sensitivity readers.
It's right to be skeptical of games influenced by this consulting firm. However I am now starting to see people declaring that they will boycott Flintlock, a game which hasn't even come out yet, based solely on the fact that ONE consultant was hired (and the protagonist is a black woman). This is literally the same thing as the Hogwarts Legacy boycott and it's just as irrational. Wait for the games to actually come out and then make the decision about whether you want them or not based on things that actually exist; not politics and innuendo.
I'm kind of fed up of the "the race swapping of Angrboda isn't a problem in and of itself" argument. Yes it is. Here's the thing, gamers have had enough of the double standards. Assuming the next God Of War saga is going to be set against the Egyptian panthion like has been hinted at. Do you really see them making any of the Egyptian gods white, or east asian? Not a chance. Yet set your game in Medieval Bohemia (Kingdom Come: Deliverance), or a world based on Slavic folklore (the Witcher) and the ghouls all come out to decry the lack of diversity. We have wisened up to what they mean by diversity. It doesnt mean more of X, it just means getting rid of Y.
Kinda reminds me of the rock journalism space. Almost all in the online rock music community despise Rolling Stone for being out of touch with the rest of us.
Man... I miss the days when anyone working on making games were just a bunch of nerds who want to make great games. That sweet-baby inc. conference video is blood-boiling to say the least.
I like the idea of the company. Diversify OCs, have gay characters be voiced by gay people, etc; it makes the world feel more alive. In the end, these are games. If someone doesn’t like the way a game is done, just delete and/or refund it. In the end, the games’ creators chose to diversify their characters with the help of SBI. The issue, though, are the people. If the people within SBI are being twats, then yeah, continue the boycott. No issue with that. A good deed can always be done by many people; If it’s not SBI, it can always be another.
Sweet Baby Inc.: A company that isn't Sweet but full of Babies.
no just tantrum toddlers
Sh!t Baby St!nk
Cry Baby, Inc.
Bullies getting called out.
😂 I see what u did there😂
"I don't want to work with people who aren't like me"
That isn't a micro aggression, that's a massive aggression.
It's prejudice AF lol
That's "milf in training" for you.
It's funny how that Sweet Baby Inc. employees were mad with that Steam curator even though all he did was list a bunch of games with their involvement. And unknowingly made that Steam page more popular than ever and showed their true colors with their awful behavior.
The curator was from Brazil too
racists
If Chris Kindred weren’t such a hostile jackass with a raging victimhood narcissism streak this whole situation could’ve been avoided. He could’ve just said something like “Love my games? A new Steam group has popped up that tracks the studios I’ve worked with. Follow them to get some great titles to try next!” and this would’ve fizzled out without a problem. Of course, as a raging SJW, he literally can’t resist flying into a rage whenever anyone dares to question his ideology
It's even more hypocritical because these woke types are the same people who use those twatter mods or blocklists to automatically block people based on who they follow, and this steam curator group is basically the same, except not as extreme (with the twatter blocklists, you don't see those people's tweets at all and they can't see yours, but with the steam curator, it just tells you on a game that the curator says it's sh*t).
So it's okay when they do it, but it's bad when other people do it...
This seems to be a trend with the radical left.
Just goes to show the double standard. It's a poorly kept secret people with the mindset of SBI have lists they share around to keep people out of the industries they've infested. Heck, even one of their supporters came out and said he was keeping tabs on people to be sure they won't work in any place he has control of.
Yet when a curator list is made not suggesting games they've been involved in they scream harassment.
Yep, a classic double standard backfire and I’m enjoying the fallout
The state of gaming
Them: "Buy our games!"
One Brazilian dude: "No."
And now the feds are involved. Makes ya think...
"Wokeness isn't a cult! Go outside and touch grass."
The NOT a cult:
Makes you think indeed…
BRAZIL!!! NUMBER ONE!!!!
PENTACAMPEÃO DO MUNDO!!!
💚💛
@zombifiedpariah7392 technically if you get federally investigated for not liking the herd it's not a cult it's a branch of the military
Why is it so freaking shocking these days to get a divisive topic broken down with both sides of the situation and presented to the viewer to make their own decisions? Thank you for doing this. It's a breath of fresh air.
I appreciate you watching and the kind words!
Of course people will be annoyed that youre trying to be fair to a side that attacked a steam group first and asked valve to ban its owners profile because of 'harashment' and i quote: 'He likes his account so much'. They claimed that the group was harashing them even tho they were the agressors, not the group and besides they didint even harash them! All the group did was highlight the games sb worked on, the group didint even say anything negative about the group just why the group existed wich was to detect sb games. After wich Kotaku decided to once again stab players in the back and say players started the whole thing while also purposly leaving out the whole steam group part.
After all that yeah id be pretty pissed too if anyone tried to defend sweet baby even a little. They started it, have been caught lying and News sites refuse to report truthfully, of course people will pile on the big guy harashing the little guy.
@@draw2death421how many times have you cried yourself to sleep over this? 😂
@@robinnewhouse1563 That media is hiding facts? Many times. Unless you think Hiding info from the public is someting to be accepted then fine you can have that opinion but i wont.
@@draw2death421 what excactly is the BIG MEDIA hiding from you?😂 And if you say they where "hiding" that game studios do use the work of consultancy agencies, like script doctors do in Hollywood, then that's because youre uninformed, and not because they are maliciously omitting facts. You probably feel that way because that whole discourse arose out of the fact that channel like this very one, live on your outrage, and to stay relevant they have to concoct some weird narrative that the "woke" are ruining your whatever. Insert Thing I need to be outraged about.
i don't think you clearly mentioned what they did at the beginning. they tried to get his personal gaming account taken from him. that is not just the loss of money put into the games he purchased but also the progress he has made in the games. If i lost my MMO account not only would i loose money, i would loose a large amount of free gifts i would have to pay money a ton to get back and it would take years to regain the progress i have. They attacked his personal account because they did not like his opinion on the games they were involved in, that is truly malicious behavior. That was way worse then just trying to silence him.
Saying you can't be racist to a specific race is one of the most racist thing you can say.
Notice how the only race in the specific group is white. Like don’t get me wrong I hate the woke shit but yall literally pioneered invented racism. Are all white people now gonna stand up and point the finger at every other race and call them racist. Yall can win the argument without the reverse racism victim card cause it’s genuinely stupid and not gonna work on them, next tactic
White isn't a race.
They've been brainwashed into believing this nonsense by radical leftist woke ideologies, such as CRT.
What's worse, CRT not only insists that it is not possible to be racist against white people. It also claims that it's not possible for black folk to be racist. At all.. In any way...
Thus, we get this madness. Black supremacist racists who feel free to be as hateful and racist as they please...
Exactly. I’d have to lose a portion of my brain just to be dumb enough to comprehend this level of “moron gymnastics” they perform.
Its awfully convenient to be exempt isnt it.
Someone from Sweet Baby decided to spit on the grave of famous manga author Akira Toriyama. He claims that Akira created the most racist character in all of manga and anime: Mr. Popo. He was based off of a Hindu god named Mahakala
At the time and place it was pretty black face looking. I get Japanese don't get American racism, why should they? The original dB isnt aim at western markets, so I never assumed the guy was racist.
Also after seeing the Team Four Star version I don't see race. All I see is that all these squares make a circle.
@@arnezbridges93 only americans have the education level of a toad to not see the turban used in the middle east/india.
I personally dont care about being labeled as a "horny 14 year old boy" just because I like attractive, or even scantily clad female characters in the games I play.
What I DO care about, is the assumption that liking those things is somehow bad, or means that I hate women. There are even women who like playing as or with sexy characters. It has nothing to do with hate, nor does it make anyone a bad person.
same, i mean i have a fair amount of NSFW Skyrim mods (among other games) and am not ashamed of it, but the thing is is that i am pansexual (not limited to one or 2 genders that i can be attracted to), have multiple "types" i prefer and am non-binary (neither identify as male or female besides biologically)
Wow finding women beautiful is hating women now 😂
@@Texansfan59i mean, the devs amd journalists really believe that lol
it sucks. what kind of escapism is there for me to enjoy when every female PC is ugly af? got that covered irl lol now give me my fucking power fantasy back.
male chars can be "ideal" versions of men and no one gives a shit about it but the second a game features a attractive woman you can her screeching coming over from twitter.
Me neither, I want a parade celebrating my horny too !
He is missing some extremely important information like the fact that Aneta Sarkisian lied about what she was going to do, lied about the content of the games that she was supposedly calling out. Lied about what type of gameplay was encountered and encouraged. She also helped a certain person lie about the misconduct of their ex and organized a harassment campaign that resulted in the suicide of the victim. There are other problems like the fact that Aneta Sarkisian never producing the content that she claimed that she would and Zoe Quinn lied about the assault charges and later admitted that. Then you need to consider that Aneta Sarkisian and two other people were involved in false charges that they later admitted were false charges and they only did it because they thought they could get away with it and they were jealous of the person who was getting attention from someone that they fancied. I can easily keep going but these are just part of the issue.
What Sweet Baby Inc did in Suicide Squad is beyond inexcusable and they werent' even subtle about it. The game could've been fun with a few tweaks, make Batman the only hero who isn't possessed by Brainiac, have him eventually develop a way to save the League without killing them, have him die tragically fighting off an Evil Superman and eventually be immortalized both in game and in turn immortalize Kevin Conroy as well.
Instead we have Harley Quinn giving a hamfisted speech about how Batman is evil or some shit, despite the fact Harley is a mass murdering psychopath, and have her shoot him in the face and die on a park bench like a complete loser.
in the Arkham time line she is evil. she killed little children with the Joker.
Batman could have grabbed the gun and told Harley, pleaded with her to do it because the mind control was too much. Harley could have had a great emotional scene being forced to do the deed.
OR
Even easier, just have it so each Justice League member, when defeated is simply knocked out of mind control but too weak to help, but will assist you or the plot in some way.
So many others ways it could have gone down.
Whatever though, the game is non canon anyway despite what these chumps say.
i love watching kids pretend like it's about the story. It's some of the most disingenuous and transparent dildospeak you will ever see.
@@stephanreiken9912 Dude Rocksteady isn't Woke or atleast weren't Woke initially. They made all the Batman Arkham Games which were amazing and this latest game was made with Sweet Baby Inc helping. THey were involved and share the blame.
@@stephanreiken9912yes and the great thing about all of this, is that no one has to take the critics seriously at all... anyone who cries "woke" as a negative term or is upset about DEI can just get ignored and left behind.
When you mention that Belaire contradicts herself within the same GDC talk, from my experience it's very common. Last year I did a reaction video to a GDC talk, a dev talks about how he doesn't like being asked "where are you from?" because he's being singled out for his appearance. Within the exact same talk, he also mentions he intentionally dresses colorfully so that he stands out among other people, and he also intentionally hires people of different race, ethnicity, and geographical locations because he intentionally wants a diverse team. His two main points of his GDC talk are that you shouldn't acknowledge his differences, but yet celebrate his differences.
Also, as a side note, I'm in a few different indie dev discord servers, and I noticed no one is talking about this Sweet Baby situation in any of the servers. I think people are afraid of being shunned by their peers.
its particularly interesting to me how this sweet baby stuff meshes with the indie scene.
I mean, indie devs arent exactly trying to go after ESG stocks, right? Its the AAA industries that rely on that.
So why are *they* doing it?
@@Yipper64 To put it simply, the industry is one big club, and even the outliers want to be part of that club. They want to rub shoulders with the big names of the industry, so they want to prove they are worthy of being accepted with the virtue signaling.
@@RealCoachMustafa Ah so basically the social contagion mixing with the monetary corruption.
big companies do it for a better ESG score, the little guys see the big companies doing it, incorporate such things into their culture (also using the consulting companies) not for monetary gain via stocks, but rather to virtue signal to their peers.
Basically the sweet baby grift can profit off both because it abuses identity politics.
@@Yipper64 I also forgot to mention that there's a fear of being cancelled by their own peers. I've spoken to many other game devs who don't buy into the social politics but don't say anything due to fear of being cancelled. Woke culture is also a bully culture.
I would like to point out that the 'Cosby Room' photo was taken before any allegations of Cosby came out and was named such because the carpet matched the sweaters that Cosby always wore in the show. Specifically the shirt in that picture.
Not saying anything did or did not happen but it doesn't mean what we now assume it to mean.
People don't appreciate that the past was different from the present and now we just take it as a given that it was meant to be rapey reference instead of a relatively innocent visual reference
Context doesn't matter to people who want to push a narrative.
Well that makes a huge difference!!!!
i just checked and there's literally a facebook album with more than one photo
shill
I hear they replaced the Cosby picture with one of Harvey Weinstein. I believe it was because they found out Cosby was black. And as we all know, any game dev's main purpose is the furtherment of the white race.
There is no talking past each other, "journalists" lie intentionally, we also don't "feel" that gameplay and story are taking a backseat we KNOW because they keep telling us over and over again.
You also underestimate the influence SBI &Co have on a game, if you cross reference the names of SBI employees with the credits from games they worked on you quickly realize that they are not just "consultants" their employees also get hired as developers by studios. Take Suicide Squad for example one of SBIs employees is referenced in the games credits as lead scriptwriter but not as an SBI employee but a Rocksteady one.
In other words, they get their employees hired as developers then additionally get their company hired to "consult" (no doubt by using the employee on the inside to push that idea) which means they have far greater influence than they pretend.
The same is true for an upcoming game called "Unkown 9: Awakening" SBIs co-founder was hired as narrative lead for that game and, to nobodies surprise, they additionally also hired SBI as well to "consult" just like Rocksteady did.
See the pattern?
The evilness., racism, sexism and bigotry of DEI has now infested the gaming industry. Nothing is safe.
What do you mean "now?" It's been like this for at least 10 years
Now? You're like 6+ years late to the party.
My brother in Christ where the hell have you been for the last 12 years?
LOL i love this take. just so reactionary and surface-level, with almost zero understanding of the actual things they're talking about. but somehow SO confident and outspoken.
Had a nice nap Joe?
Who plays video game and is like "mmmh, is there enough black people in this game ? 🤔"
Like bruh just play the game who cares ? 💀
Lmao seriously I never thought about it once ☠️
But when you put black people in games as enemies they complain too. Remember Resident Evil 5 and they bitched about killing black zombies... In Africa..? Or when Left 4 Dead came out and they bitched about killing black people... In New Orleans.
The response to the curator page was most telling: SBI reacted very much like Roaches when you shine a light on them: They panicked.
Surely you'd expect people engaged in honourable and just work to be proud of it, right?
And yet, they reacted with shame and panic when exposed. Hmmm.
I'm copying and pasting my own comment from another video because it fits the discussion being had here:
As a child of the 90s, I easily took to heart all the non-racist messaging we had back then. I had no problem making that a central part of my personality, to not judge people based on ethnicity or skin color. I judge people based on their *character*, and these characters HAVE NONE. It's not the representation anyone has a problem with, it's BAD representation.
They call us racist for asking them to be less racist via their incredibly poor, high-school level amateur writing.
31’ 27” “I’m a black non-binary woman…” Sooooooo, non-binary and woman. That’s new.
then you haven't been in twitter for long enough, the whole "non-binary" woman is pretty standar
I caught that too. What is a non-binary woman? Don't those contradict one another?
Ikr, pick one! 😂
i am non-binary but i am guessing they mean biologically female but still it is counter-productive, like, just replace "Women" with "biologically female person" if they wanted to say what i think they want to say, but still you can argue it is not needed unless you are going to date, go to the bathroom or medical stuff.
“I’m a proud, bisexual, lesbian”
I like how fair and objective you try to explain this topic considering how much propaganda and misinformation there is surrouding Sweet Baby Inc.
Subscriber earned, will follow you.
Unfortunately the "propaganda", is true. I won't give money to racists who discriminate against huwhites.
I've wondered in the past if *some* microagressions are actually unresolved trauma or projecting in the offended person's life. Obviously, that's not to detract from the very real hurtful things people do, but at a certain point, reacting negatively to something the other person didn't mean to be negative does become your problem, not theirs.
Your reaction is *always* your responsibility, no matter the provocation. There are just a lot of people who don't want that responsibility.
@@ProjectKhopesh I agree, but with one clarification: there are some things that no matter your reaction, whether you're okay with it or not, no one should have to deal with. That's what people claim microaggressions fall under, and my main point is that some things people call "microaggressions" should actually fall under "maybe the offended person just needs more therapy, especially if the offender never meant it to be that way".
We're probably just saying the same thing two different ways though. Internet communication can be hard for me lol
Yeah, this is something I totally agree with. Obviously, I don't want to invalidate any actual microaggressions people have gone through, so I usually stay silent on it. However, there are a number of times where people have told me about a microaggression they experienced, and I can't help but feel that maybe they're just projecting their own insecurities.
Good example of this happened to me when I was a teen and I was having a discussion with a friend of mine. She had said something that I strongly disagreed with, and I wanted to get my point in. I ended up raising my voice and using a lot more body language (I wasn't angry or anything. I just have ADHD so I can be very excitable). Afterwards, she told me that I was "using my power as a man to silence her," even though all I wanted to do was state my opinion on the topic. This made me feel attacked and misunderstood, and I think contributed some anti-feminist sentiments I had at the time.
Looking back, it's clear that she felt a bit intimidated by my behavior, and if she had communicated her thoughts in a less antagonizing way (i.e. saying something like "could you please tone it down? It's difficult to speak up when you get like that"), there wouldn't have been a problem. Obviously, the fact that she felt that way suggests that she had some real experiences with microaggressions in the past, which probably caused some trauma which she didn't deserve. Hopefully she ended up getting therapy to help work on that issue.
@@torukia Very well put!
I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring and say micro-aggressions are largely a fabrication. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding something.
Micro expressions are visible especially when viewing repeated recordings of peoples faces as they interact and can sometimes fall under the category of “tells” in poker for instance.
I imagine folks in the Intelligence agencies or military are trained to spot these very quick and subtle pieces of facial “body language” in order to better detect deception.
All that being said the thing that makes the credibility of micro aggressions suspect to me is not their existence itself but those who decry them. It goes beyond saying we’re witnessing specific rapid, slight facial movements we are also inferring intent.
That intent was based on the movements themselves and often seems to dwarf any substance of conversation or overall body language. Someone can say they’re not racist and is in an interracial marriage but they are a “cis” white male and I saw micro aggressions and now feel uncomfortable for example.
I’ve met many different types of people who all communicate in unique ways. I think it would be sort of arrogant to assume that I can determine someones true nefarious motives or racial attitudes based on a pattern or sequence of mouth twitches or quick glances.
Do legitimate micro aggressions happen? Yeah, probably but most of the time they are coupled with clear passive or active aggression imo. I also think the people who are the most “sensitive” in detecting micro aggressions are not be trusted.
They seem to almost always interpret those micro expressions through oppressor/oppressed narratives and racial identity or gender theory worldviews that are so biased and rigid they don’t provide room for anything other than assuming the worst about someone based on little else than subjective feelings.
So simple micro expressions become micro acts of aggression, allegedly fueled by racism/bigotry/homophobia etc…
I just want to give people the space to show up and present themselves as they desire so I can evaluate their statements as accurately as possible in order to communicate effectively.
I also want to add about the Zoe Quinn thing.
Didn't she encourage the guy who mine crafted himself, to do so? (Which is a crime).
Then, it was found out that he didn't do anything to her afterall. And she never got introuble for it, but instead she was defended from people like Anita?
Zoe was more than happy to sleep her way to the top. Anita made it what it ended up being.
Yup she did with Alec Howloka. Despite the Post Millenium debunking her claims (even did a DDOS on them), she's still there scotts free.
This woman is evil.
Yeah and on top that she was joking about it just after it hapened. Disgusting behaviour.
@@CommenjouerFr-gplusjust like that woman journalist in the pro smash brothers scene who was in a sexual relationship with a child competitor. She never got in any legal trouble at all
it's amazing how a small company like that is working with billion dollar gaming companies and has the power to dictate how there games turn out.
ESG & DEI monies is a powerful thing.
they are government funded. america and canada's taxes are paying anti white racists to turn games into trash
it is an absurdity
the plot and agenda runs deep and has its roots in everything
Blackrock
Bro... Best Vid yet! You distilled so many topics into a nice, tight 40m video. I honestly think this segment was perfect. And hopefully, it will lead to us restoring our favorite parts of gaming. For me, it's mansplaining to women on team speak, smoking cigs and spamming racial slurs in chat. Thanks for advancing the cause brother! TOTALLY KIDDING!
Seriously tho, I'm about to replay the entire vid. You nailed every aspect of the core controversy and included elevator-pitch explanations for the peripheral topics. Also, my focus group feedback... the cutaway clips really enhance your vids and you have been hitting homeruns with your selections. If you could ever work in The Sopranos clip of Tony telling Davey Scortino to "Get back in your fxckin' hole", I would be quite pleased.
Anyway... awesome job bruh. You articulated every element of this whole saga beautifully. You also have a real talent for conveying those biting criticisms without sounding malicious. I'll watch your orphan vids too. I always make a point of mentioning that you have fostered multiple kids when I recommend your channel... and that most of the kids have survived. 90% is still impressive. Jk. Alrite, go make me more videos. Thnx.
Haha, make gaming great again!
I appreciate the kind words, and now I have a fun challenge of working in a Sopranos clip! Challenge accepted
@@gregowen2022 You rock dude. I was actually wondering why you hadn't put out a couple slop videos on this controversy just to grab some easy clicks. No shame in paying yourself once in a while when a click-baity story is blowing up. But getting a 45 minute banger works too.
I am surprised by the founder of the CEO and founder said threatened your marketing team if you do not get your way.
That was an earnest recommendation of racketeering, which is in itself a crime, and she said it in a public forum… Justice only being applied one way.
Yeah, that video was wild. It’s crazy that she feels that it’s perfectly normal to suggest things like that
I had a stroke trying to read that.
Sir, I would like to thank you for a legitimately well thought out and sincere video that lays out arguments without being overly aggressive or dismissive.
It is refreshing to watch someone who can relay a disagreement without resorting to attacks, admonishing, dehumanizing, etc.
It seems to feel rarer and rarer to just have a disagreement that doesn't become a screaming match and you have a way of relaying your arguments that appeals to providing an understanding of where you are coming from (and even acknowledging that you understand others' points of view even if you don't agree with that view) and not focusing on simply "winning" the argument or "owning" the other side.
I actually tend to not always agree with you, but I legitimately respect you, sir, and will continue to watch (and respectfully disagree with) you in the future.
"I am a black nonbinary woman." They just grab a few buzzwords even to describe themselves at this point.
Just screams "not like other girls" to me with a hint of showing her allegiance to the cult.
It is telling when a company fights to keep its product hidden from consumers.
With GOW Ragnarok, many theorized that Angraboda was black because one of her parents was from Egypt, tying or hinting to the next game saga
Sadly... no
It seems the fans of these franchises have been WAAAAY more competent with their ideas than the writers for like the last 5 to 10 years...
The funny thing about this is that's actually not a half bad idea. It's like the writers want diversity, but they're so painfully uncreative that they have no idea how to implement any of it.
@@danhillenburg4487 that just goes to show that the LEAST QUALIFIED are on storyboards
I COULD HAVE WRITTEN A BETTER SCRIPT
@@theanimeunderworld8338I think this about the sequel trilogy of Star Wars all the time.
They started out with a stormtrooper defect; they could have done so much cool stuff with that idea. The actor that played him was also quite good and happened to be black, so it would have been good for diversity. Bad guy turned good fits well into the current deconstruction trope. This character should have basically written itself. But they did absolutely nothing with him. It's almost like they went out of their way to make Fin a bad character. And that's just one example.
Honestly there was so much cope with fans in that game. As fan of the trilogy and its spin offs, i personally hate the reboot.
Kratos now apologies excessively, capitulates to everyone including Odin and Thor, why Kratos hasn't snapped Freya's neck when she tried to kill him and his son. The girlbosses and raceswaps finally made it.
Its not deeper lore guys. The reboot and Ragnarok is written by the people who hate the original Kratos. Angrebodda and her nan is not Egyptian (Egyptians are not even black to begin with), Its DEI before Sweet Baby came in. Simple as.
Fair, accurate and detailed. You won yourself a sub.
A LOT of channels are making content about this topic. Thank you for giving a pretty balanced perspective and actually showing the source material. And not just 2 sec clips of source material, but WITH context. Some channels show clips that are so short that it FEELS like its taken out of context, whether it is or not. That makes it feel like a strawman argument. By showing MORE of the source material, you make your own arguments against the stupidity stronger.
I like some of the other channels out there. But....... much of the time they just sound like incoherent ranting, rather than well-reasoned arguments. And that makes for an easy target for the opposition.
Agreed. This is why I love Greg. He seems pretty balanced and gives both side a fair shake when needed. Even when I disagree with him I respect his opinion and believe it actually is his and not just trying to please a certain group.
Also agreed. The fact that his video is over the algorithm length is a testament to his research and perspective. I've been waiting for this kind of view since this whole mess started, Cheers!
It is hard trying to find a balance in a controversial topic
I want games to be fun, apolitical, and interesting again
yet I get what the whole "representation" argument but they're doing it wrong
I'm a pretty casual gamer. I want engaging gameplay (not difficult) and a great story.
I recently played KotOR for the first time and Mass Effect and Batman Arkham. I'm WAY far away from the bleeding edge of games. But very few modern games look very interesting to me.......
I did enjoy Hogwarts Legacy and Jedi Survivor. Fun games, not at the level of KotOR or ME, but good. Outside that...... I play some casual mananagement games like Cities Skylines, Tavern Master and Timberborn.
But if a book, a movie, a game, or ANY other media starts to preach AT me. I'm out.
@@newmancl0 I'm writing a book (hopefully a franchise) that will strive to make it entertaining. One thing I'll do is make it like light novels from Japan
Dude. Absolutely awesome recap. I’m right there in the gamer dad group (exhausted and spending most play sessions at night trying no to fall asleep) that I’ve heard about some of this but never fully understood what gamer gate was. I’m so glad gamers are pushing back
This reminds me of what my grandpa said regarding these people: they want all the rights, but none of the responsibilities
Sort of. They want power.
Like how feminists who want women to get cushy office jobs but none of the dirty, dangerous, or degrading jobs.
@@ProjectKhopesh
A power grab under the guise of compassion. Typical commie, marxist shit
It's actually interesting that the quote works in reverse, too. People don't want to self-police until they get told they're doing their jobs wrong. If Sweet Baby didn't cast such a massive light on it, they'd probably get the same amount of influence without any pushback.
Did your grandfather wear a white hood?
This is the first video I've watched of you, and I am very impressed and happy with your insight on this drama. I was so freaking tired of seeing videos suggested from the POV of either extremes, and you've given what I consider to be a leveled, reasonable overview of the problem. So thank you so much for that, and please keep up the good work!
Even if the game is good, the sudden intrusion of this bs destroys the immersion.
Also, actual gamers want games not animated stories with political messaging.
I really despise how most games are just trying to be movies instead of attempting to tell their story through gameplay.
Yeah. I remember playing Timespinner and it was fun as heck! And the LGBT romances that popped up during the sidequests were cute as heck and felt completely natural.
But then, right before the final area/fight, there was a LONG cutscene lingering on all of those romances that felt VERY forced and out of nowhere. Like, 99% of the game is FANTASTIC. But that campfire scene was like someone dropping a *_precision nuke of cringe_* to the pacing and story. And yeah, it would have been equally strange if they were all straight.
I'll play it again and still reccomend it to others, but I'm hammering through that campfire scene.
The amount of cutscene in some of these is astounding. I was getting B-roll of Suicide Squad and that scene with the villains trying to get info from Justice League HQ and getting attacked by Wonder Woman was like 10 minutes long! Suicide Squad: Metal Gear edition.
This is why I'm a fan of the Helldivers approach. Despite their political satire, likely because of the satire, they're banning all political/culture war conversations. They recognize they are there to entertain not explain
this is what happened with Spiderman 2
The game was amazing, but the forced inclusion of DEI stuff ruined it
31:00 she says “I’m a black non-binary woman.” This shows the grift - non binary refers to being “gender queer,” supposedly, so for her to also say she’s a woman means she either doesn’t know what “nonbinary” is or she’s just grifting with victim points
WTF Wow doesn't she know that most games were made bought by asians and white back in my day Iwas broke.....people I don't take her seriously 😂😂 She sound to the about her own people but yet put her own people down both men and women I'm not even listening to 22 minutes of that crap. Because I bet you she's not even gonna mention one game. That was very, very conservative and then it was because there was a woman lead It was a good game it was called Remember me, gamplay combat was very very good Story wise was very sweet baby inc crap
Both. No knowledge about what she’s calling, and also happily using buzzwords she thinks make her sound important and special. Which she isn’t.
The scuttlebutt is "when the nightmares of hell became sound"
Ah, a fellow Despot fan?
😂
It's weird that they think we know the race/sex of the people making video games.
It's dumb that anyone thinks it's important.
THIS!!!! THIS is why I am subscribed to you, Greg! Your takes are thoughtful, witty, informative, and acknowledge the nuances of each topic. I will say this, though, aS A bLaCk WoMaN, you’d be surprised at how many times I’ve had to tell other black people “White people aren’t actually thinking of you, remotely as much as you think they are.”
Anyways, great job! DJ Khaled voice “ANOTHER ONE!”
(Oh! I will certainly be tuning in to you Foster videos)
Thank you!
That’s a lesson we all need to learn, most people aren’t thinking about us, they are thinking about them and imagining everyone is, too.
I can’t wait to see you in May!
Its an allright video tho he did miss a lot of background from many sweet baby workers like the head of sweet Baby Inc convincing her bf to... minecraft himself.
Loved the dad mode (and the Ben Folds insert)!!! Goes perfectly with my new video. LOL. What a fantastic video. I agree 100 percent with every word. I can't imagine how long this took to make. And that's my absolute favorite Katt Williams stand up special. Love that you included that clip.
Due credit to AZ (HeelvsBabyface). He was talking about this _months_ ago. It did not start with the Steam list.
And Cyael. He's where I first heard about Sweet Baby Inc.
Now would be a good time to go back and check your favorite channels and see who was grifting on that bandwagon hating on the guy. Now you know who is fake trash. Actman being one of them sense they were suppose to friends and AZ backed him up way back only to be stabbed in the back by Act just for clicks.
@@SiriusSphynx You mean Angry Joe.
Upper Echelon covered them YEARS ago
@@PhyllisLane-xj5uf Citation needed. I've scrolled back through the last three years of Upper Echelon videos, and I see no mention of SBI earlier than 13 days ago (as I post this). So unless it's buried in another video about GamerGate, game development, or game journalism…
Kim Belair:
"Gamers are like picky babies who get mad when they don't get what they want lol"
Also Kim Belair:
"Threaten to throw a big tantrum and attack people unless they give you exactly what you want"
33:23 I'm a programmer, so when I saw "Head developer" in this I was surprised. I didn't think someone that acted like her would be the lead programmer on anything. She's not. She was the head narrative writer, and just knows so little about video games that she doesn't know the developers are the programmers.
I dont understand how you can fill so many of these contracts and not pick up the lingo and bare minimum of industry skills.
@@arnezbridges93because it’s not radical leftism, it’s radical grifting. Diversity is them using minorities as human shields, so they can dismiss criticism. They don’t care about anything other than money.
What do you mean, are you saying a “non-binary milf in training” doesn’t pop up in your mind when you think senior programmer?
She can probably write atleast write a one for loop😂
i mean it was kinda proven later she did sleep her way up, and has a big history of lieing, being a professional victim and even lead her ex bf kill himself.
She was a game developer who slept with or dated game journalist who wrote about her game and gave her awards.
Gamergate was originally about integrity in gaming journalism because it wasn't about Zoe sleeping with 1 guy. It was 5, and it was all about circling the wagons and journalists attacking the gamers who were calling out the collusion. It was never about sexism until it got co-opted and retargeted by the journos.
Edit: on Zoe, it was the fact that she made a really unfun game, but it somehow made the number 1 Steam Award best game blah blah blah, and its because Zoe slept with two of the guys on the panel. It was everywhere that was infected. What should have been something based on gamer feedback was just about who slept their way to the top.
Edit 2: if you want to see the scope of the coverup and misdirection, change the language on the ganergate article on wikipedia to Chinese, and then google translate it to english. Youll see just how drastically it's built onto the harrassment campaign narrative.
Holy shit. Having not read the wiki page before, I went to check it out and immediately changed it to Chinese like you said. Other than some rough translations, it was a bit banal as most articles tend to be. When I switched the language back to English, it was night and day! The narrative was completely different!
@@felixfeliciano7011 exactly. One is a wiki article. The other is a hit piece. If you enjoy video games, never let the news lie to you about who you are. Gamergate 1 never ended. There are still almost 0 ethics and integrity in journalism. And looking from the outside in will prove it.
@@felixfeliciano7011 Yeah. It got locked mid flame war on a hostile article. A TH-camr named MentisWave has also broken down how this came to be.
@@Harley_Mitchelly if his channel hadn't been nuked from Orbit, the original breakdown of how it was all starting used to be on Mister Metokur's channel. Not sure if mirrors are around, but he was there to cover the start of it all, if anyone cares to see the initial onset.
@@GaioSamurai I know of the Internet Aristocrat archives. Sadly the evidence docs are gone, but they survive on the DeepFreeze wiki.
Thank you for all this information. I certainly learned more about this issue than I did before, though I had watched other videos about or that touched on it. Having the linear explanation of "it started with" to "here we are now" in some detail helped.
I love how most people who demand representation live in rich 1st world cities. Have you seen anyone demand representation for Afghans, Serbs or Ethiopians?
35:55 Big fan of dad mode. Never knew I needed personal conviction and motivation in my media critique videos, but it hits home every time.
The big problem for me with the Ubisoft accusations is that they hit right at the height of the MeToo movement/hysteria. While I certainly think that sexual harassment is a big deal that should be roundly condemned and investigated, we've seen so many cases of women abusing the "believe all women" mantra and abusing the tendency of an entire half of the political specturm to simply side with anyone who throws those accusations out there, that my _immediate_ and perhaps kneejerk reaction was and still is abject doubt. I mean, it retroactively made me quesiton the Cosby accusations, and if it weren't for the man suggesting that it shouldn't be an issue instead of just saying his accusers were lying, I'd probably still be arguing for a closer look at events. It made me especially staunch about due process.
I'm not saying Ubisoft is innocent, especially not with the whole "Cosby Suite" thing, but I've yet to see anyone put anything forward _except_ for accusations. These things should be investigated by a genuinely unbiased, politically-unaffiliated outside group. The problem is that I don't believe anymore that such a thing even exists. Meanwhile, even complete normies are now aware of Sweet Baby, Inc., and when I suggested on Twitter that; while investigating and fighting against the company is a massively important, justified, and righteous effort; getting rid of them won't solve the problem because it's the attitudes in the industry that allow them to exist in the first place (for we wrestle not against flesh and blood...), the few responses I got gave me the impression that people genuinely think simply not buying games made by SBI will solve the problem.
Devs in no way needed to listen to SBI, but they did it beacuse they believe in those values. Moreover, anyone with a functional brain should be able to realize that for every SBI that is defeated, four more will take its place. And like you said, the only reason SBI is taking heat at all right now (outside of TH-camrs like Cyael, who's been on their case for months already) is the Streisand Effect and their own repsonse to the criticisms; I'd wager SBI replacement groups would be way wiser about revealing their existence in the future. There's already a major problem in gaming around the homogenization of gaming archetecture toward monetizable gameplay structures, the nickel-and-diming of players with the microtransactions themselves, the already risk-averse entertainment publishers, an obvious desire at top levels to do whatever keeps the most control in the hands of the executives and out of the players' hands (always online, the slow death of physical media, actual comments from Ubisoft's digital marketing department saying that players should get used to not owning their games, etc.)...gaming probably won't crash, but the industry's future outlook isn't healthy. If the only way gamers can avoid DEI intitives and political propaganda is to just not buy any new games, then this whole SBI kerfuffle could seriously or fatally wound gaming as a whole.
And yet, I'm at a loss for other answers. Gamers *have* to find the spot where they'll draw their lines in the sand, or the specific hill on which they're personally willing to die, or these people _will_ prevail even as the entire pitchfork- and torch-weiling gamer base backs publishers into a corner.
It is a rather bleak outlook for gaming right now. Diablo 4 is not fun by most accounts, and Immortal was a straight up cash grab, and yet preorders for Diablo 4 were great and the game sold millions of copies, plus I’m sure they are getting a continuous stream of purchases for cosmetics. The depressing thing is that the longer it goes on, the more “normal” it becomes and slowly people will forget that a game used to be complete upon purchase and you didn’t have to keep paying for it or any outfits to wear in the game.
I’m mad at the studios and publishers, but I’m also mad at the customers who keep buying this garbage. That’s why I get excited to see a Suicide Squad or Avengers fail. I want these practices to be so financially risky that the studios quit trying them
@@gregowen2022 _"I want these practices to be so financially risky that the studios quit trying them"_
So do I, and I've been on Rocksteady's ass since the first Suicide Squad footage came out because of it. But even at the best of times, we already knew from film and television that executives somehow manage to learn the wrong lessons from these pushbacks every single time. Did you see WB's recent statement on how their future is focusing on live services?!
I mean..HOW?! How do you walk away from the Avengers and SS debacles thinking, "Oh, players clearly want more live services."? It's SO antithetical to any reading of the data that it practically confirms on it's own that the industry's movement toward the woke and political isn't in any way organic. I can't fault anyone for thinking there's a literal conspiracy here, though saying so out loud draws completely understandable laughter. Normalcy bias is unfortunate, and people won't see it until it's too late.
I'm just saying: it's getting harder and harder to not take the black pill on this. I knew immediately when Microsoft backtracked on the Xbox One's always online plan that it wouldn't be the end of it, and that feels like a lifetime ago. The same thing happened with the resistence to net neutrality. It's in the financial interests of those pushing these ideas to keep trying, and people eventually get tired of fighting it and give in, EVERY time. The true power of the consumer has always been in voting with their wallets, but ESG has made sure that these businesses can make more money by listening to "stakeholders" than their actual customers. Until such things are outlawed at the national level, I don't know how we win this. And as a libertarian myself, I can't stand the sound of my own voice saying "regulate them."
@@Goldnfoxx at the end of the day, what matters is not making rules or laws but changing the culture.
@@magicwandstudio3141 yes and this is precisely what companies like SBI and their controllers are doing right now and have been doing so for decades.
@gregowen2022 one of the few comforts I have is that indie games seem to have the player's interest at heart(some of them anyway) so while the future for gaming dose look Bleak at least there why still be some that still bring out true finished good game the will be fun to play
the best most equitable thing that democratizes diversity : is OPTIONS. lots and lots of customizable options.
the problem is that they keep trying to force feed their "diversity", while robbing the rest of us our options, as long as they get their mary sue self-inserts as the protagonist, and then accuse the rest of us as racist for not wanting to participate in their delusion.
she claims she can't relate to a white male protagonist as the reason for creating black female characters? but using her same "logic", how tf does she expect the rest of us (i'm asian) who are non-black and non-female to relate to her character, if she herself proclaims she is unable to connect to a character that is not like her?
seriously, i find it so ironic that they claim they love diversity, yet they hate character customization so damn much.. despite it giving everyone the option to create the character that the player wanted to play.
"...Olivia Munn did not exist to be nice on the eyes for you."
Ummm... Actually, that's exactly what she was for. It was explicitly stated in interviews that she was not interested in gaming or tech prior to being cast for the show. Not sure if that's changed, but she was very explicitly cast because she was noce to look at and not because she was the best woman for the job from a "qualifications" point of view.
I want the future to have a company called Grumpy Oldman that will make stories more BASED on games 😂
Mr. Owen, your channel may be one of my favorite on this site. You bring both passion and well thought out takes on the hobbies that I have enjoyed for years, and I greatly appreciate that you spend your free time creating these videos for people like me to enjoy.
The best part is that your videos feel different to other "critics" in the space, in the sense that you're not obsessed with literary analysis or have an air of "this is how you should feel about XYZ"
Your videos are unique in the sense that you're a regular, blue collar guy like myself, speaking about the hobbies that you enjoy. It's refreshing.
Keep up the great work, Mr. Owen!
I appreciate the kind words so much!
Great video. I enjoyed the “Dad Mode” segment. I watched a few of your videos regarding The Wheel of Time. After watching this video, I’m looking forward to seeing more of your content.
She's right in the sense that big studios treat their audience like "picky babies", but that doesn't mean the audience actually is or has been turned into that. That's their (and her) fault for thinking of gamers that way, so she should blame them. How would she explain the success of the indie sphere if it's true that gamers just want the same thing all the time?
Agreed. It’s an issue of studios playing it safe, just like the movie industry right now. That’s not the audience’s fault, that’s the fault of large studios putting themselves in a position of being unable to take creative risks
The whole analogy is nonsense because there's nothing wrong with being picky about entertainment. Video games are a luxury that no one needs, especially considering the nearly uncountable backlog of video games that already exist and the alternative forms of entertainment (books/movies/shows/etcetera).
You can't force people to buy video games. If they don't like what you're offering, then you either change or accept that you need a day job.
Amazing video, Greg. As usual.
Some friends even asked me about this topic yesterday and now I can just link them this.
Your list of the Sweet Baby Projects is out of date. They scrubbed the list last week. It's archived somewhere on X. Probably by Grummz.
Dani Lalonders: "I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that.... I'm saying that."
The bottom line is that consumers and the market will always decide if you are successful or not. Insult your customers till the cows come home, but we have final say on the matter. Period. The End.
Exactly. I’m the one with the money and this is a luxury market. None of us NEEDS video games and there are so many to choose from. It’s time these studios get back to trying to court us and our money.
8:00 You should have noted that the one that wrote the article at Kotaku (Alyssa Mercante) is also the same one that Tweeted the Tweet you had previously mentioned at 7:30...
In reality Gamer Gate NEVER ended... We are just now finding out that what was being said in 2014 - Was actually true...
I award you 200 points for including a Kait Williams stand up clip!
*Kat Williams. No shade, just clarifying for anyone who might not now
Haha, I love a good opportunity to get him in
I'm halfway through the video and in the part where you're talking about needing to appeal to the audience and learn and grow with them to keep them around. I personally think you've done a great job of keeping things fresh enough to where I always excitedly click the next video, but not doing something crazy out of left field too frequently to where I have a hard time describing your stuff to myself and those around me. Especially in the past 10-ish months, I feel like the content has really stabilized in a healthy way. Even that puns video, which I admittedly found eye roll inducing a number of times, was still fun and engaging to me, and I enjoyed the odd ball video as a break to the more standard videos and essays you've been putting out. I feel like you've got a really healthy balance of experimenting and consistency going right now content wise.
The more important thing that I want to mention is that you as a creator feel very unique to me and fill a unique role that is sorely lacking on TH-cam in my opinion. I think it's because your life revolves around your family (and Faith I'm presuming, based off past comments you've made), and not around the topics you cover. You comment on a lot of the same stuff as others, but you don't come off as a vindictive, angry, dispossessed nerd like so many others do. You generally bring a level of maturity and often bring a level hand to the subject matter, even if you're obviously slanted in the video one ay or the other. There's a wholistic feel to most of your content, where I feel like not only am I getting a fun video on a topic, but I'm actually getting valuable advice. When you breakdown a piece of media for being bad or good, I not only feel like I learn why it's bad or good, but I feel like I get information that is useable when it comes to my own creative endeavors. And a lot of the time, I feel like I get actually useable life advice as well, whether it be something on maturity, being a man, or something else that society has degraded and obfuscated from young men. I really enjoy the mix of mature and nerd that you bring to the table, and it's a mix that I think many people enjoy (and need) as well, and one that is sorely lacking online. I think that fact by itself already makes your content really special.
This ended up way longer than anticipated. Anyways, I hope you continue doing your thing. You're one of the few creators that I love telling others about because of the wholistic nature of your content.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. I do think this direction is the right one. I’m an everyman sort of person, so I think leaning into it is the way to go. Like you said, there are already plenty of really extreme people online, so why not go for the “normie” crowd, since I am one? Thank you so much for saying this!
@@gregowen2022 I find it funny that the more balanced "normie" type of person is probably the rarest type of person to find online these days. And I find that as time passes, quality "normie" people and content are who I actually want to engage with because they're usually more balanced and willing to engage in a dialogue as opposed to knee jerk around like more "unique and non-normie" creators.
_I have a team of people that ONLY look just like me...but trust me, I'm pro diversity_
🙄
😂 She feels unsafe around white people but treats them like second class citizens. A true non racist 🤓
This is the best recap of events I have seen! Great job, you can do the work of 10 of these journalists put together
The sooner people internalize the truth about DEI, the sooner we can remove it from public life. First, the "Diversity" in DEI has nothing to do with race, gender, or sexuality. Diversity, in this context means literally "trained in diversity," which is just a fancy way of saying activists. Activists use race as a lever to get more activists installed into positions of authority. Inclusion means to include or accommodate people who have views antithetical to the capitalist west. And thought they've changed the definition lately, the definition of equity is the same as communism. Do with this information what you will.
OMG, one of my All-Time Favorite 90's movies! "No women, no kids." 😎
And Gary Oldman's "Everyone!" Such an amazing actor. 👑✨️
My favorite game is a bowling app on my smartphone.
That said, I like listening to Greg talk.
Nice video on this topic! Something that recently occurred to me. Pandering to one specific group like Sweet Baby has been encouraging is one thing, but no matter what group you pick it is easy to forget that they have options. And the "modern audience" has so many options that they don't need to pick low quality stuff. The way this is being done is industry suicide if it drives the quality down below other things that appeal to that crowd, which I think we are seeing play out in real time.
“Consultation company” aka people who pretend to be experts in something. No one who can DO something chooses to merely “consult” on it, unless they are a retired expert just helping out a buddy. I’ve been in construction for 20+ years. I don’t call it “consulting” when a friend asks me to take a look at something for them. I call it a favor or being a good neighbor.
Let me make this clear.
My father was actively teaching me wrong and in a way that stunted my growth.
But I didn’t get better, more comfortable, and start actually Publishing my novels until I let that villain perspective of him go. I had agency. I could have made the decision ages ago but I didn’t. And I had my reasons and it was probably a more comfortable existence then the alternative, but that was still my call. My decision. For right or wrong, I failed myself.
And so I refuse to stop walking this new road I have found because it propels me to enjoy what I do.
Not only that she works best surrounded by people “just like her” but have the same skin color. That’s literal racism.
Your dad mode just confirmed that I’m coping and need to just start writing. Thank you. Hopefully I’ll be back to show some stuff I’m proud of. Your approach and ethic to creation is exactly what’s missing. Good stuff
I really appreciate your measured, nuanced and insightful coverage of all of this. As irritating as SBI are, I've been seeing some equally irritating and antagonistic people popping up in my feed to criticise them. I firmly believe that becoming hateful and reflexively dismissing all criticism of gaming and gamers is folly, and that we should do our best to be calm and reasonable in situations like this. There are genuine issues in the industry that have never been addressed because people within the industry are always able to point to the lunatics who send them death threats and paint all gamers with the same brush. I hope more people are open and receptive to your way of communicating these issues, and that we'll actually see some genuine positive change after this all dies down. Instead of GamerGate2: Electric Boogaloo simply going down as a "coordinated harassment campaign" enacted by "evil bigoted gamers" and being stripped of the important message at its core.
I appreciate the kind words. I’m glad the video is being enjoyed despite me being a bit calmer. Normally, I would add more jokes and energy or whatever, but, as you said, I wanted to keep this one down a bit so I can’t be used by someone to illustrate how gamers are reactionary istaphobes.
This is perhaps the best and most balanced account of the whole Sweet Baby Inc. story. Many thanks! Of course, as a libertarian, I can follow you more easily. Perhaps a small analogy to my view as a gamer: Alexandre Dumas wrote wonderful adventure novels about early modern France. He was black. Doesn't matter.
The sad part is that their games could be winners if they tried to get gamers feedback and implement them instead of just fighting them.
GREG GREG GREG GREG GREG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 28:49 You just became my favorite youtuber. It's tough competition with Disparu, but honestly. You just hit on a topic I am most passionate about. Which is foster care. Now I don't want everyone adopting because honestly too many bad people out there, but I know lots of homosexual Christian men who are doing fantastic financially, but don't wish to adopt because they don't want to be a bad influence on children, and it's in these homes that really could take in teenage boys. You have the resources, you have the morality, you're often strong and decent men, and you aren't going to influence a teenager to be gay they're a teenager and by that point they are what they are and they really just need a father to help guide them. To be supportive. To teach them life skills. To give them a home to come back to for Christmas. To be a shoulder to cry on when life gets hard. Others in most cases the worst happens to these boys. They will either age out, end up on drugs, and worse which would likely get censored by youtube. So I'm very glad to see a youtuber I like who also shares this passion. God bless you Greg! Seriously. Even just mentioning it gets my passion aflame!
They are not primarily journalists, game devs or consultants. They are radical activists first and foremost, anything else they participate in is just a vehicle for their activism.
Hi Greg --- this will probably come across wrong, but I assure you it's in good faith: I hope you send this to the "Blocked and Reported" podcast. B&R is a heterodox thinking podcast (so of course people call them TERFs). But Jesse Singal was asking online about SBI, and I think your video is a great primer. I just suggest you send this to their email (if you reply and ask for it, I'll get it to you, but I'm afraid of it coming across spammy) because it would serve them well if they're working on covering the SBI drama. Anyway, this is a great video. Thanks for the primer.
Bring back the black t-shirt. Yes. I am a subscriber who opposes all change.
I had to make one little exception to let everyone know I’m a real gamer. Normal attire resumes next time
I thought it was the OG Pontiac Firebird logo at first
My Dood. I'm unsure how I came across your content, but this is the first video I watched and hot darn! Amazing long-form content and subject-material. Keep up the AWESOME work!
Sexism in gaming was not anywhere near that big of a problem.
They created & inflated the problem so that they could indefinitely provide the solution. And all they've really done is harm the industry as a whole & hurt actual women gamers/developers.
I mean woman leads have been in gaming forever: Samus, Laura Croft, Celes and Terra (FF6), Chell from Portal, the list goes on
Yeah like other than characters dressing skimpy how was there sexism?! (Besides lot of male characters were and still are made skimpy)
Very thorough, balanced and nuanced coverage, going over a lot of the details that both sides like to ignore. But as far as I see it, games media has the greater responsibility to report accurately and as free of bias as possible and in that regard they have failed miserably. The distrust everyone now has for games journalism is thoroughly earned.
Did she just describe herself as a "non-binary woman"? Are you non-binary or a woman? Sounds like she's adding the non-binary for purely fashion reasons.
Thanks for putting this together. Really appreciate your breakdown and the refresher course
Based and unbiased review of the situation. Here, take my engagement for the algorithm
Much appreciated!
I really enjoyed this vid.
You did a great job being balanced but not getting agro when criticizing issues
This is the best explanation I've heard of the whole situation.
By leaving out the part where a Sweet Baby Inc employee wanted to cancel a Steam user, game journalists are falsifying the story.
Good work Greg! This is probably the best thing Ive seen on the topic. You're fair minded, identifying the ways journalists and gamers speak past each other. You also incorporated the larger rot w/I game development, like monetization nightmares. Sweet Baby is a co-evolved parasite on a stinky and bloated game industry. It shouldn't be ignored that this ideology goes beyond consultants and and journalists. Its in the C-suites and development houses. They've been playing w/ house money so far. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
You pointed that This decade long controversy seems to involve the same small community of Canadian game consultants and developers. It also involves the talking turd and Fez creator Phil Fish. It looks like a clique that achieved a huge amount of political power w/I the entirety of the western game industry. From there it seems that a fantastic ecosystem of self dealing has developed w/ the entire industry ready to call the whole world bigots just to defend this clique.
This seemed like a fairly balanced video on the matter.
Thank you.
I had no idea what gamergate or anything was till this sweetbaby stuff and i play games constantly. Just knew i wasn't a big fan of much of the new stuff because it seemed preachy, now i know why.
Also my issue with her analogy (if thats the correct term) is that the customer base the aka: picky baby... Is paying them for the food. It isn't charity, you give the person paying what they want, it doesn't matter what the person selling stuff wants. They aren't privileged to my wallet.
surprisingly cogent video essay on the topic, you've earned yourself a sub.
33:20 It's the wokie *nose-ring* for me. 😂
I don’t care what stories are told in games by and about anyone as long as they are good and I suspect that is the sentiment of the vast majority of gamers.
"Sheesh, games are all about the male power fantasy... I know, let's just make the exact same games, but have a female player character instead. So now they're about female power fantasies. Or actually just about the male power fantasy, but now you play as a woman.. Or something.. We're doing important and revolutionary work here!!"
Yep. Just like movies. We made the exact same stoic overpowered dude, but we cast a woman! Don’t you love it now? Wait, why aren’t people buying tickets?
You can't win this.
If the Player Character is a Man it's about male Power Fantasy, but if the Character is a Woman it's not about female Power Fantasy it's rather for the male Gaze.
Either Way they will call it sexist.
Sweet Baby Inc Detected is not a "plugin tool", it's a curator group, a native feature of Steam.
I'm a mixed race man. I have never seen myself physically in a game without a character creator. It's irrelevant. The stories are everything. The character aspects that aren't inherent unalterable traits are far more important. Devs can make whatever story they want. But make them good stories and good characters. It will be far more lucrative yo your company than hiring sensitivity readers.
It's right to be skeptical of games influenced by this consulting firm. However I am now starting to see people declaring that they will boycott Flintlock, a game which hasn't even come out yet, based solely on the fact that ONE consultant was hired (and the protagonist is a black woman).
This is literally the same thing as the Hogwarts Legacy boycott and it's just as irrational. Wait for the games to actually come out and then make the decision about whether you want them or not based on things that actually exist; not politics and innuendo.
I'm kind of fed up of the "the race swapping of Angrboda isn't a problem in and of itself" argument.
Yes it is.
Here's the thing, gamers have had enough of the double standards. Assuming the next God Of War saga is going to be set against the Egyptian panthion like has been hinted at. Do you really see them making any of the Egyptian gods white, or east asian? Not a chance.
Yet set your game in Medieval Bohemia (Kingdom Come: Deliverance), or a world based on Slavic folklore (the Witcher) and the ghouls all come out to decry the lack of diversity.
We have wisened up to what they mean by diversity. It doesnt mean more of X, it just means getting rid of Y.
Kinda reminds me of the rock journalism space. Almost all in the online rock music community despise Rolling Stone for being out of touch with the rest of us.
Man... I miss the days when anyone working on making games were just a bunch of nerds who want to make great games. That sweet-baby inc. conference video is blood-boiling to say the least.
I like the idea of the company. Diversify OCs, have gay characters be voiced by gay people, etc; it makes the world feel more alive. In the end, these are games. If someone doesn’t like the way a game is done, just delete and/or refund it. In the end, the games’ creators chose to diversify their characters with the help of SBI.
The issue, though, are the people. If the people within SBI are being twats, then yeah, continue the boycott. No issue with that. A good deed can always be done by many people; If it’s not SBI, it can always be another.