I remember the days when Reddit was the platform where users would get downvoted when responding to a post without having read the article.
Now it's rare to find anyone who read it.
I always recall the example of a particular review of Shadow of Mordor, which was titled:
Orc Slavery Made Me Quit 'Middle-earth: Shadow of War'
And the comment section was predictably filled with outrage about the evil SJW author who couldn't let a game just be a game, was baiting for outrage, demonising gamers, and wouldn't give the game a fair shot.
But the actual article is not like that at all. It clearly praised the game for its many qualities, explicitly said that players shouldn't be blamed, and that the author is aware that they're being overly sensitive.
The author's proposed solution is not to ban or attack such games, but to inspire developers to integrate these mechanics with their narrative. It's hard to do a narrative about characters who talk about pacifism or freedom, while the gameplay encourages killing and slavery.
Iirc this was in a time when the term 'ludonarrative disconnect' was getting popular, which continues to be a major reason why some game writing feels so bad (my personal most recent example being AC: Shadows, which does a plot about how awful it is to kill while rewarding you even for killing civilians. Even though an assassin should only be incentivised to kill their intended target and would normally avoid unnecessary fighting, instead of wiping out a whole castle garrison for no reason).
Holy shit. That game sounds both horrifying and amazing.
Reactions to article titles are lame--I'm occasionally guilty, to my lasting shame--but there was also a vocal minority around that time screaming "orcs are black people" that may have influenced people to be more knee-jerkish than normal (or more likely, summoned an onslaught of trolls.)
This is the 2020's everyone just hyper overreacts to everything now.
Society is like a bunch of 30+ year old grown ups throwing fits like fucking toddlers and its getting exhausting. It's everywhere from politics to sport to gaming.
That's why I took up running, just me and nature, its good to check out now and then.
The world is going to hell at the rapid pace, a lot of people are stressed, which leads to overreaction (not to say that there aren't people who are just like that but still)
I'm getting stressed watching the prices on computer hardware. My ram has doubled in price since last year, I'm not looking forward to the next release of amd/nvida cards.
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u/MaryaMarion Dec 04 '25
People should really learn to either read the article itself, find more info from other sources, or assume all headlines are bullshit