Earlier quoted context omitted.
> so why be surprised when some people behave according to the incentive structure we put around them? I guess a basic level of self-respect? It's one thing to be criticized, but one could say "that's not who I am". And it's not like Jesus didn't warn them they'd be prosecuted for him; there are many, many verses about this very thing. But once they start performing destructive behaviors themselves, suddenly: that is…
Jesus also said there would be a lot of people who called themselves Christian but few who actually lived the life. As far as political polls go, they are happy to consider anyone a Christian irrespective of whether they practice any of the traditions or aspire toward the ethics, so we probably shouldn't expect generalizations about "Christians" to be very useful or intuitive. Anyway, I try not to criticize the bulli…
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
291–300 of 325 posts
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#292This is a pretty high effort article, let's take a deep breath. I enjoyed it because it uses Assassin's Creed as a lense to teach us a bit about history. No culture war related baggage is required for admission into this article IMO; the narrative compromises necessary to make a playable game out of a 9th century setting are kind of hilarious, and this article helped me process the cognitive dissonance that comes fro…
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure about if the historical part being incorrect is really damaging. Personally, games like Pirates, Civilization and Colonization sparked an interest in history in me that continues until this day. And especially Colonization is ridiculously white-washed even though it tried a little bit to show some of the problematic historical situations.
> I'm not sure about if the historical part being incorrect is really damaging. I think the article itself highlights the issues with making colonialism look like it wasn't a bad thing. This game perpetuates that idea and that colonialism was like, "oh, you know, just finding unexplored land! No one has ever been here!" When the reality of the situation was far different. Perpetuating historical inaccuracies might le…
I don't exactly remember when I first read criticism about the science tree in Civilization but it was at least a decade after I played it.
And now, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is out for two weeks and I already am informed about its problematic depiction of history and I haven't even played it yet.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
How so? Presumably an individual from a specific background is more likely to be able to evaluate slights against that background, vs a random individual. Individual experiences vary, but it's a helluva better start than... you know... not .
Because it's complete nonsense. With this logic, I can make a game about the Belgians colonized the Congo, leave out all that business about slaves on plantations, maiming said slaves on plantations for not meeting their quotas etc., portray the Belgians as magnanimous bringers of culture, and then say "oh, well, we had British people involved in the making of the game so it's OK"
Did they say that?
Regardless of the end product, I'd rather support something that had the involvement of some of the subgroups involved that are depicted in the media, than support something that had the involvment of none.
We can debate up and down on the relative efficiency and whether there's a better way to achieve informed representation.
But I think it's a stretch to say involving more diverse viewpoints is worse than not.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find the two pretty orthogonal...
How so? Presumably an individual from a specific background is more likely to be able to evaluate slights against that background, vs a random individual. Individual experiences vary, but it's a helluva better start than... you know... not .
Even with everyone involved having the best intentions, that task seems doomed to fail.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are loads of games with characters from every corner of the planet as playable characters. Why do people always pretend they don't exist? Just having a cursory look over my collection on steam: * Streets of Rage had black, white, asian, men and women. * Street Fighter had every nationality on earth represented. * Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Almost all the characters were black. * Grand Theft Auto V - One of…
> It only seems to be rich white people in the US seem to care about it I do think there is a kernel of truth to what you're saying, but I don't think it's right to dismiss entirely the fact that representation IS important. Historically, "rich white people" have been in control of the media, so it's great to see this group becoming more self aware. Sure, from time to time there is some overcorrection, but eventually…
This idea is insidious.
Firstly people have to remember fiction is fiction. The reason why the first few seasons of Game of Thrones was compelling was because the world they lived in didn't have any modern sensibilities in it. The more they threw in modern sensibilities the worse the show got (thought the action scenes for the most part got better).
There was some show recently where Black slaves in the USA had taken power over the whites and a white KKK member from another dimension somehow got transported there. Some decried the show and wanted it banned. I thought it sounded excellent, because it was soooo divorced from reality. Same with the "Man from the High Castle". The setting in which the enemy won WWII was compelling.
Secondly just randomly pushing people into roles for the sake of representation ends up cheapening any genuine effort. The Wire was brilliant because the huge number of black people being in the show made sense. At the time I didn't actually notice that most of the cast was black.
You know what the end result is. It made me notice skin colour when I didn't used to and made me start to resent any effort (no matter how genuine) because I know there is probably some quota involved somewhere to pander to a demographic.
> Historically, "rich white people" have been in control of the media, so it's great to see this group becoming more self aware.
It isn't self awareness though. They are projecting their prejudices onto the rest of us. This includes places where it just isn't relevant and makes almost no sense.
How dare they project their prejudices onto me in an effort to absolve themselves of guilt, then have the gall to tell me that I am the one with the problem when I object to it. Fuck them!
I clearly remember when I decided I wouldn't watch anymore broadcast television (this was about 8 years ago now).
There was a show hosted by Scottish Comedian Frankie Boyle that was infamous for his offensive comedy. On that show there was a rich Canadian woman on the TV telling people in the audience that all men had done through the centuries was raping and beating women.
Then there was a black musician called "Akala" telling me the British Empire institutions were guilty of perpetuating racism. He seemed to be obilvious to the fact that he was on a British Institution being broadcasted to every home in the country.
Other the gross oversimplification of history. I had nothing to do with it (nor did my family as they were all very poor). It would be like blaming today's Germans for what Hitler did. It is absolutely disgusting.
You know what the end result of this is? It made me hugely suspicious of any claim of sexual misconduct or racism. It is the classic story of the boy that cried wolf.
> We should let people with compelling stories tell their stories! Now that streaming is the norm, there's room for everyone, now that we're not limited to only the stories which are marketable for primetime.
Maybe I am getting old but I remember a lot of this already happening. I am not saying it was perfect and I don't disagree with it in principle.
Recently "Black Panther" was released. "The first black super hero" they said. People seemed to forget Wesley Snipes played Blade for 3 movies (starting in 1997) and they were the first Marvel Movies and made the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe viable as it showed that a comic book property could be successful.
Before that we had the "There are no female action heroes" they said. Forgetting all thrillers in the past with heroines, a whole movie franchise called Aliens, Cherry 2000, Nikita, Tank Girl, Buffy and a bunch of other movies I have probably forgotten about where the woman had taken charge of the situation and won the day.
People increasingly think that the world before they were born didn't exist.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
> French Canada doesn't like the rest of Canada and vise versa. Please stop these generalizations that are borderline racist. I personally have nothing against the English, for example. If you hate us so much, that's on you. Go watch, say, The Last Kingdom on Netflix. It wasn't made by Ubisoft or French Canadians. And yet the depiction of English vs Danes is pretty much the same: the cowardly christians with their si…
That's just nonsense. The Last Kingdom literally includes every element that the article complains is missing from the game. Cornwell certainly has an anti Christian bent, but he at least tries to compensate with some relatable characters (Leofric for example).
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I've grown up in a period when pop culture didn't care much about cultural sensitivity. I wonder when that was, cause pop culture has always cared about that in one way or another. I believe you are projecting. > The most relevant point of this article is not about historical accuracy, but on the contradiction of claiming cultural sensitivity by including gender and origin diversity while totally missing the point…
> I wonder when that was, cause pop culture has always cared about that in one way or another. I believe you are projecting. I see people pining for this forgotten past time a lot, and it makes me realize that none of them remember or think the same way of things like the satanic panic, moral majority, etc, let alone remember the times when people got offended over the mere suggestion of an interracial couple or a wo…
Now the moral panics are in the upper income left, and they actively try to get you fired if you trangress and all of a sudden it feels a bit restrictive in that environment.
Also social media makes average people significantly more vulnerable. Drunk comments would stay drunk environments outside of work comments, now drunk FB comments on a public group can get you fired.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I've grown up in a period when pop culture didn't care much about cultural sensitivity. I wonder when that was, cause pop culture has always cared about that in one way or another. I believe you are projecting. > The most relevant point of this article is not about historical accuracy, but on the contradiction of claiming cultural sensitivity by including gender and origin diversity while totally missing the point…
Respectfully, I think you got most of it right, but incorrect on a big nuance when you said: "A fantasy world can be based on real history as we know it (consider, for example, the Nordic theme in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, or the Norsca and Warriors of Chaos in Total War: Warhammer II). If it is then inaccurate, we're OK with that, we see it as artistic freedom. This game tries to base itself directl…
In Warcraft 1 the humans were good Christian knights, healed by clerics, and the Orcs were evil devil-worshippers.
By Warcraft 3 the Orcs followed an aboriginal religion and the humans were setting up concentration camps.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
Jesus also said there would be a lot of people who called themselves Christian but few who actually lived the life. As far as political polls go, they are happy to consider anyone a Christian irrespective of whether they practice any of the traditions or aspire toward the ethics, so we probably shouldn't expect generalizations about "Christians" to be very useful or intuitive. Anyway, I try not to criticize the bulli…
I’m not aware of any tests that distinguish “true” Christians from those merely claiming to be Christians.