Great write-up. I'm sure this will be a good game, but the issue with romanticizing of the Vikings was evident in the trailer[1]. The eye-rolling moment for me was at 0:35 which contrasted how the Vikings were described by the Saxon King versus how peaceful and chivalrous they "really" were! It was total cringe because you don't need advanced History degrees to know that Viking raids, which spanned hundreds of years, were devesting to the local populations.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
111–120 of 325 posts
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#112> > Inspired by historical events and characters, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a multicultural team of various beliefs, sexual orientations and gender identities. > This statement is making ... implicit [claims] (our diverse team means this game was produced in a careful, sensitive way) Ah, I think that's a misunderstanding of why the statement is there. It's not to claim that the gam…
Having someone with an ethnicity present while making something offensive isn't a great defense for the offensive thing.
No, but it's still better than not having such a person around at all.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
No because I’m white and I can play a million games with white protagonists. I don’t need to be included in every game. If I were nonwhite I think I’d want to be included in some games, yes.
I think the problem, is because if I can't play a black guy in a Japanese samurai game, its okay, because it is a samurai game, and its normal to think that. But if you hold that view to medieval europe games set in Poland or northern europe, that added artificial diversity so there are less whites and more representation thats a good thing. It is like a double standard I guess, and if you even question it, you are n…
It's because it only counts as woke if US lefties can identify with it. I challenge anyone who thinks medieval Europe games lack diversity to walk around some cities in Poland or Ukraine and then bitch about how the cast of their games is not representative of the population :-)
But you can't win an argument with stupid. We wuz kings and all that.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#114Vikings invade England, pillage and massacre the English, yet they are still seen as the good guys. I wonder if the people who made this game have some historical resentment towards the English.
Vikings invade England, pillage and massacre the English, yet they are still seen as the good guys. It's curious that what is now Britain has been invaded and its people enslaved many times over the centuries but no modern day British person harbours any resentment for it towards present day Italians, Scandinavians, French, Moroccans...
Are you sure? There are always a few ultra-nationalists in every country.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#115Vikings invade England, pillage and massacre the English, yet they are still seen as the good guys. I wonder if the people who made this game have some historical resentment towards the English.
What do you mean by "English", in a modern day sense or in a 10th century sense? I'm not even sure there was a concept of "English" in the 10th century.
What he means is that you can't expect a mostly French Canadian talent pool to create a work of fiction that isn't at least slightly biased against the English. Everyone has their biases.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a fine argument as long as your game actually is historically accurate. The 'problem' (if you believe it is a problem) is once game companies are happy to "lie" about one aspect of history without any concern while at the same time refusing to "lie" about another part of history because it would 'ruin the historical accuracy'. If your samurai game includes werewolves and machine guns you don't get to turn aro…
>If your samurai game includes werewolves and machine guns you don't get to turn around say you didn't add something because it wouldn't be historically accurate. You have to use a better excuse, like you felt it would be dumb or that you didn't feel like it. So a werewolf invasion of the Tokugawa shogunate would need to include Latinx genderfuild bipocs or be racist? I guess I'm racist then. Puts on Nazi hat and rea…
> Latinx genderfuild bipocs
I can't help but think there's a field of woke eugenics that uses terms like this completely unironically.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because games are supposed to be fun and it’s more fun if the player feels included.
> Because games are supposed to be fun [...] I'm gonna have to disagree with you here and reiterate a point from a "Co-optional Podcast" episode from years ago: Games don't _have to be_ "FUN", they have to be "compelling" / "engaging". The thought that games can only be fun is a relic from video games's infancy stage much the same as once upon a time when films/movies were new and there were only short slapstick flic…
Fun-centrism certainly helps if you're making something that (1) targets mainstream audience and (2) takes 50+ hours to finish.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#118This is the problem with historic games. Either you acknowledge the bad and good things, or you white wash the past. As the author notes at the end: „As I have argued here many times, fiction is often how the public conceptualizes the past and that concept of the past shapes the decisions we make in the present.“
>Either you acknowledge the bad and good things, or you white wash the past.
And the way you white wash the past is also very interesting, because it shows the preset-day values of the storyteller.
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#119Lovely article. The conflict between making a videogame (or any bit of popculture really) enjoyable and inclusive vs. historically accurate often comes up and both sides have a fair point. My personal solution is to both enjoy the content and then try to educate myself through articles like this one.
Why do they need to be inclusive? Do samurai games need to include red-haired Celts and curly-haired Bantus, you know, for diversity? What's the point of this? Lying about history to make some people feel better?
The point could be to make a political point, which is perfectly normal for a work of art. And why shouldn't they?
Re: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the Unfortunate Implications
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a fine argument as long as your game actually is historically accurate. The 'problem' (if you believe it is a problem) is once game companies are happy to "lie" about one aspect of history without any concern while at the same time refusing to "lie" about another part of history because it would 'ruin the historical accuracy'. If your samurai game includes werewolves and machine guns you don't get to turn aro…
> That is a fine argument as long as your game actually is historically accurate See, that makes some sense if you're doing high fantasy and shit that's set in a wholly fictional world. But just because some parts of a game are not realistic does not mean you should just forget about even trying. It makes no sense. > If your samurai game includes werewolves and machine guns you don't get to turn around say you didn't…
You realize that the premise of this series is that, in a distopian near future, scientists unlock the ability for people to access their genetic memories and inhabit the bodies of their ancestors, who were guided by alien forces and augmented with powerful technological relics.
The AC series really never asks you to take it very seriously. To the extent that actual history is present, it's almost like fan service.