Editorial: Why We Write: On Game Critique, Influence, and Reach

UNREASONABLE HYPERBOLIC RESPONSE!

I seriously do not understand the people who are defensive when someone asks (not forces) others to consider different perspectives and approaches to media. It is amazing how insular the world can be despite people having access to so much information.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Way to twist my words. Glad to see you keep an open mind for other's societies values, so progressive.

This article deserves 5 out of 5 drew scanlon fist pumps gifs.

@donpixel: Well, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black. When your society's values involve actually reading what other people write, maybe I'll give you a fair shot.

jeezz.. wow, you know what dude, suuure... wasn't picking a fight btw, so Im out

@homelessbird: Woops, comment deleted :)

@originalyellow: Ditto.

@originalyellow: Well, the "by whites for whites" comment was a paraphrasing of you saying

You said it was made by and for the "anglo-sphere" which I took as coded language for white Europeans. But in truth, you probably didn't even mean to use that word. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it refers to a set of English speaking nations originating from the British Isles (i.e not Poland). I was just calling you out for weird coded language. But w/e, the joke certainly wasn't constructive so I probably shouldn't have said it.

Concerning your argument about the inclusion of non-white characters hurting the "cohesiveness of its intended identity", I just disagree. The game is gigantic and I think that including some non-white travelers or merchants or whatever in the larger cities from far off places would have been interesting. In Skyrim I always loved talking to the traveling Cat people who were clearly out of their element in that area. Imagine a quest where you help a traveling Zerrikanian diplomat get the hell out of Novigrad before things go bad. There are plenty of interesting opportunities to include non-whites in the game, clearly CDPR just didnt think that was important enough to do it.

To me, that general tendency in games to overlook those opportunities is unfortunate.

To your other comment.

Yeah, I agree.

FWIW it was undoubtedly Warner Brothers Interactive, the publisher of The Witcher 3 that spent oodles of money advertising the game in America. Because, you know, that's kind of what you're supposed to do when you publish a game. They're free to advertise the game how they want, although I am unaware of any deceptive practices in the advertising of The Witcher 3.

This is a separate thought now, but it seems stupid to make two posts to break it up, but the belittling in the press and by some commenters here and elsewhere of race issues in the game, both that Geralt himself suffers, but also the persecution of mages, sorceresses, elves and dwarves simply because they aren't of the type of diverse nature (read: skin color) that they would prefer, it makes me really wonder if it is an issue of diversity or if it isn't just yet another agenda being pushed. That's not to say that it's an agenda that shouldn't be pushed. There absolutely needs to be more people of color in gaming. There should be more diversity period. There should be positive female archetypes, there should be admirable and full-formed characters of different races and backgrounds, and there should also be the freedom to have, for example, a black woman character who's a real bastard.

For the record, last character is something nobody in the press is pushing for. That's not equality. If you only want positive characters of a certain race or gender, that is at best pandering. But let's forget that for now. Having a fantasy analogue for the type of racial bigotry in our real world is no less valuable than (slight spoiler for TW3 ahead) if rather than mages and sorceresses they were burning Zerrikanians at the stake in Novigrad. In fact, addressing racism via allegory can often be more transcendent than a one-to-one depiction as it gets people to put aside their own prejudices. A person who may have prejudice against black people in real life, for example, could see the treatment of elves and mages in the game, without their personal dogma getting in the way of just seeing the cruelty for what it is. Some may argue that's giving the developer too much credit, and maybe it is, but if it's effective, what does it matter in the end? The same way if I offend someone with my words and actions accidentally, it still has an effect and that's still on me. Same goes when you accidentally do something positive.

I really can't figure out why The Witcher is the cultural whipping boy of the day besides it's just a huge game and you don't get attention picking on the small movie or the small game, you get it by picking a fight with the juggernaut in the room. I'll at least concede that there is at least some merit to the criticism of race in the game, unlike the accusations of misogyny. But then those accusations were so flimsy and laughable that they died on the vine and now everybody seemingly has decided that there's something to this race argument so let's go with that for this one. I understand Austin's argument that he's got little if any influence on the actual market and that nobody is bullying devs and publishers into changing, they're just pointing out that there is room for change. That's fine. It doesn't really explain or excuse making mountains out of molehills.

So while he and some find cause to criticize, as is their right, some of us also like to make known that you can address caste, race, and bigotry without making it a literal black and white issue and that CDPR's approach is appreciated. I like that developers can find creative alternatives to address moral quandaries, just like I appreciate a more head-on approach to those same issues. The same way I appreciate a game like The Witcher feeling unique from other open world RPGs on the market today, not only because of design choices but infusing the culture of the people making the game into it. In this day and age, yes, Western culture largely dominates what we get in video games, much like Hollywood dominated the movie industry in the 1930s and 40s when it was still a burgeoning industry. It stands to reason that where a technology or industry is born, that region will dominate said industry for the near future and will reflect the culture and stories of that region. But just as Bollywood and Nollywood have grown rapidly and in some respects surpassed Hollywood and Western film, so too will his happen in video games as the technology and know-how diffuse into the world and the industry matures. But like in the case of film, it will happen organically as more voices and cultures join the industry, not by wagging your finger, however politely you do it, at the people already in the industry.

EDIT: things

@graf1k: Well written and interesting post.

The only things I really have to add to it are a) that I think the Witcher is the "cultural whipping boy" of the day because people LOVE it so much. There's always much to be made of the worst examples dredged up in the dregs of the cultural milieu, and that's important, but I think it's arguably a lot more interesting to analyze the small ways in which our best makes missteps as well. That is to say: the Witcher gets this kind of analysis because people want it to be the best thing ever, and for the critics writing these articles, these are the ways in which they don't quite make it there.

I also think there's a distinction to be made between wanting games to address racism and wanting people of different skin colors/racial backgrounds in the game. I am 100% with you on the Witcher actually doing a great job of tackling interesting and challenging real-world subjects like racism through analogues like Geralt, mages, elves, and dwarves (etc.).

@carlos707:

The "Anglo-sphere" includes the U.S., the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and probably some other countries that I forgot. The problem was that I should have also clarified that Poland is not in the Anglo-sphere and the Witcher isn't primarily targeted toward the those sensibilities (most of those countries I listed have significant minority populations and thus many of their inhabitants are greatly and rightly concerned with multiculturalism)

I think it is entirely possible that they might add such a mission as you described in DLC (of which there is lots planned for the game) or even a gaggle of non-white NPC's in a whole new area. All I said is that the part of the "giant world" that they chose to render in the shipped game happens to have very few to no non-white humans.

And I agree that CD Projekt Red did not think it was "important enough" to put non-white NPCs in their game. But why should they have? We've already eliminated the lore reasons so i guess it's just because people who aren't them might want that in their game? There just happens to not be people in the studio's creative positions who thought that was a good enough reason. To expect an all-Polish studio in Poland to give a voice to a non-Polish Ethnic group for reasons that aren't directly related to the game is to make a really terrible bet. My point is that you should instead be expecting that from a highly multicultural society, which Poland is not.

Very interesting read. I'd love to see more stuff like this in the future.

Ultimately, I believe that while diversity is absolutely a good thing in games, it cannot be shoehorned in when it conflicts with the artistic vision of the game. This is extremely rare, but I think it is true specifically for The Witcher. There are, as we know, dark-skinned people in the world. However, an overarching element of the game is that people are scared of the world around them. They don't want to leave their little corners of the world, because the rest of the world, monsters and humans alike, want to kill them (made evident by the invasion of the North). So while it would have been perfectly fine to include dark-skinned characters in the areas of the game, it also makes perfect sense that they would never want to go to Skellige, Novigrad, Velen, or White Orchard. The Witcher's cultural significance in Poland is also a good reason why they would want to preserve the depiction of Polish folklore and keep it as accurate and culturally familiar as possible, especially given Poland's history of oppression.

But again, diversity should totally be included in just about any other game. Great read.

@homelessbird:Yeah, I'm sure that's at least partly it too, and it's a valid point. Maybe I have blinders on but I was just so impressed by the writing in the game that I can't bring myself to critique the stuff it got wrong because it feels so insignificant by comparison, hence my 'mountains out of molehills' comment. I guess for some people those small mistakes aren't so small and can hamper their enjoyment of the game. For my money though, it's some of the best stuff in a game I can remember. Maybe it's the afterglow of the game and I need a couple months to come down, but I think the writing and characters are better than TWD (a lot better) and makes large portions of recent TES and even Bioware games look downright silly by comparison (although I admittedly have not played DA:I yet).

@graf1k: I don't think you have blinders on - these sorts of things are going to be more of an issue for some people than others, naturally. Being empathetic, and open to the idea that such a perspective is as legitimate a viewpoint of the game as thinking it's perfect, is all anyone can (or should, at least) ever ask of you.

And you're right - it's a reeeeal good 'un. The narrative blows most videogames out of the water completely, and it shows a real maturity of perspective that was a bit lacking in the previous Witcher games. I've been playing Pillars of Eternity very slowly on the side, and after mainlining Witcher 3 like black tar heroin for a couple weeks, I'm finding it really hard to go back to. It's not that it's bad, it's just... the Witcher, man.

The long form articles on Giant Bomb are among my favourite for being thought provoking, keep it up Austin!

Writing like this is quickly elevating Giantbomb from my favorite gamesite to my favorite website. Thank you Austin and the entire Giantbomb team for all that you bring to your community and the broader World Wide Web.

This is probably the best post about this sort of thing I've ever read.

Fantastic editorial that...... doens't matter whether people agree with you or not it was still a very well written article. For me personally, I get a little aggravated when I see far too much praise for a game that was essentially broken at launch (Witcher 3) with as many game breaking elements that you just didn't see until you are well into the game. With so many bugs that this game has, I find it extremely difficult to remotely start thinking about giving a game like this a damn perfect score, reviews I thought were to review a game in its current state, at it was in quite a state at launch and for some, it actually just simply wasn't even playable. That's my only issue when it comes to game journalism, or editorials on games, its just one person's review of a particular game, it's their opinion, but when huge gaming organizations such as gamespot or IGN talk such highly of essentially buggy mess across 3 platforms, it just gets to me.

I think it gets to me because these websites have such an influence on people that regular people take the reviews on merit and do/don't purchase some games based on those reviews. To be fair, Giantbomb did not do that and with the guys from the bombcast have been very open (especially brad) about exactly what is wrong with the game. Even certain Youtube personalities like AngryJoe, have been incredibly open with what is wrong with the game but still went into enough depth, and wealth of information to explain why they loved (in this case W3) so much and to me that holds a lot more respect for a review instead of reviewing just for the sake of reviewing and a game that will clearly win game of the year a perfect score just because the side quests are amazing.

The gameplay does actually need be good, it is a game after all but so much focus was on everything else other than how the actual gameplay played like (which we all now know the movement is fucking awful) that these things should be taken into account instead of just completely bypassed like these problems doesn't even exist like Kevin Van Ord did......I think this happens far too often in gaming reviews because they get to go to places like Poland to get behind the scenes look at these games and feels that the games get special treatment because of that. A similar this is starting to happen with No Mans Sky, talking and raving about how "wonderful" this game is by people that have visited the studios and the teams personally in a special VIP visit, but yet, we have seen absolutely nothing about that game apart from some well put together trailer footage which is fast becoming like cannon fodder for stage shows!

Thanks for the read!

Loved reading that. And on a side, there are some smart motherfucking users on Giant Bomb that articulate their points well. Nice discussion, tried to read a lot of it.

I'll admit that I usually roll my eyes a bit at social criticism of games, but I think you made some great points here. I guess we should have more faith in developers when it comes to their ability to process criticism.

@vackillers: You know what else lowers the trust people place in other poeples' opinions? Affected exaggeration.

Very interesting piece. Well written.

I find it interesting to say that one has received cultural influence in the form of writing from others, because while it is undeniable that it is an exposure to an 'otherness' and can broaden the perception of ideas, things, and events, it is also just a snippet of a larger cultural structure.

For example, I wouldn't say that I understood or have been exposed to a lot of French culture because I have read Sartre, Camus, and Voltaire. They have all been incredible voices whose ideas have helped me foment my own, but they did not really expose me to the ideas of French culture in the same way that my time living in France did. Even then I would only say that I barely understand the cultural psyche, was only exposed to a regional variation of it, and often still find myself using pieces of my outside American perception when trying to make sense of their actions or opinions.

To many people it's a non-issue, as it's all just 'white culture.' (Not saying this is the case for Austin, rabid internet extremists.) This is the same attitude many are approaching Polish culture and identity with. It's all 'white culture,' is being treated as somewhat vaguely American, and is being criticized by American standards.

I know people have brought this up before, and sometimes I feel disingenuously, but would people make the same complaints about a game set in Chinese culture? Take Jade Empire. First, I'll admit that its a game made by Canadian culture, and therefore is different in that sense compared to The Witcher series. The game had only one person who was not East Asian, and that character was poking fun at white people. (No, rabid internet people, I'm not saying the character was offensive. And no, I'm not saying if it was another ethnicity that those people shouldn't be offended. They likely could and should be for cultural and historical reasons.)

Then there are games like the first three Assassin's Creed games, or the Lord of the Rings films and games, all of which lacked representation of a great variety of people. I'm sure there are many others.

So, I suppose what I'm trying to say and somewhat failing at, is that I find The Witcher series being the target for this debate to be a bit odd, given that it is a product of a non-American culture, and that there are so many more American targets that can be much better centers of debate for this topic.

@karkarov: "Also what the heck is this Giantbomb needs to hire a woman nonsense? Why would the site be better just because a woman worked for it? Did any women even apply the last time they were hiring? If they did were they actually more qualified and a better fit than whoever got the job? Seriously guys get over your delusions about social justice. Simply being inclusive for the sake of being inclusive doesn't lead to better content, or a better company, or a better website, or a better video game for that matter. I have no reason to believe the Giantbomb staff (much less their owners CBSi) are a bunch of sexist bigots so I can only assume there is a good reason there are no female employees."

All I have to say is, how do you know? How do you know that content wouldn't improve if Giant Bomb hired a woman? All we know of is the status quo, which is that everyone in GB is a guy. It's this kind of logic ("Why change it if it isn't broken?") that leads to women being driven out from games media.

Similar to what Austin wrote: “No, I don’t think Giant Bomb is sexist; Yes, I still wish there were some women in the staff. Yes, I still like Giant Bomb a lot. No, those three statements do not contradict each other.”

"I just find these sorts of things bizarre and ridiculous" "When a fantasy setting has a population of one skin colour that's not for me." Those are opinions of myself not me telling others how to think.Taking quotes out of context and not answering questions sounds to me more like a politician... I'm also not white, i'm mixed and i didn't play the Witcher 3 so i'd ask you to fully read a post before telling me what I've said and how advantaged my life is! Also keep your religion to yourself next time.

I'll ask you the questions that i'm interested in finding out the answers to again. Because I don't understand something i find it strange then i ask to find out. Answer them if they apply to you.

Why is it important in a fantasy setting to have skin colour diversity?

Why does it bother you that everyone is white in this fantasy setting?

Would one person of colour be enough? Two? 10%? 50%? 70%? Where would you not be disappointed? Does every game need a accurate reflection of race based on the earths ethnicity %?

Does your interest in racial diversity only apply to humanoids or humans?

Is a plausible fiction enough for you to not be bothered by this?

When you say "I am disappointed by the lack of people of colour in this particular game." Do you mean "Wouldn't it be more interesting if there were a wider spectrum of game design and settings instead of a lot of the same thing across the industry"?

@homelessbird: I'm facing the same issue sort of. Bought DA:I when it went on sale a while ago but never got around to it. Thought I'd maybe play it now like methadone to help ween me off TW3. My friend who already played both flat out told me playing DA:I after TW3 is going to be rough. I just gotta hack it until October! Sweet, sweet October...

Oh God...

I think it's a bit unfair for anyone to act as if there has been a lot of turnover at the site. There just hasn't. From the very early days they added Patrick, he moved on, and they replaced him with Austin. Ryan passed away and they hired Dan and Jason more than a year later. So figure 4 new people in like 6 years and only 2 more faces than when they were down in the Sausalito basement office. And one of those is primarily a video guy that doesn't appear on content very often. I think people often forget just how small the Giant Bomb staff still is.

A great read, looking forward to reading more of your work Austin. It's good to have a more analytical perspective around here. The games industry really needs to be having these discussions, they don't happen often enough.

I'm not sure anyone on this site knows where it is going

Really thoughtful and well written Austin. I look forward to seeing more of your stuff and hearing your point of view on the Beastcast.

"I totally fell apart when that Chocobo died," or "This game's depiction of sexual violence was fetishistic and uncomfortable."

I can't stop imagining these describing the the same event in a game...

@karkarov: First, I don't think we'll ever change each other's viewpoints, so let's start with admitting that.

Second, merit-based arguments don't mean anything to me. There have been enough studies/research in many industries which show that candidates who otherwise have the same qualifications will be hired disproportionately based on their gender and/or ethnicity (ie white male candidates are more likely to get the job). This is true often because of a subconscious bias not outward bigotry.

If you want me to dig out the research again like last time I'll go searching for it. Just don't complain that it's too long like the last guy.

@karkarov: We'll then sir (I presume) have fun living in your own anecdotal bubble where centuries of bias doesn't apparently exist. You are clearly one of the lucky ones.

I think one of the biggest problem with diversity in videogames is that story and character are not that in important in games. Honestly I think that it takes a lot of effort to write strong female/male characters in a medium where story and character is like the second to last thing on the to do list. So why do it? Gameplay and interactivity are the mediums strength and that's the main focus . That's not to say there shouldn't be more diviersity in games it's just to me not the best medium to have this is discussion in. I think Hollywood is too blame because most game stories and character are rip offs of movies.

@jonano: ...This article is about a character-driven, story-focused game...

@karkarov: So if you won't listen to research or entertain counterarguments and you believe that people who disagree with you are idiots, then why should anyone give you the respect of listening to you?

With all due respect, I feel articles like this are something of a flag-waving distraction. I don't quite see the use in summarising the values of debate when you're actually in the middle of a debate. Just have the debate! I understand that people will be quite bad sports by being arrogant, churlish, etc. But personally, I'm not too fussed about this on the whole. I care about facts, and not someone's unsupported ideals or bad behaviour.

And I flinch at this discussion of "systemic" racism, sexism, whatever. This stuff reeks of liberal masochism (I say that as a liberal), and I find it a little unproductive. Sure, there are problems with race and sexism in our shared cultures, I wouldn't deny that. However, I do think you're falling victim to heavy-handed political correctness in discourses such as this Witcher one. Your intent is sound: you want to see more racial representation in game worlds and their narratives. On its face, there's nothing wrong with that. In this case, though, your cultural values - as informed by a life in the USA and Canada - simply don't belong. That's not a sly way of saying "shut up because your opinion means shit" - I'm simply saying that you're out of your depth, and propelling theories trading on "white guilt" will ultimately do more harm than good when trying to build solid back-and-forth.

If you feel your own minority group is too used to the sidelines, then I get why that sucks. Granted, I'm not an expert on Polish history or mythology either...far from it! But listening to people who know more on these subjects and reading up on the details myself, I don't think it's entirely reasonable - from a creative standpoint - to expect or demand representation where it simply wouldn't make sense. To my mind, striking that creative balance is more valid than meeting the (often high) demands of some politically correct quota.

@washingmachine: When a lot of people are using strawmen in these debates like "stop trying to force developers to do x" I think it has significant value to point out what criticism actually is, and sets out to do. There will always be ongoing debate about issues like this, but that shouldn't stop a piece like this because it's clear that a lot of people on here and on other parts of the internet don't really understand what criticism is and what it isn't.

@washingmachine: @amyggen: I can't wait for the day when these sorts of pieces aren't necessary. But, given the largely positive response to this article when compared to the tenor of your usual game discussion on race, I think the article hit its mark and steered the discussion in a positive direction.

Maybe there's value in saying it to remind the people who commit those sins, I'll give you that. I just try not to engage with them - that's my solution.

I think the issue is that you see that response so often in these kind of discussions that it becomes hard to ignore, at least for me. If there were just some sporadic responses along those lines I wouldn't care, but every time these issues come up I see so many people making arguments about critics trying to "force" creators, instead of them actually trying to discuss the issue at hand.

I just want to say, fuck yeah Austin. Keep bringing it. Cannot but write all you fucking want.

This gig needs more of what you're doing.

I'm going to be that guy and say that DA:I is a bad video game. In fact, I'm going to say that it's the second-worst game Bioware have ever created - after DA2. I would just skip it entirely.