Isn’t this what the ESRB rating description is for? We label games M for Mature if there’s swearing, blood, violence, and sex, but not for insensitive cultural stereotypes?
Honestly I’m glad we’ve moved from “Censor out anything that might be slightly objectionable” (Like they did with Sam & Max for example, and I believe the GTA Trilogy got hit with a bit of this), to “Look the game is old and from a different time, what society deems acceptable is always changing, deal with it or move on.”
I’m so beyond tired of being told I can’t have a steak because a baby can’t chew it. I actually bought this three pack solely because it didn’t censor Tomb Raider, a game I was very sure they were going to censor
Like they did with Sam & Max
I had to look that one up since I had no recollection of anything that stood out as offensive. Most seemed silly to change to me, but I do agree with changing the line about the goggles being designed for special needs children after Sam referred to Max’s “hideously oversized skull.”
Sam & Max didn’t cause that much of a fuss because all purchases of it came with the original version of the game, but the censoring was still cringe.
Lo Wang has entered the chat.
Genuinely struggling to remember what that could even be about.
I mean, it’s been like 25 years since I played them, but I don’t recall any obviously bad things in there. It’s not like it was filled with old Jackie Chan film levels of cartoon racism.
In Tomb Raider 3 an antagonist faction includes black men who want to eat Laura, and not in the same way I do if you catch my meaning.
I haven’t played it but that doesn’t sound racist to me if the context is right. There are cannibal tribes today. They are black skinned. This is fact.
I’m a fan of this. It’s better to offer content with context and education than to fully censor it.
Metal Gear Solid Master Collection did this as well.
What did they have to provide context for in the Master Collection?
i think misogyny and incest
But when will Nintendo start issuing those warnings for Mario games?
cries in spaghetti
So long, gay Bowser!
This is fine, no issues really, but if you’re offended by something in a video game fictional story that was made over 20 years ago you should go touch grass.
They did the same thing with the Destroy All Humans! remakes. Which was probably needed, because the Japanese level in 2 is really iffy
Yeah the Japan level made my jaw drop… the early 2000’s really were the last time you could be this blatantly racist against the Asian Community in popular media… But I’d rather go “Oooof” than pretend the game and by extension society was never like this.
eh. i get the ‘need’ for these companies to have the disclaimers and i honestly appreciate that they are not changing anything here. but the mob is fickle and seemingly can’t distinguish real life from the online life where being offended somehow gives them clout.
Do you see any merit to the pushback against such media?
You sound like you favor rationalism, and I agree with dismissing people who are crazy, but setting crazy people aside, do you see potential harm in promoting negative racial and ethnic stereotypes?
Stereotypes exist for a reason. They aren’t made up, non-existent characteristics. 90% of people that are getting offended by such things are not even part of the group that’s being stereotyped. It’s usually white liberals that are “offended” by any of this. Are they beneficial? probably not, but they sure are not nearly as harmful as people like you make them out to be. As a straight white man, I’m vilified by the mob regardless of my positions on anything, and that in itself is a stereotype. So I don’t put any stock into hypocritical perceived slights against humanity.
Got it, so you have a major victim complex and don’t really have a rational argument for the rest. Thank you for at least being clear
Thank you for proving my point.
Went silent real fast eh?
sorry my life doesn’t revolve around your internet drama. got real shit to deal with. like work. and life. idgaf what you think about me of what point you think you’re making. have fun with what little “power” you think you have here. i couldn’t care less about this.
Who the hell doesn’t?
You’re the one out online here spewing your opinion that what other people care about isn’t important.
Once again you reveal yourself a hypocrite
Stereotypes exist for a reason. They aren’t made up, non-existent characteristics.
As a straight white man, I’m vilified by the mob regardless of my positions on anything, and that in itself is a stereotype.
You rationalized deserving vilification, and whinged about what a victim you are. You can’t think this conversation is in your favor.
Even if I agree some games have gone too far on censorship, I don’t like having this totalitarian attitude to any kind of “offense”.
There are certain weird themes I really like in niche games, but I acknowledge if they were “thrown in” to a game about shooting or adventure, would sour the experience for a lot of common players. I’d point to perverted character designs as a common one - sexualized character designs are obviously appealing to some players, but to others they can actually make it hard to get absorbed in the story of a game like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or Nier Automata. Even for a series like Persona, there have been players that decided “What weeb shit” and abandon the game because of the way female characters get harassed at times.
It’s easy to call it “political”, but politics comes from personal opinions - and it can genuinely affect how people view the media. These days I have a much more vehement reaction to stereotyped Native-American depictions (“Indians”) over when I was a kid. I doubt it’d make me hate Tomb Raider, but I can see why they’d have a warning.
Ermahgerd! Why dey gutta ram politics into mah games, they’re ruining my heritage or something I dunno, rabble rabble!!!
/s for the morons
didn’t need to be news does it?
No but they have to make it news before some teenager who just learned about virtue signalling goes off on one because their mum paid more attention to Candy Crush than them
What stereotypes were in the games?
The stereotype that old British men are all butlers who get off on being locked in the freezer.
That’s not a stereotype.
Of course it isn’t. I am clearly making a joke. lol holy crap this is happening every single day on lemmy now whats happening to this place?
Something that is accurate and true is not a stereotype.
I’m sorry, but another user has already confirmed that some British men prefer being locked in the pantry so it isn’t accurate.
Sarcasm is damn near impossible to pick up over text unless it’s extremely obvious.
If it’s extremely subtle sarcasm yes. I agree. There was nothing subtle about my post though
I agree, but I’ve done the same thing before and people have totally taken it seriously.
That doesn’t mean it’s extremely hard to pick up on obvious sarcasm. It just means some people are morons lol.
people with an extreme moral superiority complex emboldened by the anonymity of the internet.
I think you were both making jokes
While Crystal Dynamics didn’t specify which content it’s referring to, it’s speculated that it could be the animalistic depiction of Pacific Island natives in Tomb Raider 3, who are implied to be cannibals.
Like the fictional Indiana Jones style villages? Or the real life North Sentinel Island Sentinelese? I’m scratching my head too…
In what world is that a question for a reasonable person?
A media company remade and re-released a piece of media and acknowledged that there may be problematic content, but that we should consider the time the media was made.
You don’t need to know what the problematic content is, just accept their statement on it.
Then they don’t need me to buy their shit lol.