Best Of

sacboi said:

In need of a pick-me-up today ...

These are and always will be so much fun to look at - there are so many clever little things one can learn from these.

In the same vein you might dig the work of Izumo Jyuki, author of the Industrial Divinities artbooks.

NikhilR said:

One aspect to keep in mind with protagonists (women or otherwise) is what a default is and how the audience feels about it.

No, that's exactly the thing you shouldn't keep in mind, because for this you'd have to assume that there is some default "normal" state and everything else is just a modification of that default. That's not true in real life, and it doesn't seem healthy to hold that thought in public minds through art.
If you just continue to conform to - to respect - their prejudice, then you only help the "core audience" to stay close-minded and entitled in their ignorance. Only sustain the state of unconscious fear and hatred before the "unknown" and "exotic".
Games shape us, shape communities, like any other art. It's not just about reaching new audience - it's about imagining the world where we don't treat others as collections of labels and modifiers. If you can imagine it, it can eventually become. If we only look at most efficient way to sell product, than we might as well say goodbye to the industry now - it wouldn't be worth saving. There would be no point to it.
Looking at some gaming communities now, you'd think we're on the fast track to the past, when it was okay to assume that the typical gamer is an ugly teen with zero self-respect or life... and everyone else were not "real" gamers.

Rima said:

So basically you want to put a gag order on people. Mainly the people who dare to tell Gamers when they're full of shit.

To be honest, I would probably be breaking the rules if I said the full extent of how I feel. So I'll settle for this.....Anyone who wants to call inclusion "controversial" and suggest it should be scrapped or reined in for the sake of profit or avoiding rocking the boat can go get fucked. It's pretty fucking easy to say these things should be thrown aside for the sake of making a game sell better or go down better with the ignorants, but how about when you're part of the fucking group being described as "controversial", "political", "woke" and part of the problem?

When you, and most of the people you've linked, talk about "controversy" you're blatantly just using it as a code word for anything that dares break from white cishet norms. Pretend all you like you're not, but you are; it's exactly why all the fuckers you post think that black characters have to be justified, or that trans characters are a grave sin if they dare to be a little clumsily written but won't say a single damn thing about the myriad of poorly written mediocre cis characters that nobody ever raised that much fuss about. Or why suddenly it's a problem when Abby in TLoU2 is muscular, but nobody ever said a fucking thing about the men in Gears of War, or fucking swole Redfield in Resident Evil, or any of the other million improbably big male characters.

It's all hidden behind saying they're "political" or "agenda pushing" or "controversial", but when the exact same shit is done, just in cishet white flavour, it's the default. That alone is a crime.

I understand that this issue might be something youre very passionate about\tired of maybe repeating the same stuff\seeing it online. But i just want to recomend to try to have a more civilized approach when adressing other people`s points, even when you vehemently disagree.

This will just make your message poluted and paint you as someone that is unhinged\mentally unwell to be able to have an honest and open conversation, wich is a shame since i believe everyone should voice their concerns and reach an understanding.
Im not adressing  the content of what you wrote, but it really is very off-putting to read. 

pxgeek said:

On the point about “toxic positivity”: I’ve always been wary of the term. I only first heard it when Concord became a thing, but I fear if it has been co-opted by media personalities; practically to the point becoming a meme and being lumped together with other rage-baiting terms like “woke” “snowflake” “chud” “incel” etc…which doesn’t really help anyone. But this is only from my point of view as an outsider looking in.

On the other hand, the opposite term for this is "brutal honesty", which for too many is just an excuse to be a nonconstructive jerk.

It doesn't help that so many points central to these discussions constructed around highly subjective or misguided "truths".
...Like, why we keep acting as if there is a "default" type of human (as pointed out above)? How come even your average women protagonists suddenly become "controversial" should they not appeal to some broken teen fantasy?
...Why gamers act like customers in a store? We're not consumers, art is not a service. Sure, return the game if it's broken on technical side, but demanding "cultural" changes?.. It just doesn't make any sense.
...Why is it okay to accept cancel culture as part of "risks of the industry"? This is messed up! It's for devs and publishers to analyze why some title didn't sold enough and who, if anyone, is responsible. A lynch mob should be treated as such, not as an "audience". Individual people may have opinions, but mobs just want to see the blood.

As a mere gamer, I think the whole Concord thing is a sad lost opportunity: the trailers and the episode in Secret Level looked so good, and fun, and with a dose of adventurous optimism to offset all those grimdark fantasies, social dramas and psychological horrors around.
I would've loved to see it as an adventure or heist game, with unhinged plans and daring escapes... Or maybe there could've been some other way to adapt it. It could've been great.
So it saddens me to see that it tripped at the start and is immediately treated as dead and undeserving of any chances. Ever. Like all of this work suddenly can't be salvaged. Throw it in a trash bin, pretend it never happened. The whole situation is insane and stupid beyond measure. IMHO, of course. And it would be equally horrible to let it affect any other games as well =(