Tonight We Riot. Hoooo boy...

[Smithnikov]

Well, this dropped today...


And oh my god, the controversy.

I mean, how DARE they omit Alex Toufexis's voice over! Bastards!

Okay, sole joke aside, it's not even been 24 hours and this game is stirring shit faster than a turd in a Ninja food processor. Here's some samples...

Tonight We Riot General Discussions :: Steam Community

Tonight We Riot - In a dystopia where wealthy capitalists control elections, media, and the lives of working people, we’re faced with two choices -- accept it or fight for something better.Tonight We Riot doesn’t have just one hero. Instead, you play as a movement of people whose well-being...

steamcommunity.com

Remember the dead........ :: Tonight We Riot General Discussions

This game is as offensive to me as a game advocating a National socialist uprising. Any young impressionable person who thinks that Communism is a way forward i plead with you from the bottom of my heart to read Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

steamcommunity.com

Remember the dead........ :: Tonight We Riot General Discussions

This game is as offensive to me as a game advocating a National socialist uprising. Any young impressionable person who thinks that Communism is a way forward i plead with you from the bottom of my heart to read Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

steamcommunity.com

The Steam forum is already lighting up, how long before this drips out to the usual right wing and anti-SJW talking heads, or Gods help us all, the mainstream media?

 

[Houseman]

KotakuInAction says, among other things,

I actually approve of this. If they want to make their own IP from the ground up and be honest about what it is, they've resolved all my complaints about games like that. My issue is that it's typically being done to existing titles and turns them into something not even resembling the IP.

If the game comes out and flops, it won't take down a solid IP with it. If the game actually has good mechanics and isn't too heavy handed, I might even play it. I have no issue with playing a game that pushes a message I don't agree with as long as it's well done and not forced into a different IP.

Take that risk and see if your woke crowd supports you with their money. Do the PR and make it clear what the game is, and see if your message drives away or attracts gamers and then go from there.

Also, a couple of jokes:

"When can we download OUR game for free?"

Because it is a socialist game, there is no singular hero, instead, players control one member of the crowd. Once they die, another member steps up until the crowd is gone and the game ends.

"Keep trying until everyone's dead."

Now this is real Socialism.

 

[Smithnikov]

So where were these people when Shakedown: Hawaii came out? It basically was the ultimate promotion of late stage capitalism.

 

[SupahEwok]

So where were these people when Shakedown: Hawaii came out? It basically was the ultimate promotion of late stage capitalism.

Must've been where I was. Never heard of it.

At least GoG emailed me about We Riot today.

 

[Houseman]

So where were these people when Shakedown: Hawaii came out? It basically was the ultimate promotion of late stage capitalism.

Never heard of it.

Oh, it's an Epic store exclusive, that's probably why.

 

[Smithnikov]

I've already requested a refund. I'm sick of the backlash already and will not get caught with blood on my hands.

 

[Houseman]

I've already requested a refund. I'm sick of the backlash already and will not get caught with blood on my hands.

You mean that metaphorically, r-right?

 

[BrawlMan]

@Smithnikov I honestly don't care what these shit stains say. The same thing over and over. What's ironic is we now have gamers acting no different from Jack Thompson, Anita Sarkeesian, or Extra Credits. You know the saying, "He/She/They who fight monsters, shall become one." I almost miss Jack so much. He was a "worthy" opponent and punching bag.

 

[Smithnikov]

You mean that metaphorically, r-right?

Obviously, yes.

 

[Terminal Blue]

What's ironic is we now have gamers acting no different from Jack Thompson, Anita Sarkeesian, or Extra Credits.

In this case, that's a compliment.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like any of those people, but many of the claims they respectively made were true, or at least accorded with a significant amount of empirical evidence.

Playing violent video games (like other forms of violent media) is linked to a clinically significant increases in aggressive behaviour and decreases in prosocial behaviour particularly in children. It has been confirmed by psychological research many times, and is the official position of the American Psychological Association and other professional bodies. Whether this actually translates into the kind of criminal violent behaviour which Jack Thompson claimed was linked to video games is far more questionable, but while it's unlikely to be as definitive as he believed there is nonetheless a lot we don't know.

There are various forms of media effects which are very real. They have been observed so many times. Video games can influence your attitudes or emotions just like any piece of media can, and anything which can influence your attitudes and emotions can influence your behaviour. Out there in real society, away from "gamer" culture, that's not a controversial point. It's a well established feature of our world.

 

[Houseman]

Playing violent video games (like other forms of violent media) is linked to a clinically significant increases in aggressive behaviour and decreases in prosocial behaviour particularly in children. It has been confirmed by psychological research many times

It has? Because all I can find on the subject are retracted papers, like this one:

SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals

Subscription and open access journals from SAGE Publishing, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

Several independent researchers contacted the journal with concerns about the accuracy of the data reported in the above-listed manuscripts. We thank Dr. Joe Hilgard of Illinois State University for his time and effort for identifying this issue and bringing it to our attention. After review of the identified discrepancies and completing our own analysis, the editors were convinced that the data discrepancies rendered this manuscript too flawed to correct. We are therefore, retracting the manuscripts as reporting unreliable findings.

and is the official position of the American Psychological Association and other professional bodies.

I found a open letter in opposition to that: link

This is an open letter by approximately 230 media scholars, psychologists and criminologists opposing the American Psychological Association's current policy statements on media violence including video games as misleading and alarmist. The open letter states that the scientific evidence is inconsistent and that the APA should adopt a neutral stance rather than maintaining policy statements.

Also, there's this:

Frontiers | Lack of Evidence That Neural Empathic Responses Are Blunted in Excessive Users of Violent Video Games: An fMRI Study

The use of violent video games has been often linked to increase of aggressive behavior. According to the General Aggression Model, one of the central mechan...

www.frontiersin.org

So it seems like the scientific consensus, that you think exists, doesn't really exist.

edit: further reading: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0031-7

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

You know, it's refreshing to see an explicitly political game not try to pussyfoot around being political.
Even if I don't end up liking the end result, it's much more respectable than the Ubisoft "our game about the secret paramilitary force authorized to use lethal force against the citizenry at their own discretion in times of crisis isn't political, why would you think that?"

 

[Drathnoxis]

What does it mean to "excourage" terrorism? Is that like the opposite of encouraging? Seems like that should be a good thing.

OT: I'm not clicking the links (can't be bothered.) People on this forum really need to get in the habit of giving a short summary of what they are talking about to spark interest. There's nothing worse than a thread that just comes in and drops a bunch of links and expects people to care.

 

[Smithnikov]

Can a mod please lock this thread?

 

[Houseman]

We had a good run.

 

[Smithnikov]

And while you're at it, ban me.

 

[Fieldy409]

Hahaha how is it on the Nintendo Switch?

Looks pretty cool. I don't understand why gamers are getting upset besides hurt feelings it doesn't agree with them and their political views. Pretty much all games are about violence and war and you can do much worse than a communist rebellion in videogames. But next time a game where you can rip a grandmother in half, play as a Nazi or rape somebody gets banned they'll be crying about free speech and not censoring art again...

 

[Dalisclock]

You know, it's refreshing to see an explicitly political game not try to pussyfoot around being political.
Even if I don't end up liking the end result, it's much more respectable than the Ubisoft "our game about the secret paramilitary force authorized to use lethal force against the citizenry at their own discretion in times of crisis isn't political, why would you think that?"

Isn't this basically the Division but from the side of the rioters? And "Oh, hell yeah, we're poltiical! To glory, Comrade!"

Somehow "Poltiical" became the insult de jure for video games, which kinda shows just how stupid discourse can become. Especially since it ends up being "Something I disagree with because reasons". Like Battlefield 5 having a lady in the Micheal Bay inspired multiplayer trailer.

I might pick it up. It looks like it could be fun. I'll wait for some reviews though.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Well that's me sold.

Ah wait, not on my platform.

Nevermind.

Guess I'll go back to all the other relentless political murder games then.

 

[BrawlMan]

Pretty much all games are about violence and war and you can do much worse than a communist rebellion in videogames. But next time a game where you can rip a grandmother in half, play as a Nazi or rape somebody gets banned they'll be crying about free speech and not censoring art again...

That's what make these people so pathetic. If it involves some type of censorship or removal of fan-service/violence all of these morons panic. I am not keen on censorship exactly, but I am not going to start causing a massive, collective, ***** fit over it and harassing others that disagree with me. It's pretty clear assholes like them don't want to think, and act as if they're the smartest people in the room. When it reality, they can't even think for themselves, and mindlessly consume whatever Ubisoft/EA/Activision/Rockstar (2K) put out.