A former BioWare employee says that EA’s new management wasn’t on board with the developer’s inclusiveness.
Fuck EA.
They allow insane amounts of racism. Like, thousands of n word mentions a week at least. I report this shit weekly and they reject me.
They don’t fucking care, and the game I play is a Star Wars game. So, Disney doesn’t care about the racism, either.
Is it like in the game chat people say it or is the n word in the game?
In the chat, bro. But it is against the rules, they just don’t enforce moderation.
I’ve watched a guy get muted by the game within idk about 2 minutes in gta5 online for saying it. I distinctly remember getting a notification immediately after I submitted a report that he had been muted from the lobby chat for everyome for inappropriate language.
On gta!?! But it’s okay on like the sims and soccer games? That’s nuts.
Yeah that’s ironic to say the least.
The issue isn’t just about a texture or a flag—it’s the corporate censorship and what it signals. If management is already stepping in to scrub a presentation video to avoid “offending” corporate masters, it makes you wonder what kind of creative compromises are happening behind closed doors during actual game development.
it’s more than corporate censorship, it’s theocratic censorship.
“it’s not x {em dash} it’s y” hmm
Real people use em dashes. That is a common place in human writing to use an em dash, or it would not have become a trend in the averaging that is LLM-generated text.
We cannot assume this comment was written by a bot. It was short and only used one em dash in a normal place.
Maybe people should stop using “it isn’t x it’s y” and em dashes in the same way that people stopped using fasces and swastikas. Shits tainted now
It’s common English sentence structure, not a symbol of a group that killed six million Jews and many others.
Do not compare this to the holocaust. That is just remarkably immature.
I compared it to modern day american fascism actually. You brought up the holocaust in the same comment you’re saying not to compare it with 😭
And I mean I think it is pretty comparable to the holocaust, considering what data centers are doing to the environment
I compared it to modern day american fascism actually
You said that people should stop using em dashes the way people stopped using swastikas. You do realize swastikas stopped being used because of Nazi Germany, not because of American fascism? Nazi Germany put a far greater stain on the symbol than American fascism ever has. Also, if you mention swastikas, you cannot in good faith claim that you aren’t carrying the baggage of Holocaust in with it. The Holocaust is the event most closely associated with the swastika.
You brought up the holocaust in the same comment you’re saying not to compare it with
To bring up ≠ to compare. Also, aren’t emojis (you used 😭) also a sign of AI writing? (ㆆ_ㆆ)
Is generative AI a serious problem? Yes. Is the use of em dashes by human people comparable to the use of swastikas? Or is the use of em dashes as tainted or more tainted by AI than swastikas are by the horrors of fascism and Nazism? Absolutely not. The swastika is a uniquely shameful symbol; the use of a common English punctuation mark is not comparable. The fact that you seem to think they are comparable indicates that you either have a very warped view of the importance of punctuation style, or you have a very low view of the severity of fascism and the grave symbolism of the swastika. The former is disturbing, but the latter is damning.
Holy fuck that’s a lot of writing. Sure man, or no I disagree. Whichever served my point
- They did it right now which is well after the fact was established, on Lemmy out of all places where demographics obviously lean towards people that know this.
- It’s mostly transcriptions of physical books and academic papers rather than people who digitally use the right alt key.
The em dash is incredibly easy to access and use on mobile, so there’s no need to memorize an alt code or copy-paste it from the internet or whatever.
No alt code, you hold… Actually, I’m not going to say that for the good of the world.
You really are obsessed, aren’t you? You’re in for a wild ride when bots can pass for people, physically, in-person 😯
I use the em dash a lot. The codepoint is 2014 for the em dash and 2015 for the en dash. It’s quite easy to remember.
This, scrubbing a flag itself, if actually confined to that (it wouldn’t be) isn’t world ending.
But it’s just short edge of the wedge. Remove flags now, later remove some trans representation, then remove gay and lesbian representation and lastly might as well go full Imperial cult and remove any friendly relations with Xenos.
Suadi’s would probably LOVE Terra Firma…
For context for any viewers who are wondering why @thingsiplay@lemmy.ml deleted his posts, he was saying this:
- that the Pride flag has no symbolic meaning, but is “just a flag”
- that because the Pride Flag is not significant to @thingsiplay@lemmy.ml, it therefore has no meaning (which they repeated numerous times)
- that the removal of a symbol does not symbolize the removal of the thing that symbol symbolizes
- that gay people are given equal welcome in bars instead of being discriminated against
- that any change without impact on the gameplay has no meaning
- that censorship before the release of the game is not censorship and has no meaning
If you were wondering why he has so many downvotes, that is why. :)
rofl
Hehe…
I tend to reply to all my messages. It went on a while.
deleted by creator
There is wrong characterization here. I’m just fed up with the bad faith argumentation. Its just a waste of time. And its clear that people don’t accept any other opinion. Have fun with your witch hunt.
Too bad you deleted your own words, otherwise you’d have an easier time convincing people.
There is wrong characterization here.
I am merely providing the context of what you said because you are trying to skirt outside of public criticism by deleting your comments.
You made a fallacious claim that the removal of the Pride Flag had no meaning. You literally said it was “just a flag”. You literally said the removal was meaningless because it had no significance to you. You literally said that the removal of that symbol does not symbolize the removal of LGBTQIA+ rights. You literally said that gay people are equally welcome in bars. You literally said that changes that don’t impact gameplay or story have no meaning. You literally said that censorship before the release of the game was “not censorship” and that it has no meaning.
I have not misquoted you. If you feel like your own words paint you in a negative light, perhaps you shouldn’t have said them.
I’m just fed up with the bad faith argumentation.
Then why make a fallacious argument and protect it by restating it for several hours?
And its clear that people don’t accept any other opinion.
Sometimes there is a wisdom of the masses. Flags do have meaning, and their removal has meaning. You tried to argue against that point, which was misguided at best.
Have fun with your witch hunt.
This was not a witch hunt. No one accused you of saying anything you did not say. No one accused you of actions, or hunted you in any way. You just said something incorrect and refused to accept you were incorrect. Allow me to remind you that I didn’t fight you on your belief that it was an overblown issue, even though I disagree. I simply argued against your statement that it was without a qualitative meaning. The quantity was not a matter of discourse, but something you were entitled to have your own views on.
tl;dr: You weren’t mischaracterized. If you want your comments to speak for yourself, restore them from the deletion. This post will stay, though, since I do not trust you to keep them restored.
Wrong characterization? I saw your bullshit before you deleted it and these things are literally what you said. God, you suck at your propaganda job
X
developers were asked to remove a specific flag from a presentation video for “looking too much like the LGBTQIA+ flag,” in order “not to offend.”
Well, they failed. Because that offends me.
But why buy a studio known for inclusive storytelling, presumably to profit from it, and then kill the thing they’re known for? Or was this an investment in culture war?
EA bought BioWare well before this new managment (Saudis) jumped in. EA used to not care because inclusivity was just another way to sell a game, thus BioWare could be gay as fuck. Now there’s a conservative slant to it and BioWare is (even when they’re making bad games) an incredibly gay studio so this was just bound to happen.
Ugh fking saudis…
And trump/cushner
Truly the desert’s nicest trailer park
More like the nicest Houthi target practice range these days lmao
Is that the game where you can have sex with an insect alien and a rock monster? Sure glad they removed a flag or people would think sex between humans was normal 🤡
When one of the new spider man games came out, one of the most popular mods were one that removed a bunch of rainbow flags from the streets. People are fucking weird
It’s so fucking embarrassing to be a gamer these days
The mod changed your region to one where the flag was illegal.
People just like censorship I suppose.
i mean they were bought by Saudi Arabia(96%) and that country is not too fond of LGBTQ
they arent too fond of heterosexuality either, considering the recent execution of a husband and wife for the sin of a forehead kiss.
they think forehead kisses are bad???
Married Couple from Bangladesh, He gave her a kiss on the forehead at mecca in appreciation to god for bringing them together.
Saudi Arabia declared it public indecency and executed them for it.
a whole ass execution, wtf?
also i think its stupid that is forbidden.It’s kinda weird that the US complains so much about theocracy in Iran, but is eager to do business with Saudi Arabia, which is even worse.
(Of course it has nothing to do with theocracy. It’s about oil.)
two whole ass executions.
thats even worse
Yes, Exactly.
It is crazy, kind of like, say, doing 9/11
Public displays of affection, yes. The Saudi Arabian government is very oppressive.
Can’t spell “Saudi Arabia” without “SA!”
true
Forehead kisses can’t get a woman pregnant and are therefore gay.
lol
fuck ea
Yeah, it’s Saudi Arabia, they are Islamic and not quite as permissive as USA.
There’s no pride parade in Saudi Arabia or any Islamic state. You keep your head down and keep it to yourself or you get thrown off a roof.
At the current pace, the US will catch up soon though!
Yup, white christians here in the south used to be the same until the secular and non-whites changed the law. You think the racist homophobes here at home are gone? You know sundown towns still exist? Lots of secular people in Saudi Arabia you aren’t aware of, though. Su
Did white christians from the south buy EA?
Turns out conservatism isn’t tied to one religion. But to paint all Arabs as religious and closed minded is like saying all white people are religious and closed minded. Lots of crazy people in all countries of all ethnicities it turns out.
Did ‘any Islamic state’? Or just one?
Of course it wasn’t. They’re owned by SA now. Used to jokingly refer to them as Evil Assholes, but they seem to want to really earn that moniker.
Yet another reason why we need to move the world off of its oil dependency.
I predicted it when EA sold out to Saudi Arabia.
This is why foreign countries shouldn’t be allowed to own companies. Worker and citizen owned companies or gtfo
“Every foreign country in the world should not be allowed to own companies because I disagree with one of them” sure is a take of all time. But america (or wherever your from) is fine for seemingly no reason.
Yes, that’s not a stupid take at all. Governments all over the world have show over and over that they are terrible stewards of people’s interests. Why wouldn’t you want worker and citizen owned things instead?
That’s like saying the 5 richest dudes in the world have all the money and that’s how the world works right now, so they must be responsible and good at it, so we should give them all the control.
Just bcz things work a certain way now, doesn’t mean it’s the right way to run the world.
Hell, I would argue we’ve been doing it wrong for centuries.
I was saying more that specifying “foreign” means that you are ok with your own government doing the same but have an issue with foreign countries doing it which I find hypocritical
Right…Just ignore the worker and citizen owned companies part of my comment so you gave something to argue about. My god, I hate this website sometimes. I’m go touch grass instead. Ya’ll suck.
USA is the same level of shithole, enacting all sorts of anti-trans and anti-lgbt laws that their citizens celebrate.
Remember that Trump saw an increase in votes for the 2024 election - USA as a whole hates LGBT.
I think you are seeing a survivor bias here. The majority of the U.S. does not see things that way. Just bcz the government right now, and their neo-fascist thug followers see it that way doesn’t make it a majority.
Didn’t take long for Saudia Arabia to show its whole ass
It has been out the whole time. I’m not sure what people were expecting.
im pretty sure most games already have to do this for their release in saudi arabia. the spider-man “mod” that removed those flags was just changing the map to the saudi arabia version
imHo, these companies are not problem on their own. Company follows money, companies provide product that sells more. They do research, how many happy queers will pay for a game with flags, how many will ignore game if there wont be any flag, vs how many bigots will not buy with flag. And queers are commonly losing on statistics, sadge. Ideology or supporting LGBTQ+ may not be even considered at company meetings, but money data only.
Sure, would be awesome, if some companies would support queers and do a slap, do a change against bigotry. Enough of such small details, optional texture at some optional costume, and gae visibility could be a norm, no more shocking no more disgus for norms near queers, just a norma… yet, that’s not exactly what big game companies are there for…
You can’t forgive a company for “following the money”… These companies are run by people and can and should be held accountable. They aren’t faceless automated robots, and even if they were, we are in charge. We are the ones that are alive, we decide where the buck stops. Following the money is a cop out. They make their own statement by following the money, and it’s not a neutral one. Just like “I was just following orders” isn’t an excuse.
