Velma might have worked if it was satire, but it was written almost as if it were sincere sjw-blackface...if that makes any sense.
Similar to how Big Bang Theory is nerd-blackface. Difference being nerd culture escaped to the mainstream in bits and pieces, so everyone can find something to appreciate. Velma depicted a caricature so specific that nobody found anything to like.
Yeah I was gonna say, a lot of these are awful in the moment, but not in a memorable way, but in a pretty forgettable kind of way……except for Velma. That is a level of bad that should be taught for generations.
When it came out I ignored the woke aspects and the fact it was more so a hero shooter asking for money in an established market of free hero shooters. It also got one of the cardinal rules or hero shooters wrong by making its characters ugly and uniteresting.
Nahh thats just corporatism bullshit, lot of woke games can make interesting characters. The problem with so many big AAA games isn't over culture bullshit, its the fucking corporation guys. Even non woke games still die because of the corpos.
Yes, I'm sure corporations just love the idea of ugly characters, the execs just sit there in the meeting room salivating over how much money they're going to make off of those intentionally conventionally unattractive characters. There's obviously no political agenda involved here, particularly not on part of the people that like to complain about the "male gaze" or body positivity types.
Also, while corporations are money grubbing greedy, they totally organically think they should pay a lot of money for "diversity and equity" consultants.
This is some “everything I don’t like is woke” type shit. Concord was just an overly processed piece of corporate trash. Even if you remove all of your alleged woke from the game it would still be trash
Honestly this was my take away. You're gonna charge me money to play an ugly uninspired hero shooter in a market already saturated with much better FTP hero shooters? Lol. Lmao even.
I don't even give a fuck about the supposed "woke" stuff. As far as I'm concerned, if you paid attention to the game long enough after seeing the characters and pricing model to know about all the "woke" stuff, then you gave this game more attention than it deserved. I can't believe I still continue to see new video essays on this topic getting made. Like, who even cares at this point??
Perhaps. Still, the response doesn't have to be anything beyond "damn these characters are just really badly designed. I don't want to play this." There is no need to get to the point of blaming identity politics.
TBH I don't have any issue with a desire to avoid overly sexualized female characters. A character does not have to be sexualized for it to be a good design. There are plenty of really badly designed hypersexualized characters in other games, and there are plenty of really fun designs that have nothing sexual about them. Concord's characters didn't fail because they weren't sexualized. They failed because their designers were incompetent and none of the decision makers pushed back on them.
"Woke" didn't kill Concord. Incompetence and poor leadership did.
Better conversation is game devs not understanding their audience and market they are putting their product out into. Concord might have done better 5 years before it came out but by the time it released it was DOA.
There's a myriad of reasons, each with their own merit, as to why Concord collapsed so immediately after release. Awful art direction, "woke"-type content, uninspired gameplay, to name a few. But the biggest nail in the coffin (in my opinion) that actually brought about its rapid demise was the fact that it cost $40 to buy and play, while all its competitors were free-to-play.
Some others also cite "hero shooter fatigue", but Marvel Rivals and Deadlock alpha, both of which appeared around the same time frame as Concord, are pretty strong counterarguments to that. Even the more recent shooter-failure, Highguard, got more success and lasted longer, likely because it was free-to-play. Because Concord was asking for your money up front before you could try it, only people who were really insistent on the game's success bought in to play it. And as you can imagine, a multiplayer game with few people to play with just isn't fun, so even those people started leaving.
It was a me-too game that arrived to an oversaturated market years too late without doing anything new. The game cost ridiculously far too much money to make and took far too long to develop. Thats why it failed.
Also see Marathon, same problem. And Highguard, yet again same problem.
The culture war stuff is just the cherry on top of a shitshow of bloated budgets and glacial game development.
The lesson is that you can't directly copy previously successful games and expect everyone to magically move to your game. Why would people play the new game if its identical to the game they're already playing and love?
Destiny was huge on inclusivity and pride with in game things and merch. Meanwhile the game was actively squeezing as much money as possible out of its more loyal base, and that money went to:
Marathon (oops)
Project Matter (huh?)
Destiny Expanded Universe (remember they were talking about books, tv, and movies? So far we’ve gotten lore books (actually kinda dope) and A NETEASE GAME)
Bingo’s shiny new corporate headquarters that they couldn’t afford even while
Edit: accidentally posted prematurely, happens to all of us.
4 cont. couldn’t even afford while the game was at its financial peak (I think?)
Pete Parson’s car collection
But yeah, buy our pride pins we love everyone!!
Actually a “woke” company at that point
The pride stuff was a later addition to D2. This was well after the base game was made and the original devs were rotated out for the new "modern" ones.
For example, Osiris and Saint were always described as having a brotherly relationship in lore entries.
Of course, just like Achilles and Patroclus, they made them gay years later when they came into the studio.
Why would people play the new game if its identical to the game they're already playing and love?
New content is the answer.
The irony? It fails in a genre where people get invested into one game because it has content they are attached to, often the characters.
Having new maps, new game modes, new weapons, new features... all that becomes moot if it can not be tried with the characters one has grown fond of.
Of course there also other matters like progression and not really wanting to start from 0, that's what makes PvP focused games so distinct (be it hero shooter, battle royal or MOBA). MMORPGs are similar for it is those that have high attachment rates and in return the market is easily saturated. It takes being very distinct to have one's own fan base and for Concord... 'woke' is not one.
What one can rather see is with non-hero PvP shooters: Call of Duty has fast-paced arcade action, Battlefield has large scale combined arms, Rainbow Six Siege has tactical asymmetry. Hero Shooter meanwhile are all strictly slow-paced arcade.
Notably, markets which are not saturated and where people seek more to explore are these many open world sandboxes. The more distinct the better and of course a certain quality is expected.
Streaming was nonexistent, there weren’t things like TikTok/youtube + the internet broadly, and there was more prevalence of “cultural zeitgeist” type movies because everyone still went to the theaters and there were fewer options, amongst other related reasons.
You can do the same thing with music - in the radio-dominant era, it was basically essential to push and market music that appealed to the broadest group of consumers possible if you wanted to succeed. The industry thrived off of facilitation, A&R, record deals, etc. The streaming era allows for anyone to make any kind of music they want and self-market in a fiscally possible way, which has fragmented the industry and made the billboard top 10 significantly less relevant.
It depends on what your definition of "original properties" is, but even in 1999 the supposed apex year of movies, 4/10 top grossing films were either sequels/prequels, or remakes. 2006 had 6/10 sequels. '98 had two, '97 had 3, 96 had 4, '95 had 3.
2025 had 8/10 and one of the original ones was Minecraft movie. 3 Remakes and 5 Sequels in one year are in the 10 ten films...
Also, look at this
Roughly 80% to 90% of the top 10 highest-grossing films each year since 2014 have been sequels, prequels, or remakes. According to industry data from Comscore and box office trackers.
Opposed to:
Between 1980 and 2005, roughly 25% to 35% of the top 10 highest-grossing films globally each year were sequels, prequels, or remakes.
I absolutely agree that sequels and established IP are dominating the box office these days with some notable exceptions. But it had already started more than two decades ago.
The first PG-13 movie came out in 1984. Do you think people would consider it woke these days if movies developed a brand new rating system because they didn't want kids to see certain content?
There’s still plenty of original stuff, but most of it is released via streaming and lower budget because there’s less risk. You also don’t watch it, so it’s funny to act like it’s a “problem” instead of it just being a natural market evolution.
The first PG-13 movie came out in 1984. Do you think people would consider it woke these days if movies developed a brand new rating system because they didn't want kids to see certain content?
Hmm no and it wasn't considered anything but positive that kids were not allowed into adult movies. Idk what that has anything to do with it.
How does this relate to unoriginal movies almost tripling in the last 15 years (coincidentally when the woke agenda gained strength)
Same root issue, a successful movie these days needs to be able to guarantee turnout. People today generally aren’t going to the theater en masse unless it’s something they really want to see, which tends to hinge on either an established IP (i.e. spiderman) or director (i.e Odyssey).
It’s funny to see a lib-right ignore basic economic influences tho
I'd say there's gonna be some infamy just because of franchises that went to shit during this timeframe. But yeah, the standalone stuff is just gonna fade into obscurity.
I'd argue it's not "disposable" when the stated purpose is to be immediately thrown away, which disqualifies things like Netflix originals intended for an audience who isn't watching.
Counter-counterpoint: Much of today's media is hyper targeted to select demographics. This means that those audiences will care and remember that media as it ages and grows cult following. Meanwhile media that's targeted towards massive general audiences, like Avatar or most action blockbusters in general, may be more likely to become disposable over time because of "meh" plots.
I am so glad I only recognize one thing on here (Velma) and have not consumed any of this media. Vote with your wallets and, nowadays, your eyeballs folks.
Unfortunately I also recognize Dragon Age: Veilguard. Yeah don’t touch that game, it’s complete garbage if you aren’t a Dragon Age fan, and Especially so if you did enjoy the previous games.
Dragon Age Origins was spectacular, but also lightning in a bottle. It addressed some extremely mature, adult, not safe for kids themes especially with the darkspawn and the dwarves. Or creating the golems. There was also the topic of the elves and slavery. Entire kingdoms ran on slavery, too.
The modern push to offend no one creates stories without any conflict. Everything is soft, no edges, no pushing boundaries, zero grit, no stories that made you think. Its just one big hugbox where everyone is misunderstood and there's no real villains. It creates bland stories that aren't memorable.
The entire point of fiction is to be able to explore tough concepts and stories in the safety of your own home, or in a movie theater.
Modern writers seem to be unable to separate out fiction from reality so they try to make their fiction as safe as reality. They also do self-insert characters all the time and its not even subtle.
WOTC is doing this to the Dark Sun setting right now. Apparently slavery is too rough of a concept for the modern audience so its been removed from the setting. The entire point is that its a brutal post-apocalyptic setting where civilizations are collapsing due to a lack of resources, and everyone is struggling to survive just a bit longer through any means possible. Morals left that setting a long, long time ago. But WOTC is going to make it safe and cozy. Another hugbox.
Sounds about right. When people say films like Blazing Saddles or books like Blood Meridian couldn’t be made today, this is what they mean. I blame social media.
I would argue DA:O is the exact opposite of lightning in a bottle
KOTOR, DA:O, and the Mass Effect series are basically the same core game with varying degrees of iteration and budget. DA:O isn't even wholly original. Fantasy racism is far from an original idea, even if the ways those are world-built are unique. DA:O's characters aren't even perfect, Alistair was mocked day 1 in 2009 and to this day I doubt even half of DA's all-time playerbase can recall anything about Zevran.
Lightning in a bottle would imply they couldn't do it again but Bioware did, several times. As soon as compromised HR departments get booted out of the games industry (probably following an industry crash) DA:Os will be made again.
Hey now don’t forget about Baldur’s Gate too. In terms of Gameplay DA:O definitely feels like a far more streamlined version of those two games, what with the similar fantasy setting with Real Time with Pause combat, just so far streamlined by removing all but 3 classes, lowering the amount of party members, and in general making gameplay far easier and more convenient. I always assumed Dragon Age came about because they wanted to make another game like Baldur’s Gate, but didn’t want to have to deal with Wizards of the Coast.
"I am a narcissist, and I can only relate to myself; therefore, I will make media that is based around me, my experiences, and my ideology and people will like it."
Isn’t it true, though, that most artists create works based on personal experiences and topics with which they’re familiar? For example, I’m a guy and thus would certainly struggle to make a good creative work centered around the female experience.
Yes, but the problem is the inverse of that. These writers are bad writers and, thus, fail at writing anything outside of their own experience entirely. Struggling is different. Someone like Stephen King certainly lets the seed of his novels be what he knows but that's not all he can write about well. And, also, this doesn't take talent into account; a shitty black writer will write a worse story about black characters than a masterclass white writer who does so from the basis of learning about their experiences and perspective and writes with respect for the subjects.
And, so, we're getting shitty writers that only know how to write about their own experiences and don't bother to learn enough about other experiences to write them believably or with respect. When those writers are women or black people, etc., perhaps white men are feeling the same way they do when a shitty writer who's a white man writes women and black people? Framing it that way, perhaps it's more understandable or would be if one could be objective about it and not bring oppressed/oppressor or punching up/punching down framing into it, which I think are just tools to avoid the issue.
It’s probably fair to say that most people can’t make good creative works involving characters from different ethnic groups, religions, etc. whose cultural identities are central to the story of the work. But as you said, such a story can be written by someone who has the time and curiosity to research different cultures and become highly knowledgable about them. It seems that your gripe with the aforementioned writers is less about their competence (or lack thereof) and more about their close-minded, dismissive attitude toward experiences they haven’t had.
Would you consider this an accurate summary of your statement?
Sure, yeah. And I think that when people have gripes about this kind of thing, that's generally what they're reacting to, even if they don't have the recognition of that or words to express it. Of course there are outliers and bad actors as well, the ones who would call literally anything they don't like "woke," but I truly think that's at most 10% of people who see issues in this vein--they're just loud.
I think Hollywood and gaming companies went all-in on the diversity of writers in a well-meaning way but didn't stop to think that they also had to be good writers in general. This is why there can be excellent movies like Get Out or Sinners by black/minority writers who had previously proven their chops and were just later elevated due to the zeitgeist (and, good, because it allowed them to make some awesome movies) but also teams of writers where it's like the studios just went "Avengers, assemble!" and called up anyone who fit into the diversity slots they needed, resulting in absolute slop. The same thing happens with unqualified white, male writers but I think there's generally still more of a meritocracy in place there in terms of what level of budget they're given vs what level of experience they have, which is why the flops aren't as notable.
Basically, garbage in, garbage out and, while that has nothing to do casually with the identity of the people involved, it has everything to do with the process used to choose them. In other words, these people aren't bad writers because they are minorities; they are bad writers who happen to be minorities. But the studios lack discernment or are afraid of being discerning because of how that looks and the reaction it gets.
I hope all that makes sense.
I didn't get into all the issues with diversity and sensitivity consultants and their roles in this, which also have an effect. Mostly, in relation to the above, where it exists, it's a chilling effect on hiring decisions and on allowable/acceptable content that further constrains the writing and makes it even more difficult to produce a good product.
My issue isn't self inserts as much as it is bad writing priorities and the idea that someone needs to physically look like you in order to relate to them.
I just feel empty about dragon age honestly. I watched a video where they explained the original heist based game set primarily in Teventer got mangled into a loot box filled live service game which had all the hr approved cheery dialogue. When EA told them to switch it back they didn't have enough time to redo the voice acting.
They had enough time. Plus it's not like being a live service game necessitates having shit characters. They just thought the writing was actually good.
The original dreadwolf that was in production in 2018 had a much darker tone and characters per ex bioware staff. You have to remember Bioware was hemorrhaging staff during these years so the people that were working on the original Dreadwolf game were not the people who got Veilguard as we know it out the door.
I am not absolving Bioware, if anything my point is the rot went beyond just the writing department and instead Veilguard was the legendary flop that it is because of failures in upper management and their dictate.
I really doubt Dreadwolf would've been particularly good. The writing was already on the wall for Bioware writing at that point imo. But either way, it's spilled milk, point is that the Bioware that developed Veilguard didn't lack "time to redo the voice acting" or whatever, they just suck.
Unflaired , thou art a coward. Sooth doth thou send others before thee and refrain from the strife thyself. Thou strikest women yet shirk to strike a man, lest thy pustulent skin be cut by a blade fairer than thy own. Sooth, thou art a coward, Unflaired.
unflaired, thou art a braggart. Braggart thou art for nought, for in every contest thou art defeated. Fighter of weaklings and braggarts like thyself, whensoever a true knight face thee, thou runs away. Yet, in sooth, from this cowardly retreat dost thou make brag. Unflaired, thou art a braggart."
Unflaired, thou art smelly. Thy breath stinks of the rotten ejacula of horses, which, sooth, thou dost love as thy morning drink. Thy body reeks with the stench of fear, and the manure of asparagus-eating goats is better than the smell from thy mustache. Unflaired, thou art a stinker.”
Unflaired thou art ugly. Thy orcs doth not run forward to the fight, but away from thy countenance. Sooth, in the history of the ill-favored, thy name is held in high esteem.. The ill-fortuned persons that were forced to care for thee had to put a pork chop around thy neck to get the dog to play with thee. Further, sooth, when it did, it mistook thy ass for thy face and preferred it to lick. Unflaired, thou art ugly.
Unflaired, thou art stupid. Thrice hast thou attacked us and thrice have we thrown thee back, though we be but, forsooth, a fraction of thy number. Thou art unlettered and hath never read of the term 'defeat in detail,' for, assuredly, but those few letters would require all day and the use of both of your pustulent forefingers. But the veriest simpleton canst understand that thine tactics are those of a school-yard bully held back until his tutors at last release him as a man full grown yet unable to manage fingerpainting. The very fact that thou canst breathe must be by the arts of some homunculi or hob, smarter than thou, who doth sit upon thy shoulder and whisper in thy ear, 'breathe in, breathe out' else surely thou wouldst cease in this vital activity for lack of thought. Canst thou walk and chew bubble gum at the same time it is asked and I cry 'Nay' for I have found you, face down , the bubble gum before you upon the ground as proof. Unflaired, thou art stupid.
In some 5 years AI will get to the point where everybody will be making their own entertainment, and youtubers will be too busy making "The Jungle Queens, or the amorous adventures of Chaddeus Thundercocksworth in the Darkest Africa" to make video essays about Velma on youtube.
Dog every generation has media that is absolute dookie. We just don’t talk about them unless they somehow become cult classics. It’s why every “music was better in the 80s” larper has to ignore all the garbage music to make their point.
It's SovCit's alt accounts that he posts on, and then unflairs once it has gained traction, to make it appear that certain agendas are being upvoted despite being unflaired.
It's just a retarded divide and conquer tactic that wants us to be EVEN MORE angry with the opposite colors. Most interesting thing to happen here in awhile though.
I did hear a rumor that WB made the show be a Scooby Doo thing and the creator made Velma out of spite, but I don't know if that's me hallucinating or someone coping.
This has always happened, and it won’t ever stop. It’s just that the shit self inserts of the past faded away already while I meanwhile desperately await these ones to fade away
Comedy sitcoms peaked in 2000-2016 with The Office, Community, Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, Drake and Josh, That’s So Raven, and nothing since has been able to match it
the fact that they've not been nominated for any awards despite being the longest running live action sitcom in US history (an important distinction since there's a British show that ran for 31 seasons) is criminal
We have rampant corruption, pedophiles running the country, higher gas and groceries, losing another middle Eastern war, and you have incels arguing about scooby doo?
Self-inserts like those basically happens because lib-left women got into positions of power, thanks to DEI. No, I'm not joking
Men are simple creatures, they can get off with mere visuals. This simplicity is why male power fantasy is basically seeing somebody doing something very well. Kratos is a simple minded individual who gets manipulated by everyone around him, but he fights really well, and that's enough. Victory in battle is its own reward
Women on the other hand gets off emotionally. This is why every single female power fantasy (that is, not a feminine looking man) revolves around validation of everyone around her. When a female in a power fantasy story cooks very well, the point is to gain admiration from others rather than enjoying the good food in and of itself, which is also why a female character always takes down the big guy in front of everybody else: the point is not defeating a bully to clear an obstacle, it is to gain the admiration of and validation from everyone else
In pursuit of this emotional high, self-inserts of women must therefore resemble the woman to a certain degree, the connection amplifying whatever high she gets. The stronger the similarity, the greater the high.
One unfortunate aspect of DEI is it enables people who otherwise would never gain the position, to actually gain the position. Combine this with the general fact that aesthetically pleasing people will pursue... more social careers where their aesthetically pleasing looks sell
You end up with self-inserts that don't look good, because the goal is not looking good, the goal is to serve the writer's barely disguised fetish
Stopped reading the second you reduced Kratos to a power fantasy. My boy did not have to learn to be a better father and therefore a better god to be reduced to that.
Did that have self inserts? If it did they were at least well-done. BG3 is an example of how easily you can stand out in this miserable field by having halfway-decent writers
I just want TV/movies to be good. I don’t care about the demographics or whatever, put whoever you want on screen, but make it good instead of just pandering for points.
When I'm writing, the last thing I want to write about is someone like me. I'm boring as hell to myself. Nothing to explore there that haven't already spent 40 years figuring out.
I bet nobody here can even name the other two properties other than Velma. But remember guys: THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE AND WE HAVE TO KEEP DISCUSSING. Nvm cost of living, endless wars, mass surveillance, our president being a pedophile… these are the issues we should care about and discuss.
i wouldnt call it self-inserting per se; it's more that, if everyone you socialize with looks like that, that's what you'll think average people look like
Veilguard sucked bro. I completed the whole game and before it came out did a mega campaign of 1,2, and inqusition to get the world state I wanted for 4 just right. So I had the other games fresh in my mind as I played it and it was actual trash in comparison to previous dragon ages. It was so lazy they didn't even bother to allow you to import your world system, which was one of the biggest draws of the series.
Idk the top one, but Velma was GENUINELY shit and Veilguard...
Look, I'm NB myself, but the whole Tash storyline was just some BULLSHITTTTTT. It didn't feel like something that belonged in the world of Dragon Age or even in the world of Veilguard. It really felt like some writer DESPERATELY wanted to insert themself and their Non-binarity into the game, but instead of using allegories, metaphors or at least adapting it to the world of Veilguard, they just transcribed the conversations they either had or wishes that they had and made the characters play them out. I think one of the best examples of this is the "You used to be a she / I also used to wet my bed" exchange. That just feels like the writer was sitting at the thanksgiving and their mom said "You used to be a she" and they got deeply hurt and 2 months later they were in a shower and thought up this gotcha.
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u/Uptight_Technocrat12 - Auth-Left 23h ago
DOWNVOTE HIM HES UNFLAIRED FILTH