Don't forget that nearly every single mod website actively removes mods, and ban users who post, that change "body type" to Male/Female. I still have my Elden Ring mod to fix that issue before it was purged thankfully.
The difference between the 1st GG and now is that they're not just fighting against gamers from the USA. The woke side is also fighting against Latin American Gamers, Asian Gamers, European Gamers, & African Gamers.
I have no idea how he does it. it makes me feel so stupid lol. I feel like i have to take time to communicate a single complete thought, let alone a 30 minute video full of them.
If you can change a characters sexuality based on the market they are in, they aren’t a gay character, they are a marketing tool. It’s that simple lol.
Especially the quality of what he says, plain wrong and stupid cause of his narrow view. He talks about Capcom and Dragons Dogma but not about RE4 Remake in that people called Capcom out for what they did - but no we dont care about it cause his view is so limited.
lol 0.0000001% power (peasant) vs 99.9% power (elite)** Btw. it's funny that I have so few upvotes How it is possible to disagree with my statement boggles the mind.
@@PuppetMasterdaath144 There are hundreds of millions of us, and reputation is more important than people think. Think Sweet Baby Inc is coming back from this backlash? They might manage, but they basically have a bounty on their head right now. Everyone who's done with the forced social engineering, finally know there are companies responsible for them losing interest in their hobby. I didn't realize how bad "AAA" games have become, until I started to play much cheaper indie titles made by people who are still passionate about their hobby / professional job.
There is a reason why corporations engage in this heavy handed divide and conquer strategy, it is to keep the masses distracted by cultural issues to prevent the development of class consciousness. So Blackrock engages in heavy handed wokeness to achieve that exact same effect. The reality is that Blackrock is utterly destroying the housing market and causing mass homelessness. So they use woke ideology to distract from class issues which they are causing, and the far left turns into a culture war movement instead of a traditionally Marxist movement which focused on class issues. So instead of the left pushing for universal health care, you get ESG and DEI policies instead, a cultural far left minus any real economic issues. This entire alliance between the far left and these corporations is anathema to everything the left originally stood for. They are literally in bed with the worst corporations on the planet.
Wait till you need a place to live and learn about Blackrock and buying all the houses, driving the prices insane. Do you make $106k+ that's what you need at this point to buy a house. Good luck young men!
It's honestly the Asmongold standard when he sits down to record, he has very few and often zero edits, because he actually has a well formulated thought and he's good at expressing it. It's easy for people to see his stream when he's trying to add flavour and entertainment to his words while getting a point across and think he's just yapping, but that isn't often the truth.
Part of the problem is that "wokeness" has ironically poisoned the diversity they so loudly champion by making said diverse characters, well, terrible and passively-hostile to anyone not like them. People aren't dismissive of non-white non-male characters because they are sexist or racist, they are simply responding to a pattern that's been force fed to us for the past 5-10 years by western media. When we see a female protagonist we now expect her to be self-centered and will spend the majority of her screen time "owning men" or talking about how terrible men are, or if there is a female villain she's not actually evil she's just been wronged by men and is acting out of trauma. When we see a black character we now expect them to lecture us about racism or make experiencing/fighting racism part of their character. People have learned that diverse characters are not fun to watch or be around. What people are doing now with diverse characters is basically what we did when "military white dude with short brown hair and the personality of cardboard" caused us to roll our eyes every-time they turned up in trailers in the early 00s. People noticed a pattern and are just responding to it, which has sadly caused some people to dismiss or completely pass on games/movies simply because they feature said diverse characters and never give them a chance cause of their expectations from previous media.
Word. This is exactly what I'm talking about. 👍 It's just too much of that weird cr*p everywhere now. Most people are just sick and tired of constantly being strangled by the gender politics and political correctness. It's just going on most people's nerves now. Vote with your wallet. It's the only thing we can do.
Idk if it's sad per se. If forced diversity is perceived to lower the quality of a game, then it will be passed up. People are voting with their wallets. It's not like those games are known to have unexpected good qualities alongside the forced diversity. So I wouldn't say it's sad, nothing of value was missed out on
@@Nimbus3690 The sad part isn't that people are passing up on forced diversity. They are starting to pass up on things that just happen to be diverse. Fortunately this does seem to be a minority but is a sentiment I'm starting to see more of of late. For example I've seen people pass off Helldivers 2 cause it's opening cinematic featured a mix race couple, even though the game itself isn't woke. It's like someone getting food poisoning from something they never ate before and then avoiding that food from then on. Forced Diversity's consequences has started teaching people that -any- diversity is going to be a bad experience and to be avoided even if the product itself is great.
@theopeneyes I know what you mean but on average, games with forced diversity have proven to have nothing of value to offer and just agenda products. So I think the collateral damage you're talking about is very minimal. It's going to take time and many good examples like helldivers to dissociate this tendency from public perception
One is part of the character and feels natural(ish), the other is forced and feels unrealistic. Western LGBTQ couples are always happy people in a healthy relationship, as where they present straight couples having issues, and many ups and downs. Not only that, it tends to feel that 1/3 couples in "woke" products are LGBTQ, while in reality, it is only 10%. So if I experience 20 western products and I notice that 1/3 people are LGBTQ, all happy-pappy while the straight couples are generally misserable. Yeah... its gonna something most straight people are going to notice.
@@douwe4254meanwhile female homosexual couples have the highest rates of domestic violence and we are supposed to act like straight couples are the most miserable
yea pretty much. key and peele exemplified this nicely in one of their office sketches. people arent anti gay they are anti ligbtq in the same way people arent anti black they are anti blm and likewise they arent anti woman they are anti feminism.
i love when he makes videos like this of him just talking and speaking his mind with a camera that makes it look like it's a old video from 2011, i hope he does more videos like this talking about his life and other topics, he always seems so genuine in these types videos
That's because he isn't in his streaming persona. I guarantee you that Zack does not talk or act in real life like Asmongold does in front of the camera. How different the persona is I have no idea, but I'm sure a lot of mannerisms and things he says is just to be entertaining and get a reaction out of us.
@@wickian9571 I mean, often times he is memeing and trolling, because he knows people are overly sensitive and hysterical about certain subjects and he's basically just teasing them. Also, he exaggerates some things for content, this is no secret, he's spoken about that many times on the Steak and Eggs podcast. He's farming. But, his actual opinions don't change really.
@@JMPERagerI feel like people put influencers on too much of a pedestal and think they're that clever and all the time putting on these personas and yeah I think there's truth in that but also think there's not it's not like you have an alter ego unless you're wearing a mask or using AI generated stuff.
Almost everything you said also applies to the movie and tv-show industry. I have more less given up western made shows completely since the vast majority of newer western shows are so full of woke politics and horrible writing. I started watching korean tv-shows and movies last year and as a 36 year old guy it kinda felt like travelling back in time in a sense, because the shows and movies felt like actual entertainment, not a soulless woke video-lecture or woke propaganda piece mass produced in a factory. It reminded me of how western-made tv shows and movies used to be when i was a teenager.
I think this is the reason why Korean (Japanese / Chinese etc) dramas and TV shows have exploded in popularity last few years. Some of them have representation too but its just done so much better. Plus having eg a 16 episode story with a beginning and a concrete ending is soo nice.
It's also years upon years of AAA studios making fundamentally bad games with some inclusions of social issues, then the customers calling the game bad regardless of the social issue, and then the studios blaming their customers for being racist, exist, etc. without any willingness to admit that they made a game with bad gameplay, story, bugs, etc.
There is a strong correlation between a company advertising their product as 'inclusive' and 'with representation' etc and that product being very bad. Whether that is due to them not having anything else to advertise, or of it is that people who focus on DEI focus less on quality, or of it is that DEI itself is not compatible with good quality is not clear.
@@theWebWizrd no its not and no it doesnt because be definition it has absolutely nothing to do with inclusion or representation, thats not what woke means nor has it ever been what its meant
Give me one example when this has happened. Please, give me one example of an objectivley bad game, then people critique that game, and the studios call the customers racist. Please if you do ill eat my hat
I think the worst of example of this that I have run into was the newest Saint's Row game. I got it the key for free with my new video card and I was super excited to play it. I had uninstalled it within an hour of playing. Everything about the game had been watered down and the ESG BS was so thick that the SPIRIT of the game was unrecognizable.
ESG has nothing to do with what companies put into their video game, it's about diversity inside the studio. Also how is Saint Row bad cause of "wokeness" ? It's bad cause the characters are badly written
@@ni9274 _It's bad cause the characters are badly written_ And they were badly written because of company hiring "diverse developers" and pushing far woke narratives in this game. It was the same shit as with Suicide Squad, barely any of the developers from Arkham remained. This trash fire was almost entirely on new breed of incompetent, lazy and politically motivated hacks, that lack both work ethics and talent. And reason for them to be hired was ESG. Because leadership is from same breed on incompetent assholes, who are chasing ESG money, rather than trying to make game for gamers. This is also why we get an absolute avalanche of live services, with 99% of them being complete trash. People in charge, that do not understand gaming in the slightest, hiring incompetent hacks, whose sole qualification is checking progressive checkboxes. With neither of those groups caring in the slightest what gamers want. And when gamers inevitable reject their trash, being extremely surprised how it could happen.
@@sjent Short Fat Otaku got to interview an ex-Volition dev. Sure. Diversity consultants were not the only issue. There was a very clear super two-for of devs that did not want to work on the game plus obsessive micromanaging from higher ups. But SBI having a hand contributed heavily to that, and no wonder this looks like art-by-committee and the end product tastes like too many cooks in the kitchen. Sure, wokeness alone didn't ruin it. But it sure as hell helped ruin it.
A good gay character: A good, cool character who happens to be gay, but you won't really notice it until the story tells you. A bad gay character: Oh, he is so gay, and everything he says and does is gay, and you have to love and validate him because he is gay. Besides, he is cool... because he is gay, obviously!
When characters are directly introduced as being gay you know where this is going. The person being gay is more important than his/her character arc. If you ask me, this is discrimination.
Saying there are good gay characters is like saying poison won't hurt you because it's in something sweet. As long as there is any indication that the character's sexuality has been corrupted it is a bad character
I think a problem is also that being of a certain ethnic group, gender or sexuality also in most cases becomes the defining trait of that character. And this is probably because they want to use that character as a selling point. Because of that they dont evolve these characters beyond a certain point which results in them not evolving characters because they want to use them to sell their games.
They're trying to make likeable characters without flaws makes horrible stories because they can't grow to overcome their flaws. Sir rona is a example of a flawed character which is why the character is the best representation of trans characters. Even in star wars luke had flaws and was likeable character. Sokka from Avatar grew into a leader by learning from others strengths and weaknesses he was also flawed because he couldn't trust people having a world view that only men can go to wars.
@@darkshadowsaverI think that’s a really key issue you bring up. Woke writing tends to produce characters who don’t have flaws or at least don’t perceive themselves as being flawed in any way. It makes for characters that just aren’t relatable.
That's the problem being gay is the whole storyline on a character not that he's a badass warrior whom you happen to find out is gay you have someone gay from the jump whom you find out, oh he's a warrior!
No one would care if there were random black guys in a medieval European setting if it made sense. Rather than have a stupidly woke scenario where random members of the nobility and leaders in the military are obvious foreigners to the native population, just make some black/asian/middle eastern merchants(a whole caravan of them if you want), mercenaries, sailors, "traveling scholar" mages. There's so many ways it can be done without leaving a bad taste in our mouth, but that the point. The entire point is to force people to normalize replacement and nonsense as "reality", even in fantasy games.
"we dont trust it because its not authentic?" theres no such thing as an authentic woke story, because there is no authenticity is a life that leads to something inauthentic, being not life. Unless youre gonna say thats whats authentic in life is choice, then id argue that life has to exist for there to be choice. So the primary is life before choice and thats the god we serve not choice. serving choice only is inauthentic because that inherently means going against life. Unless you choose to serve life then youre stories are void of woke. Theres no way around it.
I think the biggest issue in all facets of society is a lack of trust. Cynicism over the motives of every single corporation/government/person. It's really hard to believe anyone/thing has the best interests of their customer/client/constituent at heart. I also don't know how we fix trust. Once broken, it's a real hard thing to get back.
@SarahHuntsman888 yes. There are still a few devs I trust as well but the larger issue is I don't need more than two hands to count them. But maybe that isn't a problem. 10 devs can make more games to play than I have free time anyway.
Sad reality, ESG Ideology making it legal to arrest ALL people playing video games for 100 years and people defend Wokeness. Too bad Left game developers are now working to arrest costumers.
Can't make comments about ESabG ideology trying to arrest ALL video gamers with game companies working together for ESabG any where else. It lik3 someon3 don't that fact to come out.
Once broken, the only way to regain trust is to let your actions speak for them selfs. Just do the right thing and deliver on your promises. Don't make any excuses, don't even try to apologise because broken trust renders all of that pointless. And the last element of it is time. Let time heal. Don't expect to be forgiven immediately after. Edit: What I'm trying to say is that all these companies need to do is make a good game that is worth the time and money and people will come around once again.
I dont think this guy realizes that the disease is actually that thing he mentions in the title. Its not a symptom, its literally the disease that didnt start within companies, its artificially manufactured to create division amongst communities, in this case gaming communities.
The source of the problem is blackrock making ESG/DEI mandatory for their investments, that’s why companies like Disney is experiencing these problems.
Lol u chased the money good job, like Larry said, "we have to force behavior" if disney wasn't owned by blackroach and vanguard. You think they would want to keep making flops? 😅
I wouldn't say that is why Disney does it, but I'll agree that is why many do. Disney takes it a few step further and that is before you even look at how many who have said their sole purpose to work in/with Disney was to target kids with the woke agenda.
One thing about the diversification of art and media; It's not just, as you pointed out ofc, that people get riled up against Murican corps due to an innate lack of trust - I believe that we humans do actually recognize when something is done genuinly and when it's not. Art is subjective but true. When a character is made with genuine intent, love or w/e, we as consumers relate to it or it resonates at the very least with us somehow. Whenever it's not done this way, like it's filling a quota, we recognize it as such. Thus, it's no longer a true representation of a person or whatever values we humans place onto things. Rather, it's a mask put on as to disguise itself as being a *label* or *category* of a human. It's shallow and lacks any sense of resonance. It's even perverse as it's indirectly mocking and objectifying theese minorities. That is what I think is the #1 reason why this dissonance is a thing. But who the fk am I.
Yea. Art is truth. I mean that’s not the actual definition, but I believe that’s what art aims to express. It’s like the saying “write what you know”. People can sense when the art seems like it came from a fake place. And people have more empathy than most talk about these days. We can relate to anyone if their a well written character. A person, if you will. Unfortunately l, the people pushing this weird stuff don’t see minorities as people. At least they don’t treat them as such.
@@OM3GA-Z3RO Yeah, they took mostly the western developers and the biggest game journalists sites. I mean just look at that video from ign about eventual RE5 remake. Outrageous!
The people having a meltdown about this video on social media all have one thing in common; they didn't actually watch the video, they just saw the title and got mad.
@@EslarI think that’s a fair point. Although I wonder what title would help. I don’t think it’s a particularly divisive title, but who knows. I get where you’re coming from, I just wonder what the solution would be.
This. People with prejudice ironically accuse you of prejudice if you don't like a character being black. They can not accept there being any other motive than prejudice to not like a character being black.
Queer person here, this just isn’t true. Most of us aren’t chronically online twitter heads that don’t actually watch the content they are criticising. Most of us just stfu and enjoy content lmao
@@ToastyYolkystraight here, but I have gay friends since they were one of the only groups to accept me. I’m sensitive towards people talking about them, but I trust this guy to not go overboard with anything. I watch his content because he has good views
You are absolutely correct. A good example of this is street fighter 6, they have a trans commentator in the game that I'm positive for "representation" and there was no outrage. Capcom nor dev even mentioned the character, have gay characters, females, minorities, ect. in video goes and nobody will give a flying fuck if its not shoved down your throat. I also would like to add the western devs were hired to check boxes not be good at the job when I Imagine most eastern devs are actually good at there job.
I don't know if that character is trans but is mega cringe IMO. I liked that the whole Marissa thing seemed somewhat organic so I didn't care much about that. Overall though i think this is a good example for asmon's point so well done. There doesn't seem to be much of this diversity stuff in the game though. It's not like a story focused game where the main character is a tool for virtue signaling. I really like street fighter so I'm gonna put up with some shit. Just like people who bought dragons dogma 2 I guess.
"we dont trust it because its not authentic?" theres no such thing as an authentic woke story, because there is no authenticity is a life that leads to something inauthentic, being not life. Unless youre gonna say thats whats authentic in life is choice, then id argue that life has to exist for there to be choice. So the primary is life before choice and thats the god we serve not choice. serving choice only is inauthentic because that inherently means going against life. Unless you choose to serve life then youre stories are void of woke. Theres no way around it.
Corporations have had floats at pride parades for years. Like why tf do Raytheon and Citibank need pride parade floats. Like yesss girlboss, we love a military industrial complex and student debt joint slay!!! Shit is so transparent - when video games became mainstream it was only a matter of time until rainbow marketing infected them too. The distinction between authentic and not is important though. Good representation is really nice. It’s just easily hijacked sadly.
@@flaschHDThis is still wrong. The problem is actually that large scale gaming corporations prioritize profit over all else, and they've decided that making a ton of volume, usually of low quality, is better for their bottom line than making fewer but higher quality games. They've given up on competing to make the best games, and now just push out a ton of garbage and try to make up for it by targeting different consumer groups w/ surface level representation. There are a ton of indie games that are fantastic windows into the dynamics of being queer, a minority, etc. both set in fantastical and grounded worlds. You will not find these games at AAA studios.
@@yScribblezHD your are definitely right that those studios prioritise money, but those games they produce are not cheap to make. They cost a lot of money. So they started going the save root first (remake after remake). And now they get ESG funding. (I understand asmon doesn't want to say that because it's not proven, but you just have to look at the main owners and investors in those companies)
Art with authenticity is pretty hard for a faceless corporation to pull off, and even more so once trust has been broken in the past. The parasite analogy is spot on
It probly stings a bit with how big Hollowed knight is. Celeste actually did the theme they all would want to go for. Better. I can see them buying up a lot of indie studios just because they can't make bangers themselves edit: forgot to mention Undertale. Which is Huge with LGBT I noticed
I think a variation of the quote 'its not the medicine that kills, its the dosage' can be applied. What i mean by this is if a company leans too hard into a particular thing whether its by accident or design the well will eventually get poisoned. Not sure how well it applies but thats my takeaway.
Except that in this case it is more like "shit", rather than "medicine". There is nothing inherently positive about diversity or rest of this crap, in any dosage. It might be present and it might even be good, but lack of it will hardly ruin good game. But woke "diversity" is outright toxic. Only good dosage of it is zero.
I'm a proud member of Sweet Baby Inc Detected. I hit ignore for every videogame tied to the company. Such a great service, thanks to the guys that help me weed out the games I won't want to play. If sweet baby wants to intimidate the game industry into making crappy games, I feel obligated as a gamer to push against that. Right now, this scandal is making waves on the internet. There's no way the big shots aren't keenly viewing this situation. If devs work with sweet baby, they could risk getting ostracized by their own customers. There is a breaking point and we're getting closer by the day.
@@hajkiethat’s 2 TWO shows out of like 6 horrible movies 5 horrible shows, TCW doesn’t count it was a concept and the script was already written, however what Disney did ruin is they focused too much on the Ahsoka sisters plot instead of the boba fett vs cad bane plot There could be way more shows and movies but the fact I don’t know the names of that they exist shows they’re faulty
@@p4l4d1n7 Watch them talk about it. They refer to people as "poopy babies" and "sweet babies" and "piss babies" and made a bunch of spinoff companies named after children, babies, and schools. 100% woodchipper.
Yo Asmon, I like this 2010 format. It reminds me of your oldest videos with your mom and friends. Such a nostalgic feeling. Thanks for bringing it back :)
People can shit on Asmon all they want (I don't always agree with him) but I challenge them to intellectually articulate their thoughts coherently for 30 minutes straight with no script. Agree or disagree with him but you cant deny he is intelligent, thoughtful and most of all, genuine.
I really admire this guy. He's around my age. He's the only person in this genre of content that actually puts forward honest, fully developed ideas and coherent arguments. I don't agree with every thing he says, but I'm so glad he's here to say it.
@@aurorasun-qs1pg lol that is usally an understood concept. When someone says "only" it means only in their view. Obviously, no one can see everyone. What you should have responded with is a list of people that you have seen that share the same ideas. Something like, " Hey, you would probably like Jim John and Cindy Mindy" They say the same kind of things".
@@aurorasun-qs1pg There just has to be a person who criticizes every single word doesn't there? Yes. You absolute genius. I've watched the entire UA-cam catalogue of over 1 billion videos, just so I could say he's the "only" person in this genre. I'd think it would be a bit obvious that I was speaking in a general manner.
@@tomchan0 Except he probably has no idea who those other people are. He's probably just being argumentative because he doesn't like Asmon or what he's saying.
Was expecting something myopic for engagement bait, but trusted Zack enough to give the vid a chance. Very nuanced, thorough; and really solidified what we all had already gathered, yet most (read: me) kept separated.
A big difference between the East and the West when it comes to diversity is that the writing is almost always better - and I mean vastly superior - in the East. They care about the quality of the product. We used to have diverse games of quality: Gears of War, Mass Effect 2, Grand Theft Auto, The Walking Dead, and all sorts of things. These games were very well received, apparently during a time where gamers were 'more racist,' according to the DEI activists of today. The writing and characters were great in these games. I don't think we've really seen AAA games include diversity like this recently. Diversity from 2020-2024 in the West in AAA always feels forced and tokenized, and let's not forget the complete removal of feminine women and forced feminism that didn't exist before (and still doesn't really exist when Eastern companies add diversity to their games). I think this is a pretty major component to the rejection of AAA/corporate games in the West. When I think of successful diversity in gaming in the West, it's always indie titles like Life is Strange and things like that. You can tell those devs were actually passionate about the story and characters, and the writing was fantastic. I don't get that from AAA or the DEI consultants these days. At the end of the day, I don't think you can force diversity. In order for it to be passionate, authentic, and respectful, it cannot be forced.
I love videos like this, someone who expresses their opinion straight away (no cuts, just a flow of thought), no video quality presets, just the desire to express opinions and thoughts. I recently discovered Asmon and these are videos that confirm to me more and more that hearing someone express their opinion, whether you agree with it or not, without judging race, social choices or other things, is one of the few things that still satisfies me in being in Internet
Honestly, I prefer companies make products to make money, not make products to push an agenda. Companies arent a person, they shouldn't have an agenda, other than to get more money. Make a product people like, and keep making more of that product, don't push your bullshit crap with it.
People are pretty smart when it comes to media, and most people can smell the wokeness of a game from a mile away. And it's not cause they see a black guy or a female, it's in the details : the setting, the cohesion, the dialogue, the themes, the sexiness of the characters (particulary the females), the language, even the focus of the trailer can say a lot. Like in a story, verysimilitude ( the appearance of being true or real) is very important for immersion. Those games are not genuine thus have no soul.
except hes lying because hes saying the problem is that its not authentic when in reality "we dont trust it because its not authentic?" theres no such thing as an authentic woke story, because there is no authenticity in a life that leads to something inauthentic, being not life. Unless youre gonna say that whats authentic in life is choice, then id argue that life has to exist for there to be choice. So the primary is life before choice and thats the god we serve not choice. serving choice only is inauthentic because that inherently means going against life. Unless you choose to serve life then youre stories are void of woke. Theres no way around it.
I believe most people don't have a problem with diversity as long as the art comes first. Create good characters that happen to be gay and/or of color not characters where being gay poc is their whole personality. The whole SBI fiasco and the ridiculous media echo it created demonstrated the core of the issue lies exactly there: the people spearheading "progressive storytelling" think a persons whole identity is defined by their skin color, gender or sexual orientation. They're shallow political activists, who hate the costumers they work for because a big part of it is male, white and thus "privileged" and part of the "toxic patriarchy".
For me, its how disingenuous it all is. Nobody really cares about diverse and inclusive games, when it's a genuine part of the experience and artistic vision. You can tell when its forced, for profit or for ideology, it becomes propaganda.
Can you explain how video games and ideology are mutually exclusive things? Because in my opinion ideologies and any art like video games, films, writing etc is inseparably tied to ideologies. Even people that argue that there shouldn’t be ideology in video games are themselves pushing an ideology of inaction an ideology that entails that the status quo is what is preferable. I also wouldn’t call a piece of art that pushes ideology to be disingenuous, for instance, I wouldn’t call 1984 or animal farm disingenuous just because it pushes a anti-government or anti communist ideology. I just can’t find a conceivable way to separate ideologies from art like video games. Also I don’t think calling something propaganda is the silver bullet it once was. Propaganda is such a neutral term now that asmongolds stream and UA-cam channel can be classified as propaganda. It’s honestly better to just engage with the ideas themselves rather than to invoke a useless term like propaganda as if it is valid criticism.
@@grazen663because it isn't about the art of the game, it's about representation and ideology as a form of marketing. Like Asmon said, metal gear is a great example of them being linked, but ideology isn't inherently linked to storytelling, though it can be and often does influence it. Like what ideology helped make pong, for example? There is no inherent need or connection.
@@grazen663basically, ideology can be used in games though it is never a mandatory thing as it is in every form of art, that isn't a problem to anyone really. It's when ideology is used as marketing or to an extent propaganda that people see it and think "this is bad".
I agree that disingenuity and forced "wokeness" is the problem and that it makes people mad, however: I would argue it isn't propaganda. These companies aren't trying to turn people woke, they're trying to prey on already existing "wokeness". Also, I'm not sure what you mean by 'nobody really cares about diverse and inclusive games, when it's [genuine]' because I think plenty of people do. Maybe the mainstream isn't and certainly people who oppose "woke" ideas aren't but I know that, for example, trans people are excited when they get genuine and positive trans representation in games that have a real commitment to LGBT representation.
Absolutely brilliant and well thought out. No bs. I would imagine by now there are the comments calling you the usual names when somebody speaks out on topics like this. Don’t mind them and keep it up. Thanks for being vocal
Half Life: Alyx had a black female protagonist in a series where the character you play as is historically a white male, and she was almost universally loved.
The different is that Half Life Alyx didn't have heavy handed plot or references about current day politics or force social commentary injected for the sake of pandering to a radical group in the left side of the political spectrum, instead the game treats the fact it has a female protagonist of mixed race in a really nonchalant way. The only politics that are present in HL2, the episodes and Alyx are near 100% focused on the Combine being a extreme super authoritarian state... and in level where there's no even a parallel to current day governments in any way whatsoever, maybe North Korea and that's a reach. Wokeism as a term has been abused lately by political pundits on the populist side of the right, but let's not forget that it was the far left that started this clusterfuck of culture to begin with.
It's a net negative because more and more people (that used to be neutral about this) learn to assume that anything that features "diverse" characters is going to be phoned in, condescending trash.
And it creates the doctrine that diverse representations inherently worsen media, or that they're being "shoved down our throats". Like you said, turning neutral people into haters who will dismiss certain media and also allowing people who genuinely oppose things like racial, sexual and political diversity to hide behind the masses and be able to say "I'm not racist, I just don't like it being shoved in my face".
I don’t think having a black character or whatever ethnicity in the game or sexuality in a game is a bad thing I think how it’s done is why it has such disdain I’m African American and gay no surprise Dion is my fav gay character in all of media it’s not his whole personality he had problems jus like everyone else and it was great And I can speak on this from experience whenever there’s a black character in a game as like main character people I know are genuinely happy because we feel closer to the character but it also applies to characters like Goku and stuff so u get it well I hope people get it lol I hope this makes sense Edit: I genuinely hope people that see wokeness in video games is not like disliking or hating minorities because of what companies do to basically make money or seem good but people who are a minority feel the need to defend things what companies do because it feel like they are being attacked when it’s not really minorities pushing for this it’s jus weird people on twitter and they the loud minority double worded meaning cause literally
I’m asian and gay, I also hate the way they handle lgbt factors in game just like fillers with no soul into it. Just make it gay enough so it pass the quota. I want good character development, well written story, they dont need to be gay or racial they just need to be well written.
I don't hate having minorities in games or starring in games. My biggest issue is how they're implemented. Usually it feels forced in the game. Or instead of showing me something new. Exposing me to something unique. They take something established and try to change everything about it. I love non western games because of all the things from their culture they draw on to expose me to something cool and new I would have never experienced otherwise
I hope this comment gains more traction. I have had many LGBTQ friends across my life, my best friend is gay and she was my best man at my wedding. So ya, I support the cause. This heavy handed approach to inclusivity is the absolutely wrong way to achieve acceptance. And like, the communities these companies “advocate” for largely do not like what is happening either!
All I want is you guys to stop grand standing like this post! Could you have just stood up like the rest of us with out all the “ I’m this! And that’s “ ? I’m sure happy I can be what I am without having to assure people and tell them what I believe in 👍
An example I like to use is the charatcher Angrboda from God of War Rangarok, a characther from norse mytholgy who is supposed to be white, acutally quite pale. However they made Angrboda a black girl, which could have acutally worked, if they had tied her to acutally being from the african mytholgy, as a plot twist, but no, she just african looking for no reason other than for apperance sake. I dont mind divertisy when it make sense. But I hate when its forced just for the sake of diverstiy, or make characthers trans/non binary/gay just for the sake of it. I do hear its because games/movies wont be up for awards unless to do this. Which make sense since the games just put in stuff to fill qouats. A good exmaple is Yao from Guild Wars 2 (End of Dragons) a characther who looks male, doesnt give any indications that they are a "non-binary" person, you wouldnt really know it without checking the Wiki for it, but they just made this way to get diverstiy points. Divertsity can work if you make sense of it. I think if the setting is modern/sci fi, its a non brainer that diversity is almost expetced. Fantasy might be harder, espcially older more established ones like, Witcher or Lotr which are based off European history. The more newer franchaise are better to devlop a desired diveristy franchaise for all, like League of Legends universe is quite good at this, the lore is bascially all humans started in Shurima (basically Egypt) and then spread through the land over thousands of year, so if you got some black people in a northen area, it means their anscestors immigrated form Shruima long time ago, essiently races/skin color matters a lot less since all the factions are based more on affliation than race. I understand the plight of non-white wanting to see someone like themselves in video games and I too have no problem about it. But I do hate when its forced, just for the sake of it.
Almost had me until the last lines. Do you think "non-white" need to know someone is the same ethnicity as them to "see someone like themselves?" Can they not relate to the characters on a more personal level? In the wake of Akira Toriyama's death, I saw countless black people talking about how much they enjoyed the DBZ (one of his series), how they looked up to characters like Goku (despite him obviously not being black). This idea that "people like me" means "people who look like me" is actually harmful, and is a large part of the reason we're in this position now.
the way diversity characters are written in western games when compared to eastern games is also very different. In western games the character's writing beyond the group's identity is shallow and jarring. Their personality is rigid and often breaks immersion. Once you see it the game is ruined.
It's always great to have videos on your perspective, just you talking, I enjoy them a lot! There is a lot of mistrust, yes, but I think also it's because american developers are willing to sacrifice the story and characters integrity for the sake of the message, while japanese and other asian games usually have the game and the story first and if there is any message to pass on it is delivered in a subtle, non preaching way. It's a natural consequence of the story, not the main focus. American/Western games make hard statements, while japanese/asian games raise a point and allow the players enough room to think for themselves. And BTW, I've seen japanese streamers playing Elden Ring and they actually don't like the Body Type A/B thing. Personally I don't like it either. The game is good enough so people won't make a big deal out of it, but that doesn't mean they like it.
Ehhhhhhh, a lot of people brought up the "Body A, Body B" shenanigans that Elden Ring did. The game also happened to be really good, and that was the only wokeshit injection into it.
And most importantly, it was easily modded out. Same goes for games like Hogwarts Legacy or Baldur's Gate 3 where this stuff is much more prevalent and even affected major quest npcs, but even those still have mods to fix basically all of it. Many many other games aren't as fortunate though. Some of this nonsense gets so ingrained in the core mechanics or plot of a game that it *can't* be modded out without basically remaking the thing from scratch, and that's assuming the game is even moddable in the first place. Borderlands 3 comes to mind. Any modding that can be done to that game will never be able to save it from the rot.
I 100% agree, Japan's culture has more self respecting people who own their failures and apologize greatly for them, while American culture is always blaming others for your failures. This is a fact on many levels not just gaming.
I remember the time it meant being generally socially aware. it was a decade ago when our highschool teacher said it for some reason i forgot (and she called us millenials, because "zoomers" and "gen z" wasn't coined until around 2020)
This video misses the mark, imo. Whenever I'm getting lectured by a character in a video game about how society is unfair or how certain people have systemic privilege, it has nothing to do with my trust in the game developer. It's just annoying.
There's at least two separate issues. The first is a greed that views games as a means to extract money from customers instead of providing value. Second is a subversive activist element that is trying to destabilize gaming and provoke a radical response.
No I think you missed the mark, the point is if a story is genuinely trying to share a story based in a perspective that is concise and clear, but is then removed due to how it could impact the company’s bottom line then there is no integrity in the message. If you don’t like a message no one said you need to buy it. Just like if you don’t like a book you don’t need to read it. But if a company backs the ideas it’s preaching then it has integrity in its art. Thus transcending petty biases. But again no one made you buy the game and if you don’t like it then don’t buy it or refund it and don’t think about it.
@@Saturn5iv3It's because there's a time and place for it, and entertainment isn't it. For example, I could be a faithful Christian (I'm not, but just for example's sake) and I want everyone to be converted to Christianity. I wouldn't insert Christian lessons, or dialogue about how everyone should be a Christian into my game story. That would be weird and unrelated, and nobody would like it.
I dont have a problem with women/gays/colour/miniorities in video games.. what I dont like is when that aspect of that character is litterally their entire character and personality and the only thing they have going on for them.. where its like "Hello i am X and i'm a coloured lesbian," "You're only treating me this way because im a coloured lesbian" "You wouldnt make me do this if i wasnt a coloured lesbian" "oh did i mention that i'm a coloured lesbian" like.. okay we get it!.. It got really jarring for me in World of warcraft, theres a female centaur clan leader and I was like "Damn she must be a badass to become a clan leader in a clan entirely dedicated to fighting and hunting thats super interesting!" and the first thing out of her mouth was "I have lost my mate.. who is a woman.. you may have noticed that i too.. am a woman.." "The other clan members hate me because i am a woman.. and my mate is a woman"... "You're dismissing my point of view because i am a woman.. and did i mention my mate who is also infact a woman"... it's like. thats the only thing that the devs thought was interesting about that character so they made it litterally her entire personality..
I think you got it half right. The problem is that sometimes there is a full character that is ALSO a woman, or a minority, or gay etc. and sometimes there is a woke character that is first and foremost whichever of those it happens to be and sometimes doesn't actually have any other traits. Only 1 is woke, the other is just a person. As an example, let's take cowboy bebop anime vs netflix. Gren is a hinted gay ex soldier with a solid backstory. The live action is a generic lgbt "yaaasss queen" insert. One has an actual character that is part of the lgbt community, the other is an attempt to force lgbt into the series.
Wrong. When you know for a fact that there's an industry mandate for diversity and inclusion, them also making their diverse and inclusive cast human doesn't suddenly make it a coincidence. The only coincidence is that sometimes good movies can still be made under these rules.
i think he sort of touched on this a bit with what he said about creative integrity. some of these companies for some reason wont take the risk of writing a unique character out of fear of somehow offending someone. their solution is to only make characters that appeal to minorities or have no outlying characteristics to criticize.
The fucking sky-rending irony when a literal satanist offers more nuanced and actually useful political analyses than the mainstream media, to the point where people actually mention him under a gaming channel... we really live in bizarro world
The fucking sky-rending irony when a literal satanist offers more nuanced and actually useful political analyses than the mainstream media, to the point where people actually mention him under a gaming channel... we really live in bizarro world
It's more like Eastern games build stories around diverse characters while Western games shove characters at you like a suppository up your nose. Swapping or role reversing legacy characters is a big part of the problem here that didn't seem to get addressed in this speech.
Why does it matter that the characters of a an online arena shooters are LGBT and over represented? It's out of place, and is purely there for tokenism. Look if it'd be a dating sim? Yeah it makes sense and any other social games
The crazy thing is that lesbian/gay characters are rampant in Japanese Visual Novels/Dating Sims. Because of the nature of those games, it is actually more profitable and reaches wider audiences by including those options. And also makes sense to have. Straight men love a good Yuri and straight women love a good Yaoi.
@@JamesP7 On top of that, Asian storytelling ACTUALLY does LGBTQ representation quite well. It's not NEARLY as on the nose as Western storytelling. You don't even notice it because you're so invested in the (better) storyline.
Appreciate you not shying away from legitmately concerning issues. I love angry joe and his buddies, but they always seem to shy away from these topics. Maybe one day theyll grow a pair like you. Keep it up!
It's mainly down to ESG points + scummy investors who demands it because of their poltitical leanings, but also Mafia like methods where studios are forced to hire someone who looks over the process and who makes sure to add these woke elements or they'll make sure the studio gets called out / attemps fo cancellation is made. A lot is at stake when you're making games, they know these activists are very aggressive and can cause a lot of trouble and it can be costly. Review sites will overall also up the score for woke games, which can be very beneficial.
I really hope the Eastern games Developers gets the message that gamers in general DO NOT LIKE wokeness in games... I do trust Eastern games more compared to the western made games...
It is sadly not just video games but on any other entertainment such as movies, tv shows, sports, etc. as well. This is probably one of the reasons why people are pushing back to it more now is because it has spread way too much already that we don't want the remaining escapism left to suffer the same fate as the others.
Ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, none of that shit matters 99% of the time. All that matters is if the character is filling its role in a convincing or entertaining way. A lot of western characters of certain types feel forced. It's like there is very little actual character outside of those specific characteristics and it's annoying as hell. The same is true in real life. People who build their whole identities around one or two things and then refuse to shut up about it are generally not pleasant to be around. I mean, that type of behavior the foundation of a lot of negative stereotypes (vegans, linux users, mac users etc.) so why would anyone think that inserting political messaging in a similarly aggravating way would be successful?! It's like watching a parody of that "How guys write women" bit were the woman with big gazongas boobily walks, except it's about skin color or sexual orientation instead. Unless it matters to the plot I just don't care what color a character is (or even their species), what gender they are or the nature of their reproductive urges.
It's agenda. People are just finally starting to see like that guy from BR saying they want to program people, or the Spiderman 2 dev outright saying the quiet part outloud. You understand the exact type of politics a western dev generally has nowadays thanks to ESG, or at least is promoting. Whereas it's far more tactfully done in eastern because ESG just isn't that popular there yet (and hopefully never). It's absolutely a lack of trust to a degree, but it's one brought about justifiably. GG showed years ago how a lot of those people think and operate. There's a difference between someone who wants to make a gal protag like Stellar Blade because they want to. And someone who does so because man bad hear me roar evil male gaze I'm so oppressed, or just the flat out hypocrisy. People are just finally catching onto this. It's not just trust, it's also the outcome of the product. You can tell the difference between a dev who loves femineity and chicks, and one who doesn't believe in gender by their product. People were also irritated by ER's body type system, it's just most people were too confused by the menu system to even remember it I'd imagine considering most were new and souls games are rather front loaded with information. That and the rest of the game was amazing. Not just that but it's a bigger deal in general now because it's becoming more mainstream to talk about these issues rather than letting them slide in fear of being canceled or labeled. It was only with Starfield that it became big to criticize it. (Rightfully) The culture overall is also just shifting (and polarizing) which of course effects on how we talk about games.
14:00 Another example of this being the case is Spider Man 2 removing all LGBTQ elements of the game on UAE, these companies don’t really care.
You seen the Black Panther poster for China? Can't see his face at all lol.
Don't forget that nearly every single mod website actively removes mods, and ban users who post, that change "body type" to Male/Female. I still have my Elden Ring mod to fix that issue before it was purged thankfully.
@@elmhurstenglish5938 I remember that one lol 💀
it just proves that this is more a tool to control western populations so the left can retain power
@@elmhurstenglish5938sounds like an improvement
The funniest part about GG 2.0 is that it's the same exact nefarious people doing the gaslighting as 10 years ago.
New sheep clothing, same hyenas.
The difference between the 1st GG and now is that they're not just fighting against gamers from the USA.
The woke side is also fighting against Latin American Gamers, Asian Gamers, European Gamers, & African Gamers.
@@YukitoOnlineno, the difference is that normies care now.
@@YukitoOnline I’m European. Count me in.
@@YukitoOnline nah, they're fighting every gamer on earth now
Being able to speak clearly without 9000 jump cut edits is one thing I appreciate about Zack.
For real. It's a skill that people completely underestimate.
you mean how RayWilliamJohnson used to teleport around the room like a wizard
@@arcticridge Because he teleports, it looks intentional and part of the show, but it really was wild that almost every sentence was a jump cut.
I have no idea how he does it. it makes me feel so stupid lol. I feel like i have to take time to communicate a single complete thought, let alone a 30 minute video full of them.
@@ATDF1he’s a stream he talks for a living. Start making videos in no time you will see an improvement
If you can change a characters sexuality based on the market they are in, they aren’t a gay character, they are a marketing tool. It’s that simple lol.
Underrated comment
Not to mention parroting pointless propaganda just to pander.
The poster, the quality of the vid and asmon makes me feel like im back in the 2010s
nostalgia
Especially the quality of what he says, plain wrong and stupid cause of his narrow view. He talks about Capcom and Dragons Dogma but not about RE4 Remake in that people called Capcom out for what they did - but no we dont care about it cause his view is so limited.
not with that hairline.
More like the 2000's
@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi Mid tier bait comment
We must end the social engineering. Vote with your wallet and speak up!
lol 0.0000001% power (peasant) vs 99.9% power (elite)**
Btw. it's funny that I have so few upvotes How it is possible to disagree with my statement boggles the mind.
Exactly, just make an informed decision when purchasing a game, this made me not buy Alan Wake 2 as it was tampered with by SBI.
ok Aegon
@@PuppetMasterdaath144 There are hundreds of millions of us, and reputation is more important than people think. Think Sweet Baby Inc is coming back from this backlash? They might manage, but they basically have a bounty on their head right now. Everyone who's done with the forced social engineering, finally know there are companies responsible for them losing interest in their hobby. I didn't realize how bad "AAA" games have become, until I started to play much cheaper indie titles made by people who are still passionate about their hobby / professional job.
I don’t mind social engineering if the game is good, it can be as woke as it wants as long as it’s fun 🙂
nice of you to brek out the 2009 webcam for this video
got that 2006 youtube vibe
why buy a new camera when this one works? lol
@@zetoma16I read that in asmons voice
Honestly the quality is not that bad lol. Webcams in 2009 where absolute dogshit compared to whatever assmon used in this vid
To show where he is malding in 4k
Blackrock's Larry Fink "we have to force behaviors". Aka social engineering.
There is a reason why corporations engage in this heavy handed divide and conquer strategy, it is to keep the masses distracted by cultural issues to prevent the development of class consciousness. So Blackrock engages in heavy handed wokeness to achieve that exact same effect. The reality is that Blackrock is utterly destroying the housing market and causing mass homelessness. So they use woke ideology to distract from class issues which they are causing, and the far left turns into a culture war movement instead of a traditionally Marxist movement which focused on class issues. So instead of the left pushing for universal health care, you get ESG and DEI policies instead, a cultural far left minus any real economic issues. This entire alliance between the far left and these corporations is anathema to everything the left originally stood for. They are literally in bed with the worst corporations on the planet.
It's called fascism.
Wait till you need a place to live and learn about Blackrock and buying all the houses, driving the prices insane. Do you make $106k+ that's what you need at this point to buy a house. Good luck young men!
ya i saw that interview , forcing.. now what can go wrong with that..i wonder..im sure it will go smoothly.🙄
This is why you get them to change their behaviors via boycotts where this attitude exists.
Another low quality face to face talk. Dis gonna be lit
when hobo jesus speaks, we listen. 🙏
Why doesn't he just use his streaming setup to record?
Asmon's true powerlevel must be nerfed by lowpolygon pixels or we couldn't withstand the pressure of his divine aura.
@@Gookbox69 because mobile is slightly easier and you take it with you to bed.
@@Gookbox69 Because it's not about the quality. It's about sending a message.
Larry Fink: "Sometimes, you have to force behaviors"
yup this is the problem
Pretty much...
I am so glad he was dumb enough to say that in person
now we can show videos and quotes and get more people to join us against woke propaganda
Hes old. You know what i mean
Every single time
Thirty minutes WITHOUT A SINGLE CUT?! Respect. Seriously.
It's honestly the Asmongold standard when he sits down to record, he has very few and often zero edits, because he actually has a well formulated thought and he's good at expressing it. It's easy for people to see his stream when he's trying to add flavour and entertainment to his words while getting a point across and think he's just yapping, but that isn't often the truth.
No respect needed, he just doesn't give a fuck about people and says what comes up in his mind without needing to filter 🤣
That's just how passionate he is on this :)
I can almost hear zack saying "I'm to lazy to edit so I learnt how to express myself better" speech 100%
@@maduraelknockouthe actually said that once during a stream lol.
Part of the problem is that "wokeness" has ironically poisoned the diversity they so loudly champion by making said diverse characters, well, terrible and passively-hostile to anyone not like them. People aren't dismissive of non-white non-male characters because they are sexist or racist, they are simply responding to a pattern that's been force fed to us for the past 5-10 years by western media.
When we see a female protagonist we now expect her to be self-centered and will spend the majority of her screen time "owning men" or talking about how terrible men are, or if there is a female villain she's not actually evil she's just been wronged by men and is acting out of trauma. When we see a black character we now expect them to lecture us about racism or make experiencing/fighting racism part of their character. People have learned that diverse characters are not fun to watch or be around.
What people are doing now with diverse characters is basically what we did when "military white dude with short brown hair and the personality of cardboard" caused us to roll our eyes every-time they turned up in trailers in the early 00s. People noticed a pattern and are just responding to it, which has sadly caused some people to dismiss or completely pass on games/movies simply because they feature said diverse characters and never give them a chance cause of their expectations from previous media.
Word. This is exactly what I'm talking about. 👍 It's just too much of that weird cr*p everywhere now. Most people are just sick and tired of constantly being strangled by the gender politics and political correctness. It's just going on most people's nerves now. Vote with your wallet. It's the only thing we can do.
Idk if it's sad per se. If forced diversity is perceived to lower the quality of a game, then it will be passed up. People are voting with their wallets. It's not like those games are known to have unexpected good qualities alongside the forced diversity. So I wouldn't say it's sad, nothing of value was missed out on
@@Nimbus3690 The sad part isn't that people are passing up on forced diversity. They are starting to pass up on things that just happen to be diverse. Fortunately this does seem to be a minority but is a sentiment I'm starting to see more of of late. For example I've seen people pass off Helldivers 2 cause it's opening cinematic featured a mix race couple, even though the game itself isn't woke.
It's like someone getting food poisoning from something they never ate before and then avoiding that food from then on. Forced Diversity's consequences has started teaching people that -any- diversity is going to be a bad experience and to be avoided even if the product itself is great.
@theopeneyes I know what you mean but on average, games with forced diversity have proven to have nothing of value to offer and just agenda products. So I think the collateral damage you're talking about is very minimal. It's going to take time and many good examples like helldivers to dissociate this tendency from public perception
Homosexual in japanese game: kisses his lover, is a gigachad
Homosexual in western game: insults the audience, throws around tumblr words
One is part of the character and feels natural(ish), the other is forced and feels unrealistic. Western LGBTQ couples are always happy people in a healthy relationship, as where they present straight couples having issues, and many ups and downs. Not only that, it tends to feel that 1/3 couples in "woke" products are LGBTQ, while in reality, it is only 10%. So if I experience 20 western products and I notice that 1/3 people are LGBTQ, all happy-pappy while the straight couples are generally misserable. Yeah... its gonna something most straight people are going to notice.
@@douwe4254meanwhile female homosexual couples have the highest rates of domestic violence and we are supposed to act like straight couples are the most miserable
*This* 👌
More like:
Japanese VG studios: "Letsu create a gay characteru"
Western VG studios: "Let's make Rambo a gay chick"
yea pretty much. key and peele exemplified this nicely in one of their office sketches. people arent anti gay they are anti ligbtq in the same way people arent anti black they are anti blm and likewise they arent anti woman they are anti feminism.
i love when he makes videos like this of him just talking and speaking his mind with a camera that makes it look like it's a old video from 2011, i hope he does more videos like this talking about his life and other topics, he always seems so genuine in these types videos
That's because he isn't in his streaming persona. I guarantee you that Zack does not talk or act in real life like Asmongold does in front of the camera. How different the persona is I have no idea, but I'm sure a lot of mannerisms and things he says is just to be entertaining and get a reaction out of us.
This comment has to be a bot
@@wickian9571 I mean, often times he is memeing and trolling, because he knows people are overly sensitive and hysterical about certain subjects and he's basically just teasing them. Also, he exaggerates some things for content, this is no secret, he's spoken about that many times on the Steak and Eggs podcast. He's farming.
But, his actual opinions don't change really.
@@JMPERagerI feel like people put influencers on too much of a pedestal and think they're that clever and all the time putting on these personas and yeah I think there's truth in that but also think there's not it's not like you have an alter ego unless you're wearing a mask or using AI generated stuff.
Almost everything you said also applies to the movie and tv-show industry. I have more less given up western made shows completely since the vast majority of newer western shows are so full of woke politics and horrible writing.
I started watching korean tv-shows and movies last year and as a 36 year old guy it kinda felt like travelling back in time in a sense, because the shows and movies felt like actual entertainment, not a soulless woke video-lecture or woke propaganda piece mass produced in a factory. It reminded me of how western-made tv shows and movies used to be when i was a teenager.
watch Oldboy mate, fine Korean movie.
European mid budget movies are good too. I've found some gems in there.
Running Man is great, at least until Gary quits. After that, some episodes still hold value, but not many.
Indian cinema as well - hard to get in to but there's great stuff there; Bahubali, Pradmavaat, K3G, RRR
I think this is the reason why Korean (Japanese / Chinese etc) dramas and TV shows have exploded in popularity last few years. Some of them have representation too but its just done so much better. Plus having eg a 16 episode story with a beginning and a concrete ending is soo nice.
It's also years upon years of AAA studios making fundamentally bad games with some inclusions of social issues, then the customers calling the game bad regardless of the social issue, and then the studios blaming their customers for being racist, exist, etc. without any willingness to admit that they made a game with bad gameplay, story, bugs, etc.
There is a strong correlation between a company advertising their product as 'inclusive' and 'with representation' etc and that product being very bad. Whether that is due to them not having anything else to advertise, or of it is that people who focus on DEI focus less on quality, or of it is that DEI itself is not compatible with good quality is not clear.
@@theWebWizrd you also have to understand that inclusion and representation doesnt mean woke just also keep that in mind
XDd
@@yungednoliasquad Depends on the medium I'd say. In movies and games it feels like it is very overlapping.
@@theWebWizrd no its not and no it doesnt because be definition it has absolutely nothing to do with inclusion or representation, thats not what woke means nor has it ever been what its meant
Give me one example when this has happened. Please, give me one example of an objectivley bad game, then people critique that game, and the studios call the customers racist. Please if you do ill eat my hat
This guy really just took a shower and had an epiphany
you really think he took a shower? Its Asmongold we`re talking about LMAO
Ha ha ha true
What are you talking about? Everybody knows Asmongold only showers on the first Sunday of the month.
💡!
Not bloody likely
I think the worst of example of this that I have run into was the newest Saint's Row game. I got it the key for free with my new video card and I was super excited to play it. I had uninstalled it within an hour of playing. Everything about the game had been watered down and the ESG BS was so thick that the SPIRIT of the game was unrecognizable.
It went from being one of the edgiest games on the market to being overly sanitized.
ESG has nothing to do with what companies put into their video game, it's about diversity inside the studio.
Also how is Saint Row bad cause of "wokeness" ? It's bad cause the characters are badly written
@@ni9274 _It's bad cause the characters are badly written_
And they were badly written because of company hiring "diverse developers" and pushing far woke narratives in this game. It was the same shit as with Suicide Squad, barely any of the developers from Arkham remained. This trash fire was almost entirely on new breed of incompetent, lazy and politically motivated hacks, that lack both work ethics and talent.
And reason for them to be hired was ESG. Because leadership is from same breed on incompetent assholes, who are chasing ESG money, rather than trying to make game for gamers. This is also why we get an absolute avalanche of live services, with 99% of them being complete trash.
People in charge, that do not understand gaming in the slightest, hiring incompetent hacks, whose sole qualification is checking progressive checkboxes. With neither of those groups caring in the slightest what gamers want. And when gamers inevitable reject their trash, being extremely surprised how it could happen.
@@sjent Short Fat Otaku got to interview an ex-Volition dev. Sure. Diversity consultants were not the only issue. There was a very clear super two-for of devs that did not want to work on the game plus obsessive micromanaging from higher ups.
But SBI having a hand contributed heavily to that, and no wonder this looks like art-by-committee and the end product tastes like too many cooks in the kitchen.
Sure, wokeness alone didn't ruin it.
But it sure as hell helped ruin it.
@@ni9274That's a f***ing lie why would consultants like sweet baby inc get paid big dollars then, for charity ?.
A good gay character: A good, cool character who happens to be gay, but you won't really notice it until the story tells you.
A bad gay character: Oh, he is so gay, and everything he says and does is gay, and you have to love and validate him because he is gay. Besides, he is cool... because he is gay, obviously!
When characters are directly introduced as being gay you know where this is going. The person being gay is more important than his/her character arc. If you ask me, this is discrimination.
Saying there are good gay characters is like saying poison won't hurt you because it's in something sweet. As long as there is any indication that the character's sexuality has been corrupted it is a bad character
yes and every single thing is about the character is being gay and nothing else.
Opinion on Aloy Horizon FW dlc? Wasn’t great but wasn’t terrible either.
Remember, gay is not just a sexual preference it’s a personality trait! 😂
It's good to see Asmongold supporting smaller streamers like ZackRawrr. This collaboration is what we needed.
I think a problem is also that being of a certain ethnic group, gender or sexuality also in most cases becomes the defining trait of that character. And this is probably because they want to use that character as a selling point. Because of that they dont evolve these characters beyond a certain point which results in them not evolving characters because they want to use them to sell their games.
They're trying to make likeable characters without flaws makes horrible stories because they can't grow to overcome their flaws. Sir rona is a example of a flawed character which is why the character is the best representation of trans characters. Even in star wars luke had flaws and was likeable character. Sokka from Avatar grew into a leader by learning from others strengths and weaknesses he was also flawed because he couldn't trust people having a world view that only men can go to wars.
@@darkshadowsaverI think that’s a really key issue you bring up. Woke writing tends to produce characters who don’t have flaws or at least don’t perceive themselves as being flawed in any way. It makes for characters that just aren’t relatable.
That's the problem being gay is the whole storyline on a character not that he's a badass warrior whom you happen to find out is gay you have someone gay from the jump whom you find out, oh he's a warrior!
Pastor Asmon blesses us with his weekly sermon 🙌
Amen
No one would care if there were random black guys in a medieval European setting if it made sense. Rather than have a stupidly woke scenario where random members of the nobility and leaders in the military are obvious foreigners to the native population, just make some black/asian/middle eastern merchants(a whole caravan of them if you want), mercenaries, sailors, "traveling scholar" mages. There's so many ways it can be done without leaving a bad taste in our mouth, but that the point.
The entire point is to force people to normalize replacement and nonsense as "reality", even in fantasy games.
that's pastor Zackrarr look at the video quality
"we dont trust it because its not authentic?" theres no such thing as an authentic woke story, because there is no authenticity is a life that leads to something inauthentic, being not life. Unless youre gonna say thats whats authentic in life is choice, then id argue that life has to exist for there to be choice. So the primary is life before choice and thats the god we serve not choice. serving choice only is inauthentic because that inherently means going against life. Unless you choose to serve life then youre stories are void of woke. Theres no way around it.
Pastor Asmon 💀 😂
I think the biggest issue in all facets of society is a lack of trust. Cynicism over the motives of every single corporation/government/person. It's really hard to believe anyone/thing has the best interests of their customer/client/constituent at heart. I also don't know how we fix trust. Once broken, it's a real hard thing to get back.
@SarahHuntsman888 yes. There are still a few devs I trust as well but the larger issue is I don't need more than two hands to count them. But maybe that isn't a problem. 10 devs can make more games to play than I have free time anyway.
Sad reality, ESG Ideology making it legal to arrest ALL people playing video games for 100 years and people defend Wokeness. Too bad Left game developers are now working to arrest costumers.
Can't make comments about ESabG ideology trying to arrest ALL video gamers with game companies working together for ESabG any where else. It lik3 someon3 don't that fact to come out.
Once broken, the only way to regain trust is to let your actions speak for them selfs. Just do the right thing and deliver on your promises. Don't make any excuses, don't even try to apologise because broken trust renders all of that pointless. And the last element of it is time. Let time heal. Don't expect to be forgiven immediately after.
Edit: What I'm trying to say is that all these companies need to do is make a good game that is worth the time and money and people will come around once again.
I dont think this guy realizes that the disease is actually that thing he mentions in the title. Its not a symptom, its literally the disease that didnt start within companies, its artificially manufactured to create division amongst communities, in this case gaming communities.
The source of the problem is blackrock making ESG/DEI mandatory for their investments, that’s why companies like Disney is experiencing these problems.
Lol u chased the money good job, like Larry said, "we have to force behavior" if disney wasn't owned by blackroach and vanguard. You think they would want to keep making flops? 😅
@@tonebalone9203 they’ll have to stop eventually 🤷♂️
@@GearForTheYear As long as the money keeps flowing in, no, they actually don't.
@@sigmacademy Blackrock already lost 4 billion from it, we just need Trump in the office to ban it like DeSantis did for Florida
I wouldn't say that is why Disney does it, but I'll agree that is why many do. Disney takes it a few step further and that is before you even look at how many who have said their sole purpose to work in/with Disney was to target kids with the woke agenda.
One thing about the diversification of art and media;
It's not just, as you pointed out ofc, that people get riled up against Murican corps due to an innate lack of trust -
I believe that we humans do actually recognize when something is done genuinly and when it's not.
Art is subjective but true. When a character is made with genuine intent, love or w/e, we as consumers relate to it or it resonates at the very least with us somehow.
Whenever it's not done this way, like it's filling a quota, we recognize it as such.
Thus, it's no longer a true representation of a person or whatever values we humans place onto things. Rather, it's a mask put on as to disguise itself as being a *label* or *category* of a human.
It's shallow and lacks any sense of resonance. It's even perverse as it's indirectly mocking and objectifying theese minorities.
That is what I think is the #1 reason why this dissonance is a thing. But who the fk am I.
Yea. Art is truth. I mean that’s not the actual definition, but I believe that’s what art aims to express. It’s like the saying “write what you know”. People can sense when the art seems like it came from a fake place. And people have more empathy than most talk about these days. We can relate to anyone if their a well written character. A person, if you will. Unfortunately l, the people pushing this weird stuff don’t see minorities as people. At least they don’t treat them as such.
Well said dude, I'll never stop keeping them accountable
We're lucky to have people like you Endymion! Big fan!
Love your videos brother! Society really needs voices that call out the current BS.
Man your videos are fine and all but you really love milking the crap out of points and repeating over and over 😂
@@adeadlyfart13I'm black. If you saw me irl would you call me a woke person? ;(
@@WisdomAkpan211 I would greet you and attempt to speak with you first, before making any judgments. Skin color is irrelevant.
It's so tiring. They won't let us have anything. We must gatekeep.
Gatekeep or be gatekept out of your own hobbies
the problem is that we were too lax on the gatekeeping when this shit started.
They'll simply chase you down to your next hobby and "diversify" it until you leave. Rinse and repeat. @@OM3GA-Z3RO
@@OM3GA-Z3RO Yeah, they took mostly the western developers and the biggest game journalists sites. I mean just look at that video from ign about eventual RE5 remake. Outrageous!
So important, otherwise it becomes some Mao Grey blob that pleases no one.
The people having a meltdown about this video on social media all have one thing in common; they didn't actually watch the video, they just saw the title and got mad.
maybe that makes the title not that good to bring the point across but instead fuled useless infighting.
@@Eslarthe people who read that title and stop thinking are the ones who aren't going to care anyways. they just want something to bitch about.
Funniest thing is no one in the comments watched the video either…
@@Eslarif you believe that's ok then idk what to tell u. Maybe see a therapist
@@EslarI think that’s a fair point. Although I wonder what title would help. I don’t think it’s a particularly divisive title, but who knows. I get where you’re coming from, I just wonder what the solution would be.
Very well said. “You aren’t really supporting these causes you just have different marketing strategies.”
Dion was a person outside of his sexuality. His sexuality was not his personality. That's the difference.
Oh my god. This. This comment says it all
Let's face it, the people that should watch this won't get further than just seeing the title
This. People with prejudice ironically accuse you of prejudice if you don't like a character being black. They can not accept there being any other motive than prejudice to not like a character being black.
Queer person here, this just isn’t true. Most of us aren’t chronically online twitter heads that don’t actually watch the content they are criticising. Most of us just stfu and enjoy content lmao
@@ToastyYolkystraight here, but I have gay friends since they were one of the only groups to accept me. I’m sensitive towards people talking about them, but I trust this guy to not go overboard with anything. I watch his content because he has good views
You are absolutely correct. A good example of this is street fighter 6, they have a trans commentator in the game that I'm positive for "representation" and there was no outrage. Capcom nor dev even mentioned the character, have gay characters, females, minorities, ect. in video goes and nobody will give a flying fuck if its not shoved down your throat. I also would like to add the western devs were hired to check boxes not be good at the job when I Imagine most eastern devs are actually good at there job.
That’s cool
I don't know if that character is trans but is mega cringe IMO. I liked that the whole Marissa thing seemed somewhat organic so I didn't care much about that. Overall though i think this is a good example for asmon's point so well done. There doesn't seem to be much of this diversity stuff in the game though. It's not like a story focused game where the main character is a tool for virtue signaling.
I really like street fighter so I'm gonna put up with some shit. Just like people who bought dragons dogma 2 I guess.
I really liked your view and I agree. Companies that only care about profits have no leg to stand on when talking about ethics or morality
Perfectly said- that’s how I feel.
"we dont trust it because its not authentic?" theres no such thing as an authentic woke story, because there is no authenticity is a life that leads to something inauthentic, being not life. Unless youre gonna say thats whats authentic in life is choice, then id argue that life has to exist for there to be choice. So the primary is life before choice and thats the god we serve not choice. serving choice only is inauthentic because that inherently means going against life. Unless you choose to serve life then youre stories are void of woke. Theres no way around it.
Corporations have had floats at pride parades for years. Like why tf do Raytheon and Citibank need pride parade floats. Like yesss girlboss, we love a military industrial complex and student debt joint slay!!!
Shit is so transparent - when video games became mainstream it was only a matter of time until rainbow marketing infected them too.
The distinction between authentic and not is important though. Good representation is really nice. It’s just easily hijacked sadly.
Define woke@@PmdTV4
Define woke@@PmdTV4
Help Us Qui-Gon Jinn, Your Our Only Hope☯️
*Yo'ur
@@Spacemongerr 南京2.0即將到來
@@SpacemongerrIf you're going to be pretentious and correct someone's spelling, at least get it right!
I can see it
@@ajm3578 me when the joke
Poor quality games are not the problem. Poor quality games are a symptom of the problem.
The problem is that the people making the games hate you.
They hate you slightly more than they hate themselves.
@@GGTutor1 Correction: The only reason they hate you is because they hate themselves...though, of course, they'd never admit it
true,
the problem is that developers now prioritize "pushing an ideology" over "making a good game".
The company complies for the ESG-score
@@flaschHDThis is still wrong. The problem is actually that large scale gaming corporations prioritize profit over all else, and they've decided that making a ton of volume, usually of low quality, is better for their bottom line than making fewer but higher quality games. They've given up on competing to make the best games, and now just push out a ton of garbage and try to make up for it by targeting different consumer groups w/ surface level representation.
There are a ton of indie games that are fantastic windows into the dynamics of being queer, a minority, etc. both set in fantastical and grounded worlds. You will not find these games at AAA studios.
@@yScribblezHD your are definitely right that those studios prioritise money, but those games they produce are not cheap to make. They cost a lot of money. So they started going the save root first (remake after remake). And now they get ESG funding.
(I understand asmon doesn't want to say that because it's not proven, but you just have to look at the main owners and investors in those companies)
Art with authenticity is pretty hard for a faceless corporation to pull off, and even more so once trust has been broken in the past. The parasite analogy is spot on
It probly stings a bit with how big Hollowed knight is.
Celeste actually did the theme they all would want to go for. Better.
I can see them buying up a lot of indie studios just because they can't make bangers themselves
edit: forgot to mention Undertale. Which is Huge with LGBT I noticed
>buying up indie studios
dont give them ideas@@Elegon-nl7uh
This is the most calm and level headed video we will see on this topic
I think a variation of the quote 'its not the medicine that kills, its the dosage' can be applied.
What i mean by this is if a company leans too hard into a particular thing whether its by accident or design the well will eventually get poisoned.
Not sure how well it applies but thats my takeaway.
Except that in this case it is more like "shit", rather than "medicine". There is nothing inherently positive about diversity or rest of this crap, in any dosage. It might be present and it might even be good, but lack of it will hardly ruin good game. But woke "diversity" is outright toxic. Only good dosage of it is zero.
Yup lost of trust ...
*CAUSE* *and* *EFFECT*
I'm a proud member of Sweet Baby Inc Detected. I hit ignore for every videogame tied to the company. Such a great service, thanks to the guys that help me weed out the games I won't want to play. If sweet baby wants to intimidate the game industry into making crappy games, I feel obligated as a gamer to push against that. Right now, this scandal is making waves on the internet. There's no way the big shots aren't keenly viewing this situation. If devs work with sweet baby, they could risk getting ostracized by their own customers. There is a breaking point and we're getting closer by the day.
Love a 7 am rant
As a European I love a 1pm rant. :)
nice, it's 1 pm here
Same!!
8 am lol
perfect before bed
I still didn't grow over the destruction of Star Wars franchise
We didn’t realize how lucky we were with the old games. KOTOR is still my all-time favorite
I think the whole sequel stuff was the moment most people started getting angry about SJW (back then)
Disney was our child hood now they just ruin it all 😭 I miss old Disney
You hate the clone wars show? You hate mandalorian? You hate bad batch? Damn, well, each to their own, i love em.
@@hajkiethat’s 2 TWO shows out of like 6 horrible movies 5 horrible shows, TCW doesn’t count it was a concept and the script was already written, however what Disney did ruin is they focused too much on the Ahsoka sisters plot instead of the boba fett vs cad bane plot
There could be way more shows and movies but the fact I don’t know the names of that they exist shows they’re faulty
Sweet Baby Inc. that hair is glorious!!!
gd 1
I think he looks better with short hair tbh
I still dont understand why they named a company sweet baby inc. Can only assume its a CP company.
he need to wash that hair and itll look 200% better
@@p4l4d1n7 Watch them talk about it. They refer to people as "poopy babies" and "sweet babies" and "piss babies" and made a bunch of spinoff companies named after children, babies, and schools.
100% woodchipper.
Almost all of this is coming from BlackRock
Don’t forget Vanguard.
What composes the leadership of both companies and every other horrible company? That’s the real target.
Or State Street. The list is pretty long and has an absolute SHIT TON of capital behind them.
@InternetHydra these normies don't want to hear about the tip of the noseberg
@@MrHostile12 why
Yo Asmon, I like this 2010 format. It reminds me of your oldest videos with your mom and friends. Such a nostalgic feeling. Thanks for bringing it back :)
analog asmon
Its so weird seeing Asmons room flipped to the other side in the background.
Yeah, I don't know why he went to the trouble of filming in an alternate universe SMH my head
Oh shit I KNEW something was odd but I couldn't put my finger on it lmao
@@PierreMETAL32Dentge
Thanks, now my eyes know what theyre looking at. I was thrown tf off 🤣
The removal of immersion bit was the most on point take I’ve seen
People can shit on Asmon all they want (I don't always agree with him) but I challenge them to intellectually articulate their thoughts coherently for 30 minutes straight with no script. Agree or disagree with him but you cant deny he is intelligent, thoughtful and most of all, genuine.
Yeah people underestimate just how hard it is to talk about something for that long without having a conversation with someone directly
I really admire this guy. He's around my age. He's the only person in this genre of content that actually puts forward honest, fully developed ideas and coherent arguments. I don't agree with every thing he says, but I'm so glad he's here to say it.
The only person? You have watched every UA-camr?
@@aurorasun-qs1pg lol that is usally an understood concept. When someone says "only" it means only in their view. Obviously, no one can see everyone. What you should have responded with is a list of people that you have seen that share the same ideas. Something like, " Hey, you would probably like Jim John and Cindy Mindy" They say the same kind of things".
@@aurorasun-qs1pg There just has to be a person who criticizes every single word doesn't there?
Yes. You absolute genius. I've watched the entire UA-cam catalogue of over 1 billion videos, just so I could say he's the "only" person in this genre.
I'd think it would be a bit obvious that I was speaking in a general manner.
@@tomchan0 Except he probably has no idea who those other people are. He's probably just being argumentative because he doesn't like Asmon or what he's saying.
@tomchan0 hahaha, you're assuming the guy who replied has an English comprehension above 3rd grade.
Jesus Christ the way you articulated this issue was brilliant
Pun intended ?=P
Was expecting something myopic for engagement bait, but trusted Zack enough to give the vid a chance.
Very nuanced, thorough; and really solidified what we all had already gathered, yet most (read: me) kept separated.
A big difference between the East and the West when it comes to diversity is that the writing is almost always better - and I mean vastly superior - in the East. They care about the quality of the product. We used to have diverse games of quality: Gears of War, Mass Effect 2, Grand Theft Auto, The Walking Dead, and all sorts of things. These games were very well received, apparently during a time where gamers were 'more racist,' according to the DEI activists of today. The writing and characters were great in these games. I don't think we've really seen AAA games include diversity like this recently. Diversity from 2020-2024 in the West in AAA always feels forced and tokenized, and let's not forget the complete removal of feminine women and forced feminism that didn't exist before (and still doesn't really exist when Eastern companies add diversity to their games). I think this is a pretty major component to the rejection of AAA/corporate games in the West.
When I think of successful diversity in gaming in the West, it's always indie titles like Life is Strange and things like that. You can tell those devs were actually passionate about the story and characters, and the writing was fantastic. I don't get that from AAA or the DEI consultants these days.
At the end of the day, I don't think you can force diversity. In order for it to be passionate, authentic, and respectful, it cannot be forced.
I love videos like this, someone who expresses their opinion straight away (no cuts, just a flow of thought), no video quality presets, just the desire to express opinions and thoughts.
I recently discovered Asmon and these are videos that confirm to me more and more that hearing someone express their opinion, whether you agree with it or not, without judging race, social choices or other things, is one of the few things that still satisfies me in being in Internet
Wasn't expecting you to explain it so well. Great video, exactly the feelings I share
To put it simply, the well has been poisoned.
Honestly, I prefer companies make products to make money, not make products to push an agenda. Companies arent a person, they shouldn't have an agenda, other than to get more money. Make a product people like, and keep making more of that product, don't push your bullshit crap with it.
People are pretty smart when it comes to media, and most people can smell the wokeness of a game from a mile away. And it's not cause they see a black guy or a female, it's in the details : the setting, the cohesion, the dialogue, the themes, the sexiness of the characters (particulary the females), the language, even the focus of the trailer can say a lot.
Like in a story, verysimilitude ( the appearance of being true or real) is very important for immersion. Those games are not genuine thus have no soul.
Media is plural already. Medium is singular. Hope this helps
You'll like our 48 year old version of MJ and there's nothing you can do about it.
Embrace it.
"PEOPLE ARE SMART", games sell more copies today then they ever have.
gaming Jesus has spoken
He looks a lot like Styxhexxenhammer.
except hes lying because hes saying the problem is that its not authentic when in reality "we dont trust it because its not authentic?" theres no such thing as an authentic woke story, because there is no authenticity in a life that leads to something inauthentic, being not life. Unless youre gonna say that whats authentic in life is choice, then id argue that life has to exist for there to be choice. So the primary is life before choice and thats the god we serve not choice. serving choice only is inauthentic because that inherently means going against life. Unless you choose to serve life then youre stories are void of woke. Theres no way around it.
@@PmdTV4You’re spamming this in every reply; you have no valid point so just give up.
@@JamesP7bro fr wtf is he saying
I believe most people don't have a problem with diversity as long as the art comes first. Create good characters that happen to be gay and/or of color not characters where being gay poc is their whole personality.
The whole SBI fiasco and the ridiculous media echo it created demonstrated the core of the issue lies exactly there:
the people spearheading "progressive storytelling" think a persons whole identity is defined by their skin color, gender or sexual orientation. They're shallow political activists, who hate the costumers they work for because a big part of it is male, white and thus "privileged" and part of the "toxic patriarchy".
Exactly, who cares really but it's obvious when something is overdone and forced.
i didnt care about diversity until about 2019. now, anything remotely woke makes me puke in anger.
@@RenaldTremblay Define woke.
@@Redwolf6056hating your audience based on skin color and gender
@@Redwolf6056woke means prioritizing feelings over reality and prioritizing equality of outcomes over equality of opportunity
For me, its how disingenuous it all is. Nobody really cares about diverse and inclusive games, when it's a genuine part of the experience and artistic vision. You can tell when its forced, for profit or for ideology, it becomes propaganda.
Can you explain how video games and ideology are mutually exclusive things? Because in my opinion ideologies and any art like video games, films, writing etc is inseparably tied to ideologies. Even people that argue that there shouldn’t be ideology in video games are themselves pushing an ideology of inaction an ideology that entails that the status quo is what is preferable. I also wouldn’t call a piece of art that pushes ideology to be disingenuous, for instance, I wouldn’t call 1984 or animal farm disingenuous just because it pushes a anti-government or anti communist ideology. I just can’t find a conceivable way to separate ideologies from art like video games.
Also I don’t think calling something propaganda is the silver bullet it once was. Propaganda is such a neutral term now that asmongolds stream and UA-cam channel can be classified as propaganda. It’s honestly better to just engage with the ideas themselves rather than to invoke a useless term like propaganda as if it is valid criticism.
@@grazen663because it isn't about the art of the game, it's about representation and ideology as a form of marketing. Like Asmon said, metal gear is a great example of them being linked, but ideology isn't inherently linked to storytelling, though it can be and often does influence it. Like what ideology helped make pong, for example? There is no inherent need or connection.
@@grazen663basically, ideology can be used in games though it is never a mandatory thing as it is in every form of art, that isn't a problem to anyone really. It's when ideology is used as marketing or to an extent propaganda that people see it and think "this is bad".
I agree that disingenuity and forced "wokeness" is the problem and that it makes people mad, however:
I would argue it isn't propaganda. These companies aren't trying to turn people woke, they're trying to prey on already existing "wokeness".
Also, I'm not sure what you mean by 'nobody really cares about diverse and inclusive games, when it's [genuine]' because I think plenty of people do. Maybe the mainstream isn't and certainly people who oppose "woke" ideas aren't but I know that, for example, trans people are excited when they get genuine and positive trans representation in games that have a real commitment to LGBT representation.
Absolutely brilliant and well thought out. No bs. I would imagine by now there are the comments calling you the usual names when somebody speaks out on topics like this. Don’t mind them and keep it up. Thanks for being vocal
Don't mind them? He farms them. I think they are great. So much content.
the iq is very high here. its very well put.
The only thing there is to call out about this is that he's pretty comfortable about talking up against censorship while advocating for it
@@illyaeater "advocating for it" ??
@@RenaldTremblay Yep, unfortunately
Half Life: Alyx had a black female protagonist in a series where the character you play as is historically a white male, and she was almost universally loved.
The different is that Half Life Alyx didn't have heavy handed plot or references about current day politics or force social commentary injected for the sake of pandering to a radical group in the left side of the political spectrum, instead the game treats the fact it has a female protagonist of mixed race in a really nonchalant way. The only politics that are present in HL2, the episodes and Alyx are near 100% focused on the Combine being a extreme super authoritarian state... and in level where there's no even a parallel to current day governments in any way whatsoever, maybe North Korea and that's a reach.
Wokeism as a term has been abused lately by political pundits on the populist side of the right, but let's not forget that it was the far left that started this clusterfuck of culture to begin with.
Sound quality made me think my headphones weren't working lol
Also would like to add that I pretty much agree with asmon on this
It's a net negative because more and more people (that used to be neutral about this) learn to assume that anything that features "diverse" characters is going to be phoned in, condescending trash.
And it creates the doctrine that diverse representations inherently worsen media, or that they're being "shoved down our throats". Like you said, turning neutral people into haters who will dismiss certain media and also allowing people who genuinely oppose things like racial, sexual and political diversity to hide behind the masses and be able to say "I'm not racist, I just don't like it being shoved in my face".
Looks like you should seriously considering repairing/replacing your roof. You have all sorts of water damage/leakage at the apex.
It's a set , he has a video about it . He literally rebuilt the room as a set that he films in feel free to look into it 😂 shits comedy gold
@@mchinZRit’s not a set, that’s a meme
@@mchinZR You are not a real person, I refuse to believe it.
@@mchinZRno it’s not
My son, that was a joke by the editor.@@mchinZR
Bro literally woke up and decided to be Styx.
Edit: he even did the "peace" at the end.
The river?
@@Spacemongerr the political youtuber.
StyxBaldenHammer666
Lmao!
That's all. Peace out.
I don’t think having a black character or whatever ethnicity in the game or sexuality in a game is a bad thing I think how it’s done is why it has such disdain
I’m African American and gay no surprise Dion is my fav gay character in all of media it’s not his whole personality he had problems jus like everyone else and it was great
And I can speak on this from experience whenever there’s a black character in a game as like main character people I know are genuinely happy because we feel closer to the character but it also applies to characters like Goku and stuff so u get it well I hope people get it lol
I hope this makes sense
Edit: I genuinely hope people that see wokeness in video games is not like disliking or hating minorities because of what companies do to basically make money or seem good but people who are a minority feel the need to defend things what companies do because it feel like they are being attacked when it’s not really minorities pushing for this it’s jus weird people on twitter and they the loud minority double worded meaning cause literally
I’m asian and gay, I also hate the way they handle lgbt factors in game just like fillers with no soul into it. Just make it gay enough so it pass the quota. I want good character development, well written story, they dont need to be gay or racial they just need to be well written.
I don't hate having minorities in games or starring in games. My biggest issue is how they're implemented.
Usually it feels forced in the game. Or instead of showing me something new. Exposing me to something unique. They take something established and try to change everything about it. I love non western games because of all the things from their culture they draw on to expose me to something cool and new I would have never experienced otherwise
I hope this comment gains more traction. I have had many LGBTQ friends across my life, my best friend is gay and she was my best man at my wedding. So ya, I support the cause.
This heavy handed approach to inclusivity is the absolutely wrong way to achieve acceptance. And like, the communities these companies “advocate” for largely do not like what is happening either!
All I want is you guys to stop grand standing like this post! Could you have just stood up like the rest of us with out all the “ I’m this! And that’s “ ? I’m sure happy I can be what I am without having to assure people and tell them what I believe in 👍
Because you are a healthy dude instead of being a punk SJW.
No I’m not skeptical of “capitalism” just corporatism.
we are all going to have to hear about this culture war shit until the day we die
It's been like that for decades already. Social media just made it more prominent since you have easier access and exposure to it, that's all.
I hope not.
With a little luck a strong man will be elected POTUS and end all this nonsense once and for all!
I mean it influences all our lives (quite literally), so ofcourse.
Thats because people who complain about "woke", whatever that means in their own minds, embraces culture wars.
Good dialog. That stain in the peak of your ceiling next to the beam grabbed my attention WAY too hard.
He needs to go buy some revives, it'll be fine.@@coltonwilkie241
Same lol
IS that a stain, or a filler / plaster job done on the ceiling that nobody's bothered to re-paint yet?
Great, now I can't unsee it
It's actually wasp killer, he talked about this before.
low quality cam, oh no things just got serious
Thats why i love Japanese and Korean game developers, they would never do something like ''woke games''
An example I like to use is the charatcher Angrboda from God of War Rangarok, a characther from norse mytholgy who is supposed to be white, acutally quite pale.
However they made Angrboda a black girl, which could have acutally worked, if they had tied her to acutally being from the african mytholgy, as a plot twist, but no, she just african looking for no reason other than for apperance sake.
I dont mind divertisy when it make sense.
But I hate when its forced just for the sake of diverstiy, or make characthers trans/non binary/gay just for the sake of it.
I do hear its because games/movies wont be up for awards unless to do this.
Which make sense since the games just put in stuff to fill qouats.
A good exmaple is Yao from Guild Wars 2 (End of Dragons) a characther who looks male, doesnt give any indications that they are a "non-binary" person, you wouldnt really know it without checking the Wiki for it, but they just made this way to get diverstiy points.
Divertsity can work if you make sense of it.
I think if the setting is modern/sci fi, its a non brainer that diversity is almost expetced.
Fantasy might be harder, espcially older more established ones like, Witcher or Lotr which are based off European history.
The more newer franchaise are better to devlop a desired diveristy franchaise for all, like League of Legends universe is quite good at this, the lore is bascially all humans started in Shurima (basically Egypt) and then spread through the land over thousands of year, so if you got some black people in a northen area, it means their anscestors immigrated form Shruima long time ago, essiently races/skin color matters a lot less since all the factions are based more on affliation than race.
I understand the plight of non-white wanting to see someone like themselves in video games and I too have no problem about it.
But I do hate when its forced, just for the sake of it.
Almost had me until the last lines.
Do you think "non-white" need to know someone is the same ethnicity as them to "see someone like themselves?" Can they not relate to the characters on a more personal level? In the wake of Akira Toriyama's death, I saw countless black people talking about how much they enjoyed the DBZ (one of his series), how they looked up to characters like Goku (despite him obviously not being black). This idea that "people like me" means "people who look like me" is actually harmful, and is a large part of the reason we're in this position now.
Love the talking head videos! Please keep these coming! :)
the way diversity characters are written in western games when compared to eastern games is also very different. In western games the character's writing beyond the group's identity is shallow and jarring. Their personality is rigid and often breaks immersion. Once you see it the game is ruined.
You look like you could turn water into Dr. Pepper
It's always great to have videos on your perspective, just you talking, I enjoy them a lot! There is a lot of mistrust, yes, but I think also it's because american developers are willing to sacrifice the story and characters integrity for the sake of the message, while japanese and other asian games usually have the game and the story first and if there is any message to pass on it is delivered in a subtle, non preaching way. It's a natural consequence of the story, not the main focus. American/Western games make hard statements, while japanese/asian games raise a point and allow the players enough room to think for themselves.
And BTW, I've seen japanese streamers playing Elden Ring and they actually don't like the Body Type A/B thing. Personally I don't like it either. The game is good enough so people won't make a big deal out of it, but that doesn't mean they like it.
Bro looking like the Texas Tarzan
Ehhhhhhh, a lot of people brought up the "Body A, Body B" shenanigans that Elden Ring did. The game also happened to be really good, and that was the only wokeshit injection into it.
And most importantly, it was easily modded out. Same goes for games like Hogwarts Legacy or Baldur's Gate 3 where this stuff is much more prevalent and even affected major quest npcs, but even those still have mods to fix basically all of it.
Many many other games aren't as fortunate though. Some of this nonsense gets so ingrained in the core mechanics or plot of a game that it *can't* be modded out without basically remaking the thing from scratch, and that's assuming the game is even moddable in the first place. Borderlands 3 comes to mind. Any modding that can be done to that game will never be able to save it from the rot.
I 100% agree, Japan's culture has more self respecting people who own their failures and apologize greatly for them, while American culture is always blaming others for your failures. This is a fact on many levels not just gaming.
Man, the word woke has completely lost its meaning.
I remember the time it meant being generally socially aware. it was a decade ago when our highschool teacher said it for some reason i forgot (and she called us millenials, because "zoomers" and "gen z" wasn't coined until around 2020)
This video misses the mark, imo. Whenever I'm getting lectured by a character in a video game about how society is unfair or how certain people have systemic privilege, it has nothing to do with my trust in the game developer. It's just annoying.
There's at least two separate issues. The first is a greed that views games as a means to extract money from customers instead of providing value. Second is a subversive activist element that is trying to destabilize gaming and provoke a radical response.
Why is it annoying that a form of art (video games in this case) pointing out obvious social issues in America? I think that’s a good thing
No I think you missed the mark, the point is if a story is genuinely trying to share a story based in a perspective that is concise and clear, but is then removed due to how it could impact the company’s bottom line then there is no integrity in the message. If you don’t like a message no one said you need to buy it. Just like if you don’t like a book you don’t need to read it. But if a company backs the ideas it’s preaching then it has integrity in its art. Thus transcending petty biases. But again no one made you buy the game and if you don’t like it then don’t buy it or refund it and don’t think about it.
@@Saturn5iv3It's because there's a time and place for it, and entertainment isn't it.
For example, I could be a faithful Christian (I'm not, but just for example's sake) and I want everyone to be converted to Christianity. I wouldn't insert Christian lessons, or dialogue about how everyone should be a Christian into my game story. That would be weird and unrelated, and nobody would like it.
1. The point is tearing down one to raise another. 2. They are lazy and can’t write original characters.
I dont have a problem with women/gays/colour/miniorities in video games.. what I dont like is when that aspect of that character is litterally their entire character and personality and the only thing they have going on for them.. where its like "Hello i am X and i'm a coloured lesbian," "You're only treating me this way because im a coloured lesbian" "You wouldnt make me do this if i wasnt a coloured lesbian" "oh did i mention that i'm a coloured lesbian" like.. okay we get it!.. It got really jarring for me in World of warcraft, theres a female centaur clan leader and I was like "Damn she must be a badass to become a clan leader in a clan entirely dedicated to fighting and hunting thats super interesting!" and the first thing out of her mouth was "I have lost my mate.. who is a woman.. you may have noticed that i too.. am a woman.." "The other clan members hate me because i am a woman.. and my mate is a woman"... "You're dismissing my point of view because i am a woman.. and did i mention my mate who is also infact a woman"... it's like. thats the only thing that the devs thought was interesting about that character so they made it litterally her entire personality..
I think you got it half right. The problem is that sometimes there is a full character that is ALSO a woman, or a minority, or gay etc. and sometimes there is a woke character that is first and foremost whichever of those it happens to be and sometimes doesn't actually have any other traits. Only 1 is woke, the other is just a person. As an example, let's take cowboy bebop anime vs netflix. Gren is a hinted gay ex soldier with a solid backstory. The live action is a generic lgbt "yaaasss queen" insert. One has an actual character that is part of the lgbt community, the other is an attempt to force lgbt into the series.
Wrong. When you know for a fact that there's an industry mandate for diversity and inclusion, them also making their diverse and inclusive cast human doesn't suddenly make it a coincidence. The only coincidence is that sometimes good movies can still be made under these rules.
i think he sort of touched on this a bit with what he said about creative integrity. some of these companies for some reason wont take the risk of writing a unique character out of fear of somehow offending someone. their solution is to only make characters that appeal to minorities or have no outlying characteristics to criticize.
"We have styxhexenhammer at home"
I'm dead
clank!
Lmfao
The fucking sky-rending irony when a literal satanist offers more nuanced and actually useful political analyses than the mainstream media, to the point where people actually mention him under a gaming channel...
we really live in bizarro world
The fucking sky-rending irony when a literal satanist offers more nuanced and actually useful political analyses than the mainstream media, to the point where people actually mention him under a gaming channel...
we really live in bizarro world
I wonder if this is Asmon's hair after taking a shower..
I'm pretty sick of the stuff being shoved down my throat. From the movies to the games to the sports. It's gotten crappy
Agree. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I feel so empowered when trans friends talk to me about how they can't access healthcare. It makes me feel so good, and corrupt,
It's more like Eastern games build stories around diverse characters while Western games shove characters at you like a suppository up your nose. Swapping or role reversing legacy characters is a big part of the problem here that didn't seem to get addressed in this speech.
the only diversity in Eastern games is age diversity 😂
Why does it matter that the characters of a an online arena shooters are LGBT and over represented? It's out of place, and is purely there for tokenism. Look if it'd be a dating sim? Yeah it makes sense and any other social games
The crazy thing is that lesbian/gay characters are rampant in Japanese Visual Novels/Dating Sims. Because of the nature of those games, it is actually more profitable and reaches wider audiences by including those options. And also makes sense to have.
Straight men love a good Yuri and straight women love a good Yaoi.
@@JamesP7 On top of that, Asian storytelling ACTUALLY does LGBTQ representation quite well. It's not NEARLY as on the nose as Western storytelling. You don't even notice it because you're so invested in the (better) storyline.
I like watching you in this old school bad light with bad sound. Gives out the "classic" vibe.
I genuinely love low effort youtube videos
It's not woke to add a black or woman as a main character, it's woke to add them on a propagandistic level
And hire a good writer
Appreciate you not shying away from legitmately concerning issues. I love angry joe and his buddies, but they always seem to shy away from these topics. Maybe one day theyll grow a pair like you. Keep it up!
and that why you should buy Stellar Blade
If we just replace hollywood, games and tv shows with korean stuff these days we'd be golden; they are on fire with brilliant stuff and upcoming gems
Stellar Blade is Playstation exclusive and not on PC, so im not going to buy it.
@@TiasungIt will come to PC eventually as PlayStation has been putting their games on PC more and more recently.
W video keep preaching, almighty, and powerful wizard 🧙♂️ May your wisdom guide us through these dark times
It's mainly down to ESG points + scummy investors who demands it because of their poltitical leanings, but also Mafia like methods where studios are forced to hire someone who looks over the process and who makes sure to add these woke elements or they'll make sure the studio gets called out / attemps fo cancellation is made. A lot is at stake when you're making games, they know these activists are very aggressive and can cause a lot of trouble and it can be costly. Review sites will overall also up the score for woke games, which can be very beneficial.
I really hope the Eastern games Developers gets the message that gamers in general DO NOT LIKE wokeness in games...
I do trust Eastern games more compared to the western made games...
It is sadly not just video games but on any other entertainment such as movies, tv shows, sports, etc. as well. This is probably one of the reasons why people are pushing back to it more now is because it has spread way too much already that we don't want the remaining escapism left to suffer the same fate as the others.
Ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, none of that shit matters 99% of the time. All that matters is if the character is filling its role in a convincing or entertaining way.
A lot of western characters of certain types feel forced. It's like there is very little actual character outside of those specific characteristics and it's annoying as hell. The same is true in real life. People who build their whole identities around one or two things and then refuse to shut up about it are generally not pleasant to be around. I mean, that type of behavior the foundation of a lot of negative stereotypes (vegans, linux users, mac users etc.) so why would anyone think that inserting political messaging in a similarly aggravating way would be successful?! It's like watching a parody of that "How guys write women" bit were the woman with big gazongas boobily walks, except it's about skin color or sexual orientation instead.
Unless it matters to the plot I just don't care what color a character is (or even their species), what gender they are or the nature of their reproductive urges.
It's agenda. People are just finally starting to see like that guy from BR saying they want to program people, or the Spiderman 2 dev outright saying the quiet part outloud. You understand the exact type of politics a western dev generally has nowadays thanks to ESG, or at least is promoting. Whereas it's far more tactfully done in eastern because ESG just isn't that popular there yet (and hopefully never). It's absolutely a lack of trust to a degree, but it's one brought about justifiably. GG showed years ago how a lot of those people think and operate.
There's a difference between someone who wants to make a gal protag like Stellar Blade because they want to. And someone who does so because man bad hear me roar evil male gaze I'm so oppressed, or just the flat out hypocrisy. People are just finally catching onto this. It's not just trust, it's also the outcome of the product. You can tell the difference between a dev who loves femineity and chicks, and one who doesn't believe in gender by their product.
People were also irritated by ER's body type system, it's just most people were too confused by the menu system to even remember it I'd imagine considering most were new and souls games are rather front loaded with information. That and the rest of the game was amazing. Not just that but it's a bigger deal in general now because it's becoming more mainstream to talk about these issues rather than letting them slide in fear of being canceled or labeled. It was only with Starfield that it became big to criticize it. (Rightfully) The culture overall is also just shifting (and polarizing) which of course effects on how we talk about games.
Thanks for making this Video Asmon. It's nice to have you back! :)