The Chinese studio granted early access on the condition that topics like “feminist propaganda” and “Covid-19” go unmentioned. What followed is the Streisand effect in full force.

“I feel that it only served to bring more attention on Game Science’s culture of sexism,” linktothepabst says. “All they had to do was let the game speak for itself, but it came off, to me, like an own goal, effectively stoking the flames between the people who were using this game as weapon against ‘wokeness in games’ and those who can level-headedly either enjoy the game and criticize GS or just ignore the game altogether.”

It’s the Streisand effect in full force: Try to hide something, and it becomes all the more visible. “Nobody was going to bring up Chinese politics unprompted,” Zhong says, “but the topic was there as soon as they released those guidelines.”

  • otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    The video series tried so hard to downplay that aspect of the books, but it felt like their overall plan was to plaster over & repaint the stains… until the whole thing was rotted through and the mask just slid right off. 😬

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Don’t bother with video series.

      Read the content to enjoy what value exists, and criticize what issues exist. Reading is not voting or aligning, it’s observing.

      • Cagi@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        I agree, but with a caveat. Pirate things from people who publicly espouse shitty views. Purchasing it is justifying it. JK Rowling has explicitly said she feels more empowered to be awful because people keep buying Harry Potter stuff.

        • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Fandom is endorsement; the HP IP has become a huge anti-trans flag.

          Every time people invoke it, they wave that flag some more, and mark it as an acceptable thing to stand under.

          Let it die, both financially and culturally.

      • otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        All of what you said is true, and I mildly regret giving the video series a chance, NGL. Also, that last bit doesn’t really jive with totalitarian states like PRC’s China. 😶

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              Oh, well, fuckem, why would I consider them?

              I don’t think about totalitarian states at all, outside of specific conversations about em

                • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  That’s fair but my original comment in thread was my personal opinion on consuming written content.

                  • otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                    2 months ago

                    I’m not sure you’re grasping the weight of the fact that such a work of post-hunanism fiction even made it out of China at all, given the government’s centuries-long tradition of heavily-filtering “art” in every form…

                    (edit: I’m leaving the misspelling in for the stupid pun.)