distant_worlds

You are misunderstanding the acronym "SJW". It's ironic. It's designed to point out the absurdity of the behavior in question. It's about people who proclaim to be about social justice, but behave in ways completely contrary to that goal. By seeing themselves as warriors, they put aside the normal rules of civil discourse, and instead we get things like "there are no bad tactics, only bad targets". Lying and slander are considered perfectly acceptable, as long as they further the "goal". Being racist and sexist towards whites and men is perfectly fine to them, since they're the "enemy". We have incidents where they will simply make up rape allegations or post rape threats against themselves, because it furthers the "narrative". All of these warrior tactics, of course, undermine the very notion of "social justice". Wars are never just. A war may be fought out of necessity, but the war itself is never just. Those harmed in war rarely deserve it. By labeling someone as "SJW", you are pointing out the intrinsic contradiction in their behavior.

Congratulations, Obsidian, you've lost a sale. I used to really like you guys. You caved to the perpetually offended, and they will now smell blood. Everything you create from here on out will be done with "Will this incite a twitter mob? Best leave it out." You are destroying games.

By caving to a very small group of professionally offended people, they piss off even more people. The perpetually outraged people that started this will still be outraged, because that is their default position. By caving, they anger a new set of people. In what universe does this make business sense?

I want you to consider something: What if someone created, in jest, #killalltrannies. I think both of us would likely consider the person who created it to be scum. So why is #killallmen OK to you, then? And I don't think taking the fun out of video games will make them better. Because that's the road you're going down. We saw this with Dragon Age: Inquisition. The characters were extremely bland compared to the ones that came before in order to kowtow to the pearl clutcher set. Games need more edge, not less. You would turn gaming into a wasteland of saturday morning cartoon blandness.

THAT WAS THE JOKE! The point was to make fun of some idiot that was so uptight about gay sex that he offed himself! The limerick was pointed at his foolishness, not the guy he slept with! It's a cautionary tale! The message being conveyed is "don't be this guy".

That interpretation is absurd. The limerick does not even suggest that the individual is trans. The situation could easily have come about due to intoxication. The limerick specifically takes the opposite route, thus subverting any murderous actions. Even if your absurd interpretation was taken, have you never heard of gallows humor? This entire situation smacks of someone specifically looking for things to get offended at to incite another twitter mob.

As soon as you cave to a twitter mob, your game designers will begin to look at every element they put into the next game through the lens of "will this generate a twiter mob that forces me to remove it later?". The result of caving to outrage culture is pre-censorship, which is the ultimate goal of the censor in the first place. They are attempting to create a system where creators are so afraid of inciting a backlash that they will obey every stricture they demand even before the content is produced. It is, in effect, cultural terrorism. Just as the mad bomber seeks to change society by making it fear, these outrage mongers seek to change culture by putting fear into creators. Cowing to them will yield a banal culture that tiptoes around every issue and the spark required to incite outrage gets every smaller. This limerick is a perfect example. It's not even pointed at a possibly trans person. Yet even that is now forbidden, lest the twitter mobs descend.

I was planning on buying PoE tonight or tomorrow, as I'm finishing the previous game I was just playing. But the idea that you're cravenly bowing to the twitter outrage mobs absolutely disgusts me. This explanation better be good, or I will not be purchasing PoE. There are plenty of other games out there that don't let the twitter mobs censor their games. Once you go down that road, forever will it dominate your destiny. They will know that you caved once, and will generate more and more fake outrage mobs to control you, and you'll quickly find yourself asking "Will this element generate a twitter mob?" at every step when creating your next game. I am an absolutist on censorship. The only way to deal with these people is to ignore them. They're not the ones buying your game. They can never be appeased. That you would even consider such a thing is abominable.