Journalism and bias in the gaming industry

[Amentep]

^Not 100% sure what scenario you're talking about, but there are two forces at work when introducing new characters in US comic books:

 

1) Most readers will read the adventures of All-Ready-Published Man whereas they won't read the adventures of Brand-New-Never-Heard-Of-Him-Before Boy

 

2) Companies have to continue using trademarks to have them continue to be considered trademarks for governmental protection. 

 

If Established-Character Lass didn't sell well the last time around, you can rebadge Established-Character Lass' trademark name to a new character and strike both birds with one stone - a name the reader recognizes and use of an established trademark.  If the comic fails you can always bring back original Established-Character Lass (because the fans demanded it!) or create a third Established-Character Lass the next time the trademark needs to be trotted out.

[Blarghagh]

Yeah, it's pretty obvious why they do it. It's just that it comes with its own set of problems, including that as a minority the only way to be represented is to start white.

 

Seriously though, these disingenuous stunt race/genderbenders seem counterproductive more than anything else to me simply because of the amount of controversy they create. They're not doing it for inclusivity, they're doing it for news coverage, and it seems to be creating more opponents than proponents.

[Orogun01]

Developing is harder than patching, and people are terribly lazy.

Actually I would say that developing is more time consuming and patching is harder.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

^Not 100% sure what scenario you're talking about, but there are two forces at work when introducing new characters in US comic books:

 

1) Most readers will read the adventures of All-Ready-Published Man whereas they won't read the adventures of Brand-New-Never-Heard-Of-Him-Before Boy

 

2) Companies have to continue using trademarks to have them continue to be considered trademarks for governmental protection. 

 

If Established-Character Lass didn't sell well the last time around, you can rebadge Established-Character Lass' trademark name to a new character and strike both birds with one stone - a name the reader recognizes and use of an established trademark.  If the comic fails you can always bring back original Established-Character Lass (because the fans demanded it!) or create a third Established-Character Lass the next time the trademark needs to be trotted out.

I get what you're saying and understand the logic behind it, I just think it's a bad idea that doesn't really address representation of (insert whatever here) in media. Granted I've been disillusioned with capes for a while as is, and find myself gravitating towards comics that aren't capes.

[Volourn]

Established characters weren't always established.  Every thing of fiction was  a 'rookie' at some point and had to prove its 'worth' to any potential audience. Claiming that you need to use x repeatedly because the new y won't sell is bullocks, lazy, and cowardly.

[Amentep]

 

^Not 100% sure what scenario you're talking about, but there are two forces at work when introducing new characters in US comic books:

 

1) Most readers will read the adventures of All-Ready-Published Man whereas they won't read the adventures of Brand-New-Never-Heard-Of-Him-Before Boy

 

2) Companies have to continue using trademarks to have them continue to be considered trademarks for governmental protection. 

 

If Established-Character Lass didn't sell well the last time around, you can rebadge Established-Character Lass' trademark name to a new character and strike both birds with one stone - a name the reader recognizes and use of an established trademark.  If the comic fails you can always bring back original Established-Character Lass (because the fans demanded it!) or create a third Established-Character Lass the next time the trademark needs to be trotted out.

I get what you're saying and understand the logic behind it, I just think it's a bad idea that doesn't really address representation of (insert whatever here) in media. Granted I've been disillusioned with capes for a while as is, and find myself gravitating towards comics that aren't capes.

 

 

I read whatever piques my interest.  Don't care about the genre.  Favorite comic out right now is Manifest Destiny, but there's a lot to like from the major publishers.

 

Established characters weren't always established.  Every thing of fiction was  a 'rookie' at some point and had to prove its 'worth' to any potential audience. Claiming that you need to use x repeatedly because the new y won't sell is bullocks, lazy, and cowardly.

 

Comic book sales in the US actually prove you wrong.  Most comic book readers will not buy brand new characters.  The new characters who sell are generally using older names or relaunches of older properties.  Two of Marvel better selling new books are Ms. Marvel (new character using an existing name) and Gwen Stacy Spiderwoman (aka Spider-Gwen) an alternate universe take on existing character Gwen Stacy being the one who got Spider-powers.

 

Understand that the market for comic books is primarily a fan market and it makes sense how the market is going to favor retreading old ideas (because they're not in the same position of yesteryear where they have a growing and changing market).

 

Yeah, it's pretty obvious why they do it. It's just that it comes with its own set of problems, including that as a minority the only way to be represented is to start white.

 

Seriously though, these disingenuous stunt race/genderbenders seem counterproductive more than anything else to me simply because of the amount of controversy they create. They're not doing it for inclusivity, they're doing it for news coverage, and it seems to be creating more opponents than proponents.

 

In comics, the characters don't suddenly change race or gender - although it does happens too, usually in reboots.  Usually a new character of a new race adopts an old moniker.  For example the aforementioned Ms. Marvel is a fan of Carol Danvers - the previous Ms. Marvel.  Danvers now uses the name Captain Marvel, previously used by three generally deceased members of the Vel family of Kree warriors.

 

Adaptions usually just cast a minority (like James Olsen in Supergirl, Pete Ross in Smallville, Perry White in Man of Steel) so they were always a minority in that universe.

[Meshugger]

lol

 

http://i.imgur.com/nlpUQQM.png

 

No wonder they had problem with censorship a year back.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Meshugger

[Malcador]

Actually I would say that developing is more time consuming and patching is harder.

Developing is far harder, well, if you want to do it right anyway Patching can be pretty easy and low effort, particularly with this shallow context.

[Orogun01]

 

Actually I would say that developing is more time consuming and patching is harder.

Developing is far harder, well, if you want to do it right anyway Patching can be pretty easy and low effort, particularly with this shallow context.

 

Patching is easy if you're lazy and don't care if take a tangled mess and add another one on top of it. But it becomes near impossible to untangle the whole thing and fix it. 

[Meshugger]

So this just happened:

 

 

Ubisoft has banned Kotaku from attending their events.

[BruceVC]

Waiting for answers from the end of the last thread.

Waiting for answers from whom ?

 

If its me do you mind repeating the questions?

[BruceVC]

 

Call me crazy, but I find retconning established history, both real world and fictitious, for the purposes of being able to include a token characters so that you can trumpet how 'diverse' your work is and show off your ethnicity checklist a heck of a lot more offensive than creating a work that does not include a diverse cast but sticks to a cohesive theme.

In my opinion, it seems a bit insulting that instead of creating an interesting character of whatever ethnicity/race(black most of the time) they insist on changing a white character into a black character. Like putting on blackface and saying that's good enough.

 

 

I notice you guys have conveniently  ignored my solution to this whole Magneto issue. Why can't he be a black Jewish character? You do get black Jewish people...yes I don't think any black Jews were kept in concentration camps but its a comic...we do allow artistic licence ?

[Nonek]

 

Waiting for answers from the end of the last thread.

 

Waiting for answers from whom ?

 

If its me do you mind repeating the questions?

 

 

You accused me of lying and pursuing a false agenda, please provide factual evidence to corroborate this.

[Ganrich]

Was Kotaku the spearhead for the Farcry 4 "Whitewash" campaign? Just trying to figure out the reason for their not being invited to the Ubisoft booth. I am sure there are other reasons, but that incident is the one sticking out in my mind.

[Blarghagh]

 

 

Call me crazy, but I find retconning established history, both real world and fictitious, for the purposes of being able to include a token characters so that you can trumpet how 'diverse' your work is and show off your ethnicity checklist a heck of a lot more offensive than creating a work that does not include a diverse cast but sticks to a cohesive theme.

In my opinion, it seems a bit insulting that instead of creating an interesting character of whatever ethnicity/race(black most of the time) they insist on changing a white character into a black character. Like putting on blackface and saying that's good enough.

 

 

I notice you guys have conveniently  ignored my solution to this whole Magneto issue. Why can't he be a black Jewish character? You do get black Jewish people...yes I don't think any black Jews were kept in concentration camps but its a comic...we do allow artistic licence ?

 

 

Let's make him transgender too. If we put all our ethnic and sexual minorities in one character that leaves more room for other white characters.

[Malcador]

I notice you guys have conveniently  ignored my solution to this whole Magneto issue. Why can't he be a black Jewish character? You do get black Jewish people...yes I don't think any black Jews were kept in concentration camps but its a comic...we do allow artistic licence ?

There is no Magneto issue, though.

[Zoraptor]

When he was played by Sir Ian I always presumed Gandalf Magneto was gay and had had a fling with Captain Picard when younger. Bit of a shock finding out he'd actually been boffing Katniss during that earlier timeframe a few movies later. Then again, I never read the comics.

 

Ubisoft has banned Kotaku from attending their events.

 

Not invited isn't really banned though.

[GhoulishVisage]

 

 

How can a being so joyless exist?
How is it possible?

[Meshugger]

When he was played by Sir Ian I always presumed Gandalf Magneto was gay and had had a fling with Captain Picard when younger. Bit of a shock finding out he'd actually been boffing Katniss during that earlier timeframe a few movies later. Then again, I never read the comics.

 

Ubisoft has banned Kotaku from attending their events.

 

Not invited isn't really banned though.

 

Fine, fine. Shunned is a better word then.

 

 

 

How can a being so joyless exist?

How is it possible?

 

He hasn't learned to overcome himself for his shortcomings and now he is projecting.

[Zoraptor]

More SJW infighting! McIntosh is having a jab at Brianna 'Batman' Wu!

[BruceVC]

 

 

Waiting for answers from the end of the last thread.

 

Waiting for answers from whom ?

 

If its me do you mind repeating the questions?

 

 

You accused me of lying and pursuing a false agenda, please provide factual evidence to corroborate this.

 

 

I take back the lying accusation, you are at times guilty of spewing rhetoric and grandstanding and your opinion is sometimes woefully misinformed but that's not the same thing as intentionally lying. I believe you believe what you say is true

 

Sorry for the  misplaced lying accusation

[Nonek]

 

 

I take back the lying accusation, you are at times guilty of spewing rhetoric and grandstanding and your opinion is sometimes woefully misinformed but that's not the same thing as intentionally lying. I believe you believe what you say is true

 

Sorry for the  misplaced lying accusation

 

 

Your apology is accepted. You may choose to believe that I spew rhetoric and grandstand, though voicing ones opinions in a clear, concise fashion is neither, however that is subjective so i'll let it pass.

 

However you accused me of pursuing a false agenda and now being woefully misinformed, please provide factual evidence to corroborate this.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Nonek

[Amentep]

 

 

Call me crazy, but I find retconning established history, both real world and fictitious, for the purposes of being able to include a token characters so that you can trumpet how 'diverse' your work is and show off your ethnicity checklist a heck of a lot more offensive than creating a work that does not include a diverse cast but sticks to a cohesive theme.

In my opinion, it seems a bit insulting that instead of creating an interesting character of whatever ethnicity/race(black most of the time) they insist on changing a white character into a black character. Like putting on blackface and saying that's good enough.

 

 

I notice you guys have conveniently  ignored my solution to this whole Magneto issue. Why can't he be a black Jewish character? You do get black Jewish people...yes I don't think any black Jews were kept in concentration camps but its a comic...we do allow artistic licence ?

 

Because your solution doesn't fix the perceived problem (which is that Magneto, tied to WWII concentration camps is at least in his 80s) that led to the suggestion to move the character to the 50s/60s and anchored by the US Civil Rights movement. However, as I indicated, this only swaps an 80 year old Magneto for a 70 Year old Magneto, so the issue of age and being tied to a specific point in time is still at play.

 

There are only a handful of WWII era characters around in the Marvel U, and all of them have backstory explanations for why they aren't 80 to 90 in their physicality (Captain America - frozen in ice, Spitfire - vampire, Human Torch - Android, Winter Soldier - Kept in stasis, Namor & Namora - Atlantean Physiology, GA Vision - alien from another dimension, the remainder of The Twelve - kept in stasis, Wolverine - can't age due to regeneration, Mystique - aging irrelevant due to powers, etc).

 

There are ways to deal with this issue that doesn't require changing Magneto into a different character, though.

 

Edit: wrote "Magento" at least once.  Totally different character.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Amentep

[Malcador]

 

 

How can a being so joyless exist?

How is it possible?

Never thought there was a message to "Be the Batman". Parents beware, I guess. As for deciding to engage in combat with someone, well, the famous Sun Tzu adage applies

Edited June 9, 2015 by Malcador

[GhoulishVisage]

Edit: wrote "Magento" at least once.  Totally different character.