1. obviously there's the fact that her critiques of DE are so unabashedly surface-level that you cannot tell if she's actually played the game or read a plot summary/review of it.
  2. but there's also the fact that she's proposing a supposed improvement on what DE is with her own prompt, which in-and-of-itself is the lowest form of critique in my eyes–'what if you had an entirely different idea?'
  3. and then the prompt itself is a doozy:
    1. she somehow found a way to both critique DE for being unimaginative with its scenario/having a white man protag and propose, in alternative, the absolute whitest possible scenario imaginable
    2. in the implicit shift from a grimy Eastern Europe to a comfy Western Europe, she's managed to gentrify her scenario proposed in a critique about diversity
    3. she wants to keep disco elysium's, unexamined by her, 'wonderful writing', while stripping it of all the rawness and deliberate confrontation that is at the heart of it that would conflict with the idyllic nature of her scenario and her stated opposition to griminess
    4. her idea of a more diverse story, if we're taking it as she's presenting it, is swapping a white guy with a white gal, which, I mean, diversity win, I guess.
    5. the fact that this is the most generic, safest-possible indie game idea imaginable. I could go on itch.io and find 50 of pretty much that game. this is the idea that like 50% of developers have when they're thinking of a quick point-and-click game for a game jam.

i could go on, but the most scathing possible point I could make to this tweet is that this person is a BAFTA Judge strangelove-wow

  • Smeagolicious [they/them]
    ·
    7 months ago

    I'm certain it has a basis in a terrible reactionary reflex but my reaction to her proposed "improved" story is just immediate visceral contempt. I just can't stand the kinda recent prevalence of squeaky clean stories about a euro witch that saves the day with the power of friendship, small animals, and being gay (but in a safe marketable way). I feel like this is the absolutely wrong opinion to have but I can't shake it.

    • Tunnelvision [they/them]
      ·
      7 months ago

      It’s not reactionary to want art that actually reflects life instead of just telling you “it’s gonna be okay, white people got this.”

    • FunkyStuff [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

      I don't think there's anything reactionary about not wanting the most generic indie game of all time in place of DE.

      • Smeagolicious [they/them]
        ·
        7 months ago

        Well the disco elysium replacement bit is just the icing, I already hate this micro genre lol