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Gears 5 - No smoking allowed

Yeah that's not how this works

vir·tue sig·nal·ing
noun
  1. the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.

Nice, but it’d be a verb
 
My favorite franchise. Didn't really have to say anything, Rod. Don't think anyone would've noticed. Interesting to put gears on some sort of moral standing considering the Bezerkers are female locust that are chained up and raped for breeding purposes. Cliff said he made it after his ex wife. :messenger_grimmacing_
 
v4o787.gif
 

Mildudon

Member
In a statement, Rod Fergusson, studio head at The Coalition, said: “I’ve seen firsthand the devastating impact of gun violence. It’s always been important for me to not use gun violence as a narrative device, which is why we made the conscious choice to avoid highlighting or glorifying gun violence in ‘Gears 5’ and throughout the Gears of War Universe moving forward.”
 

Petrae

Member
A video game rated "M" for users 17 years old and up panders to/talks up a youth-focused, anti-smoking partnership. It's basically an admission to marketing these games to kids and undermining the ESRB's (frankly laughable) intention.

If you're marketing this shit to kids, you might want to look at toning down that graphic violence in addition to worrying about characters who light up cancer sticks... but this is the modern, woke video game industry. Killing scores of people by shooting, stabbing, or dismemberment is awesome-- but don't you dare smoke a cigarette or show breasts!

What a joke the modern video game industry is.
 
My god are some people thoughtless and stupid when it comes to stuff like this. As much as people like to diss ResetEra, some of you guys seem to be worse.
I agree with both sides though. On the one hand, virtue signalling about smoking in a game that has extremely graphic violence is stupid to say the least. On the other hand, as someone who studies Health Promotion, it's cool to see a game developer consciously remove smoking in their games to give a message about the negative effects of smoking.

I still lean with the side that says this is some dumb shit.
 
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Shai-Tan

Banned
I just finished Gears 4 (Xbox PC Game Pass) and don't recall anyone smoking. If they did it wasn't in any way important. If you want to get worked up about Gears 5 maybe whine about how terrible the plot will probably be. The writing in Gears 4 was awful aside from some of the banter between the characters.
 

A.Romero

Member
They want you to notice. And it's a good cause. Smoking isn't good guys and that's okay to admit.

I'm an addict and I can admit that smoking is not good. However, it sounds kind of stupid to me that they want to make that statement in a game full of senseless violence.

TV and ads have received this treatment for years now... Except for adult content. I just think it goes with some characters and that's why we still see it on movies. Same with alcohol comsumption.

I hope this actually means that the medium is going forward in comparision to traditional media and not just some armchair activism.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
I agree with both sides though. On the one hand, virtue signalling about smoking in a game that has extremely graphic violence is stupid to say the least. On the other hand, as someone who studies Health Promotion, it's cool to see a game developer consciously remove smoking in their games to give a message about the negative effects of smoking.

I still lean with the side that says this is some dumb shit.

There have been many movie studios that are also going down this route (taking smoking out of their content). These creators are actually respecting your intelligence by doing this. They realize that you aren't (more than likely) going to go outside and murder people with a chainsaw or shoot someone in the face like Solid Snake just because you did it in a game.

But they do think it's possible that some of their customers (they are mostly thinking about the kids) will start smoking if they display it in their games (due to it looking cool).

I'm an addict and I can admit that smoking is not good. However, it sounds kind of stupid to me that they want to make that statement in a game full of senseless violence.

TV and ads have received this treatment for years now... Except for adult content. I just think it goes with some characters and that's why we still see it on movies. Same with alcohol comsumption.

I hope this actually means that the medium is going forward in comparision to traditional media and not just some armchair activism.

This isn't about armchair activism (not sure why people hate activism so much). The owner of the studio personally doesn't like smoking for a personal reason and it's okay that the content that his company makes doesn't support it. The game will not be better or worse because of this move.
 
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Petrae

Member
I agree with both sides though. On the one hand, virtue signalling about smoking in a game that has extremely graphic violence is stupid to say the least. On the other hand, as someone who studies Health Promotion, it's cool to see a game developer consciously remove smoking in their games to give a message about the negative effects of smoking.

I still lean with the side that says this is some dumb shit.

The dev team could have just eliminated the smoking without the pandering aspect. You don't have to announce it-- just do it. I probably wouldn't have noticed the omission, but then you've got this chest-thumping bit that's pandering to an initiative aimed at kids (which this game, supposedly, isn't supposed to be for)... and it looks fucking stupid.

I'd love to hear some industry exec let slip that the ESRB is a load of shit and that publishers knowingly market to kids anyway because everyone knows that kids (or their parents) are gonna buy these games anyway. The ESRB may have been well-intended early on, but it's laughable at best and pointless at worst as a toothless organization obviously controlled by the industry that it's supposed to regulate.
 

Shai-Tan

Banned
Smoking isn't exactly central to the enjoyment of the game either? That MGS4 loading screen was pretty cool but the use of smoking in Gears was like copying bad 80s movie characters who keep a cigar in their mouth as an affectation
 

mortal

Gold Member
(they are mostly thinking about the kids)
And therein lies the problem.

A game clearly not meant for kids in the first place. A game with depictions of excessive violence, blood and gore. Rated accordingly for an intend audience of presumably mature ,adult consumers.

That responsibility should fall on the parents and/or guardians of said kids, not a video game publisher (unless they insist on it in this case...)
 
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mckmas8808

Banned
And therein lies the problem.

A game clearly not meant for kids in the first place. A game with depictions of excessive violence, blood and gore. Rated accordingly for an intend audience of presumably mature ,adult consumers.

That responsibility should fall on the parents and/or guardians of said kids, not a video game publisher (unless they insist on it in this case...)

When you live on the same planet, you aren't allowed to act as if your actions don't help or hurt the greater community (in this case the community is Planet Earth). Everyone has a responsibility on this earth. This is just a small, small token to not making smoking look cool (I personally like seeing smoking in my content, but it's okay when it's not there too).

Everything can't fall on the backs of parents and/or guardians.
 
Smoking is bad mkay. Don't smoke. Children shouldn't smoke, mkay.

Yeah but ignore all the blood guts and voilence. Women with fake armour boobs and aliens getting their heads blown off. No worries there.

Smoking is really bad for your health. Dont do it

But dont worry about sitting on your fucking arse all day and getting fat, when heart disease and obesity kill more people twice over than smoking does.

Good going dip shits
 

Geki-D

Banned
But on the other hand Kojima also thinks smoking is awesome and pretty much every important character he's ever made smokes.
fb7.gif

Though ultimately, this is true:
If they hadn’t told us we wouldn’t have noticed
Unless a character was really known for his smoking and suddenly stops, I don't really get why we're even being told. Plenty of games don't have anyone smoking, I've never played through them and been blown over by the lack of cigarettes.

Though it's also perfectly valid to question why an M rated game needs to enforce this at all. Not sure about the US but in Europe game's with tobacco & alcohol get this added onto their box:
drugs.jpg


That seems like enough to me.
 

lock2k

Banned







This is not satire.

As someone who lost a mother to tobacco (lung cancer) I strongly disagree with Microsoft positions.

Even though I dislike smoking with a passion, I'm not against people showing it, it is a part of humanity, and we shouldn't try to sugarcoat vices and addictions and stuff like that in a product aimed at mature audiences. This is fucking stupid.
 

Geki-D

Banned
I'm not against people showing it, it is a part of humanity, and we shouldn't try to sugarcoat vices and addictions and stuff like that in a product aimed at mature audiences. This is fucking stupid.
The flaw in this reasoning is that smoking is almost never shown as a vice and/or an addiction but a badass feature that makes a character look better with no consequences. Obviously some more focused things do show the negatives but you can bet your ass Gears of War wouldn't. In a game like this (and nearly every other game ever) smoking is shown AND sugarcoated at the same time.
 

lock2k

Banned
The flaw in this reasoning is that smoking is almost never shown as a vice and/or an addiction but a badass feature that makes a character look better with no consequences. Obviously some more focused things do show the negatives but you can bet your ass Gears of War wouldn't. In a game like this (and nearly every other game ever) smoking is shown AND sugarcoated at the same time.

Even so... I agree with your point, but at the same time I think everyone is free to do whatever they please, including smoking (I never smoked in my life, by the way).
 

mortal

Gold Member
When you live on the same planet, you aren't allowed to act as if your actions don't help or hurt the greater community (in this case the community is Planet Earth). Everyone has a responsibility on this earth. This is just a small, small token to not making smoking look cool (I personally like seeing smoking in my content, but it's okay when it's not there too).

Everything can't fall on the backs of parents and/or guardians.
Sure, I get it. I don't agree with this approach. In this case ( and others like it) it comes off baffling and cognitively dissonant when your target audience isn't even supposed to be kids with impressionable, young minds. Particulary in a Gears of War title, of all games.

Generally, the first line of defense is going to be the upbringing and cultivation from a parent or guardian. It's not like we don't know smoking is severly hazardous to one's health with study after study. The empirical evidence is there, yet some people knowing full well, still chose to smoke. People will make their own decisions regardless.
 
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brap

Banned
Fucking retarded. No wonder games treat people like they're fucking idiots. They know tons of children play them. Honestly can the game end in one big gay orgy to show kids that being gay is ok? Put another good message in it.
 

SonGoku

Member
My god are some people thoughtless and stupid when it comes to stuff like this. As much as people like to diss ResetEra, some of you guys seem to be worse.
Virtue signaling its just so damn annoying and condescending, and they do it to get on the soy media good graces, for press coverage and scores
I include myself as one who detests smoking and smokers are retarded af might as well sprinkle lead in your food while you are at it. But this push to police media annoys me.

Fuck off devs, how about you include a segment that promotes reading instead of wasting time with video games? But no they won't do that because it would affect their bottom line
 
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Labolas

Member
My god are some people thoughtless and stupid when it comes to stuff like this. As much as people like to diss ResetEra, some of you guys seem to be worse.
Yeah well, I don't see anyone threating to go after the devs in the game so I can't say they're worse than resetera.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Fucking retarded. No wonder games treat people like they're fucking idiots. They know tons of children play them. Honestly can the game end in one big gay orgy to show kids that being gay is ok? Put another good message in it.

What's going on here? :pie_diana:

Yeah well, I don't see anyone threating to go after the devs in the game so I can't say they're worse than resetera.

Look at the person I quoted above. You sure we aren't nipping at Era's heels?
 

bobone

Member
Cigars will always be cool.
So will drinking scotch and shooting guns and lifting weights and playing football and boxing and racing cars.
Things that are dangerous are cool.

Also, if you want 42" biceps like these guys the last drug you should be worrying about is tobacco.
 

Cranberrys

Member
I think as an adult, you are aware of the danger of smoking and you choose to do so on your own terms. I don't need video games to teach me obvious things. Smoking isn't different than plenty of other stuff that can be hazardous. If you eat all your meals at Burger King or McDonald's, it's Dangerous to your health. On the other hand, eating a Whooper once or two a month can be enjoyable. It's the same with alcohol: a cold beer after a hard working day is enjoyable but drinking a six pack every night is a problem. It's the same with cigarettes, I smoke 2 or 3 cigarettes a day when I come back from work because it's a way for me to relax. LIke everything else, it depends the way you use it. I'm not saying that everyone should smoke. It's important to protect children or teenagers but I Don't think people are stupid to the point of smoking just because they see a character in a video game do it, like they Don't jump out of buildings just because they saw Tom Cruise do it in Mission Impossible.
 
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Darrec

Neo Member
Sounds like fake outrage just to try to get some attention to me, especially seeing how tomorrow is the the day they reveal the multiplayer gameplay. I mean seriously, why don't you try to tell me how many smokers/smoking references can you see throught the whole series?? Exactly, only real fans know the answer and they'll laugh about it once they figure it out.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Wow, really? Thanks for enlightening us. I would have never known. It's not like cigarettes are exorbitantly taxed and have health warnings on their own packaging (click on images) to deter people from smoking. God knows we all need a videogame to tell us these things.

Is advertising the truth about cigarettes bad now? And it's not like the game itself is being preachy about cigarettes. They are only going to remove them from the game. That's it.
 
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TrainedRage

Banned
Soy of War 5: The Cuckening


I wonder if GUNS kill more people than cigarettes? What are they going to do about that HAWT issue?
 
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Is advertising the truth about cigarettes bad now? And it's not like the game itself is being preachy about cigarettes. They are only going to remove them from the game. That's it.
Look, as a former smoker who nearly ruined their lungs with cigarettes, I understand and acknowledge that they're fucking awful. Again, it says it right on the packaging lol.
But with this game in particular, this 'advertisement of truth' comes off as little more than lip service. Do kids even use cigars these days? Why stop with smoking? Why not guns? Surely, you're smart enough to see the issue here?

And that's why so many people dislike it when companies virtue signal. It's the marketing department weighing the pros and cons of what demographic they can risk losing in favor of some positive coverage. It's all so fake. They can't risk losing the sizeable NRA audience so they'll sacrifice the cigar smoking demo. After all, most kids these days are using e-cigs anyway. :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 

Lastyou1

Banned
Is this game 18+ PEGI and ESRB, CERO and ACB equivalent?


Well, at that age people are supposed to be thinking with their own head, let them decide whether or not they're going to be smokers.

If they are not, it's their problem and for sure not video games' fault.
 

Nymphae

Banned
Soy of War 5: The Cuckening


I wonder if GUNS kill more people than cigarettes? What are they going to do about that HAWT issue?

We laugh, but I honestly do wonder when gunplay in games is going to become the next problem for these types. I'm surprised the left hasn't made more of an issue of it in the past decade.
 
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