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[Lambogenie]

“Our mission is to tell better, more empathetic stories while diversifying and enriching the video games industry. We aim to make games more engaging, more fun, more meaningful, and more inclusive, for everyone.“

Better by whose standards? Obviously, theirs, but I don't like theirs or certain standards, so why do these people feel like their rule is mighty, whether that's US, Europe or Asia. Not everything has to appease everyone or needs to be liked and enjoyed by everyone. Why even have age gated stuff, why have any separation for anything?

 

[Kacho]

This guy lives in his own trash... why would I want to even listen to his opinion? (Even if I probably agree with him in this case)

He brings awareness to a large number of people. That’s all that matters.

 

[nush]

That follower number has blown up.

EDIT:

 

[March Climber]

This guy lives in his own trash... why would I want to even listen to his opinion? (Even if I probably agree with him in this case)

Because life isn't as simple as 'I don't like this guy so he must 100% always be wrong'.

 

[Shadowstar39]

We like free speech. Unless it's free speech we don't like.

Has nothing to do with free speech. Its called not giving money to people who push shit you don't like. No one is being "deplatformed" or censored. Its a list of people to not spend money on. Big difference between woke scolds calling people's employment to get them fired or making up slander to devs who don't tow "the message", or nuking mods on a mod site because the ultra woke nexus owner is a super woke and authoritarian , who bans all mods that he/she/it doesn't like.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I use the popular Time to Crate to judge the quality of my video games.

Urban Dictionary: Time To Crate

Time To Crate is a metric used to assess the quality of video games. It is expressed in terms of the time between the start of a level (t == 0), and the point where the level designer gave up, ran out of ideas and just started putting in crates. A lower TTC is considered desirable.

www.urbandictionary.com

TTC on FF7 Rebirth was maybe a second. One right behind you when you start. Clearly the best game ever made. Let alone GOTY.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Sweet Baby Inc employee malding over this made it all worth it

 

[Moriarty1889]

What a pussy……

 

[hemo memo]

Location is They? Wtf

 

[lifa-cobex]

This guy lives in his own trash... why would I want to even listen to his opinion? (Even if I probably agree with him in this case)

Sorry buddy. You in particular wasn't meant to see it. It was meant for the rest of the forum.

My bad.

 

[Doomtrain]

they believe they’re on the “right side of history” so that means they can do whatever they want since it’s justified due to those that dare oppose them being “evil”

they’re completely ignorant about how some of the worst atrocities committed by man have been done exactly by those who also believed they were on the right side of history

This is the rub. EVERYONE who does bad shit finds a way to justify it. It’s psychology 101. No one wants to feel like a villain, but it’s really easy to do a few mental gymnastics to tell yourself that actually, this horrific thing you’re doing is somehow good. I used to expect people over the age of 5 to understand that, but here we are.

 

[Barakov]

 

[ReBurn]

"There's a lot of people upset about this and I say good. Fuck um!"

He has so many browser tabs open that it is giving me ptsd

 

[Eiknarf]

Never heard of this Sweet Baby Inc or Chris Kindred until today, and I wish I hadn’t. Hopefully their services will be used and needed less and less.

 

[StereoVsn]

Most of them are, to be honest. A lot of times consultants are brought on to justify actions that have already been decided on.

In the case of Sweet Baby, I think it's mostly when companies want help writing for or about diverse characters in a way that sounds authentic. Sweet Baby is probably not sitting there telling them to "put a gay chick in it, make her lame," the way people here assume, it's more like "Is this how a 20 year old Puerto Rican kid would talk?" or "How do blind people use their phones?"

Everyone is just trying to avoid being Life is Strange, where a bunch of middle aged dudes in France tried to write American teenage girls and it sounded really dumb. That's what Sweet Baby does. They don't "help you make your game woke."

In general this is probably right. However regarding Life is Strange, interestingly enough that’s the only truly good game in the series and the only one that sold well.

So apparently middle aged French dudes managed to do something right.

 

[coolmast3r]

Aaaand just like that this Steam curator has earned another subscriber

 

[Mithos]

Aaaand over 60k subs.

Yeah Baby! ...ehh. I mean Yeah Sweet Baby!

 

[rofif]

Never heard of this Sweet Baby Inc or Chris Kindred until today, and I wish I hadn’t. Hopefully their services will be used and needed less and less.

Think worst parts of gow ragnarok and the. Know than sweet baby is behind it.
Angrboda exists because it’s nice and inclusive and diverse. Not becasue she is a good character.

They first decide what political message to insert and then make a character for it.
Tarantino will roll around in his grave when He hears about it… because as soon as he will hear it he will die of frustration

 

[Icymanipulator]

Followed

 

[SF Kosmo]

In general this is probably right. However regarding Life is Strange, interestingly enough that’s the only truly good game in the series and the only one that sold well.

So apparently middle aged French dudes managed to do something right.

I mean yeah, Life is Strange was great and I'm not shading anyone who worked on it. But it could have used a dialog pass from someone a little more in tune with American teen speak.

That's the thing with these consultancies, they're support. They don't take over a project, they're brought on to help with things a dev might not be good at.

It's also not really clear to me that their focus is on "wokeness" to the extent that their critics claim. Like they do call out diversity and inclusion as a core value on their site but their services seem to be a lot broader than that. They do everything from full fat development and narrative design to UX design and accessibility stuff. God of War is the only project on their site that specifically calls out a diversity focus.

There used to be a Japanese dev called Red Company that would get brought on to do things like narrative and planning and characters, and they worked on everything from like Sakura Taisen to Bonk's Adventure, to Gungrave. I think Sweet Baby is one of those companies.

This whole conspiracy about them being the Wokifiers that companies are forced to use to boost their ESG rating doesn't seem be be based on much actual evidence.

 

[StereoVsn]

I mean yeah, Life is Strange was great and I'm not shading anyone who worked on it. But it could have used a dialog pass from someone a little more in tune with American teen speak.

That's the thing with these consultancies, they're support. They don't take over a project, they're brought on to help with things a dev might not be good at.

It's also not really clear to me that their focus is on "wokeness" to the extent that their critics claim. Like they do call out diversity and inclusion as a core value on their site but their services seem to be a lot broader than that. They do everything from full fat development and narrative design to UX design and accessibility stuff.

There used to be a Japanese dev called Red Company that would get brought on to do things like narrative and planning and characters, and they worked on everything from like Sakura Taisen to Bonk's Adventure, to Gungrave. I think Sweet Baby is one of those companies.

This whole conspiracy about them being the Wokifiers that companies are forced to use to boost their ESG rating doesn't seem be be based on much actual evidence.

So going further with Life is Strange series. Yes, it could have used perhaps a cut on conversational language for teenagers, but overall it really was quite decent from that perspective.

The sequels went further in ESG direction, consultants and all that it seems, and basically generally tanked. So I don’t know about how effective these consultants (not necessarily Sweet Baby Inc) were.

Then we have Spider-Man 2 and Ragnarok which seems to have used these consultants more heavily vs the first games and narrative storytelling, characterization, and overall writing seemingly took a hard hit. That hasn’t reflected in sales yet, but let’s see what happens with the third games if the trends continue.

We can also look at Starfield which is a mess from storytelling and character perspective, and seems to be worse than even Fallout 4, which is quite the feat.

So while modern industry practices do need these consultants, including getting advice from cultural perspective (see Ghost of Tsushima for well done example of that), it seems some larger recent examples of employing such services have not been paying off.

 

[Stuart360]

He has so many browser tabs open that it is giving me ptsd

You would hate to see my Firefox then, i literally have about 90 tabs permanently open.

 

[Stuart360]

Followed AND joined the group, the double whammy.

 

[Syphon Filter]

You would hate to see my Firefox then, i literally have about 90 tabs permanently open.

how come you have that much tabs open?

 

[Stuart360]

how come you have that much tabs open?

Just things i use on a daily or weekly status. E-mail and stuff like that, numerous Youtube and Twitch tabs of streamers or stuff i'm watching, all my streaming services, music sites, gaming sites, and a load of miscellaneous sites, etc.
My Firefox is basically my entertainment hub.

 

[DaciaJC]

Just things i use on a daily or weekly status. E-mail and stuff like that, numerous Youtube and Twitch tabs of streamers or stuff i'm watching, all my streaming services, music sites, gaming sites, and a load of miscellaneous sites, etc.
My Firefox is basically my entertainment hub.

How do you even navigate through that many tabs?

 

[Mithos]

He has so many browser tabs open that it is giving me ptsd

 

[Stuart360]

How do you even navigate through that many tabs?

Well they are all on their little groups, and you just move left and right on the top bar through the tabs. They are not all squashed together like tiny tabs like with Chrome, you just scroll left or right through them.
And it doesnt effect performence because all the tabs are dead until you click on them, if you get me.

 

[bender]

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Think worst parts of gow ragnarok and the. Know than sweet baby is behind it.
Angrboda exists because it’s nice and inclusive and diverse. Not becasue she is a good character.

They first decide what political message to insert and then make a character for it.
Tarantino will roll around in his grave when He hears about it… because as soon as he will hear it he will die of frustration

Totally agree, but I think someone needs to tell you about this one:

During A Preview, Forspoken Devs Described Their Black Protag In Cringe-Inducing Ways

Black folks were surprisingly absent during the Forspoken hands-off event

kotaku.com

“We worked closely with a number of consultants from BIPOC backgrounds to help portray Frey’s character and tell the story from her perspective,” Square Enix said in the FAQ, adding that Forspoken’s supporting cast was “dominated by women and several women of color.”

 

[ReBurn]

 

[SF Kosmo]

Then we have Spider-Man 2 and Ragnarok which seems to have used these consultants more heavily vs the first games and narrative storytelling, characterization, and overall writing seemingly took a hard hit.

I think the scope of their work on Spider-Man 2 was actually very limited, they just list it as "story consultation," not any actual writing, narrative development, or character work. It seems like they were less involved in that game than anything else they lost on their website.

People are using them as a convenient scapegoat in ways that might not be supported by the facts.

We can also look at Starfield which is a mess from storytelling and character perspective, and seems to be worse than even Fallout 4, which is quite the feat.

I see no evidence that's anyone's fault but Bethesda, nor am I aware of them partnering with outside developers on story content.

 

[rofif]

Totally agree, but I think someone needs to tell you about this one:

During A Preview, Forspoken Devs Described Their Black Protag In Cringe-Inducing Ways

Black folks were surprisingly absent during the Forspoken hands-off event

kotaku.com

Yeah I know. It doesn’t show the usual signs. Although everyone of importance is a woman in this world lol.

 

[StereoVsn]

I think the scope of their work on Spider-Man 2 was actually very limited, they just list it as "story consultation," not any actual writing, narrative development, or character work. It seems like they were less involved in that game than anything else they lost on their website.

People are using them as a convenient scapegoat in ways that might not be supported by the facts.


I see no evidence that's anyone's fault but Bethesda, nor am I aware of them partnering with outside developers on story content.

Not even saying it was all Sweet Baby Inc or whatever. I am saying that these companies most likely did employ outside contractors to help with conversations, modern audience adjustments and so on. Hence the result.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Not even saying it was all Sweet Baby Inc or whatever. I am saying that these companies most likely did employ outside contractors to help with conversations, modern audience adjustments and so on. Hence the result.

Maybe? Or maybe it was just their own decisions. It doesn't seem right to just speculate wildly, particularly when it's boiling over into some real drama shit.

 

[StereoVsn]

Maybe? Or maybe it was just their own decisions. It doesn't seem right to just speculate wildly, particularly when it's boiling over into some real drama shit.

I feel that since there was such a large change between say Spider-Man 1 and the sequel, it would be unused for the whole pivot to be purely internal.

And as far as speculation, hell, that’s what half the GAF is about, lol. It’s fun to speculate and try to come up with reasonable explanations.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I feel that since there was such a large change between say Spider-Man 1 and the sequel, it would be unused for the whole pivot to be purely internal.

Or it's just an elevated concern because of the more central role Miles' character plays.

And as far as speculation, hell, that’s what half the GAF is about, lol. It’s fun to speculate and try to come up with reasonable explanations.

I mean sure as long as you acknowledge you're just guessing, but it's weird when people get riled up like they know.

 

[StereoVsn]

Or it's just an elevated concern because of the more central role Miles' character plays.


I mean sure as long as you acknowledge you're just guessing, but it's weird when people get riled up like they know.

Most folks are just annoyed with being force fed “The Message” constantly even in their entertainment media, from Hollywood to Gaming. Not like folks can do anything about it besides swing some of their favorite franchises take a hit, hence the agitation. It is absolutely understandable.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Most folks are just annoyed with being force fed “The Message” constantly even in their entertainment media, from Hollywood to Gaming. Not like folks can do anything about it besides swing some of their favorite franchises take a hit, hence the agitation. It is absolutely understandable.

Of course it's totally expected for people voting with their dollars by spending on stories that speak to them or avoiding those that don't.

What's less understandable to me is being conspiratorial about it and scapegoating, to the point where you're avoiding games that might be perfectly fine because they're "tainted" in your conspiracy narrative. Just buy games you like and don't buy games you don't. And remember it's a big industry and there's room for everyone.

 

[StereoVsn]

Of course it's totally expected for people voting with their dollars by spending on stories that speak to them or avoiding those that don't.

What's less understandable to me is being conspiratorial about it and scapegoating, to the point where you're avoiding games that might be perfectly fine because they're "tainted" in your conspiracy narrative. Just buy games you like and don't buy games you don't. And remember it's a big industry and there's room for everyone.

The issue is that games are $70+ depending on where you live, and if you throw in DLCs, special editions and so on then it’s even more.

So naturally people want to know more about titles they may purchase and considering mainstream gaming media doesn’t cover these topics and YouTubers can be unreliable, there is a desire to at least understand the narrative and structural story content before purchasing.

 

[Kiya's Guard]

I love the other thread/article where the group is trying to disband the curator. A company slandering a group of people who catalog in what they worked on.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Of course it's totally expected for people voting with their dollars by spending on stories that speak to them or avoiding those that don't.

What's less understandable to me is being conspiratorial about it and scapegoating, to the point where you're avoiding games that might be perfectly fine because they're "tainted" in your conspiracy narrative. Just buy games you like and don't buy games you don't. And remember it's a big industry and there's room for everyone.

Dang, using the word "conspiracy" two times in a post. The gaslighting is strong with this one. Let's speak FACTS.

- Peter Parker (MC with the "wrong ethnicity") goes from inspirational hero and coach to a whimpering piece of shit that betrays his ideals just because.

- MJ magically has aged forty years and behaves as such, with obnoxious looks and personality. That character is anything but MJ.

- The deaf chick (everyone's favorite character) has a presence in the game.

- The swap of JJJ for that... "thing" on the radio.

So you are saying that hiring a racist lunatic cult as "consultants" for the story has had no impact on any of these questionable decisions. Yeah, right.

And no, there is no "room for everyone" in the industry because these people are demolishing all the other rooms left without them. A virus always spreads to the next target. And this is factual, too.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The anti-woke culture is just as bad as the bloody woke culture.

There is no such thing as "woke culture". Woke is a movement of destruction, they create nothing, they only destroy things created by people better than them. That's why it's insidious. Equaling the two is disingenuous at best.

Tell me one important contribution to culture/entertainment made by them. You won't for there is none. They steal, they smear, they appropriate. They don't create.

So no, it's not the same. Not even close.

 

[digdug2]

Dang, using the word "conspiracy" two times in a post. The gaslighting is strong with this one. Let's speak FACTS.

- Peter Parker (MC with the "wrong ethnicity") goes from inspirational hero and coach to a whimpering piece of shit that betrays his ideals just because.

- MJ magically has aged forty years and behaves as such, with obnoxious looks and personality. That character is anything but MJ.

- The deaf chick (everyone's favorite character) has a presence in the game.

- The swap of JJJ for that... "thing" on the radio.

So you are saying that hiring a racist lunatic cult as "consultants" for the story has had no impact on any of these questionable decisions. Yeah, right.

And no, there is no "room for everyone" in the industry because these people are demolishing all the other rooms left without them. A virus always spreads to the next target. And this is factual, too.

Careful with all this conspiracy talk, I got the other Sweet Baby thread closed because of it

 

[makaveli60]

Careful with all this conspiracy talk, I got the other Sweet Baby thread closed because of it

Yeah, funny. Adding 2 and 2 results in thread closing. Whatever, every person needs a different kind of difficulty in their lives to open their eyes instead of mindlessly shouting “cRaZy CoNsPiRaCy ThEoRiSt!!!444”.

 

[Paasei]

No clue what this shit is all about. Will look it up once I’m home.

 

[darth.shrimp]

I have 822 tabs open right now on firefox...

 

[cormack12]

You animal.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Like how do people think Sweet Baby is making things worse exactly?

Imagine an organization having the stated goal of having more horses in video games. Gradually, you see horses appear in games where they don't make sense. Characters with horse-love being their defining feature.

 

[Jaybe]

Steam Curator: Sweet Baby Inc detected

A tracker to help consumers be aware of DEI content inserted into games.

store.steampowered.com