Calling it "censorship" is, while perhaps technically correct in the broadest possible definition of the word, not a particularly useful application of the term.

If I pitch a show to a TV network and they decline to pick it up, they've certainly prevented me from expressing myself on their platform, but I wouldn't call…

Ah, yeah. "No Russian".

I mean, that's maybe a fair comparison, except even there it's portrayed as a despicable act, and you never actually have to shoot anyone.

I honestly think the game is a lot closer to stuff like "Ethnic Cleansing" or "Super Columbine Massacre". It's trying to be "edgy" and shocking in order to…

Yeah. I mean...it's possible that someone could do a really brilliant game about our relationship with violence, along with the sort of pathetic, depraved mindset that leads someone to kill indiscriminately. I imagine it might look a bit like Spec Ops: The Line.

There's no indication that's what we've got here, though.…

The thing is, it's the context that people are objecting to. I've seen other people trying to use "Saw" or "The Human Centipede" as parallels, and...well, until there's a widespread problem in our culture with people being trapped in elaborate murder devices or being sewn together, there's really no equivalence.

Well, yes, they're similar on that level, but they're still very different.

People aren't objecting to Hatred because of the violence. They're objecting because of the context of that violence.

In Manhunt, you're admittedly a pretty terrible human being, but you're fighting for your life against OTHER terrible human…

I really, really do not get why people bring up Manhunt in the same breath as Hatred. I mean, I can kind of understand Postal, but Manhunt is so fundamentally different that it seems like a non sequitur.

They do have the right to express it. They simply aren't entitled to have the game sold on Steam, any more than I'm entitled to get my own show on network TV just because I ask politely.

Oh no! What a travesty! What censorship! What's next, Valve choosing not to carry Rapeplay? Them taking "Ethnic Cleansing" down from Greenlight? Putting the kibosh on "Custer's Revenge Remastered"?

Seriously, good for Valve. They have every right, as a retailer, to decide what they want to sell and be associated with.…

Absolutely.

Well, except on the "non-game" thing, which I still think is a big pile of inconsistent, gatekeeping nonsense. I have yet to see an adequate definition of "game" that excludes something like Gone Home without also excluding substantial parts of game history.

But for the rest, sure. De gustibus non est…

Oh, well. Different strokes for different folks. I thought Gone Home was extremely well executed (especially for such a small team), did exactly what it set out to do very well, and is exactly the sort of boundary-pushing we need within the industry if we want to avoid a non-stop barrage of annualized franchise clones.

Well, sure, I recognize that. The problem isn't the fact that she has those issues; it's that, in this instance, the transphobia is used as a throw-away line, a random one-liner that doesn't really relate to anything else in the story. I have a hard time picturing the writers doing that for other forms of real-life…

You can't respond to many of her remarks, making fun of someones extra toes or "crotch rot", whatever that is, is not cool either.

Eh. I think it's a problem to include real-world prejudice like that and not give the player any means to react to it. You can't respond to her bigotry. You can't say "That shit isn't appropriate."

The most you can do is kick her out of the Inquisition, but the game doesn't know WHY you're doing it. It's a context-free…

Because representation in media matters.

News flash: All art is political. You may not like that fact, but it's true. Choosing NOT to include something is just as political as choosing to include it. Making a game starring a straight white guy is just as much as "political statement" as making one starring a black…

If you take her to the grand ball in Orlais, and she's listing off the various "failings" of the degenerate nobles, she says something like:

"Crotch rot. Beats his squire. He's a she. Has a bastard. Extra toes. What a fun, close-marrying crowd."

It's definitely nice to see Bioware putting in the effort, especially after they messed up with Serendipity. It's clear that they took the criticism to heart, between Krem and Maevaris Tilani.

It's a shame about that line Sera has during the party (which is totally unnecessary and which uses transphobia as a throw-away…

Oh wow, THAT'S the next set in the modular town line? Awesome.

Right now I've only got the Grand Emporium and the fire station sitting on top of my desk together, but that'd make a nice addition.

...okay, realistically, I'll get whichever one is going out of print next first, but I'll still be tempted.

EDIT: Also, it…

Never mind, I am an idiot for replying before I'd watched the entire video.

There's also a Pinball FX table that has RPG elements (called "Epic Quest") that might be worth looking at. After all, Pinball FX is free, and the table is like...$2.00 or something.

Sorry, no, I'm not going to ditch the term "feminist" just because some people have a problem with it. The fact that North America is "one of the best places in the world to be a woman" is not relevant to the conversation. It's also one of the best places in the world to be a trans person, but guess what? It's still pr…