Soooo basically nothing’s changed. They spent what were likely months in negotiations to move one step forward from where they started. Good job, Twitch.

While it remains to be seen if Paradox can handle gracefully the topic of historical slavery, I like the logic behind their decision. One of the best ways to educate people on historical social issues is to allow them to experience it in some way, just factually and without bias, and give them the chance to see the…

Never mind that games sales numbers are a nebulous thing that is not public facing, but the success of a game does not imply endorsement for the work practices of the developer or publisher.

You know, I actually think it’s a great example, because here you are doubling down on an ineffectual, performative deflection that has immediately negative side effects where major systemic change is needed to improve things instead.

“Every little bit helps” is how big companies ended up getting people paranoid and campaigning about banning disposable sipping straws, which are actually useful for kids and disabled people, or bottled water, which is hugely important in areas where tap water has issues, instead of taking actual government action…

And how do you know I haven’t done those things? Is there a minimum number of people I need to talk to before it’s considered a boycott? Are there some forms I need to fill out and publish and if I don’t it’s not an official boycott? Is there an organization with an abbreviated name I need to be representing in order…

It’s a complicated issue for a couple of factors. The first is that, unlike video game companies, Amazon is more than just individual releases of a commodity, they’ve essentially cornered the market on convenience: it’s tough to shake people out of the habit of getting anything they need delivered to their door and…

I did mention government intervention at the end, but given that you’ve indicated that you’re not American, I regret to inform you that the USA is a long, long, long way away from that kind of regulation becoming a reality. We’re working on it, but the progressive political movement in this country is small and…

That’s why I asked where the emotional factor was coming from, because it’s distorting your perspective on the issue. Refusing to buy a product because of the company’s unethical work culture is not even in the same realm as a “customer is always right, let me speak to your manager” kind of attitude. They’re both…

I’m a fan of violently overthrowing corporations as much as the next worker-rights advocate, but that’s still a bit out of the range of feasibility, and as small of an impact as they have, there are still things we can do in the moment that can effect change. Slow progress is better than none.

Except people are talking about boycotting the company, not an individual game. This isn’t an article talking about a boycott of the Diablo 2 remaster as if the wrongdoing was specifically in that dev team, it’s for all products by Activision-Blizzard. No WoW, no Diablo 2, no Diablo 4, no Hearthstone, no Overwatch 2,…

If you want to boycott Activision and actively campaign to impact their revenue the decision to personally buy Diablo 2 or not is not even the start of that.

And the other recourse is...? I can’t help but notice a lot of the people saying boycotts are useless also seem to be short on alternatives.

Unfortunately, as ineffective as boycotting is, it’s literally our only recourse as consumers. Look at the examples you gave. What does hiring staff matter if not to have a better team to get higher sales numbers on the next release? What does good press for the marketing cycle matter if what they’re doing it for is…

As ethnically different from each other as, say, the French are ethnically different from the Italians: though the two nations have been regional neighbors for thousands of years with plenty of similarities, there are distinct differences between the two groups.

Yup, I was going to point that out as well, big continuity goof. The best logical progression I can come up with is:

It’s weird that Helga from Hey Arnold! is in the game but not Arnold himself. I get that she was the break-out character of the series, but it’s like having a Sonic character in Smash, but it wasn’t Sonic himself, it was Shadow or Knuckles.

There’s a nod to the “Mister Doctor” exchange from the movie, which I’m going to say is still one of the best jokes in the entire MCU.

I really wish I could get into Artbreeder, it seems like such a cool concept that would be amazing for work-shopping character designs, but every time I try it the sliders and image merging always seem to be so imprecise and I keep ending up with a mess instead of an actual face.

I like how the AI doesn’t know what to do with the characters with weird hair and just says “screw it, that’s a fluffy background.”