Games Journalism 2018: We're taking it back!

Employees of French Developer Eugen Systems (Steel Division, Act of Agression, Wargame series) went on strike yesterday citing numerous violations of their rights.

https://www.stjv.fr/2018/02/des-employes-deugen-systems-en-greve/

I wonder what part the Paradox partnership played in this, if any. But it’s funny that nothing like this happened during the partnership with Focus…

It’s about ethics in board game journalism.

Hmmm…

We’ve reached peak “games journalism” of the Kotaku/Polygon/Waypoint variety. Instead of a game review, we get an hour-long explanation of why some Czech guy’s political views put him on the blacklist. It never ceases to amaze me that there are people who enjoy the culture wars more than actually playing games.

highly questionable statements about the game’s “historical” accuracy regarding representing people of color

Has there been another controversy, or is this just because he doesn’t have any black people in a rural area of Bohemia in 1403? I assumed that just alt-right trolls trying to make the left look stupid.

Sigh, even Eurogamer is doing it now. And they also pick on him for the metal shirt he was wearing at Gamescom, like that’s further evidence of the ‘big problem’ with the game. :/

Are there no good game review sites left (present company excepted)?

Why would that amaze you? Have you seen Twitter? That’s a full-time hobby/job for some people.

I’ve been really enjoying Waypoint’s writing and podcasts. We don’t need another bland consumer advocacy style review site. Waypoint has an entirely different raison d’être and they execute on it really well.

Just chiming in to say that Telefrog is absolutely right. Twitter is nearly insufferable these days because of all the “Twitter activists”. Sigh.

I don’t know how white Bohemia was in the 1400s, I do know that the multiple arguments against it being white revolved around there being black people in other parts of Europe that were thousands of kilometres away and had had strong links to north africa/middle east for centuries anyway. Looking at the medieval POC blog, they’re almost entirely Italian art works, or art from other European countries depicting events outside Europe.

I can see that the designer is a bit of an asshole, but I think people underestimate just how different Eastern European societies today are, particularly in the areas of race, sex and gender. Also, PoC are still incredibly rare in Poland, Czech Republic and Lithuania. So rare as to have people stopping and staring.

It’s idiotic either way. There were people of color in that part of the world at that time, but probably not prominent. The Holy Roman Empire can attest to that. You also can’t play as a woman, which is to be expected in a historical sense.

The big issue with a lot of these people is the reaction when people ask. At the end of the day, developers, much like celebrities, should shut the fuck up about shit if they don’t want to alienate people. No one is persecuting him because he’s the little guy - he reacted poorly to criticism and then kept it up. Otherwise, why would anyone write a clarification/apology letter directly before the release of their game?

I like the game. I thought about whether to get it or not based on his reactions and decided I could live with it. He’s just someone I disagree with. I buy stuff from much worse people, I’m sure.

That’s an unfounded assertion, just as his assertion that there were no black people is. Both are just as historically (in)accurate. Im not sure you’re away of how the HRE at that time functioned, being mostly independent states with little migration between them. When Wenceslaus the third controlled Bohemia and Hungary, they were ruled as separate fiefdoms. The only significant migration in medieval Bohemia was that of the German Eastward Expansion in the…14th? century. Bohemia was sparsely populated compared to the south, the west and the north and the trade routes that ran through it were east to west and not well populated.

It was quite literally a hinterland at that time, so I never understood why the claim by the developer got so much prominence either way.

As @Jason_McMaster pointed out, the main reason people flipped wasn’t due to the official Warhorse response. People lost their minds because Vavra was a huge dick about it.

The same initial sector of people gave CDPR shit about The Witcher 3’s paucity of POC, but that went away relatively quickly because CDPR didn’t rise to the bait. They made a quick statement about it and moved on. Vavra just couldn’t let it go. He purposefully egged people on about it.

His response coupled with his pro-GG history was all people needed.

Sure, I don’t have a magic ball that transports me to 1403 Czech Repbulic. I used a touch of hyperbole and gave my opinion.

I’m obviously not from the Czech Republic, but I know better than to make grand claims that “because I’m Czech, I know better about the history of my country than anyone else” and “there were no black people here. Period,” is the kind of statement that makes people react. That and claiming some amazing historical accuracy while doing some really weird shit.

He claimed to be consulting with historical experts (one of whom later said Vavra was happy to ignore her when it suited him), no?

Also, Bohemia is (largely) modern day Czech Republic. I’m not sure where Poland came into it.

So saying there were people of color in medical HRE is inaccurate, as is saying there were none. Got it.

I mean we have rock solid proof that the Scandinavians conducted business/ raids with people as far as southern France and the Black Sea. Arabic inscriptions have been found on coins in Scotland and Norway. Roman outposts existed in south eastern India, and many artifacts exist.

Also seeing first century Roman gladius’ and amphora in India was really fascinating.

Hell, there was a pope in the third (4th?) century that was from Africa, and possibly black.

Basically the case for people of other nationalities and skin colors being present across Europe is lock solid. Common? No. But even in the art and literature of the time they are present. The legend of King Arthur, about as white as you’d possibly get, right? Wrong. One of the major knights, one of the most honorable, is Palomides the Saracen. Aka a knight who, likely, is of moorish descent.

Now would I boycott a game set in medieval Europe, or a fantasy analogue, that doesn’t contain persons of different ethnicities? Nah. Do I think it misses out? Probably. Would it be nice to see that historical cultural exchange more readily depicted, since so few are aware of the global culture of the past? Absolutely!

Oh, that’s my bad. I don’t think it changes my point, but that is my mistake.

Americans went to the moon therefore they’ve been to other planets in the solar system? I mean, that’s the gist of your argument.

An assertion isnt historically accurate because it’s an assumption, it’s accurate when there are primary sources (or enough secondary sources). Absence of evidence to prove the contrary also doesn’t somehow render something historically accurate. If there were contemporaneous accounts of e.g. bohemians travelling to a cosmopolitan city and being astounded at their first ever sigth of a PoC, that’s a small piece of evidence that Vavra’s claims are historically accurate.

Talking about sea traders as if that’s relevant to a hinterland in Europe surrounded by mountains and away from any of the trade routes that led to non-white countries isn’t a particularly compelling argument. It’s actually a really poor one. Migration in Europe has been incredibly rare for most of its history, as has been travel beyond trading and royalty/nobility.

No, it isn’t, and your analogy is awful.

PoC went to other parts of Europe so they have to have gone to all parts is quite literally his argument. Thanks for your valuable contribution though, well reasoned and well argued as ever^^