| ▲ | tbojanin 5 hours ago |
| I clicked on this expecting an interesting article about the complexity of the game, but instead it devolved into a hit piece on its creator. I'm not interested in the creator's background or personal beliefs! I came here to read about the puzzle game itself! |
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| ▲ | Terr_ 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| That seems a little unfair, there are like... ~1700 words about the gameplay complexity before anything about the creator's personal life starts getting mentioned. A pivot perhaps, but not a shallow or immediate one. |
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| ▲ | Hitton 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Agreed. Quite sad that some people are not able to put away their personal feelings about creator when judging the creation. For instance an author wouldn't play a role when choosing whether to use ReiserFS either. |
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| ▲ | latexr an hour ago | parent [-] | | > Quite sad that some people are not able to put away their personal feelings about creator when judging the creation. A piece of art is informed by the artist, and it is incorrect to believe the two can be wholly separate. None of us are impartial robots, what we experience and believe informs what we do and how we do it to different degrees. That’s one of the major points of art, the expression of the author’s views, and videogames are art. Furthermore, the author of this piece clearly has complicated feelings regarding the game and they themselves make it explicit that they don’t feel it’s fair to pass judgement until experiencing all of it. What is sad to me is that so many people on this thread fail to see the nuance in the author’s piece, instead jumping to judge any discussion of existing controversy as full on agreement and support. The world isn’t black and white, you don’t have to pick sides and actively fight everything. |
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| ▲ | danpalmer 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I sort of agree, but I can see their point. The author seems concerned that they strongly disagree with Blow, and have a piece of his writing that, if it echoes his world view, might end in a way they don't support, and they haven't got to the end yet. I'm personally less concerned. Partly because I attribute Blow's social opinions to naivety and ignorance rather than malice – e.g. I think he holds misogynistic views not because he is trying to be misogynistic, but because he's naive about the systemic bias in society, a criticism that can be levelled at many people. But otherwise, I'm less concerned about Order of the Sinking Star because he has said in interviews that the story is supposed to be interesting to a wide audience and not intended to be based on his world view in any way. The Witness also wasn't some right wing think piece, it was just pretentious. I get why a journalist would be concerned, but I think they're being overly cautious. |
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| ▲ | ehnto 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | There is a place for stories we don't agree with or that illustrate aspects of our world we might not be happy about, and the creator isn't necessarily complicit just for telling it. I feel we shouldn't hit the writers of those stories for telling them, as not everyone tells a story because they personally support it's message or the status quo it illustrates. I also think the enlightened have a habit of underestimating how much of an audience the status quo has, and I think that's an ignorance of its own. And because it's the internet I feel the need to subtext that this is by no means a supportive comment toward Blows personal beliefs. I don't know what they are! | | |
| ▲ | latexr 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | > Blows personal beliefs. I don't know what they are! From his tweets and streams I learned that he believes Trump is by far (his characterisation) the best president of his life time, and that he makes fallacious arguments such as defending a belief in God because (paraphrasing) “many physicists believe in it” (appeal to authority). I can’t tell you much more because I personally got tired of what I saw first hand and decided I shouldn’t spend my time on it. Things like the COVID conspiracies mentioned in the article are not something I can personally attest to. For better and worse there is a cult of personality around Blow. He puts his views out there and is constantly on stream, all of which is his choice. For sure it’ll lead to many more sales of the game from the fans, but it also opens the door to criticism. He’s very aggressive in sharing his opinion so there shouldn’t be any surprise there is pushback. Should that affect your purchase of the game? Only you can answer that. I can’t fault people for deciding to not monetarily support those whose beliefs harm their lives, and it seems worth considering that designers responsible for the game have disavowed the creator to the point they’ll be donating their part of the proceeds. |
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| ▲ | slopinthebag 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | what are his misogynistic views? the only thing i saw that people might take offence to was that he voted for trump, but he didn't seem like he was particularly happy to do so. | | | |
| ▲ | boxed 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | [flagged] | | |
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| ▲ | andersmurphy 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I mean it's part of the marketing play. Drama always is. This article will get more views because it throws some shade. More copies of Order of the Sinking Star will sell as a result. |
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| ▲ | baal80spam 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > I clicked on this expecting an interesting article That's on you - you shouldn't expect an interesting article from Polygon. |
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| ▲ | latexr 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > I'm not interested in the creator's background or personal beliefs! That’s your prerogative, but the world doesn’t revolve around your preferences. Other people are interested in those details, including the writer of the piece and the authors of the games that this game is based on. > devolved into a hit piece That is profoundly unfair. Any amount of criticism doesn’t immediately become a “hit piece”. Most of the article is about the game and the reviewer’s thoughts on it. Any mentions to the creator are thoughtful and well-weaved into the larger review, adding to the layers of complex feelings the writer has about the game. They add to it rather than detract, and you’d do well to appreciate the review as a thing in itself instead of assigning agendas. |
