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Yeah, that’s an aspect of the industry I did not see coming. I miss old gaming press and being anxious about whether they liked the graphics. :(

Societally, there’s a benefit to ignoring the goons who whine about woke [insert subject here]. But from a profit standpoint, it’s better to be the first (or loudest) to amplify every shitty voice you find, just so you can get the attention of those opposed to the goons, (and the goons responding).

Is this just on YouTube or everywhere? Because YT has always been trash I feel like

The absolute worst are the "Fandom Menace" chuds. They employ every single trick in the book. And people seem to fall for it!

I believe this joke post from Reddit sums it up succinctly:

Outrage is one of the easiest ways to drive engagement. You'll find it on any platform that rewards engagement. Rewarding engagement is basically a short road to a toxic, negative platform. It's not just the social networks though -news networks have learned this too and it is self selecting.

The thing is, having watched this evolve: It's not (for all of them) that they don't know how or what to cover, it's that what they're doing - making rage takes - IS their coverage/content, not the games. They're not really "covering" media, they're making competing content.

We’re living through the era of dudes getting upset if a female fictional video game character doesn’t give them a boner.

Even if one finds an actual good video, youtube then just gives you tons of discourse bait suggestions and won't stop... it really is hard to find videos that actually have anything to say

The never ending need for more content slop to secure an ever dwindling share of the attention economy Ya know games journalists used to work in zany offices and only had to crank out 16 pages of content every month and they got health insurance for that?

that puddle nonsense was so funny/disappointing

Thank you pal. I do miss doing them but the opportunities were becoming rarer and rarer and they were getting encroached by bullshit rules about maximizing SEO potential. Like the first two paragraphs almost had to be garbage by the time I left PCGN

Stephanie Sterling said it best imo when she called it "outrage tourism"

You are 100% right, but blusky's architecture could be the way out of this very problem. Bottom up arcitechure and interaction, instead of top down shit filled firehoose. Still work to do to get to that comparitive utopia from here but this platform makes me much more hopeful.

This is probably because the viewership for these channels is 10 year old boys

Speaking as a former PhD candidate and someone who used to have high ideals about the betterment of society through education and knowledge … I get so depressed sometimes these days.

I've been accused of being charismatic (slanderous lie) so it annoys me to no end that I could make a frankly insulting amount of money if not for my Liberal Cuckold tendencies of having morals and shit

💯

The trailer for Witcher 4 makes me almost able to forget how boring I thought 3 was.

Hint: 🐺

Great summary of the rotten social media gaming ecosystem

I still maintain the worst recent example of the Hateosphere is the "backlash" against #TheLastJedi. The hate mongers really had a field day with their odious, nonsensical "reactions".

That's a fact. I imagine they were absolutely thrilled to see a woman in a violent fantasy game series be fantastically violent so they'd have something new to bitch and moan about for a couple of months.

The only question should be, “is this a game worth my hard earned money?”

Tell them Ciri was the actual main character all along and watch the fireworks.

The last game started and ended with Geralt being too old for this shit, do not pull him out of retirement for one last job, I forbid it

Well, that kinda encourages me to start writing about games. I've always wanted to do it and ask actual gaming journalists about it years ago, but it got sideswept.

It just had to have gwent

Perhaps the solution is simply to make spaces and promote the really good stuff. Let the outrage slop die of starvation or live on an island. The industry needs a place where that kind of content is not allowed and properly curated. It will never be YouTube while it is ad revenue based.

None of these grifters care about things that make games objectively worse, like the unhinged greed, mass layoffs and dismantling of one talented team after another. If anything it fills them with schadenfreude.

Exactly this. Where are the days we just ENJOY games being announced?

It’s the “my grandma used to bake these chocolate chip cookies” introductory essay to a recipe except filled with hate and vitriol.

Hear hear.

What I have seen they are basically saying Ciri looks too manly..... Ciri looked good as hell.

There is a controversy, that village deserved it if she killed them all.

Or as I like to call it, the “chud” industry.

Literally! I can't even remember the last time a video game or movie came out where there was no "controversy" or "outrage"

If most gamers relied on YouTube-based or any game "outrage," there'd be no game industry. It's all smoke for clicks & shadow publicity. Personally, after seeing that trailer, I'm really looking forward to playing it, as I think most gamers and Witcher game series (or book) fans are & would be. :)

Wait? The controversy is that you play as a woman? That’s it?

I do find this tiring. I just want to watch TV without a chamber of bros cancelling the shows I like

It’s really just racism and misogyny rebranded as being “anti woke” lmao

The golden rule still applies - ignore, block and move on

They didn’t finished the game… because if they had, they would have known this was where the game was going… I didn’t read the book and figured that out… the entire Witcher 3 was looking for her 🫠🫠

I didn't even know there was a new game trailer or any announcements, I'm pumped no matter what, hellck yeash.

i've been wondering about this youtube thing recently. i was watching videos about people being upset about this or that. but recently i saw a similar thing about some product being an absolute disaster and crashing after launch. but i saw the reviews were "mostly positive" so...weird. :-)

It's amazing how easy it is also to just, not even be remotely connected to that whole world anymore simply by not engaging on X. I genuinely didn't know it was happening, although I did assume it was

Is this like the fuss over one critical comment in an otherwise positive Frwnch review about Stellar Blade as seen in this video? youtu.be/WPsSguYNHpk?...

Is this like the fuss over one crotical comment in an otherwise positive review about Stellar Blade as seen in this video? youtu.be/WPsSguYNHpk?...

Weird take, since he wasn't in any of the games

That's Shaun's distinctive style 👍

Grummz

and they all have one of these faces in the thumbnail 😳🤯😱😨😯😦😧😮😲😵

I didn’t even know there was hate about it til late last night and I was like, of course. Just let them be. The internet in itself is full of hate and I feel like it’s thrown the world to a shitstorm. We need to start spreading love instead!

As a fan of Witcher 1 & 3 (not 2, though), I am looking forward to 4. The trailer looked terrific. Why outrage? Because the protagonist is female? Isn't that a bit puerile? And over the first trailer, not even a demo, let alone gameplay? *sigh*

Comments about this game that are on YouTube and X are a race to the bottom.

Whatever. ...a thread.....

It's disheartening as someone who does want to do video game content at some point. Seeing the absolute grime get such traction makes me wonder if anyone would care about an honest conversation regarding this medium.

AND THE FACT THAT THE GAME AWARDS PRESENTED IT AS WELL

I honestly really hate how things like rage bait seems to give a dopamine high, because it seems like even trying to have a normal conversation online is an exercise in futility. Honestly I'm about to give up on reddit entirely after 10+ years because of this. Though I do find this place to be good.

It's sad people can't just enjoy things

The whole outrage-farming industry is sickening. It took me a couple years to recognize what they were doing and stop following any more of their low-effort "content".

Let me guess, was the trailer "too woke" for the very sensitive feelings over facts guys?

@shaunvids.bsky.social has a yt video on how this works. Basically fake outrage and gamergate nostalgia.

Sometimes we should feel vindicated in telling these grifters to shut the fuck up and have no further conversation.

I had no idea there was a witcher 4

I'll miss Doug 🥹

Truth. There is probably people myself included who would have preferred to play as Geralt because I generally don't like switching protagonists in series. Same reason I don't want an Atreus God of War game. But I can be surprised. Ghost of Yotei switching protagonist is 100% the right call.

Let's remember there wasn't a real great controversy over #TheLastJedi, just some discussion on Internet fora about that particular installment. But the chuds weaponized their YouTube audience...

Did they not read the books? Like, even a bit?

Yea I don’t get the Witcher outrage. It’s not like Ciri is a new character or that they did some gender switch on her. It very literally picks up where Witcher 3 dropped off.

I can't wait for this game. It's going to be game of the year.

I’m fascinated by the psychology and socioeconomic aspects of this modern phenomenon. It’s not that hard to figure out; the goal is fame and fortune, picking a negative path even if ultimately destructive, can achieve those goals.

I see. So, Witcher 4 is getting the AEW treatment. Trailer looked cool. I’m excited.

"Are we to overlook" Yes, don't be stupid, it's fiction and Ciri clearly has always been a unique case

Dude, it's not your regular adult woman, it's freaking Ciri. Do you remember the ending of Witcher 3? She looks like an average human to you?

Anyone who gets angry that Ciri is the new main character is just grifting. It's so obvious to anyone who has played the games that it's been leading to that.

I want to co-opt the phrase "woke bug"; it now refers to something that has caught the attention of morons that will cry everything is woke because they don't like it. It got infected by "the woke bug". 🤣

Who are these misanthropes screaming about video game ladies not being hot/young enough and why aren't they more ashamed of their existence? It's beyond me man, how can you just scream about your social deviancy online like it's not super embarrasing? They need to touch grass pretty badly

"Genre Tourists," as Steph Sterling calls them.

I mixed it up, he met with Adin Ross.

Streamers like Asmon, CD, Quarter…, they’re just rage farming shits who know they can make money off of dumb incels. Asmon straight up tells his viewers they’re idiots and he’s a scam artist and always will be, then he goes back to rage farming about how some character model looks too manly.

Negativity and outrage = views

I'm so tired of those types of channels all the do is bitch snd moan and spread misery. I'm tired of that type of content

these is the best meta on this www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNtH... in that they get commuinity noted on how they "didn't even watch the video" just jumped straight to rage bait on it

I don't even really care about the series, but I guarantee my wife will play the game and likely enjoy it. She loves the TV Show and The Witcher 3. Whether she'll finish the game or not is a different story. She has a bad habit of picking up a game and not finishing it because another comes along 🤣

I am honestly really looking forward to Witcher 4. Cannot wait to play it.

Ragebait is really getting old. I know it has always been here, it just seems like it's gotten more prevalent since the old farts started using the Internet in the early 2000's.

The real problem with Witcher 4 is that I'm not playing it right now

I have nothing to add, but wanted to say thanks. Really well said. Puts to words for me what's so frustrating about online discourse around this medium we love.

Literally just manufactured outrage running out of things to be mad about crying for the camera.

On the positive side, there are a lot more men and women who are fans of The Witcher overwhelmingly excited that Ciri will be the protagonist. The anti-woke mob can cry all they want, but CDPR is going to deliver the most spectacular performance, and I'm so here for it!

Yeah, Ciri looks like a beautiful woman and some people are already whining about her chin wtf lol

there's no money in saying something is good and fine

Ding-ding-ding, absolutely correct. I've been saying it forever, but actively disengaging from rage bait (and doing it collectively(?)) is the easiest way to make the internet less shitty.

Day in and day out it's outrage. Living your life in constant anger, creating angry videos or articles, whatever, to shell out to people just as angry as you are to make money off of being mad at a woman or minority or both being the main character in a video game or show or movie.

on point with everything you said. Everything!

There's going to be a Fourth game?

This is one of those “half truth” type deals. She’s definitely been trained in martial combat by Witchers, but IMO even if she underwent the trial it probably wouldn’t change her very much. Her body is already coursing with power. If anything it would probably just her a nasty hangover.

Seriously. I'm guessing none of these guys played 3. Geralt literally had to save her from The Wild Hunt and train her to be a Witcher. It makes total sense if anyone ever actually played.

That endymion choad is one of the worst.

I saw the trailer for The Witcher 4, I didn’t find it too controversial

Geralt is basically a Virgin Mary.

This is a lot of why I avoid game journalism, which is sad because one of my favorite joys for years was reading every word in EGM or Game Informer when they showed up at my house.

It looks awesome either way!

I really dislike this new culture warrior YouTube rage farming meta we’re seeing. I struggle to call myself I gamer when this is how gamers make themselves known on the internet.

There are many non-controversies that hit the news cycle. And I typically ignore it until it's permeated every single thing and I have to comment in some fashion.

I'm so tired of women protagonists in games because I'm tired of grown adults being whiny babies about them existing. I just don't have the energy anymore to battle stupid.

Another topic for racist to get mad over, Thats pretty much it, almost all their points are made up assumptions

Yeah. I asked my "woke hating" step dad for his opinion and he gushed about how excited he was for this game and how bad ass Ciri is. The "controversy" is just among the brain rotted weirdos. Can't wait for this game.