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[sigmaZ]

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Kinda weird to see people actually defending Sweet Baby here or even taking issue with a steam curator page that is just out there to inform people.

 

[IAmRei]

I just find the way Sweet Baby talk about representation, inclusion and sensibility stuff really phony and gross...
My opposition is not even due to "woke", is just gross.

It's much more beautiful to me, when diversity is born out of pure artistic intention (Final Fantasy 9, for example) from the developers themselves.

(Edit: Picture for reference)

Then a external hand, just doing it to check boxes on a notepad.

Also, arts capacity of shocking you, of making you squirm, has value.
And is something that is lost with all of this.

Remember when Final Fantasy 16 mention of sexual abuse towards (If I'm not mistaken) children was removed by localization?
It wasn't portrayed in a good light, a VILLAIN did that.

There was an artistic intention with that, for the writer, that was lost in localization, because it's insensitive.

Sweet Baby is very much anti-art and creativity.

Diversity and inclusion has to be born out of pure artistic intention. Not external hands.

I see FF9 i press like

 

[balls of snow]

Still gonna get Hyper Light Breaker sorry.

 

[MayauMiao]

Source (Niche Gamer)

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44858017-Sweet-Baby-Inc-detected/

A new Steam curator is making it their mission to warn gamers if Sweet Baby Inc. has been involved in a game’s development.

For those who don’t know, Sweet Baby Inc. is a narrative consultation company that offers a variety of services including:

• Writing: “Cinematics, Dialogue, UI/UX writing, Barks, Copywriting, Etc”
• Narrative: “Story pitches, World Building, Character Creation, Narrative Design, Story Feedback and Tweaks, and more”
• Representation: “Cultural Consultation, Sensitivity And Inclusivity Reading, Risk and Opportunities Assessment, and more”
• Development: “Full-scale Game Development and Interactive Fiction”

The curator uses proof of the company’s involvement retrieved either through credits uploaded to YouTube or from Sweet Baby’s website directly. You can check out the Sweet Baby Inc detected curator here.

The curator is by no means a comprehensive list, and Sweet Baby has claimed to be involved with dozens of companies, including:

• Xbox Game Studios
• Electronic Arts
• Valve
• Santa Monica Studios
• Tru Luv
• 2K
• Polytron
• Wizards of the Coast
• Square Enix
• Ubisoft
• Raw Fury
• Compulsion Games
• and more

While narrative consulting isn’t an unusual service to offer, critics of Sweet Baby are concerned that the company is more concerned with pushing their own ideological goals than with the quality of the product or its reception by fans.

Thanks. Almost got myself Starfield so now I'm not going to touch it.

 

[BlitzerRadic]

And they don't want it in the game anymore in arabic countries?



Insomniac and all the others are a bunch of hypocrites.

Naughty Dog is virtue signaling all day long and in the background they're outsourcing to countries that don't give a fuck about the most basic human rights.

Corporate trash. All of them.

Are you a dumbass? Its not in the game in those countries because the government there told them it cant be in the game.

 

[Soodanim]

Are you a dumbass? It's not in the game in those countries because the government there told them it cant be in the game.

Which means ideals have a price, and the commitment to progressive design and ideals only goes as far as country borders. Beyond that, those pesky ideals aren't going to get in the way of profits.

I don't particularly care, but that rings a bit hollow to me. It drops the facade of companies caring, that's for certain.

 

[hemo memo]

“Our mission is to tell better, more empathetic stories while diversifying and enriching the video games industry. We aim to make games more engaging, more fun, more meaningful, and more inclusive, for everyone.“

 

[xrnzaaas]

What's Sweet Baby's problem? Aren't they advertising on their page which companies they're working with?

Besides it's just information with a list of games, not some aggressive messaging "don't buy product X because company Y was involved".

 

[Larxia]

Which means ideals have a price, and the commitment to progressive design and ideals only goes as far as country borders. Beyond that, those pesky ideals aren't going to get in the way of profits.

I don't particularly care, but that rings a bit hollow to me. It drops the facade of companies caring, that's for certain.

Exactly. If they truly cared about these topics, they wouldn't release the games in those countries. Editing them out to still release them is hypocrisy.

 

[GymWolf]

Kinda weird to see people actually defending Sweet Baby here or even taking issue with a steam curator page that is just out there to inform people.

Some fanboys can't criticize sweet baby too much because they indirectly criticize their momma sony/m for choosing them.

Some were saying that panderman 2 is not woke at all , do the math.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

If they are writers for junk games would any agenda be pushed? No ones playing the recent junk they put out?

 

[makaveli60]

Almost as if companies use consultant groups to execute on their existing vision and the consultant group doesn't actually make any decisions or even challenge the company in any meaningful way.

Wrong. They use consultant groups like this to have higher ESG score and get money for it. They are actually forced to get higher ESG score to stay afloat. Don’t you see the problem with this approach? Back in the day you could have diverse characters without this bullshit (both in movies and games), and it was just normal, no one forced anything, the characters were genuine and it was not about “look at me, I’m X alphabet or X color.” Nowadays this diversity thing just means forced checkboxes.

 

[BaldingAshCrimson]

Kinda weird to see people actually defending Sweet Baby here or even taking issue with a steam curator page that is just out there to inform people.

I just have the feeling that is just because it hasn't affected them yet.

I have a hard time imagining people not having an issue with a studio wanting to tackle a certain issue in their game, or write a character a certain way, design them a certain way, or include something nightmare inducing in their game (Like Paz's rape tape in Metal Gear Solid 5 Ground Zeroes, for example).

And Sweet Baby coming in and going "No, because that's insensitive towards ________".

Why should artists care about that? That has never been the case before. There is a place on this world for art that pushes buttons, and ones that are more "safe" (Those have value too).
I'm genuinely not trying to sound like an asshole, but that's what art is. It can make you happy, it can make you relate to certain things, but it also can make you disgusted, uncomfortable or literally make you vomit. Intentionally or not.

If you have an issue with a way developers wrote, designed or tackled a certain issue or character, you criticize them for it.

Happened with Quiet in MGS 5, where Kojima dropped that embarrassing defense, instead of just saying "I like boobies".

People did that with the Berserk manga. Where they said that Miura (R.I.P) relayed too much on rape, to the point where it came off fetishistic.
And he acknowledged that criticism, and even apologized for it. He genuinely felt like he did that.

But if he didn't, and all he said was that "this is what I want to do, fetishism is not the intention here at all", that should be 100% acceptable.

This is not a world you guys want to live in. Where Sweet Baby, or companies like it can just swoop in and go "Nah, you ain't doing that. That's very insensitive, and you are a bad person".

 

[SF Kosmo]

Wrong. They use consultant groups like this to have higher ESG score and get money for it. They are actually forced to get higher ESG score to stay afloat. Don’t you see the problem with this approach? Back in the day you could have diverse characters without this bullshit (both in movies and games), and it was just normal, no one forced anything, the characters were genuine and it was not about “look at me, I’m X alphabet or X color.” Nowadays this diversity thing just means forced checkboxes.

ESG scores aren't calculated based on the content of games, man. It's more about the diversity of the employees and corporate governance. That's not really what Sweet Baby does as best I can tell. I'm sure there are consultancies for that but I think Sweet Baby is more focused on content.

 

[Sentenza]

That must be LITERALLY A NAZI.

 

[NickFire]

I don’t see the issue with a filter like this. Sounds like free advertising for the company and its work. Would think they’d appreciate having their work highlighted for people who value it. If they don’t want people to know what games they worked on that’s just weird.

 

[Tajaz2426]

Are you a dumbass? Its not in the game in those countries because the government there told them it cant be in the game.

That means while they are telling folks they are bigots for not liking the gay stuff throughout, while at the same time are willing to kneel to countries who tell them their beliefs are wrong.

They state they are a progressive company and that they have shared beliefs, while holding their beliefs together like a wet piece of paper in a hurricane. Their beliefs are for sale.

Just the same as the folks who say stand up to this nonsense, but bow to a paycheck and say I can’t say what I want because of being cancelled. You either believe in your morals or you do not. There is no in between.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

What a massive cunt.

And yet people defend this company and these mentally deranged scumbags.

It's the same type of people defending this group as the ones who are in it. Cunts.

 

[makaveli60]

ESG scores aren't calculated based on the content of games, man. It's more about the diversity of the employees and corporate governance. That's not really what Sweet Baby does as best I can tell. I'm sure there are consultancies for that but I think Sweet Baby is more focused on content.

But it’s something that they can use as “hey, we are poromoting this and this in our work of art look how much good we do for Society”. Anyway, you just have to put 2 and 2 together to see where all this come from and where it leads. I don’t think there is more to argue about this topic.

 

[Fake]

Some fanboys can't criticize sweet baby too much because they indirectly criticize their momma sony/m for choosing them.

Some were saying that panderman 2 is not woke at all , do the math.

We have very example here in gaf. I don't wanna point fingers, but there are lot of Sony fanboys here that need to take a leason.


I mean, even before Sony start to consult Sweet Baby, those same fanboys was attacking Microsoft for doing something similar.

Look at the people defending here. Some have the right to do it, but they actually destroy the same premisse from others subject like this famouns quote 'If you don't like, don't use' or 'If you don't like, just ignore'.

They need to find a balance between what is right and what is wrong and stick with that. When I believe in something, I either change my mind because a civil conversation or stick to this ideia to the end.
What I see here is a bunch of lazy hypocrites that change the music tone as soon as their argument start to fall apart.

Same shit with gaming cruch. People here like 'BRUH THIS IS BAD, WHY ARE YOU SUPPORTING CRUCH'?, but 2024 we have this absurd amount of people getting fired and I assure to you they would prefer working more hours than being send to their home without job.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

It's the same type of people defending this group as the ones who are in it. Cunts.

 

[Kacho]

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

Are you a dumbass? Its not in the game in those countries because the government there told them it cant be in the game.

It's fake activism/virtue signaling to say these are things that matter and then strip them completely to sell the game in another region. Unless you're the type of person who only takes a stand when it's convenient.

 

[Slimboy Fat]

Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

Infantile swearing is such a sure tell of these people. We shouldn't simply report him, no we need to report the "fuck" out of him presumably because he is a "piece of shit".

 

[DonF]

Is there any real correlation or is that more an issue for an extreme minority of players, albeit a very vocal minority? Spider-man 2 has sold 10m already.

When I look at their projects, I see some duds but I also see some big hits.

I can asure you that every second and cent spent with them could have been used better, and thus their involvement made the game worse.

 

[LordCBH]

The sooner companies like Sweet Baby go out of business and their asshole employees get blacklisted from the industry, the better.

 

[Madonis]

At least a couple of those are pretty good games, so I don't see the logic in this sort of...guilt by association.

Mind you, I'll use reviews, videos and other types of content for the purpose of judging the quality of a game, not just a certain company's name in the credits.

 

[Darkkahn]

This is hilarious!

 

[Shadowstar39]

Thanks op, added to my curator list in steam. About time. Whats crazy is normal people don't want this shit, its that these devs are in a bubble. There is a reason they keep pushing the same shit and watching it fail but not learning from the mistakes. Any reporting on what games to avoid is good. People need to not give in and let publishers know we aren't buying your games if you keep pushing ideology. Just make a good game like you used to, common sense.

It sucks as in the past I would of never questioned is this story or character here or agenda pushing or is it just part of the logical story. As these things in the modern age all feel forced. Seen it in shows when they start pushing it (usually after a number of successful seasons, ie walking dead and got got infected later on) .

 

[nush]

Sweet Streisand effect baby.






It was just an OK, that's a filter people might want, right up until the Sweet baby employee threw a shitfit.

 

[graywolf323]

They, sadly, see themselves as doing a service and “fighting the good fight”. They are blind to their hypocrisy.

they believe they’re on the “right side of history” so that means they can do whatever they want since it’s justified due to those that dare oppose them being “evil”

they’re completely ignorant about how some of the worst atrocities committed by man have been done exactly by those who also believed they were on the right side of history

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Does this hero have a gaf account? Someone send him an invite.

 

[Hudo]

Let people do what they want to do, imho. If this curator has value to some people, let them subscibe/use it. No one is forced to interact with it.

 

[graywolf323]

Steam really needs to up the amount of accounts you can follow, limiting it to 100 when you have thousands of curators/developers/publishers is ridiculous

 

[BlackTron]

they believe they’re on the “right side of history” so that means they can do whatever they want since it’s justified due to those that dare oppose them being “evil”

It is hilariously un-self-aware and makes it seem like they expect power dynamics in adult life to still basically be robots vs. dinosaurs

 

[Shadowstar39]

The only reason Sweet Baby exists is because companies get paid for having LGBTQ+ Friendly content in their games, which also means investors and suits get paid bonuses.

But why? They can't all be wanting this. Is there that many investors who have billions What happened to just making good products for everyone? Why does every game have to have this? Why not make games like that specifically for that, people wouldn't complain and would be for it.

Just like porn , Imagine watching porn and instead of watching Debbie does Dallas you get " Long Dong silver does Dallas. People would be rightfully mad, or if you are gay and watch gay porn only to be greeted with Debbie and friends, you would be pissed..

I used porn as an extreme example, but this applies to shows, movies games etc... Bait and switch isn't cool. Using and subverting fan loved properties to push messaging isn't cool. Don't change Wolverine, or Blade, make a new character with their own story arc and own game.

Also they have to see that failing financially or not making what they could be making is not sustainable, and bad for business.

 

[Draugoth]

But why? They can't all be wanting this. Is there that many investors who have billions What happened to just making good products for everyone? Why does every game have to have this? Why not make games like that specifically for that, people wouldn't complain and would be for it.

Just like porn , Imagine watching porn and instead of watching Debbie does Dallas you get " Long Dong silver does Dallas. People would be rightfully mad, or if you are gay and watch gay porn only to be greeted with Debbie and friends, you would be pissed..

I used porn as an extreme example, but this applies to shows, movies games etc... Bait and switch isn't cool. Using and subverting fan loved properties to push messaging isn't cool. Don't change Wolverine, or Blade, make a new character with their own story arc and own game.

Also they have to see that failing financially or not making what they could be making is not sustainable, and bad for business.

Extra money. Who is on top usually doesnt care about the quality of games, if western games don't obly to requests of inserting the stuff Baby Inc advocates for in games, they can even suffer reprisals

 

[PSlayer]

I'm following it now. Thanks OP.

 

[Larxia]

Someone from sweet baby is throwing a tantrum over this on twitter:


So basically, they want the person who made the curator banned because... that person doesn't like sweet baby? So, you're not allowed to dislike a company now? It's mandatory to like them and their work?
The woke sphere will always be a mystery to me, they always claim to be the tolerant left, but they are the most intelorant people in the world lol If you have any ideas that are different from their ideas, you have to die.

So he deleted his tweet and made his account private now lol

https://twitter.com/itskindred/

 

[Fermbiz]

No wonder MK1 is so ass...

 

[March Climber]

Unironically, this has told me all I need to know. If this were Tencent, Blackrock Vanguard etc. do you think you would see them behaving this way on twitter or even addressing this at all? There would be no need for them to do so. They don't need to address anything this petty at all.

The difference between Sweet Baby and the companies listed above, is the difference between a player at a poker table and an owner of a casino, but people are oddly treating them like the latter. I guess in people's minds there needs to be a scapegoat for the general culture surrounding San Fran and California. I bet that if this company went out of business tomorrow it would be a small blip on a big radar.

 

[lifa-cobex]

"There's a lot of people upset about this and I say good. Fuck um!"

 

[Moriarty1889]

Kinda weird to see people actually defending Sweet Baby here or even taking issue with a steam curator page that is just out there to inform people.

You are correct sir but there are A LOT OF WEIRDOS out there today.

 

[Moriarty1889]

So he deleted his tweet and made his account private now lol

https://twitter.com/itskindred/

Shows what a fucking coward and head case he is.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Baby Beel is best baby.

 

[Osaka_Boss]

Alan Wake 2 is good. They were consulted but at least It seems they devs stand their ground. I recommend AW2

 

[Kacho]

"There's a lot of people upset about this and I say good. Fuck um!"

Love seeing this blow up. Get these phony grifters the fuck out of this industry. The more people aware of this the better.

 

[thief183]

I'd love to see sweet baby clos2 down, so I'm never gonna pay for any game they have been worked on, so I welcome this.

 

[thief183]

"There's a lot of people upset about this and I say good. Fuck um!"

This guy lives in his own trash... why would I want to even listen to his opinion? (Even if I probably agree with him in this case)