#bioware fandom critical

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

I recently saw a conversation that started with "Why can't we have interesting characters like Merrill and Isabela and I immediately laughed because I remember back in the day when they were both trashed. Merrill was criticized for be too bratty and childlike. And Isabela was derided for being so open with her sexuality. She was constantly called 'slutty'. Its funny how people conveniently forget that when they complain about Vivienne and Sera. I even remember back in the days of Origins when some people whined about Leliana being too religious. And Morrigan will always be evil to half of the fandom. If its one thing I learned while being in this fandom is people may claim they want strong and or interesting/ a unique variety of female characters, most really don't. The female characters get trashed far more than any of the male characters. And I fully expect the cycle will continue for Dreadwolf.

[hanktalkin]

I don’t think a discussion about fandom racism is complete w/o the pointing out it’s specifically the anti-black racism. Fenris has far more extreme views than Vivienne, but she’s dragged through the mud for it. People would rather romance Reyes than Liam even tho the former is barely a character.

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

So after this N7 Day, its obvious as well as both sad and amusing how many people have forgotten the early N7 Days where there was either NO acknowledgement or we got a note of thanks or a glimpse of some art from the developers. BioWare DID NOT create N7 day, the fans did. Some of us have been around since the beginning and consider it a fun a little event and never expected much. Unfortunately as the years went by and the culture changed, people got it into their heads that the studio is supposed to have something massive for the fans when that was NEVER the case, .

Jennifer Hale and several other voice actors did a live stream event. She also made a charitable donation from the proceeds of her live signing received. N7 day is a fun day to celebrate the games, enjoy beautiful fan art, and also celebrate the friendships we made.

So many have forgotten that when they release something specifically for N7 day, its just a fun thing for the fans. Now if they were constantly releasing teasers like this on a monthly basis I would agree we're being teased too much.

Now I KNOW BioWare is NOT perfect by any means, but to want them to release something about the new game on N7 day and then to get angry at them for what they released is ridiculous to me. And with the harassment they get, I would not blame them if they did less or nothing during the next N7 day

[rawliverandcigarettes]

Thinking about Mass Effect, as you do, and how I'm kind of sad that the way it's been engraved in pop culture has more to do with the way internet reacted to it at the time than what the actual game is about. Yes sure, it's about romance (and not that much all things considered) and it's pulpy (but not solely because of hot lady aliens), but it's also intricate worldbuilding that touches on a lot of sharp ideas, and a complicated tug-of-war between a genuine and vulnerable belief in reconciliation and community VS post 9-11 US military propaganda and steadfast belief in heroic exceptionalism, and the melancholic yet energizing mood, and the daring narrative systems, and so so much more than the 'We'll Bang OKs" and the "There's No Shepard Without Vakarian" and the whole ME3 ending situation

It's all there, but I'm sad the impact of the series is often reduced to (what I think is) the least interesting parts of its sum

[illusivesoul]

People when game characters have their own goals and motivations, aren't yes men to whatever the player says and don't change their views and opinions just cause the player wants them to

[anneapocalypse]

I do actually think it's important to separate criticism of Bioware and EA's labor practices from speculative criticism of a game itself based on its promotional material. I think this because I believe the layoffs and insufficient compensation would still be morally wrong and worthy of criticism regardless of the game's quality. Dragon Age: The Veilguard could be the greatest video game ever made, a critical and commercial smash hit, and the layoffs would still be worthy of criticism and the workers entitled to fair compensation.

I don't think it's productive to conflate the two, or to suggest that the game will be bad because of unfair labor practices. You see the problem with that line of reasoning? If the game turns out to be great, then that whole argument is refuted. The quality of the game should have no bearing on our solidarity with workers.

So far as I am aware, the laid-off workers have not at this time called for an organized boycott. (Boycotts are one tool in the toolkit of labor activism, but not the only tool.) If you nonetheless believe you should not personally buy the game because of the layoffs, then I believe the quality of the game should not enter into that decision. If that's your conviction and you're sticking to it, I do respect that choice (with the caveat that playing a pirated copy and discussing it on social media is still a form of promotion of the game).

Given that a boycott has not been called for, I do think that it's valid to both plan to buy the game and expect to like it, and to voice criticism of the company's labor practices and express solidarity with the workers who made it.

If what you believe is that you won't enjoy the game when it comes out, and are making a decision not to buy it for that reason, that's also fine and a decision I respect. It's just a different decision than choosing not to buy the game as a form of labor protest.

If you believe that you will not enjoy the game, and you fully intend to buy it anyway, that's also a choice you're fully entitled to make, I just think it's a choice that you should own. Criticizing a product that you paid for is completely valid; we do it all the time in fandom. It's just not the same thing as labor activism. It's media criticism. These two things can have overlap, but they're fundamentally different activities driven by different motivations. I just think it's good to distinguish between them.

[zundely]

Sorry for a little petty and not a very positive post but it gets on my nerves a little when I see people being like "My RPG choice/romance is in the Bioware CANON WORLDSTATE we won!" like I dunno what to tell you man, congrats your singleplayer game choices were approved by the corporate or whatever but it's a little weird you want to use it to make your, again, singleplayer RPG game choices feel more valid then other ones.

And while in plot choices it's bad because it feels unecessary discourse about which choices are the 'correct ones', it really rubs me the wrong way when it is about romance options. Because first- there obviously shouldn't be a right and wrong romance choice. There shouldn't be secret winning romance. And second- if it is a thing that there is a romance option that gets loads of attention from creators because they chose it as more canon then others... yall realise why this is actually a bad thing right? Especially when usually it's a straight locked romance? And how it's especially bad when there is no alternative with comparable plot relevance? Like I dunno if that's winning guys when all but one choice in the game with multiplechoices don't get any followup in the narrative.

[metaben]

also the so-called "full release" (it wasn't, but hey) of BG3 has been out for a year and they're still making alterations to the story/character narratives as if that shit isn't stuff they should have been more than certain of already. incompetent ass devs fr

[v-arbellanaris]

im as excited abt da4 as anyone but the weird way this fandom is now like idk Committing Revisionisms about dai specifically is insane to me. the game was written by white people, is riddled with pro-colonialist, pro-imperialist, racist, anglocentric writing, and i certainly will not fucking Accept that just because ppl want to imply im only criticising it because im too stupid to understand the themes and narratives and maybe i would be better off if i just accepted the media for what it is even as it borrows things from my own religion and culture and faith but only to imply im responsible for my own oppression and also everything i believe in and value is inherently inferior

[justcallmecappy]

One of the criticisms I've seen DA players have in response to Anders' actions at the Kirkwall Chantry is some degree of, 'his actions forced innocent mages into a war they had no choice whether or not they wanted to be involved in'.

What a lot of these players seem to miss is this: The mages were already involved. They have been involved since childhood, when their magic manifested.

If you are born a mage in Southern Thedas, you are marked. The Templars will find you, or your neighbors who were conditioned by the Chantry to fear magic will turn you in, and you are brought to the Circle where you are at risk of Tranquility, or Annulment, and subjected to a Harrowing. Your children born to you in the Circle will be taken from you to be raised in a Chantry orphanage (like Wynne's child was). You are not allowed to get married, or start a family, or own land. You are not allowed to leave your Circle ever, unless conscripted to fight in the army (like in the Fifth Blight) or fulfilling some whim or need of those in power (like Malcolm Hawke being made to entertain nobles at a party). You might be thrown into the dungeon and left to starve to death, like the mage child Cole (and other mage apprentices of the White Spire) did. You are at risk of physical and sexual abuse, like the mages of the Gallows were.

Innocent mages were already involved. They were already being killed, they were already fighting for their lives for centuries since the inception of Circles, long before Anders' actions.

Also, in the case of the Gallows specifically, Knight-Commander Meredith had already called for the Annulment as early as the beginning/mid of Act 3. The mages' lives were already in danger, even before the Chantry was destroyed.

Anders tried for six years to make people listen and show how magic is not meant to be feared and can be used for good -- by publishing a manifesto, by providing free magical healthcare in Darktown -- to bring people's attention to the plight of mages and change things for the better. It took the imminent threat of his people being slaughtered wholesale for him to resort to what is aptly titled 'The Last Straw'.

If players want to blame anyone for subjecting mages to a conflict they did not want, look no further than the Chantry and their system of exploitation and oppression over the mages. Put blame on the Chantry for forcing mages into lives they did not choose, and asserting methods of culling and control over them, simply for how they were born. It was the Chantry that gave them no choice whether or not they had a say in staying alive or dying.

And if DA players would still say that the mages could have tried for a more "peaceful route" to alleviate their circumstances (despite seeing how Anders' manifesto, his Darktown clinic, and years of trying to negotiate with Elthina failed and Meredith was calling for Annulment anyway): very rarely do the oppressed win change by pandering to the morals of their oppressors.

Innocent mages were already suffering and being murdered in droves, for centuries. Innocent mages were already involved in this struggle, whether they wanted to be or not. And Anders' actions at the Chantry was like a rallying cry: If we're going to die anyway, then I'd rather die trying to take them down than giving them what they want.

(Also, I have not yet gone into detail on what actually started the mage-templar war, which was the Seekers hiding the cure for Tranquility, and Lord Seeker Lambert's decision to dissolve the Nevarran accord and take the Templars hunting for the free mages across the countryside because he decided dead mages were better than free mages -- because that's a whole separate post.)

[ysali]

unpopular opinion maybe but da2 qunari were the most racist they'd ever been in terms of being orientalist antiblack stereotypes. that doesn't mean i think the Veilguard qunari designs are necessarily good, but why are we praising da2 for theirs? in da2 qunari were all nearly identical big muscular brutes and war lords. like by design. regardless of whether they were qunari or tal vashoth. literally they all looked the same and we were expected to kill them in droves like a faceless inhuman horde

getting ahead of the "oh but this is a retelling by varric to Cassandra so maybe all the qunari looked big scary and identical in their imagination" argument. 1) that is a lazy excuse for bioware for their own flawed writing in da2. 2) implies that varric and Cassandra are racists lmao

they are "militant Islamic borg" in case you have forgotten what bioware writers have said about them in the past. they were antiblack / north African caricatures (and i cannot stress this enough) BY DESIGN. are u guys being serious here? or did i play a completely different da2 than everyone else?

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

I've been in this fandom since I was 17. I'm now an adult and running my own business and one thing I realized awhile back when replaying the series is that I enjoyed it so much more playing it on my own and not relying on the opinions of others. So I can't stress enough that people need to stop listening to the fans with their sanctimonious self righteous diatribes and form your own opinions.

I feel like such a fool for believing everything that was said and written back then and now I see many people have an agenda and an obsession for control. And too many build up their own fan bases on fear and bullying.And I won't get into the lying about some fanons being canon.

There are things I love and dislike about each game but the dislikes are not enough for me to not enjoythe games. People have the right to play these games not only the way they want to, they have the right to play them in peace. I plan to play Dreadwolf on my own and make my review after I play it. Too many people in this fandom can't be trusted to be honest and fair.

[bellamer]

If Davrin is a fully fleshed character with a fully fleshed romance, with his redeeming qualities and flaws as all characters should have, I’ll be proud of BioWare. Proud that they finally got it right. But not that proud because why the fuck did it take you people so long to finally figure out how to do black characters ? Jacob Taylor was the worst racial stereotype of a character that they pushed out, literally made him an adulterous man with father issues, who cheats on you six months in with a side chick and gets her pregnant not to mention that he’s racist but he works for a racist terrorist organization so of course he’s racist. Then you have Liam Costa, and Liam isn’t really bad per se and I haven’t romanced him but he, along with a lot of characters in Andromeda just felt flat because the game so was rushed that it felt like they didn’t have time to flesh these characters out so it really isn’t just a Liam thing, it’s an entire game thing. And don’t bring up Captain Anderson. I love Captain Anderson, he’s great but he eventually gets killed off so while he’s great, his death still leaves us with one less black character that actually brings something to the table so we still have Jacob who’s the absolute worst and Liam who we’re probably not going to see again due to Andromeda being so widely hated that it’s uncertain that they’re going to even return to it with Ryder and the Tempest crew.

But it’s 2024, we should know how to write black characters by now. Like it’s not fucking hard to get black people in the writers room for advice on how to handle these characters.

Like I’ll give them a flower if they actually took the time to get it right and right their wrongs but I’m not going to suck their dick and act like they’re the greatest of all time when it took them way longer than it should have and there’s still the high chance of them not getting it right because their track record fucking sucks and the fact that even though it’s 2024, not even Larian studios could give their black character a speckle of attention and with the way fandoms are still openly racist, Davrin could have the best possible romance and storyline and he’ll still be sidelined for a white character fandom-wise because a majority white fan base with crumple at the thought of actually trying to like a black character

In conclusion my hopes are high that BioWare will do better with Davrin than their previous black characters and that they’ll treat Davrin better than how Larian treats Wyll but given their previous track record my hopes are not that high and video game studios will still put the preferences of their white audience over their BIPOC audience so while there’s a high chance that they’ll do better there’s still a higher chance that they’ll completely fumble the ball

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

As someone who is Bi, I am tired of people saying Thane can't be Bi because he had a wife.  Music legend David Bowie was openly Bisexual until the day he died but he was also happily married to super model Iman and they had a daughter.  You can be Bi and still love somebody of  the opposite gender.  I will never understand why some people can't comprehend that.

[niofo]

it's always weird to me when ppl say that there's too much dalish and that games pander to solavellan content, when the dalish were always treated like shit by bioware. you can literally murder/cause death of an entire dalish clan every game, your dalish character is constantly converted to andrastianism, dalish companions are treated either as stupid (merrill) or mean and violent (velanna), not to mention you barely even can interact with your own heritage in a meaningful way (the fucking "who is mythal" dialogue).

should there be more city elf or more dwarf content? absolutely, but it should not be introduced instead of the dalish content. you know who already had way too much screentime? the fucking chantry, gtfo with it finally. i don't really care about solas or solavellan, but don't lie to me that the dalish had some sort of a special treatment bcos of that, they were a butt of a joke ever since da2, and we don't even have a dalish companion in inquisition. instead of looking at others who are getting bare scraps, let's look at who is always getting a whole ass cake no matter what.

[illusivesoul]

Leliana in DAI: *just saw the woman she faithfully served for years and the peace effort she was leading get blown up, is declared an insurrectionist and a heretic by what's left of the organization that helped her find a new purpose in life after being betrayed by Marjolaine and has to deal with the massive number of assasins, threats and other enemies the inquisition faces (and depending on your choices may have romanced a Warden that died or was possibly killed herself by the Warden)

Players: "Why won't Leliana tell me stories ☹️?"