💞

(I didn't write exactly this - Joshua's much more concise/clear-headed here, and I am guilty of getting very high-minded about it myself. And, tbh, I found the throughline thought as hard to find in writing as all the readers probably did...

But I *almost* did! And people Did Not Like That!)

My experience of the pushback has been a kind of factor of the latent distrust people have for... everything? Everyone's conspiracy-pilled: this game must have been some sick venture, the outcry is a marketing campaign, it's all engineered. No boring explanations or simple misunderstandings allowed.

Hahaha. Pain.

…there’s little point in bringing a reluctant or “media illiterate” reader/player along with you if you’re not bringing them anywhere interesting or challenging. It’s a chute that only funnels you down, into ‘content’

Said with maximum respect for Alexa who is a brilliant writer in a field far more complex than I think anyone outside of it could comprehend, to be clear. Maybe not a helpful contribution tbh - and maybe it’s a unique problem of gamedev that you have to write empathetically. But…

"I don't mind [bad thing] because the game is fun" is how every single bit of insidious shit wormed its way into games so far, and indeed every other medium that's been systematically enshittified / dehumanised over the years. You should care more about your hobby than your fav new game's metascore.