Tired

[la_vie_noire]

Okay. I don't understand what the shit is happening with The Arkh Project. It's a shame the only game that looked inclusive enough is coming to this, but the more is coming out about the creator, the worse is looking.

I don't know. What do you people think? This is sf_drama, so the discussions are called "wank" and A LOT of the comments are a mess, but there ARE some qualms we shouldn't ignore.

ETA: Okay, frankly, the comments are making me distrust the whole post. A lot. Fucking shit ignorant people who have never heard the term Muxe before. So it's obviously ridiculous! And Two Spirits is such a stupid concept for these weeabos. I want to kill.

ETA 2: yeloson shared a better source describing the problems with Arkh (it doesn't have all the disgusting stuff going on at sf_drama). Talks about the strange stuff with the business transactions. It doesn't bode well.

Comments

[badgerbag]

I never heard of this before but I just got sucked into the rabbit hole of 8 million links and increasing levels of WTF!!!

[la_vie_noire]

Aaarg. And better not read it. So much shit going on.

[softestbullet]

sf_drama is terrible but it seems to me that Riley/dumbstuffwhitepplsay/gisei_nashi_ni/smallblackangel is a huge jerk and the team is unlikely to deliver on the project. Sucks for everyone who donated and got their hopes up. :/

[la_vie_noire]

Yes. And it's such shame because it really would have been a good thing.

[softestbullet]

So true. I was really excited when I first heard about it.

[colorblue]

badgerbag was tots correct; have been following links for the past couple of hours, and it is like getting sucked down the rabbit hole. @_@

Okay, my thoughts (as someone who just heard about this and isn't a video game fan, and will tune the whole thing out after I've finished typing up this comment):

(1) a lot of the reaction against The Arkh Project seems racist & transphobic, and I find it hard to garner sympathy for white cis people for being excluded from one game, JFC.

(2) I have no idea who GNN is, or what she's done to deserve so much vitriol, and I don't really care.

(3) Because the bottom line, as I see it, is to produce an amazing video game featuring characters not typically seen in video games. And going by what's up at The Arkh Project tumblr at the moment, I have serious doubts over their ability to do so.

I thought the critiques, when they got personal, were quite racist. But when they talked about the mechanics of what developing a game would probably require, the project development aspect of it, they seemed spot on.

I don't have any experience developing a game, but I feel like it would be as much a business as a creative project. And successful business projects require a detailed initial plan, solid cost estimates, a basic timeline by which certain goals should be met, a strategy for doing so that takes into account the potential pitfalls, etcetc. And they don't seem to have any of these things, seem to just be operating on ideals. And this wouldn't matter as much if the people heading this had experience, but they don't seem to have that, either.

It also seemed weird to me that the pitch for the game didn't start with a storyline, and I felt extremely uncomfortable by that fact. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I didn't see any place where they provided their characters with a context -- communities they came from, cultures that shaped them, a believable world to grow in, challenges they would have to face and overcome, etcetc -- didn't see anyplace where they gave them their own stories. And I would've thought that to be the most basic thing to do (especially if you're in it to dismantle hierarchies).

And perhaps it will all work out in the end, and there will be an amazing game that will come out of this that will have me apologizing profusely for being so wrong and eating all my words. I really hope so! But I do not think that will happen.

[la_vie_noire]

You are so right, I agree with everything about the reactions this game produced. A lot were racist, cissexist, body-policing, etc.

And I have no experience with business models, but you are so right, it really, really looks vague at the best.

Thank you for your response. I guess you are right, let's wait.

[yeloson]

A couple of weeks back I signal boosted this, but folks linked me stuff just a few days ago.

The key sign that indicates to me that this is probably fraudulent is:

a) Kickstarter vs. Indie-go-go

KS requires you meet the goals or everyone gets their money back. IGG doesn't. Meaning, if they didn't hit 3,000, and were "unable" to make the goal, they still get to keep the money.

b) "Perks are only given out if we make the $100,000 mark"

This was in tiny print, near the bottom. I had actually put in $10 expecting I would be getting a poster out of it. But, alas, unless they fully publish the game, (2,3, more years down the line), that's the only point when I will actually see the poster.

Posters ain't cheap, but they sure as hell ain't THAT expensive.

[la_vie_noire]

Hmm. Thank you. More shady stuff. Worse and worse, this looks.

[yeloson]

Here's the link I have, w/o the fucked up 'isms all over it:

http://hradzka.dreamwidth.org/427926.html

[la_vie_noire]

Thank you! That's very informative, going to link it.

[torachan]

I got sucked into reading a lot, too. -_- I had seen stuff supporting the game all over my tumblr dash for a while, and it seemed like it could be a neat thing if it ever got done, but now idk.

[la_vie_noire]

Yes. Maybe. I have my doubts, but really, everyday I'm more confused to be honest. And don't know what to think. I'm going to wait.

[torachan]

Yeah, the thing is, even if it does get finished (which, tbh, seemed kind of pie-in-the-sky even before I started hearing all this stuff), after reading about the gender essentialism and white-washing that is going on with the characters already, as well as magical mental illness, cultural fail, and typical skinny character designs, I don't know whether it would really be something to get excited about. >_<

[la_vie_noire]

I don't know, a lot of the arguments of gender essentialism and "white washing" bother me... The main character looks white... why? I never once associated him with "white," but a lot of people tend to think anime characters are white. And about "how a trans person has to act" in a game that still hasn't been released... hm.

But yeah, to be honest, the disability part rings some bells. But I don't know if people there are able-bodied or not.

Thing is people consume everything in media with serious racist, cissexist, ableist issues, done by white cis able-bodied people. And they don't make such a fuss; they talk about what they like, toss aside what bothers them. They discuss the problematic aspects, but still support the works they like. Some people even get defensive when people discuss the icky parts of their fandoms... etc. And NOW everyone is making a fuss... I don't know.

[torachan]

You're right. I think the difference (for the people who are not doing this out of grudgewanking and not upset because zomg it's not all about cis white straight people) is that when it's "one of us" or when something seems really super awesome at first, they get their hopes up much higher and so the disappointment is more when it's not everything they hoped for/were promised.

[dancesontrains]

why did i bother commenting there hold meeee ;-;

isn't it depressing that a republican dude can offer a way less gross post than the SJWs at sf_d (not saying that you shouldn't link him because of that or anything, but just as a general statement.)

[la_vie_noire]

Don't tell me THAT one is the republican dude? Dude, I had no idea. Really? WAY scary.

[dancesontrains]

Yeah.

[la_vie_noire]

Pffft, seriously, I have found less problematic stuff in his journal (even if NOW I'm looking side-eyed at his "suspicious") than in sf_drama.

[parlance]

*sigh* And it was such a wonderful idea.