Cancelling a pre-loaded pride event because you’re scared of right wing nutcases being mean to your playerbase is the very definition of letting the terrorists win.
Please please please email support.
The mod team is not happy about this either, and was responsive to me. Enough voices can change things.
If you haven’t play RuneScape - this has been a popular event for years. It’s always high quality fun. There have been stupid Fally protests and chuds but the events have always been really delightful.
Nice use of “gormless” 👏
If I ran a business, I wouldn’t engage in any political events whatsoever. I don’t think businesses should, quite frankly. Be politically neutral. I don’t believe doing so “supports the status quo,” and thereby oppresses people “de facto,” that’s just pressure from activists to support them. You support gay people on your service by letting them play and putting down any instances of anti-gay rhetoric on your platform. Simple as that.
I think its easy and smart to make political decisions as a business, it simply has to come from a place of pure empathy for real people who actually exist.
Calling pride month a political event is one of the most wildly bigoted takes I’ve ever heard.
Game companies need to focus on making good games. Take “pride” in that.
For an mmo game that was released 2 decades ago and has a large established userbase, the main thing left to do to continue being a good game is organising events for continued engagement.
This would not have taken anything from the other teams. The assets already exist.
This is extra funny because the first time a pride event was added people were protesting and spamming “we pay no gay” seems the culture has shifted.
I think it’s that the world has changed into having fractured multiple cultures.
In the 80s/90s being gay was considered by general society to be an insult. If you’re under 25, the concept of something being negative being called “gay” as the standard insult just sounds made up.
But people who are 40 years old may remember being in school, and you got a D on a quiz. Your buddy might say “You got a D? That’s gay.”
Had nothing to do with actual homosexuality. It’s just that’s what society was. Being gay wasn’t accepted, and it was cool and trendy to hate on gays to the point that it wasn’t questioned if you called anything bad “gay”.
It’s impossible to place an exact date on when the culture changed, because it likely changed at different times for different regions. I assume California was the first to change.
I first noticed the shift in pop culture around 2003. There was a russian pop singer duo/band called tatu. Terrible music, but they kissed in their one hit wonder music video.
The reactions I saw on MTV were people saying they were brave for being openly gay. Whereas if it would have happened in the 80s, I’m sure they’d have gotten death threats.
And I STILL see people who don’t accept gay people.
So society is now fractured on what popular belief is. Now it’s more like several circles, who all have different views. As opposed to one giant unified viewpoint, with those not conforming left on the outside in the underground.
Because that’s just one topic. There’s other people who are ok with gay people, but not ok with trans. So thats another circle. Now imagine every single viewpoint which has a counter viewpoint.
Whereas in the 80s, something like 92% of the vote went towards reagan, and everybody conformed to the preapproved normal viewpoints. We don’t do that anymore. We each find our own meaning of normal.
Now me personally, I don’t find giving a nazi salute to be normal. But you’ll still find herds of people defending musk. You’ll also find people like me who say fuck musk, and fuck any self identifying nazi. So, another example of how different people are now in different circles.
tatu was a masterclass in queerbaiting
The meaning of the word Gay has shifted a lot in different directions over the decades. Way, way back “gay” had the meaning of joyful and fun, without any form of connotation to sexuality. Just as a addition to your text, please don’t read it in any kind of negative meaning.
I will not accept All the Things She Said slander
Society is always fractured in a shift of values. More extreme examples are women rights and christ/islamic values vs. secularism.
Of course there’s always being Nazi apologists and equally there’s always been people who are just incapable of moving with the times. That’s not a new thing that’s always been the case.
Wow, the way he phrased his reasoning is so undoubtedly cowardly too. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that it’s performative as fuck lol.
Anti-woke go broke.
Go fasch, lose cash
Go woke or go broke.
Not woke? Go broke.
Throw rocks at fascists. Okay the rhyme needs some work
Smite the Reich?
Strike the Reich.
Canceled Pride? Well, I canceled my sub!
There is a player run unofficial pride house party happening on the 21st
Another instance of Jagex being fucked. The cycle continues.
In my opinion companies shouldn’t do anything about any month of anything. They often use it as a marketing tactic
RuneScape regularly does holiday events. Theyve done it for Christmas and Halloween as far back as RS1 - like, the Christmas hats are the iconic RuneScape thing. People have paid obscene amounts of real money for them.
The Pride event was no different. You get fun little items for completing a silly little quest. It’s not even like mega “gay”, it’s just cute and inclusive.
Its a tradeoff, we know they only do things for the bottom line but having pridr celebrations did reinforce exactly what the pride movement wanted to push. My work isnt that bad tbh they have a committee that runs talks and discussions on equity and exclusion and the likes. The committee likely doesnt cost much, but they get to champion it and the people in that community feel welcomed and it does help breakdown barriers.
I used to believe that too, because it was pointless. But it seems that i was wrong. The fact that it was pointless, means that the corporations felt comfortable with using and abusing that to maximize profit. The fact that they are afraid to do that, indicates how fucked things are now.
So i am ok with corporations using movements for marketing reasons, because ultimately this is the canary in the mine. If the corporations consider it a brand risk, then society is moving towards the wrong direction.
I’m not comfortable with companies using any kind of marketing tactics. Because 99 times out of a 100 it’s speedy and underhanded.
But since they’re going to be doing it anyways, doing it with pride, or disenfranchised demographics, at least normalizes their humanity. Which, at the end of the day, is the point of pride month et al.
Take it easy there, Chicken Little. “I’m uncomfortable with any kind of marketing” is so hyperbolic, it’s almost parody. Putting the name of your business above the door? Thats marketing. Creating a website where customers can find and engage your services? That’s marketing. A minority-owned business proudly owning that status? That’s marketing. A friend telling you about the great meal they had the other day from a local restaurant? Believe it or not, that’s marketing.
Marketing is not evil in and of itself. Unless humanity returns to a tribal social structure where you can count the number of non-related acquaintances you know on your fingers, it is a necessary component of operating a business. Of course, you’re 100% right that there have been dubious applications of the principle, but again, you’re throwing the baby out with the bath water, and it hampers the salient point that you’re trying to make.
If you mean this about any Christmas, seasonal, 4th of July, Halloween, Easter, etc events… sure. But taking out just the Pride event is targeted.
Some what of a tangent on Christmas is that there is the “War on Christmas” narrative. I am always curious about what it is supposed to mean. The Christians that are into it often take capitalism to be good as an axiom the way they do their own faith. Which is at odds with their culture war as capitalist firms are what drive the secularization of Christmas. Would a commercial with Jesus on the cross saying he is thirsty and having a Roman Soldier pass him an ice cold Coca Cola be better?
Would a commercial with Jesus on the cross saying he is thirsty and having a Roman Soldier pass him an ice cold Coca Cola be better?
Yes. PLEASE put this on the air. I am begging someone to make this a reality. Also, full disclosure, I do enjoy watching the world burn over stupid shit. Christians losing their shit over THAT commercial would be comically delightful.
Oddly I don’t think Christians would even be upset about that. You could have it directed by Mel Gibson. They would love it. Because it features their guy. Other than that, there’s no real concept of some sacred image or respectfulness.
It would work with Moses too. Replacement his sandals with some Nikes before he goes out for his walk in the desert. He’s still their guy too, since they have the Old Testament.
But try that with Mohammed or Vishnu, and there’s your war on Christmas.
Where I am from several years ago the city renamed the Christmas Parade to Holiday Parade in a bid to be inclusive of other winter holidays. A small subset of citizens got butt hurt and have held a competing Christmas Parade several times.
Apparently the war on Christmas is acknowledging that there are other options.
Probably why the comment you replied to didn’t say that at all.
Half agree. Even if many of them are just money-hungry, there is still a ton of non-fiscal value in making it clear that queerness is not a shameful anomaly and can instead be a point of both strength and pride. Lots of kids out there are stuck in families that want them to believe the exact opposite, when they genuinely need to know that the world has more to offer than just that.
I don’t appreciate companies trying to capitalize on this, but as a friend and sibling to many queer folk (and as well as being a bit fruity myself, even if not fully this or that), I think this visibility is currently very necessary and possibly even life saving for some severely stuck folks. Even if the motivation is obviously crook, I can get behind giving those people the inspiration they need to accept and understand themselves in spite of those who would rather see them hating themselves or worse.
Never be fooled into believing that corporations are your friend. They are always just looking to chase profits.
But if corporations believe that Pride is profitable, that is a sign that society is headed in the right direction. Whereas if they turn around because Pride is no longer profitable, that is a cause for worry.
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Santa’s Red suit was a staple, at least in American advertising, for decades before coca cola did it
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Can something be good and also a marketing tactic?
Not while racism and sexism exists unfortunately
I’m trying to understand your point, but I’m a little lost here.
Do you mean the way the public reacted to their ad?
Or the way they capitulated to that reaction?
I mean: Yes racism and sexism are pervasive in our society, but using Ben and Jerry’s (operating under the same racism/sexism) as an example; they do heavy marketing tactics toward LGBTQ but they are also an ally.
Does them utilizing that make them bad?
Well, the example of bud light is they made their can rainbow color, while the LGBT community was like “hell yeah!” They lost almost all their hillbilly south customer base.
It’s a bit of a catch-22. As much as companies would want to, they have to maintain customer loyalty, or they risk losing money.
CEO seems like an idiot and/or coward.
Scumbag CEO.
Get his ass.
And I was just about to resub after stopping in January to catch up on my game backlog.
Back to the backlog I go!
