The game has just been nominated for two Gayming Magazine Awards due to its (optional) gay romance.
“TRIGGER WARNING,” the post begins. “Among all the various awards and nominations we’ve received, we’ve also just been nominated for the @gaymingmag GAYMING AWARDS! I’m really proud of that, because I absolutely stand by the fact that the way we did it is exactly how something like this should be done. Non-coercively, naturally, and educationally (because we show how things really were in the Middle Ages without idealizing them)–and without shoving it down anyone’s throat or trying to re-educate them like so many titles that are rightfully called ‘woke’ these days. We made the gay community happy and gave them the CHOICE to be themselves, just like we did for others in other choices and quests, and anyone who isn’t interested probably didn’t even notice. Except, of course, for [a] very small and very loud minority.”
I can confirm. I played the gay romance in KCD2 and the penises never touched for the entirety of the playthrough. Thanks to this, I was finally able to play a gay character that felt authentic to real life and, more importantly, I didn’t turn gay myself.
To make sure of that, I replayed the game three more times, always choosing the gay option. Lo and behold, I’m still very, very straight. In fact, it worked like a vaccine: now I can watch gay porn without it having an effect on my sexuality (I’m super duper straight! I only watched gay porn to MAKE SURE that I was still straight).
Bravo Daniel.
In a lot of places, not just far-right assholes, the word “woke” has taken on the role of terms like “social justice warrior” and “political correctness” - i.e. in describing a self-righteous, superficial, performative and preachy kind of style.
Yes, that is not what the word “originally” meant, yes it is partially the result of right wing propaganda, yes “political correctness” and “sjw” have similar issues, but it is still a real thing.
What the man seems to me to be trying to say is that their goal was to do a medieval gay romance in a way that was not preachy or superficial – is that not good? Isn’t there a bit too much token representation and pinkwashing going on?
Now now, don’t be getting all reasonable. This is the internet after all!
Idk, I Kind of get him (prolly gonna get downvoted for this).
For me personally I Must say when I learned more about homosexuality, I learned that it is Not This cliche Image that Most guys have in mind with some gay twink trying to Hit on any guys they can. Most gay people are just normal regular everyday people with just a different preference in people that Theyd Date but Most cis people totally envision either some annoying gay twink or a drag queen. I have a feeling though that nowadays regarding representation, people that are pro gay & lgbtq do not really help at educating unaware cis people with the fact that gay people are just that. Normal people with a different preference just like anyone who can like different things from others.
It’s worth mentioning that this sort of thinking gets really close to “there are good ones and bad ones” in some people’s minds. IMO there’s a lot of representation for the “non-normal” queers because they are the most vulnerable and because it needs to be clear that it’s a package deal. People don’t get to draw the line in places like “gays are okay but trans people are icky”, and unofficially supporting mindsets like that would legitimize disgust-based morality.
People need to learn the lesson that others inherently deserve rights and respect regardless of their own personal feelings, otherwise we’re just going to be fighting this battle over and over again for each minority group.
How can you ever depict a gay relationship in a game without “being woke”? By having the characters say “no homo” loudly and high five while they fuck? I swear right-wing asswipes find new mental gymnastics routines every day to redefine what they mean with this word.
Well, all interest I had in this game is suddenly gone after the stupid “woke” comment. I was waiting for a sale but now I’ll just remove it from the list.
Anyone that uses woke as a pejorative is a fucking fascist bigot. I will never support anything by this company or Vavra ever again.
Not very surprising. I remember one of the Warhorse head devs wearing a band shirt of a far right band while representing the studio and giving interviews. That caused quite a scandal in Germany‘s gaming community.
What games in the same vein as KCD2 have shoved hat relationships down players throats?? What would they even be referencing as the “woke” games?
Imagine finding a way to piss off everyone simply by opening your stupid mouth…lol
Something something dragon age something something concord.
Sprinkle in some pointless complaints about The Last Jedi and you have a full chud comment.
Baldur’s Gate 3? But you have to try pretty hard to have gay sex… I’ve heard.
Bro… You literally had to say nothing and you failed at that. And to use the word “woke” is stupid. The amount of flak they are gonna get for this just for saying that word will be immense. This would blow over by Tuesday if you said that entire thing but left out the work “woke”
Using the word “woke” disqualified him of any notion this was a rational thought. He wanted to accept the award to promote his game and make money, but slyly wink at those who are a part of his in-group.
Well, that sours me enough to the game that its no longer on the wishlist.
The guy has always been a piece of shit so I’m glad more people are learning this.
without shoving it down anyone’s throat or trying to re-educate them like so many titles that are rightfully called ‘woke’ these days. We made the gay community happy
Not anymore you didn’t.
Can anyone who has actually played the game elaborate and give their thoughts?
The game has a gay romance option, which is something that you can unlock over the course of the game with the right dialogue options and is fairly tastefully done. The game is very intent on being a 1403 simulator and the characters are all written with that in mind, but it’s nice that the game recognises that gay people would have existed regardless of the cultural attitudes at the time.
I think his comments refer to the implementation of the romance in the way that it doesn’t feel like it was put there so the studio could boast about how progressive they are.
but it’s nice that the game recognises that gay people would have existed regardless of the cultural attitudes at the time.
The late mediaeval period was actually fairly accepting of gay relationships, with a legal doctrine of Brotherment being practiced in several countries, where two men would legally join their lives and assets, and which often included declarations of affection.
In the first game everyone is assumed to be straight, and your character receives a stat boost from having sex, which sometimes happens in the story, but mostly will happen at “bathhouses”, i.e. with prostitutes.
The exclusively female bathhouses, and the stat boost, persist in the second game, but there is an option relatively early in the game for your (male) character to start a gay romance with an important, recurring character.
I didn’t follow through with that, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see it - both characters are sort of supposed to be womanizers, but it makes sense in the context of the story that they could discover feelings for eachother. It’s up to you whether your character has a childhood sweetheart feminine love interest at home or not (from the previous game), but other than this relatively unimportant detail (beyond the roleplaying of it), the gay romance appears to be arguably the most significant romance in the game.
All that said, the game director who speaks is an asshole. Given that, I was pleasantly surprised at how “woke” KCD2 actually is. Guess he might has a different idea of “woke” than the rest of us, e.g. more “female ghost busters movie”, less “gay representation”.
I agree with your comment except to say that Henry (the playable character) is a pretty blank slate. It’s been a little while since I’ve played it but I wouldn’t call him a womanizer though Hans definitely is
Based upon the comments here it looks like no one here has played it.
I’d love for this asswipe to just shut up forever, but maybe if he keeps piping up more people will understand how terrible he is.
Fucking shithead
