I might be just a little late, but I do believe everyone is (or was) overreacting a little about the ratings in general. The games aren't getting a blanket rating, they are associated with a post/discussion/review. The rating has
lower precedence than the reasoning behind it, not higher. As a disgusting example, both Transistor and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 have a not recommended rating despite the levels of wokeness present being massively different. However the reasoning behind the Transistor is one single sentence, "Npcs can have X gender, such as the npc Bailey Gilande", while the reasoning behind Kingdom come Deliverance 2 is
a ******* research paper. Everyone can tell that the latter is massively more woke than the former regardless of the rating being the same.
Debating the technicalities of what should count as "very woke" or "moderately woke" or "a little woke" is irrelevant. Every single game could have its rating deleted entirely and the curator's usefulness would barely be impacted at all. Not only is the amount of wokeness one is able to withstand (is this game "good"?) subjective and personal, but so is even the concept of wokeness itself (is this game "woke"?). Which themes commonly (whether
always is not important) associated with wokeness are present in the game is factual and objective. That a certain game features an archer female protagonist is an undeniable truth. Whether that's woke enough or even woke at all, is up to the reader of the review to decide, and I would argue, outside the scope of the curator. The curator never tries to convince you to change your political beliefs, it only gives you information. What you do with it is completely up to you. If you are an extreme right-winger, good. If you are a moderate right-winger, it's up to you to decide where to draw the line (and based mainly on the
review, not on the rating). If you are an extreme right-winger but also like games a lot, it's again up to you to decide how much you are willing to tolerate in order to be able to play. Getting too stuck up on whether strong women that don't hate men count as "not recommended" or not is a minor issue. The fact that such a character is present should be stated as is, and everyone can decide for themselves whether that is going to be an issue or not. At this point I really believe the entire concept of ratings has done more harm than good to the curator. Again, I do believe this (how much woke is woke?) is something worth debating, but it is very far from an existential threat to the curator regardless of which and even whether at all an answer is given.
And just because I like quoting Furin so it is more believable that I am not just talking out of my ***, in the last post of
this thread Furin states that he is very thankful for the post of another person explaining the nuances of what makes Disco Elysium just a little less woke than what it seems, even if the final rating still remained "not recommended". It implies that Furin also valued the reasoning behind the rating more than the rating itself.
► Furin's post quoted if you don't want to open the link
› Furin;4763207322156623102 wrote:Kriptini;4763207322156485282 wrote:Hey y'all, this is my first post here. Just wanted to start by saying I appreciate the research and thoughtful discussion y'all do. I'd like to contribute my experience playing Disco Elysium to the conversation, although it's been a while.
The game absolutely, 100% contains woke themes, I don't think that should be in contention at all, but it should be taken into consideration that the game also presents anti-woke themes, and you as the player get to mold Harry's personality and politics to go one way or the other (or neither, if you so choose). In my playthrough, I chose to have Harry align himself with the game's version of fascism, which included calling Kim all manner of racial and sexual slurs, blaming immigrants for all of Revachol's problems, reaching enlightenment through ultra-advanced racism which was powerful enough to unset the former champion advanced racist, and unlocking
► Show Spoiler
ancient fascist magic that allowed Harry to time travel
. The game did not punish me for choosing this path; in fact, it felt like I was being rewarded. Sure, some NPCs were not a fan of Harry's fascist ideas (especially Kim, who occasionally vocalized his displeasure), but there are a fair amount of NPCs who agreed with Harry, and of course there is exclusive content only available to players who choose the fascist route (notably,
► Show Spoiler
time traveling
). Sure, the ideology is critiqued as well, but it didn't feel like it was being critiqued harder than any other of the possible political ideology routes; the game is a political satire where no one is presented as the superior choice or safe from criticism. I spent probably over half the game insulting Kim's race and sexuality but even so, at the end of the game, in the final scene, he said to me (paraphrased):
► Show Spoiler
"Harry, you are a terrible, misguided person, and I never want to see you again... but you are the best detective I have ever worked with."
As has been said, the game's original devs are unapologetic commies, but I believe the narrative and play experience of Disco Elysium is politically balanced. Not sure how that factors into the criteria for recommending games via the curator, but I just thought I'd present my experience here in case it mattered.
Thanks for sharing your experience! This is precisely the type of post I wish we got more often.
In terms of the curator reviews, it's hard to give a nuanced perspective in only 200 characters. If I feel a longer post is necessary, I typically start a Game Discussion (especially if I need to go into story spoilers).
When joining in on an existing Game Discussion, posts like yours that provide more context and personal experiences/opinions of the game are always welcome.
In other words, you've done exactly what I hope all our members will eventually do.
Though the curator review may not change, know that posts like yours will still be seen by those who come to this discussion from the curator review, and can still help/inform other people.
Thanks again for your contribution!
