Comments on: #14 – Shadow Complex (XBLA) http://dreamofwaking.com/2009/08/23/14-shadow-complex-xbla/ Ne Cede Malis Sun, 24 Jul 2011 22:59:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: brian http://dreamofwaking.com/2009/08/23/14-shadow-complex-xbla/comment-page-1/#comment-702 brian Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:36:20 +0000 http://dreamofwaking.com/?p=1083#comment-702 Oh and also the main antagonist in Shadow Complex is a group called the Progressive Restoration. In OSC's "Empire" they're a radical leftist group who arms themselves and incites a blue state vs. red state civil war. Shadow Complex (thankfully) ditches the politics behind the plot but can you imagine this Rush Limbaugh wet dream if they hadn't? A lone conservative Christian male single-handedly brings down an entire godless liberal army bent on tearing the country apart. Come on, Card. The liberals take up weapons and rise up? It's up to the right to save the nation from total destruction? Please. Oh and also the main antagonist in Shadow Complex is a group called the Progressive Restoration. In OSC’s “Empire” they’re a radical leftist group who arms themselves and incites a blue state vs. red state civil war. Shadow Complex (thankfully) ditches the politics behind the plot but can you imagine this Rush Limbaugh wet dream if they hadn’t? A lone conservative Christian male single-handedly brings down an entire godless liberal army bent on tearing the country apart.

Come on, Card. The liberals take up weapons and rise up? It’s up to the right to save the nation from total destruction? Please.

]]> By: brian http://dreamofwaking.com/2009/08/23/14-shadow-complex-xbla/comment-page-1/#comment-701 brian Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:29:53 +0000 http://dreamofwaking.com/?p=1083#comment-701 So here's the politics behind the game. Orson Scott Card is a homophobe, a bigot, and a shitty writer. Donald Mustard, co-founder of Chair Entertainment, may also be a shitty person and seems to be hellbent on making Orson Scott Card a big name in video games as he's the one who brought OSC in on Advent Rising and he's the one who approached OSC about writing the fiction behind Shadow Complex, which resulted in the (apparently) shitty book Empire. This has caused some people to boycott Shadow Complex, and even Epic Games who sold Chair Entertainment the rights to use the Unreal 3 engine in their last two games. They're voting with their dollars and refusing to support the people at the top of Chair and OSC and I won't fault them for that. But if you scrutinize the politics of every person involved in every game you play or every industry you spend your money in, you won't be able to buy anything. There's always some shithead who's a racist or a homophobe or a wife beater, in every organization larger than your immediate group of friends (some of whom may also have those traits!) and the world will never be rid of them soon enough. If you get a guilty conscience for playing Shadow Complex, donate $15 to your favorite gay-friendly charity. I guarantee you Orson Scott Card is not seeing all $15 from each sale of Shadow Complex and the organization you support can use that money to help organize others against the loudmouthed idiots like Orson Scott Card. If you're interested in Shadow Complex, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. It's a great game and the people who actually made it deserve the success it should bring. And here's a couple of articles that have written about this more eloquently and more informed than I have: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24627 http://gaygamer.net/2009/08/the_shadow_complex_conundrum.html So here’s the politics behind the game. Orson Scott Card is a homophobe, a bigot, and a shitty writer. Donald Mustard, co-founder of Chair Entertainment, may also be a shitty person and seems to be hellbent on making Orson Scott Card a big name in video games as he’s the one who brought OSC in on Advent Rising and he’s the one who approached OSC about writing the fiction behind Shadow Complex, which resulted in the (apparently) shitty book Empire. This has caused some people to boycott Shadow Complex, and even Epic Games who sold Chair Entertainment the rights to use the Unreal 3 engine in their last two games. They’re voting with their dollars and refusing to support the people at the top of Chair and OSC and I won’t fault them for that.

But if you scrutinize the politics of every person involved in every game you play or every industry you spend your money in, you won’t be able to buy anything. There’s always some shithead who’s a racist or a homophobe or a wife beater, in every organization larger than your immediate group of friends (some of whom may also have those traits!) and the world will never be rid of them soon enough. If you get a guilty conscience for playing Shadow Complex, donate $15 to your favorite gay-friendly charity. I guarantee you Orson Scott Card is not seeing all $15 from each sale of Shadow Complex and the organization you support can use that money to help organize others against the loudmouthed idiots like Orson Scott Card.

If you’re interested in Shadow Complex, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. It’s a great game and the people who actually made it deserve the success it should bring.

And here’s a couple of articles that have written about this more eloquently and more informed than I have:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24627
http://gaygamer.net/2009/08/the_shadow_complex_conundrum.html

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