[2019] Do Not Brigade or Harass PC Gamer or Its Writers

Originally posted by Hyndis

Rimworld has a 97% positive score on Steam. 97% out of 28,885 reviews like the game.

Thats astounding. It truly is. Its one thing if something has a 100% score but only has 3 reviews, but twenty eight thousand reviews later and 97% of them still like it? Thats amazing, thats what it is. EA would sell their own mother in a series of microtransactions to get even half of that.

Tynan did this all pretty much on his own. It was a one man operation back in the days of SendOwl. He's since expanded the development team but it was still mostly Tynan. That level of universal acclaim isn't just to be commended, its a marvel. Its truly amazing. That many reviews and such a positive rating boggles the mind. It shouldn't be possible, and yet Tynan did it. Rimworld is just that good.

u/TynanSylvester, remember when Rimworld first launched on Steam in early access and you were nervous as hell on the first day? What would the reviews be? You were up all night worrying and dreading about the reception. I offered a post on this subreddit, reminding you that despite a few negative reviews you had a 96-97% positive review rating.

You still have a 97% positive review rating 28,885 reviews later. Only 3% of people don't like it. Your score is still holding.

You did good. Rimworld is truly something special.

Originally posted by ohgodspidersno

Background

So I think a lot of us are pretty miffed about PCG's dismissive review of Rimworld. For those out of the loop, it's not because of the middling score but because:

1. It was very clear the writer (who I won't name) hadn't even learned all of the controls before passing judgment on them. She is not a senior writer for PCG, nor does she seem to enjoy this genre of game, so picking her to write this piece seems like an odd choice for the most popular colony management game in history.

2. The review derided the game as "painfully heteronormative" because "gay" takes up a trait slot, implying that being gay is in some way part of someone's personality and biology. How horrible. To be fair, I agree that sexuality is not handled as well in Vanilla as it is in the Psychology mod, which among other things replaces the sexuality traits with a sliding Kinsey Scale unique to each pawn. This is definitely better, but it's not as though the vanilla implementation is bad. Tynan is essentially being punished for sticking his head out rather than going the safe route of omitting sex altogether, or the unrealistic route of making everyone an opt-in pansexual like in the Sims.

3. The game also faults Rimworld for its "reductive" transgender childhood backstory because it's so clearly written by a straight man who doesn't understand trans issues. Except, it wasn't. That backstory was written and submitted by a transwoman kickstarter donor, and actual trans people seem to agree that it resonates with their own experience, and that its presence is a welcome change in a medium that otherwise mocks, fetishizes, or erases trans people.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Why bother being inclusive if you're going to be more viciously skewered than had you not?

Basically the whole affair seems conceived, consciously or otherwise, as a clickbait hit piece against a game and creator that really, truly do not deserve it.

Worst of all, in my mind, is that this sort of thing gives ammunition to actual misogynists. It looks really, really bad for people on the left who actually care about social justice, rather than those who just want to see rich white guys get taken down a peg.

Which brings me to my point.

Don't brigade or harass PC Gamer or the writer on social media. Criticize the review and its position with clarity and specificity. Don't name call or essentialize.

Going all #gamergate and r/incels about this isn't going to help anything. All that will do is:

1. Give credence to the idea that Rimworld is a game by and for misogynists

2. Indicate (wrongly, I hope) that gamers as a group do indeed hate women and the queer community.

3. Reward PC Gamer with ad revenue and cultural cache, encouraging more of this sort of thing in the future.

4. Terrorize someone who, though incorrect in her beliefs and misguided in her actions, is nonetheless a law-abiding human in a free society who does not deserve to be harassed and hounded.

Note: Number 4 is the most important reason. Be kind, everyone.