Anyone else find it really hard to care about gaming controversies right now?

Like, I see a bunch of people up in arms about EA being stupid again and, I get it, it DOES suck. But also the planet is dying and the US has concentration camps so it's just HARD for me to care.

I'm not saying people are wrong for it or whatever! Everyone has their own interests and getting into drama can be fun but just...things are real rough right now ya'll.

It is possible to give a shit about things on multiple levels. I understand your sentiment about some things being trivial but despite what all the memes say "Fucks to Give" is basically only as finite a resource as you make it. I can be angry with how my government handles things as well as angry about how videogame companies handle things.

And also, it is entirely privilege but honestly there are plenty of people to who videogame drama is more impactful on their life than "real" drama. And people care about shit that impacts them. For big chunks of the gaming audience Nerfing their main is more impactful on their life in a tangible way than the plight of refugees. It's just less abstract to them.

I can understand people being wrapped up in it, but it was really hard for me to care about basically any video game drama that wasn't plagiarism, sexual harassment/assault, and workers rights. So yeah, anytime something comes up about a skin or, as the OP put it "EA being stupid again" I just don't have the energy to even really give it more than a passing thought when it is maybe mentioned on a podcast or something.

And @hayt is right, it's certainly possible to care about two things at once. Really it's just a matter of whether you care enough to do so I think. I'm personally in the same boat as the OP in that I just really don't. Basically anything outside of the three things I mentioned just seem so trivial to me in light of other things in the world.

I mostly don't care, and a lot of it is just activism from certain sites/people. Usually targeting big games during E3 and what ever. Like Cyberpunk to get attention and clicks. Gotta get those clicks to survive I guess.

Concentration camps in US? Wow, is this new? Makes me think of Nazi Germany. Planet is dying, yeah probably. The sun too.

In addition to what @hayt said, I also think it's important to remember that some of those video game controversies key into broader problems in society. E.g. Instances of racial harrassment in the gaming community are a product of and contributor to the larger patterns of racism in our society. When CD Projekt Red end up objectifying a trans person in promoting their game, it's one piece in the larger puzzle of trans people being dehumanised in the communities they live in. When EA throw their economic weight around to screw over the customer, you have to remember that that's reflective of us living in a society where making people happy often comes second to making a profit. When there are instances of workplace abuse and discriminatory behaviour in the games industry and audience, they're often not "fun" for the people they affect, but are a component of the genuinely damaging systemic problems that also create U.S. concentration camps, anti-LGBTQ violence, poverty, etc.

Politics is never a or it's a and you could totally care about all these things as far as the quote "the planet is dying" i would rephrase it to "life on the planet" is dying the planet itself doesn't care in what state it is, it's the things living on it that do care about it's state. There's a bigger chance of us dying first then the earth being destroyed by the sun.

Where i can't make a impact on Migration politics i can totally make a impact on loot boxes in videogames as this is a easier to fix problem for politicians. That's also the reason why i contacted the "kansspelcommissie" those are the guy who check on gambling in general in Belgium, and they totally got lootboxes banned so my voice and a lot off other voices got heard and we made a difference so i totally think it was worth it.

To an extent. @gamer_152 makes a good point as to why this stuff shouldn't be completely dismissed, but in and of itself, sometimes I admittedly struggle to get up in arms about some of the things I see the games media go on tirades about. I mean, I get why the games media focuses mostly on what they encounter within their bubble, but I simply can't bring myself to get super-offended at the more subjective "wrongs" in gaming. @soulcake also makes a solid point about actually making a difference.

I think a large amount of people conflate simply stating "x offends me" with activism, and that's kind of a nope. "Raising awareness" in this age of hyper-information where everyone is aware of virtually everything (or easily can be) isn't the force for change that people like to pretend it is. It seems like many get entrenched in publicly making sure everyone knows that they're "on the good side" and then call it a day, feeling far too proud of themselves over some "I don't like x bad thing" statement that doesn't really accomplish anything.

I guess my point is that IRL behavior/action impresses me a hell of a lot more than talking about something on the internet. These gaming controversies do exist on a lesser plane for me, as serious problems exist well beyond the realm of video games/internet, and it's quite arguably far better to try to address real-world issues than complain about an Overwatch skin. Still, that goes back to consideration of what an individual can and cannot actually impact.

Ultimately, I think "gaming controversies" shouldn't be ignored, but also should be kept in perspective.

I don't just care about how good a game is, or how much fun i can have with it, i also care about the wider aspects of the industry and that includes the issues within.
I care about some issues more than others for sure, but to sum it up quick i care most about the issues that affect people working within the industry, "it's a miracle any game gets made" so the more steps we put in place to ease the burden on developers the better.

On a side note, IT'S THE WEEKEND, but i'm having a hard time caring because... you know... concentration camps.

As selfish as it to say, I care about stuff that actually effects me, I dont live in the US & i'll be dead long before the earth melts or whatever.

That said gaming controversies are overblown, whether it's stuff that offends people or scummy monetization, vote with your wallet. There are plenty of games to play.

and i see a bunch of people who don't learn from past experience. EA acts like EA- film at 11. stop expecting a publicly traded company to act in a way that doesn't supremely prioritize maximizing profits over all else.

but to answer OP- if by 'gaming controversies' you mean message boards mad about pricing models or monetization methods- i never cared in the first place. i'm not buying unless it seems like a good value to me personally.

but if 'gaming controversies' means things like workplace conditions, ethical treatment of employees and exceptionally distasteful content- those are things that continue to move me.

I've just read up on the concentration camps. You don't walk into concentration camps willingly. It's an overcrowded border crisis. It is not like the internment camps the Japanese Americans faced during wartime.

Anyway, people have different priorities. Randy Pitchford is probably fucked but lootboxes don't bother me but they're not doing anything to dissuade lawmakers from introducing legislation.

You're right, it's worse because those camps did not separate parents and children. Here's a relevant perspective from someone who was in one of the Japanese-American camps. It's also not a response to a legitimate crisis: while there is seasonal fluctuation, the number of crossings is much lower than it was in the early 2000s (when there were no such camps).

I know this is somewhat collateral to the conversation so I'll leave it there.

As much as I like to say "Just shut up and just play the game" whenever I see or hear someone have a hyperbolic reaction to something so minute and trivial in a game or in the gaming industry, there are things such as hostile work conditions within a number of studios that kind of need more paying attention to than none at all; says someone who didn't take crunch seriously until somewhat recently.