Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”
So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”
Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.
Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.
#'this is present in the text' is often a good first step #but those second and third ones (naming it; describing its function) are vital (via @elucubrare)
The above is a video shared by smrchildsadness on Twitter, showing a person participating in a pride parade exchanging a pride flag with a person standing on his (am using his pronoun based on the TikToks/Tweets of what happened) doorway who had a Portuguese flag. There are sounds of cheers and crying and the two people hug each other as they exchange the flags. The man at the doorway then waved kisses to the crowd within the pride parade.
The Tweet says: "NO YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HE WAS WAVING THE PORTUGUESE FLAG BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE A PRIDE FLAG AND THEY TRADED FLAGS AND HE'S SO EMOTIONAL TO GET HIS OWN PRIDE FLAG I'M EMOTIONALLY RUINED"
For context, apparently they were worried that maybe he's a nationalist because he was waving the Portuguese flag and some nationalists opposing the pride march were waving that flag. But upon interacting with him, it turns out he didn't have have a pride flag and he wanted to wave *a* flag in support of the pride march. So they had an exchange and now he has his own pride flag 😭🥹.
The image above is a Tweet by kunwara_ladkaa that says "I'm crying so much right now (Image taken by Manuel Fernando Araújo/Lusa)". The image shows the same man from the pride parade crying as he hugs his new pride flag.
The above image is a Tweet by dudz_zZzz that says "ainda não parei de pensar nele," which according to Google translate from Portuguese to English is "I still haven't stopped thinking about him." The image is a drawing of the person from the pride parade, crying as he hugs his new pride flag.
don't ever look up what your childhood friends are up to now!!!!!!!!!! like girl you're a nuclear safety engineer. i put on matching socks today. we played tag a thousand years ago.
Round 8 is looking into hiring AI “artists” for future projects.
TLDR of my thoughts: I cannot understand how time and time again companies get rightful backlash for using AI yet more still think it’s a good idea to implement it in their games.
You gain nothing by using AI. You just harm real artists, the environment, let down your fans and tarnish your reputation.
However we can still do something about this, it has been done plenty of times that when companies get enough backlash they back down from terrible ideas like these. Please be vocal on social media about why you are against this, and please be civil about it. No insults, threats or harassment, that is not going to help our case. Let them know AI we won’t tolerate the use of AI and that they won’t have support if they go forward with that decision.
Aside from social media, you can let them know in their contact form: https://www.neowiz.com/en/inquiry?inquiryType=support
Neowiz, the magic that makes the world more fun.
For my full detail thoughts:
It’s so baffling to me that they are hiring AI “artists”. When people use AI for their creative works, it’s because they are too lazy to hire actual people to do the work themselves, like people using AI for their games instead of hiring an artist, or people using AI for their books to edit them instead of hiring an editor, amongst other examples. Of course all of those are wrong, but what I’m trying to say is why would you ever hire someone to do AI for you? Are you even more lazy that you can’t type a bunch of words on a computer?
It’s peak laziness, literally anything just to not work with real artists.
Now something more nuanced is that we have to think of who made this decision, because I heavily doubt this was a decision that was agreed upon by everyone in the company, it’s possible this is the choice of higher ups and that the creative part of the team has nothing to do with this decision, and why we need to remain civil and not make assumptions.
To put an example of a similar situation. Overwatch is a game that had planned a PvE mode for its sequel, the people behind the PvE gave all their passion and hard work into the project, but because Blizzard didn’t think it would give them enough sales, they cancelled the work. The creative team behind it got harassment and threats over a choice that wasn’t theirs, they were blamed and demonized when more than anyone else, they wanted that project to happen.
Like think of the art book that was released a while ago, where it shows all the passion that went into creating the art direction on this game. Does it seem that the people who worked so hard on it would suddenly be a-okay with their hard work being replaced by AI?
Which is why I think it’s very important at the moment not to make assumptions. Sure it could be true that maybe everyone was on board with this choice, but if that’s not the case, then innocent people are being hurt and blamed over something they had no control over.
I think (and hope) the best case scenario is that they don’t use AI and that they make an apology. Thought even in that scenario, I think I wouldn’t blame anyone for still not wanting to support them and not thinking that they would be true to their word and not use AI. They have broken the trust people had in them and I don’t think that it’s going to be an easy thing to repair; honestly it shouldn’t be an easy thing to repair because even in the best case scenario I don’t want them to simply get a slap on the wrist for doing something that should have never happened.
I can say that I’m proud the fandom has very vocal on the official discord server and other places that they are against AI being used. Glad to know we are not one of those fandoms we’re people are either indifferent or supportive AI.
Lastly it feels needless to say but I’m saying it anyways. Support real artists, there are so many talented artists, writers or other creative types in this fandom that deserve all the support for the things they create.
Hoping for the best outcome in this situation, and hoping everyone on the fandom the best in their daily lives.
"i could fix him" yeah? well i could accept him as he is. you don't like the murder? grow up. the atrocities are part of him and ive decided they're funny
I do art occasionally @katelynwithpaint - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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