I’m organizing a digital protest!
Have you been seeing posts about game development, and how companies have been driving developers like cattle? Not sure what to do about it? Then this is for you!
I bought Pokémon Violet, not seeing all the signs of managerial abuse in the game development process. More about some of the signs here.
And here’s the thing: it’s a fun game! But what’s even more fun is knowing that backs weren’t broken in the making of a game. Pokémon Legends: Arceus was released just earlier this year. The output is almost certainly putting considerable strain and more on the developers.
So! Here’s part of the protest: don’t buy the game if you don’t already have it. This isn’t about blame and shame, or “moral correctness” in buying the game - point is, protests like this won’t work if the attention this protest generates is outweighed by the gold in the company coffers. So don’t buy it if you’re planning to protest.
Now, if you already have the game - like me - then here’s what you do: you capture a random Pokémon or select one already in your boxes.
(This will require a Nintendo Switch Online Pass, so if you don’t want to purchase one, hang tight - I’m gonna advocate for other forms of protest soon.)
You rename that Pokémon “GameDevRites”, or “GameDev->s” (using a “-“ and a “>”). Then you select Poké Portal in the Menu and choose Surprise Trade. Once you do that, your Pokémon will be sent to another player.
If enough people do this… this could get pretty big. News websites and magazines report on silly trends all the time. Let’s give them something substantial to talk about, or do something neat in the attempt!
I’m looking into forming a protest directed at Scarlet and Violet by using Splatoon 3, as well! And other forms of online protest couldn’t hurt - barring harassment, of course.
NOW LET’S SEE IF WE CAN MAKE SOME NOISE!
(If you’ve seen this post a million times and are sick of it, just blacklist/filter tags #ScarViProtest and #GameDev->s)
