lesbianquiet replied to your post “tbh I'm not a fan of the unbalanced representation in marketing...”
IDK where this site collectively got the idea that devs can't have any say at the promotional materials but that's false. Some of them personally direct the trailers and design posters. Even if they don't they still get to tell what goes in the promotional material and what doesn't.
inglorious-boshtet replied to your post “tbh I'm not a fan of the unbalanced representation in marketing...”
I find it hard to believe that the ME:A team had no input on the final product though. Marketing doesn't make videos. It's still on the game's creative department to put these things together. Someone (or multiple someones) on the dev team thought this trailer was good, and didn't think it was important to add content for non straight white men (or never even thought about adding such content at all).
Alright. I don’t know what to say anymore. I could say TPTB for The Powers That Be? From the beginning we said that EA might have done the marketing but Bioware made promises to us they couldn’t keep. So Bioware is accountable for this. Now you’re saying they are also quite involved in the marketing process and it’s not a good idea to say they don’t have a say. Okay. I’m not an expert, I don’t know how they run the whole thing, so I’ll just publish this.
I’ll also be honest right now because there is something that bothers me a lot about those conversations we’re having here.
We know nuances matter and it’s important to know who did what, if only to know who to talk to later. It’s also important not to blame people who shouldn’t be blamed, though here from the beginning we have two companies who are both responsible for what currently bothers us. So we can go back and forth, of course, but I really hope we can stop turning this into a specific issue with our own personal interests attached to it. I’m not talking about you btw, but I think some people are so pro or anti Bioware that they’re controlling the conversation in such a way that it turned into a “let’s defend Bioware!!!!” or “let’s hate Bioware!!!!” conversation where at the core of it, it’s about diversity.
We know companies don’t do a good job showing diversity in their marketing. We know diversity matters because we’re all different and it should SHOW, there is not just one type of person in this world that matters. So that’s true for all companies.
I love Bioware for giving me Mass Effect. I will ALWAYS root for this company to do better, but it’s precisely because I’m rooting for them that I will hold them accountable. And my disappointment is not just not aimed at them like I have a personal vendetta: I will also hold everyone else involved accountable.
So I don’t want to rush to their defense, and I don’t want to hate them. Both EA and Bioware are involved, but I’ll also say this entire industry is involved in the discussion.
It’s a larger issue. It’s about needing a change. And I genuinely wonder if it’s possible for us to get this much needed change if every time we discuss this topic we’re focusing on protecting or hating specific companies.
I also dislike how we are so used to this situation that we became fatalistic. “It is what it is” -> “y’all just gotta accept it.”
Well no, we don’t have to accept it? From Bioware or EA or any other company that fucks up like this. We can and should always ask better of all companies, regardless of our personal feelings.
Idk, sorry if I sound so annoyed :/
I don’t even know if my opinion is truly valid, or if I’m kidding myself and actually doing more harm than good by making it such a general thing.
