YOOOOO HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?
Lmaoooo I haven't what a shitty response. They also deleted the post about not sharing leaks and spoilers, presumably because of the AI complaints on all of them, which is. Weird? Like it's not like the fact that they want us to not do that changes based on the AI usage complaints.
But I checked twitter and, in contrast to that post, there's this.
It may be a case of different social media managers working on different platforms or maybe a case of realizing that blaming the fans and claiming Well Everyone Is Doing It Anyone Who Complains Is A Bully is uuuuh. a Really Fucking Bad Look or. Who knows. It's a company, we can't really take one word/post or another as the whole team's perspective tbh. Even if the social media manager(s) agree or disagree, or the artists agree or disagree, or the writers agree or disagree, that doesn't really mean much when the higher-ups themselves are gonna do whatever they want.
But the fact that they're suggesting that, hey, maybe we could do something different and get fans involved, is at least a better look. And they probably understand that themselves, so they may have deleted any of their pro-AI or fanbase-blaming comments so they couldn't be found lmao. It's at least showing that they're bowing to the pressure a bit. Someone high up enough to make decisions said "delete the post instead of hiding and locking comments".
The ""negativity"" may be bad for the team's mental health but this is ""negativity"" is criticism. I won't claim it's all constructive, I know the internet better than that, but it's not bullying like they claim, it's perfectly valid protest. And I think they understand that. We have concerns for a reason, they can actually make changes to address those concerns and their image. Just because someone pointing out a problem makes you upset doesn't mean there isn't a problem.
Considering it's been deleted and a comment left up about 'maybe we can get fans involved in ads instead of using AI' I actually have some renewed hope that maybe--unlikely, but maybe--there'll actually be some change in the future. As for your screenshot. . .well, they deleted it so at the very least They Know They Fucked Up lmao. It's a completely shitty thing to say and do, claiming the fans are bullies for wanting quality content in the game that many of us pay for and enjoy and want other people to enjoy, to say 'they're stealing everyone's work and words anyway and they won't stop, everybody's doing it so we may as well take part, eventually you'll do it too, get used to it' like that isn't. Just an awful, dismissive, reductive, dusrespectful ass take kagsusjshd. There are humans behind the social medias, part of me wants to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they lost their patience. That doesn't excuse what was said and the blaming of their own fanbase of course--that's duper shitty of them, and I do think that they should apologize for that because what a way to throw the trust of your fans out the window lmao--but. Idk. I'm trying to be optimistic. Rather than making a whole new post saying "we're not gonna stop using genAI in our work get over it uwu" they backpedaled at least enough to delete the entire conversation.
Pressure can help! We're not targeting them as a smaller company--we're criticizing them because we enjoy the project and want to enjoy and respect it and the people involved more, and we want them to respect us enough to give us Actual Work rather than slop. We complain to/about and try and avoid larger companies and products using genAI too, a lot of us do anyway. Like they could make polls asking 'does the generative AI usage in the game's art and advertisements bother you and impact your support of the game' and see that people would be happier with the game if they didn't use it. They should get the perspective of the userbase instead of crying about being "bullied," and then act based on that perspective.
Here's hoping, with idk 5% more optimism than before maybe, that maybe there'll be some changes in the next year hhahaha. On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised if there were no change at all. . . .
