Gotta love the internet. Well, some parts. Most of the time. Sometimes.
Okay, maybe the internet has its downsides. And that particular side is one that Niel Druckmann, studio boss atNaughty Dog, has become especially familiar with as of late.
Behold, the ongoing culture war andits most stalwart crusaders. When the trailer for Intergalactic: the Heretic Prophet dropped during the game awards, some people took issue with a couple features of the main character. And when it comes to reactions like that, Niel Druckmann has a specific policy in mind.
“There’s stuff happening with media right now that you just have to ignore for the most part,” he says in a conversation withLast Stand Media. “Just stick to your guns, and do what you believe in.”
Sometimes, the only way to win is not to play. And when it comes to discourse like this, where a bald-but-not-really black woman protagonist is the main flashpoint, sometimes you just have to stick with what you’re good at: making video games.
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Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is already in a playable state, though don’t expect it to be out anytime soon.
In their coverage of this story,PC Gamermade a comparison to other comments made by a prominent voice actor in a similar vein. The voice of Geralt of Rivia, Doug Cockle,had some choice wordsfor those who dislike the idea of a visibly-older Ciri as the main protaganist of Witcher 4.
“It’s not woke, there’s nothing woke about it.” Cockle says. “It’s a cool character from The Witcher, and they’re going to focus on that character. I think that’s awesome.”
Intergalactic’s Anti-Culture-Warrior Tactics Intended For General Use
Bringing things back to Druckmann’s comments, he continued the thought by speaking in more general terms, offering advice to the creative world in general. “I feel like that’s how I want artists to carry themselves.”
He fully intends for Naughty Dog to ignore this particular breed of criticism, and wants others to do the same. A general policy of starving the fire, rather than fanning the flames with any attempts at suppression.
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It’s time for them to go back to doing what they do best: creating exciting new IPs.
Looking at past games, that tends to be the best route. Actively fighting or engaging with this sort of crowd has never really been good for a project’s success, nor its quality.
Adding snide remarks within the game tends to age poorly when The Discourse(tm) passes, and actually getting involved in internet arguments is a fruitless endeavor (at best).
But letting the fire burn itself out? It’s not a bad tactic. Eventually, the shepherds of this flock will find something new to outrage-bait their followers with, and things will just move on. The internet content algorithms demand fresh meat, after all. Just let the discourse grow stale.
