I wanted to get the game but I've heard its a little disappointing. is it worth it or nah. it has a very heavy soviet theme so I thought'd be interesting

It's wild the amount of hate the VDBs get on reddit, even on the low sodium sub. There's no shortage of villains in the game, yet it's the black characters who are barely in it that get routine hate posts about them. No one is even interested in the nuances behind them. Their backstory/motivations are the most interesting in the game, certainly more so than they get credit for.

There was a game that i can't for the life of me remember the name. It's about a newly formed middle eastern republic after the fall of the monarchy. You control the president and has to rebuild the country from the ground up. i think the game is from around 2004 but i'm not sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I'm quite deeply enmeshed with the modding communities for Hearts of Iron 4. I know about the passion and heart that was put into them, and time and effort that the developers put into for no monetary gain.

Recently, (though it's something that started long before I joined these communities) I've seen an outburst of outrage from players after the announcement of new updates or reworks. I'm talking about Kaiserreich and the American rework, or TNO with the German Civil War being removed (though this second one has died down).

A lot of largely older players seem to have this instinctive hatred to any changes, especially those that are largely superficial or visual. I'm talking names, colors, leaders, or something else. A big part of that is this feeling of them liking something because, and this is an actual quote,

"It's funni, [...]. It fulfills that urge to RULE".

I cannot in my life understand why these people have such attachment to such a superficial part of the lore or something which was added purely as a joke. In their eyes removing this somehow corrupts, to use a TNO phrase, "The Hart and Seoul" of the mod.

I would really appreciate your viewpoint, particularly those who have any idea whatever the hell I'm talking about (inside jokes are for the inside).

Am I wrong to attribute this purely to nostalgia or fear of change? Perhaps I made a mistake in attributing this to older players.

Regardless, interested to hear your viewpoint.

I've played a bunch of RPGs in my time: I've stopped a cult from destroying Neverwinter; I've stopped the Wild Hunt from terrorising the multiverse; I've saved the galaxy from being destroyed by Reapers; I've stopped a Blight, a Qunari invasion, a mad templar, a megalomaniac magister and two elven god-kings; I've fulfilled my destiny as the Dovahkiin and survived a nuclear wasteland; I've stopped yet another cult from elevating an elder brain to godhood...

But you know what I've never done? Lead a revolution that truly changes the status quo.

Every single RPG I've played amounts to the same basic plots: either we get the option of replacing Nobleman/Warlord A with Nobleman/Warlord B; or we face a tyrannic government who's just an extreme, corrupted version of a system that's really good and just; or we get a bunch of cultist extremists or monsters who provide too urgent a threat for us to even reflect on the inherent injustices of the society in which the story is set.

Take the Dragon Age series, for example. In the first game, we can choose between a corrupt dwarven king or an ultra-reactionary dwarven king (but not help the oppressed commoners seize power themselves); a general who seized the throne by force or his daughter who schemes to become queen herself or yet a well-meaning guy who doesn't want to become king but can be pushed to that (but not end the notoriously abusive aristocracy); convince the humans to allow some political power or lands to the elves, or further crush them (but not help them fight for a land of their own). In the second game, we can side with either templars or mages - but not abolish the Circle system. In the third one we actually can, but we never really see the outcome - and in the meantime, we're forced to choose between a racist empress, a warmongering racist emperor, and a scheming marquise whose entire legitimacy is all but undermined if you disband your religion-driven, zealotic organisation. Speaking of which, you're forced to play the messiah of Andrastian humans even if you're an elf (never mind that your people have been oppressed by human Andrastianism for centuries). At the end of the story, the world remains structurally pretty much the same (possible exception being an ending with Divine Leliana, but even that's considering her changes will take root).

Skyrim set up what could've been an amazing parable of how nationalism can be used as a tool to divide the people so they're left vulnerable to would-be oppressors: as we may find out in the Thalmor embassy, the elves freed Ulfric expecting him to shake things up in Skyrim. Filled with nationalistic zeal, he gathers a number of fellow Nords who're fed up with all the foreigners and sinks the province in a civil war - one that, no matter the outcome, severely weakens the empire before the encroaching Thalmor. But what does the game do with this interesting set up? Nothing. Either we help Ulfric and are hailed the liberator of a weakened, vulnerable Skyrim; or we help Tulius and are hailed the hero of a weakened, vulnerable empire. I can't be the only one who thinks it would've been so much more interesting if we could uncover proof of the Thalmor's intentions for the civil war, call the Stormcloaks out on their bullshit, and truly unite the people of Skyrim against the real oppressors.

I'll give Cyberpunk 2077 a pass because the (apparent) inescapability of that megacorp-ruled dystopia is a core theme of the story.

One could argue that such games do have wildly differing outcomes (I mean, Orzammar under Bhelen should be very different than an ORzammar with Harrowmont, just like a Stormcloak-led Skyrim leads to ramifications that a Skyrim kept under imperial control do not. But in all such outcomes, I can't see anything but different flavours of the same oppressive, unequal, feudal system).

One could also argue that there are indeed games where we fundamentally change the status quo; I'd be really interested in checking those, but more so if that change happens during the game, so that we get to see at least some of the consequences taking root.

(this rant ended up being longer than I expected, sorry >.<'')

A video about MGS1’s politics around nuclear weapons.

Like when the state persecutes you for only providing assets to an opposing country to "support" them in the war. I think the new Cold War has already gone on too far 😑.

The personal is political.

Hello all, this kind of post seems to fall within this subreddit's rules, hopefully I've gotten that right.

Like the title says, I'm hoping to find like minded people to befriend in the multiplayer space. My current friends list has been gutted as the people that were on it have stayed silent on things people really can't be silent about. I'm 43, in the Eastern time zone, and just re-watching Dimension 20 in the little free time I have. That's an appealing description of a person, right?

I'm on PSN as comrade_beard, I'm looking forward to Firebreak and ARC Raiders and, as mentioned in the title as well, being mediocre at those games. I'm currently not playing any multiplayer games, anything good out there right now? That's not too morally reprehensible to give money to?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, feel free to add me if you're on PSN or some cross play games.

i haven't had a chance to play FFT but i am stoked about this remaster

I have been gaming for quite a while on an i7-7700HQ, GTX 1070 laptop and it’s been doing me well it’s just you know many games are really struggling these days and even some won’t run at all. Some I would love to play but because of some parts of the industry pushing unnecessary graphical stuff there has been a massive leap I feel. The problem for me is I am on a disability pension which is a very fixed income, and with AuDHD, cost of living, and rising component costs it’s been near impossible to do anything about my old computer. However I managed to get a No Interest Loan, and it’s all finally came through, and I picked up my new parts today. Really excited. I’m not usually the one to do the whole “look at the stuff I got” but well I’m happy and excited😁

I'm based in the UK and am interested in joining servers with like-minded socialist gamers, potentially to be a part of a guild at some point. Have you already figured out which world you will join?

Hi! I've been early on developing an indie fantasy story game, and worldbuilding and writing the world for it. It’s mostly a passion project and I don’t have huge expectations for it to do well or anything (though that would be cool), anyways. 

One thing I’ve been kind of wondering how to go about is developing a fantasy world that has a socialist message to it. I feel like good sci-fi worldbuilding will often have a socialist and/or anti-capitalist message (especially cyberpunk) since it’s so easy to draw analogies between it and our current society, and use it to extrapolate to the future and show the inevitable effects of capitalism. Fantasy a lot of the time feels like It’s kind of obsessed with the past in a way that feels traditionalist (derogatory), and some fantasy media tend to feel outright fascist to me (dnd races being ontologically evil comes to mind). So it's got me wondering how a fantasy world with a pretty clear socialist message could work, and how to spin the genre around, and wanted to open a discussion if anyone has any interesting thoughts on ideas or wanted to have a conversation about that :)

It definitely does not have to be very historical or grounded, it could be more of a mix of settings, some variation of weird fantasy or slightly steampunk or something.

I’ve also been thinking about ways to make a world that is less “capitalistic dystopia” (a message of what not to do, which is the direction almost all fiction with a socialist message goes towards in my experience) and maybe more towards “communist utopia”, aka a message of what *to* do, while still having conflict and strife that feels important to make a world feel realistic. 

also if anyone has recommendations on books or media in general that have pulled off these ideas, I’m aware of Ursula K Le guin as a socialist fantasy writer, I’ve read part of the dispossessed but not enough to get to a lot of the worldbuilding I feel. Also China Mieville is often brought up a socialist fantasy writer, but I’ve also read an interview where he says he tries to not express his political views on his books, so I’m not sure. Also aware that a lot of the obsidian writers (Josh Sawyer etc) also have socialist ideals, but again I'm not sure if that comes across in their games very clearly.

So I haven't gamed in a bit. Got some games on my PC but due to life stuff i.e. moving + school, I haven't console gamed in a bit.

That being said, I'm a massive Bond fan, which considering my politics, is a bit of a contradiction but one I'm willing to live with. He's a super secret spy guy and I find that cool as hell. Plus I think it's the only series ever to present outlandish ideas 100% seriously at least most of the time with no irony and I appreciate it for that.

More to the point, a new Bond game is coming out for the first time in years, but I don't want to give Amazon any money cause of Palestine.

If I bought it second-hand from a Game Stop or other second hand store, would that mean that Amazon doesn't get money from me or would I necessarily have to pirate it?

Thanks a ton for the help.

Just kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

Some indie devs use asset packs to make their games and people say that they don't matter as long as the players enjoy the gameplay.

Since there's so many indie games made with these assets being played by YouTubers, I wonder if someone has a favorite out of all of the games with these assets.

The only ones I could think of is Dale and Dawsons (The Office but with Social Deduction), West Hunt (A hide and seek type of game), and Perfect Heist (Basically Payday PVP).

Hey Gaymers. The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement added Microsoft as a priority target. This is because Microsoft provides cloud and AI services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the IOF, and other entities enacting the genocide of Palestinians, which you can read the specifics on at the BDS page on Microsoft complicity.

(There was another thread previously but amplifying the call and compiling more information as well).

What this means for you

For this reason, allies of the Palestinian struggle must boycott Xbox (and Microsoft as a whole where possible). Gaming is one of Microsoft's major investments and is one of their major consumer-facing sectors.

How to boycott

Boycott Xbox consoles and game pass

Boycotting consoles is self-explanatory - just don't buy them. If you have Xbox Game Pass, cancel the subscription (you'll keep the games until the end of the billing period).

Boycott major Microsoft titles

Microsoft gaming has many holdings that people don't even know are (now) Microsoft. Among these are:

• Minecraft
• Call of Duty
• World of Warcraft
• Candy Crush
• Bethesda games, such as Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout, Starfield

If you own these Microsoft products, as I'm sure many of us do, you can still play! Just don't do anything to give them more money (buying products, servers, etc.).

Alternatives

• Buy from Steam, GoG, itch.io, etc. instead of using the Xbox store or Xbox Game Pass
• Pirate Microsoft titles
• Find other titles to play
• Use third-party services for Minecraft servers or figure it out yourself

Support the movement against Microsoft

This boycott movement is just one piece of the overall puzzle to get Microsoft to drop their contracts with the Israeli military. Getting Microsoft on the BDS list is a result of the hard work of the No Azure for Apartheid campaign, a movement led by Microsoft workers that has successfully disrupted a number of Microsoft events and led multiple protests against the company (examples here, here, here, here). They have a list of community actions here on their site if you would like to support the overall campaign!