Censorship By Popular Demand
TLast week I wrote an article about how review bombing and harsh criticism left an ugly scar on Civilization 6. I compared it to an albatross it carried in shame of its actions, like a scarlet letter declaring its sin. In that article I posed a question:
“With the advent and rise of the democratization of reviews, is the unruly mob a trend that will see the rise of a more well educated consumer? Or will the mob roam supposed monster to supposed monster with their torches and pitchforks?”
Before I answer my own question here, some context is needed. The Century of Humiliation is a concept describing a period in the history of China where the nation was broken down, beaten up, taken advantage of, and abused by foreign powers. Dating back to the First Opium War through the conflicts of the second Japanese-Sino war, a little more than one hundred years, the nation and people of China suffered. It’s a reasoning and rallying point for the Chinese nationalistic way of thinking. Driven by a fear that if ever they appear weak, enemies like beasts in the night will come and sink their teeth in. However, this has led to a fiercely protective and aggressive movement that challenges all manners of criticism, large or small. This includes the occupation of Tibet, the refusal to recognize the independent nation of Taiwan, and the disturbing levels of censorship. It is a ruthless response for what is believed to be for the greater good.
That was the case when players of the new horror game Devotion, a title from Red Candle Games, was discovered by players to have a poster in a part of its game that read, “Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron.” For most people, it wouldn’t be uncommon to read over that sentence, shrug, and move on. But for those who understand the above concept, it’s anything but. Xi Jinping is the current President of China and, with the lifting of the age limit for President, he is likely to remain so. He is powerful and well liked by both his own people and foreign leaders. He has been a strong advocate for the aggressive national policies that propagate the Century of Humiliation rhetoric. He is also extremely self-conscious of being physically compared to the classical character Winnie the Pooh. How self-conscious? Images of Winnie the Pooh are banned in China. The cause appears to be a common protest to name drop or use a Winnie the Pooh image as an insert to show dissatisfaction with the Communist Party.
The response was massive, as the game went from being reviewed as “Overwhelmingly Positive” to “Generally Negative.” With thousands of reviews nosediving the game’s rating and a termination in its partnerships with both Indievent and Winking Entertainment, Red Candle Games requested the game be pulled from Steam, and has published a statement on the matter:
“Due to technical issues that cause unexpected crashes and among other reasons, we are pulling Devotion off from steam store to have another complete QA check. At the same time we’d like to take this opportunity to ease the heightened pressure in our community resulted from our previous Art Material Incident, our team would also review our game material once again making sure no other unintended materials was inserted in. Hopefully this would help all audience to focus on the game itself again upon its return.”
Two follow up statements clarify some of the points, but the overall message is that they wish for people to focus on the game’s message. Tthe reality is the message is pretty clear. Answering my earlier question, I find myself in a nuanced situation, one I feel we all do. By review bombing, by this viral mob mentality, are we policing our games or censoring them? In the case of Civilization 6, it was a response of a deliberate attempt to collect people’s personal information without informing them outside of a complicated legal document. In the case of Devotion, it is a demand that politics that some people disagree with are being put in a video game is a line in the sand that should not be crossed. That games, as art, should censor themselves for the sake of its player’s enjoyment. But art is often political. It is often riddled with messages of its author, and art in many mediums pushes its observer in ways with which they sometimes disagree. People demanded that School Simulator shooters and other games that revel in ribaldry should be removed from Steam.
Censorship is a serious issue for every medium of communication and artistic expression. This becomes even more critical as said expression moves its way into the mass open market. It is a careful balance that is often discussed, with different things causing different reactions from different people. Video games are art, and like all artistic medium, it is up to both the auteur and the voyeur to weigh on either side of the scale, with the invisible hand of the free market taking turns which side to rest on.
