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The moment we’ve all been waiting for – prepare to don the mantle of Kratos in the critically acclaimed masterpiece, God of War, now available DRM-free! You can get it with a -50% launch discount until March 28th, 11 PM UTC.

This time, the Ghost of Sparta ventures into the realm of Norse mythology, where gods, monsters, and legends collide. Armed with his Leviathan Axe and accompanied by his son Atreus, Kratos embarks on a profoundly personal journey, exploring the tumultuous relationship between father and son amidst the chaos of divine forces. The game’s stunning visuals, immersive storytelling, and visceral combat mechanics promise an unparalleled adventure that will leave an indelible mark on your gaming soul.

Now on GOG!

And don’t forget to tune in on our Twitch channel on Friday, March 15th, at 7 PM UTC, for a God of War staff stream with n_wolf, our Communication Specialist!
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NewPyk: So let me get this straight: they made Thor fat and designed one fantasy creature (giantess) Angrboda as black person (couldn't find any more exaples) and this is woke? And now we should boycott the developers / designers? In strange world we living...
I can reply only for myself.
I have a zero-tolerance policy on uncalled for and excessive white noise/virtue signaling (commonly known as bull-shit), so I will not be supporting or purchasing any products which violate this policy.
I do not know what the future holds for their developers and I don't enforce this policy preemptively.
I believe it's mostly self-respecting.
And it is a clown world.
Post edited March 23, 2024 by NotMyGOG
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NotMyGOG: So, they couldn't help themselves...again.
It was to be expected, sadly.
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NewPyk: So let me get this straight: they made Thor fat and designed one fantasy creature (giantess) Angrboda as black person (couldn't find any more exaples) and this is woke? And now we should boycott the developers / designers? In strange world we living...
Race swapping a Nordic goddess is pretty damn insulting to that region and it's mythology in and of itself, but the real reason the game is bad is because woke ideologues are entirely incapable of writing compelling, believable characters or narratives, their world view does not allow it because they see traditional, normal human behaviors and interests as problematiic or oppressive things that must be subverted and repaced with their ideals.

And boy howdy is Ragnarok a victim of such writing, for starters, in trying to subvert a male protagonist that the writers consider "toxic", they turned Kratos into a sad sack full of self doubt and emotional turmoil. They call this character development, when he's really just been inverted, deliberately altered and weakened to push a narrative, they took away his identity and it rightfully pissed a lot of fans off, including David Jaffe, the creator of the character.

On top of the entirely out-of-character protagonist, the game's plot and pacing are in the toilet, with consistently cringey, borderline high school drama caliber dialogue spoken by grating, unbelievable characters in ponderous cutscenes that go on too long and happen way too frequently. The game also yanks control away to show you more of this awful story so often that you can't even really ignore it and try to just enjoy the gameplay.

The gulf in quality between this game on GOG right now and the sequel is huge. This is what always happens when you hire these kind of people to work your narrative, you end up with a compromised game that is pretentious, yet crudely and childishly written and unrelatable to the average joe consumer. Ragnarok may not be the most on-the-nose preachy of SBI games but it is still pretty damn bad.

If you want actual good games, you better believe we should boycott products that are involved with blatant activist groups like this.
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B1tF1ghter: People who are interested in the factual accuracy of your "anti-woke" accusations against me can easily back-track into my previous posts to read my exact words, devoid of any of your misinterpretations.
You're right. You defined yourself as anti-woke. It's in black and white. The internet never forgets.

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B1tF1ghter: And yes, people SHOULD be judged based on what they say publicly on platforms such as Twitter
So formerly the most powerful man on Earth has some of the most controversial, misinformed, unlawful and dumb takes on social media. And he might become the most powerful man on Earth soon again. If people are going to enforce this "private social media posts should interfere with and impact your work life" then it should be equal to everyone. All or nothing.

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rojimboo: That's conclusive evidence that the article is full of factual inaccuracies.
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B1tF1ghter: No. That, and NUMEROUS OTHER TWEETS, are evidence
So personal tweets are proof of factual inaccuracies in the Kotaku article? Of which you have named none, zero, zilch? Got it. Actually no, I will keep treating Twitter/X as the ultimate cesspool of hate and misinformation it is, thank you very much.

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B1tF1ghter: So why even hire "a consultant on REAL WORLD subjects" if "it's ALL fiction"?
Oh, that's right, because it's not.
And the moment they want to put real-life stuff in, you know, an average person would "probably" want that stuff inserted to be accurate and neutral, not a biased take.
Wait. You think Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarök are REAL WORLD subjects? Ok then.

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B1tF1ghter: You will have a hard time finding people online who respond to EVERY SINGLE sentence out of a long message.
It seems you read too hastily, no surprise there. I didn't say, imply or mandate that people should "respond to EVERY SINGLE sentence" of a comment. I told you it was dishonest and arguing in bad faith when you only reply to and quote words or phrases from singular sentences out of singular paragraphs, omitting the rest of the sentence and statement that would have changed or explained the meaning completely well. Only for you to be able to comment something remotely reasonable without losing face. That's sad.

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B1tF1ghter: Go ahead and provide your own argumentation defending the actions of SBI on social media. Including but not limited to their very public, very archived, Twitter posts.
ALSO feel free to defend the CEO of SBI after their GDC talk ( assuming you even watched it ).
Look, it's very simple, maybe you will finally understand. The burden of proof is on the one making the claim, especially a strong one, that they doubled down on. You? You have repeatedly stated that Sweet Baby Inc. inserts diverse characters to fictitious games to their detriment and adds "artificial" writing (whatever the fck that means) and bs to them. I asked: "Could you please show when and where SBI did that, with some verifiable facts or evidence or reasoning or anything to back you up?". You provided nothing.

You? You have repeatedly claimed how full of factual inaccuracies Kotaku is, especially this investigative article into GamersGate2.0 harassment, and that Kotaku's downfall can be easily seen. I asked when and where can you see this? What are the factual inaccuracies in the article? You provided nothing.

The only thing you provided after several very long walls of text, is some singular personal tweet from a singular Kotaku journalist, as if that was proof of factual inaccuracies in the article.

Indeed, the only thing that you seem to object to, is wokeness, wherever you perceive it supposedly. You are the definition of anti-woke, and you don't even seem aware of it. That's sad.

If you had backed up anything you constantly claimed, then this discussion would have been a lot shorter. I basically called you out on your bs, and I was right, you pulled the allegations out of your ass because you couldn't stand them being opposed to your world view. How dare they invade your safe space with forced diversity and inclusion, am I right? I mean, look at Alan Wake 2, how dare they put in a black woman protagonist into a Finnish game, and with such a Nordic name? Surely she should be blonde and white and a viking? Right? Artificial slop, it was. Boo Sweet Baby Inc. Boo Kotaku for reporting on it. Let's boycott them, throw in some harassment maybe for good measure. /s

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B1tF1ghter: I AM NOT GETTING PAID FOR THIS S**T.
You clearly should be. Nobody masters inane drivel whilst saying nothing, quite like you. It's quite a talent, really.
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idbeholdME: See it all started in the wee year of 2014....
Ah yes, the GamersGate harassment campaigns due to journalists invading the safe space of frothing-at-the-mouth pasty-white manchildren. Their last bastion and reeking cave of filth - video gaming. You should be proud of the torture people inflicted on those people. It was of course justified for infringing grossly upon your pastime hobby. How dare they?

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idbeholdME: But it keeps getting shoved in our face non-stop, more and more so in the recent years.
What exactly do you think is being shoved in your face? Do you think that Sweet Baby Inc. made Remedy write their main character as a black woman? Do you think that Remedy would have gone with a white male, without Sweet Baby Inc.'s involvement? What about Spider Man 2's diverse cast? What about God of War Ragnarök's? How would the story have been better without diversity and inclusion? Can you point to some examples?
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ReynardFox: Race swapping a Nordic goddess is pretty damn insulting to that region and it's mythology in and of itself...
How about killing (also banging some) Greek and Nordic gods by some made-up Greek deity modeled on generic American pop culture badasses? It's ridiculous to pick on something like that while the whole premise of the franchise is "insulting" in its core.
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ReynardFox: Race swapping a Nordic goddess is pretty damn insulting to that region and it's mythology in and of itself...
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ssling: How about killing (also banging some) Greek and Nordic gods by some made-up Greek deity modeled on generic American pop culture badasses? It's ridiculous to pick on something like that while the whole premise of the franchise is "insulting" in its core.
My thoughts exactly, complaining about the writing is fair game (tho I'd argue only the original and this "reboot" tries) but getting all outraged because a character has an inappropriate skin color is... tough, God of War isn't exactly historically accurate, nor does it respect most mythos

So instead of throwing the same, tired buzzwords (iS It WoKe??) maybe focus on the actual issues Ragnarok may have
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At this point, I believe I have a very good understanding of why and how the series turned woke.
I condemn such subversive practices. Even if God of War seems to be a straight arrow, I will not be purchasing it.
Nevertheless, I would like to congratulate the GOG team for securing more releases and I wish them the best on bringing more curated games to their customers in the immediate and far future.
I wish all of you plenty of fun, whatever games you choose to play (except pornography related ones).
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idbeholdME: See it all started in the wee year of 2014....
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rojimboo: Ah yes, the GamersGate harassment campaigns due to journalists invading the safe space of frothing-at-the-mouth pasty-white manchildren. Their last bastion and reeking cave of filth - video gaming. You should be proud of the torture people inflicted on those people. It was of course justified for infringing grossly upon your pastime hobby. How dare they?

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idbeholdME: But it keeps getting shoved in our face non-stop, more and more so in the recent years.
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rojimboo: What exactly do you think is being shoved in your face? Do you think that Sweet Baby Inc. made Remedy write their main character as a black woman? Do you think that Remedy would have gone with a white male, without Sweet Baby Inc.'s involvement? What about Spider Man 2's diverse cast? What about God of War Ragnarök's? How would the story have been better without diversity and inclusion? Can you point to some examples?
The second character in Alan Wake 2 was going to be a white woman. I think people are tired of the forced race swapping that is one-sided. It's getting so bad there trying to lie about history in documentaries. This issue goes far beyond gaming. Good job at being racist by the way.

Anyway, why are we still talking about this issue? Just play the game. That's what I'm doing.
Post edited March 23, 2024 by Syphon72
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ssling: How about killing (also banging some) Greek and Nordic gods by some made-up Greek deity modeled on generic American pop culture badasses? It's ridiculous to pick on something like that while the whole premise of the franchise is "insulting" in its core.
Do you really not understand that race swapping like this is only being done in one direction, by people like SBI for political reasons, not authentic storytelling ones? Kratos may have been just made up and inserted into mythology, but at least he was written with the intent of being entertainment, an appealing power fantasy character in a narrative that was trying to be, foremost, fun. Ragnarok attempts none of this because it was heavily influenced and written by activists.

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Memecchi: So instead of throwing the same, tired buzzwords (iS It WoKe??) maybe focus on the actual issues Ragnarok may have
While the DEI crap in this game makes me roll my eyes, it's really the core of the game, the appalling written, glacially paced storytelling which drags down and interferes with everything else that is the problem. But it is a problem born of the same source, these issues are directly the result of, as I said before, wokeness. It is because of political activists masquerading as writers and consultants, cramming their narcissistic worldview into existing properties because they have no actual creative ability and know that no one is going to pay attention to them if they try to make their own original IPs.
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XYCat: what fucking year is this?
Maybe it is a year in the 13th century. Let's have a look at the Eddas
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14726/pg14726-images.html

That very night, when the artificer went with Svadilfari for building stone, a mare suddenly ran out of a forest and began to neigh. The horse being thus excited, broke loose and ran after the mare into the forest, which obliged the man also to run after his horse, and thus between one and the other the whole night was lost, so that at dawn the work had not made the usual progress. The man seeing that he had no other means of completing his task, resumed his own gigantic stature, and the gods now clearly perceived that it was in reality a Mountain-giant who had come amongst them. No longer regarding their oaths, they, therefore, called on Thor, who immediately ran to their assistance, and lifting up his mallet Mjolnir paid the workman his wages, not with the sun and moon, and not even by sending him back to Jotunheim, for with the first blow he shattered the giant's skull to pieces, and hurled him headlong into Nifelhel. But Loki had run such a race with Svadilfari that shortly after he bore a grey foal with eight legs. This is the horse Sleipnir, which excels all horses ever possessed by gods or men."
A GENDERFLUID Loki transformed into a MARE (SEX CHANGE, TRANSFORMATION INTO A HORSE, TRANSSEXUAL) and was IMPREGNATED by Svaðilfari (A STALLIAN). He (A MAN) gave BIRTH to Sleipnir. Even Baldur's Gate 3 hasn't managed something like this with its bear.

The Norse mythology is WOKE as F***. When the Eddas were written nobody knew that they wrote woke garbage.
Post edited March 23, 2024 by foad01
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foad01: Loki transformed into a mare and was impregnated by Svaðilfari. He gave birth to Sleipnir.
Even people in the 14th century already knew that to be religious mythos, as still do the majority of people in the 21st century.
Only a minority of persons believe this can become/should be an established reality today (much like the existence of magical powers).
Norse mythology is commonly accepted to be... mythology. A fictitious story appealing to the 14th-17th century man's religious needs, already set in stone, done and dusted.

Nobody should have to argue about significantly diverging from its already set parts (events, people, gods, e.t.c.) and it is irrationally outrageous to suggest otherwise (e.g. Kratos and his deeds are an addition for the purposes of entertaining a modern audience, are not and will not become a set part of the mythos).

They could make their own mythology with their own gods and events, not clash with/rip off a preexisting one. In older/ancient days, I believe it was called a herressy to do so (it still is actually), and was even punishable by death (it still is in extreme cases). Because we no longer treat Norse mythology as having religious substance (there is a minority who does), it does not mean we should alter its set parts to the limit of producing a degenerate outcome.
Post edited March 23, 2024 by NotMyGOG
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The Norse mythology is ... a mythology. What a statement! And it is fiction! A fiction where the woke parts have to be removed in a quote. Of course, a copyright-free fiction which already has been altered with Greek mythology can't be altered any further.

LOL.

We can also have a look at Angrboða who is depicted as a black woman in God of War Ragnarok.

"Loki," continued Har, "has likewise had three children by Angurbodi, a giantess of Jotunheim. The first is the wolf Fenrir; the second Jormungand, the Midgard serpent; the third Hela (Death).
Angrboða is a mother of a giant wolf, a giant serpent which encircles the Earth, and a crippled woman where one half of her body is dead. This is even more INCLUSIVE than modern fiction. Here is a nice family picture

https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2024/03/a1cbbc7f012e8d49fc8e8b80bc8378741f5129c9.jpg

Changes to this are so outrageous that we have to write long walls of texts and whine, bitch and moan all day over the internet.

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rojimboo: So personal tweets are proof of factual inaccuracies in the Kotaku article? Of which you have named none, zero, zilch? Got it. Actually no, I will keep treating Twitter/X as the ultimate cesspool of hate and misinformation it is, thank you very much.
On X you can find this from the director of Alan Wake 2 though.
https://twitter.com/TimePirateNinja/status/1764697135344202183?s=20
Attachments:
Post edited March 23, 2024 by foad01
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Syphon72: The second character in Alan Wake 2 was going to be a white woman. I think people are tired of the forced race swapping that is one-sided.
Prove this please. foad01 already linked how Remedy acategorically refutes and dismisses this.


It can also be found in this Wired article about the GamersGate2.0 harassment of journalists and Sweet Baby Inc.:

https://www.wired.com/story/sweet-baby-video-games-harassment-gamergate/
According to one Sweet Baby writer, there was a “significant uptick” in harassment aimed at the company after the Steam group’s creation, including sending harassing texts and DMs. (WIRED has agreed to withhold the writer’s name for their safety.) “They're treating this like a holy war,” they say. ”It is taking on a cult-like vibe.”

In an interview on YouTube, the man who claims he started Sweet Baby Inc Detected says his interest in the company began with God of War Ragnarök—a game he admits to never having played—where he “noticed things were different” and wondered, “Why is this game like this?” Navigating to Sweet Baby’s website, he recounts looking over projects they’ve worked on, like the massively successful Spider-Man 2 (another game he says he’s never played), and “noticing a pattern.” Sweet Baby Inc Detected’s creator, who says he’s based in Brazil, never explains exactly what that pattern is, instead using buzzwords like “woke products” and “virtue signaling” and noting that several of these games had an “extremely diverse cast.” Later in the interview, he complains that “our games, our entertainment, the stuff we love, are utilized for this kind of stuff, political agendas.”

Games like God of War Ragnarök or Alan Wake II—both of which include Black women in prominent roles in promotion, story, or both—do not touch on any political topics in their stories. Ragnarök, a game built around mythical realms, is about preventing the end of the world. Alan Wake is about the titular writer returning from an otherworldly prison and joining Saga Anderson to investigate ritual murders.

“There are a lot of games that we have been accused of working on, especially if they include characters of color or queer characters, that have nothing to do with us,” Belair says. “I think that makes it very, very obvious what they think the pattern really is.”

Belair speculates that one of the reasons her company is facing ridicule is that Sweet Baby’s harassers can’t fathom that the people behind their favorite games would actually want her company’s input. “They have to assume that, no, without [Sweet Baby’s] intervention, that would be a white character,” says Belair, pointing to characters like Saga. “Because surely my heroes agree with me.” (Alan Wake II game director Kyle Rowley has directly refuted claims that Saga, without Sweet Baby’s intervention, would have been white: “It’s absolutely not true.”)

“There are marginalized devs who work on these games, and they want to put that stuff in their games,” Belair says, adding that it’s strange that players feel like characters of color, for example, need to have their presence justified in any way.

“I'm a huge Uncharted fan,” Belair says.”’Why is Nathan Drake white?’ is not a thing we have to justify. He just is.”
And I wouldn't even know how what you claimed works, since Sweet Baby Inc. comes in to consult the narrative so late in the process, all the graphical assets have been done, and most of the voice acting and writing. Did Remedy at the very initial stages, before anything was done, "race-swap" (jesus, what a term) the protagonist? To the story's detriment? This is an award-winning game that has been praised endlessly, and the whole thing was built around the black female actress. You better be ready to back up what you just claimed.

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Syphon72: Good job at being racist by the way.
Wow, wtf??!!! If you can't quote me being racist, then you better own up and like an adult take it the fck back and apologise.

Wtf, mate. What is your damage?? This is a video gaming forum. Learn to act like a human being ffs.

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Syphon72: Anyway, why are we still talking about this issue? Just play the game. That's what I'm doing.
Actually, you're falsely accusing people of being racist, for no reason, on a video gaming forum. So no, you're not just playing games.
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Syphon72: The second character in Alan Wake 2 was going to be a white woman. I think people are tired of the forced race swapping that is one-sided.
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rojimboo: Prove this please. foad01 already linked how Remedy acategorically refutes and dismisses this.

It can also be found in this Wired article about the GamersGate2.0 harassment of journalists and Sweet Baby Inc.:

https://www.wired.com/story/sweet-baby-video-games-harassment-gamergate/

According to one Sweet Baby writer, there was a “significant uptick” in harassment aimed at the company after the Steam group’s creation, including sending harassing texts and DMs. (WIRED has agreed to withhold the writer’s name for their safety.) “They're treating this like a holy war,” they say. ”It is taking on a cult-like vibe.”

In an interview on YouTube, the man who claims he started Sweet Baby Inc Detected says his interest in the company began with God of War Ragnarök—a game he admits to never having played—where he “noticed things were different” and wondered, “Why is this game like this?” Navigating to Sweet Baby’s website, he recounts looking over projects they’ve worked on, like the massively successful Spider-Man 2 (another game he says he’s never played), and “noticing a pattern.” Sweet Baby Inc Detected’s creator, who says he’s based in Brazil, never explains exactly what that pattern is, instead using buzzwords like “woke products” and “virtue signaling” and noting that several of these games had an “extremely diverse cast.” Later in the interview, he complains that “our games, our entertainment, the stuff we love, are utilized for this kind of stuff, political agendas.”

Games like God of War Ragnarök or Alan Wake II—both of which include Black women in prominent roles in promotion, story, or both—do not touch on any political topics in their stories. Ragnarök, a game built around mythical realms, is about preventing the end of the world. Alan Wake is about the titular writer returning from an otherworldly prison and joining Saga Anderson to investigate ritual murders.

“There are a lot of games that we have been accused of working on, especially if they include characters of color or queer characters, that have nothing to do with us,” Belair says. “I think that makes it very, very obvious what they think the pattern really is.”

Belair speculates that one of the reasons her company is facing ridicule is that Sweet Baby’s harassers can’t fathom that the people behind their favorite games would actually want her company’s input. “They have to assume that, no, without [Sweet Baby’s] intervention, that would be a white character,” says Belair, pointing to characters like Saga. “Because surely my heroes agree with me.” (Alan Wake II game director Kyle Rowley has directly refuted claims that Saga, without Sweet Baby’s intervention, would have been white: “It’s absolutely not true.”)

“There are marginalized devs who work on these games, and they want to put that stuff in their games,” Belair says, adding that it’s strange that players feel like characters of color, for example, need to have their presence justified in any way.

“I'm a huge Uncharted fan,” Belair says.”’Why is Nathan Drake white?’ is not a thing we have to justify. He just is.”
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rojimboo: And I wouldn't even know how what you claimed works, since Sweet Baby Inc. comes in to consult the narrative so late in the process, all the graphical assets have been done, and most of the voice acting and writing. Did Remedy at the very initial stages, before anything was done, "race-swap" (jesus, what a term) the protagonist? To the story's detriment? This is an award-winning game that has been praised endlessly, and the whole thing was built around the black female actress. You better be ready to back up what you just claimed.

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Syphon72: Good job at being racist by the way.
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rojimboo: Wow, wtf??!!! If you can't quote me being racist, then you better own up and like an adult take it the fck back and apologise.

Wtf, mate. What is your damage?? This is a video gaming forum. Learn to act like a human being ffs.

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Syphon72: Anyway, why are we still talking about this issue? Just play the game. That's what I'm doing.
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rojimboo: Actually, you're falsely accusing people of being racist, for no reason, on a video gaming forum. So no, you're not just playing games.
Calling people pasty-white man children is not racist? lol Your one acting unhinged on gaming form not me.
Post edited March 23, 2024 by Syphon72
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rojimboo: Wow, wtf??!!! If you can't quote me being racist, then you better own up and like an adult take it the fck back and apologise. Wtf, mate. What is your damage?? This is a video gaming forum. Learn to act like a human being ffs.

Actually, you're falsely accusing people of being racist, for no reason, on a video gaming forum. So no, you're not just playing games.
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Syphon72: Calling people pasty-white man children is not racist? lol Your one acting unhinged on gaming form not me.
Not only did you ignore direct questions at you about the topic, and to back up even a little bit what you claimed, you doubled down on your accusation based on nothing.

Pasty-white pale nerd manchild was not a deragatory term against one race, in context. It is therefore thus not racist. It was clearly directed at the nerdy, living in mom's basement, never go out, crowd, that nerd-rages frothing at the mouth against "woke" ideology, as they have not experienced life and the world around them. Never mind the sun.

You need to take it back. You can't just shout "RaCiSt!" at people on video gaming forums based on nothing, because you disagree with what they're saying.

Coincidentally, you have succumbed to what you accuse the left of doing - throwing around the word racist so it loses its meaning. *slow claps*