40k Custodes - Who here has a neckbeard? According to PCGamer you may be.

[Destraex]

This kind of affects 40k computer games (the article is a pcgamer one) as well as tabletop and any Cavill movies or shows amazon may have in the works. It seems that anybody who likes rules based orders and status quo is fair game to have their character stereotyped and assasinated. I could not believe the title of this article.

Repressive tolerance seems to be the name of the game.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/warhammer-40000-has-slightly-more-women-in-it-now-and-the-neckbeards-arent-happy/

[W8taminute]

Infuriating. 

Wokeness revels in making peoples' lives miserable with their pompous virtue signaling. 

[Gusington]

For the record I do not have a neckbeard. But I do love me some 40k. Maybe on a more casual level, but I still do love it.

[Jarhead0331]

I think there is a place for diversity that fits neatly within the existing lore. For instance, the Salamanders are black. The White Scars are Asian/Mongolian. The Adepta Sororitas are all, of course, women. Many agents within the Officio Assassinorum and Inquisition are women, as are many sanctioned psykers, Rogue Traders and navigators.  This works with the lore without feeling forced or imposed. Once they start changing lore to benefit notions of diversity and inclusion is where you piss people off (no, not just the "neckbeards") and start diluting the lore that is organic and "believable" and that has been developed over many decades at this point. It seems totally unnecessary and forced.

Bad for the entire IP in my view.

[al_infierno]

I don't get what the big deal is. GW rewrites 40K lore all the time. They completely rewrote Necron lore, so why does it matter if they update one of the factions to have women or whatever?

As for the article, seems like your typical "journalist" looking to rile people up. Life is too short to get angry about dumb stuff like this.

[W8taminute]

I agree that life is too short to get upset about dumb stuff like this however...

Notice how clever they are to immediately de-humanize the complainers before they even get a chance to complain by calling them neckbeards.  A tactic that genocidal maniacs use when it comes to making the target seem less than human so that it makes it easier to wipe out, or in this case ridicule.  Same tactics. 

By playing this off and saying "it's no big deal" gives these oppressors a green light to continue this sort of tactic.  Look at what they called SW fans who criticized Disney Star Wars.  They called them "man babies" in an attempt to tell the rest of the uneducated masses oh look at the poor cry babies who don't like our version of Star Wars. 

They can all go fornicate under consent of king themselves. 

If we don't resist this or at least call out evil when we see it it will only continue to get worse and worse. 

[al_infierno]

I get your frustration, this tactic of painting dissenters as "neckbeards" or "manbabies" or whatever is extremely obnoxious. It's a lazy and toxic way to shut down discussion.  Same thing happened with True Detective Night Country and, like you said, Disney, or really any IP where white men are replaced or recasted by women or POC.  It's just a lazy way to shut down criticism for other creative choices with an easy shield that picks up traction on Twitter, because inevitably there *are* a few asshats who whip out a full-on swastika and make everybody else look bad.

But equating this to genocide and oppression just seems like a ridiculous hyperbole. This is a luxury hobby we're talking about, not some basic human need that spells life or death for those who are excluded.  Yeah, the article is stupid and intentionally incendiary, but it's pretty tame IMO as far as "dehumanizing a target people to make them seem easier to wipe out" goes.  It's pretty inoffensive ribbing, even with the "neckbeard" jab considered (which interestingly only shows up in the headline, presumably for clicks).

To me it just seems like an IP owner doing what they want with their IP, some fans getting upset about the changes (which is valid), and asshole "journalists" running with the discussion to stir up controversy for clicks.  I don't see any of this as "evil," just a mixture of petty, toxic, and silly.

[Gusington]

True Detective: Night Country was amazing!!

[al_infierno]

True Detective: Night Country was amazing!!

Haha, that's the big difference between this example and Disney.  TD: Night Country was actually high quality.  The backlash to that I think mostly came from Nic Pizzolato throwing a public tantrum.  I get the distaste because Night Country was a veeeeery different creative beast from the previous seasons of True Detective, but yeah it was actually high quality in its own right.

[Gusington]

It never even crossed my mind that they replaced the male characters with females from season to season in True Detective. I didn't even think about it or care.

I loved the first season, enjoyed the second, did not watch the third...but the little tidbits I got of Night Country before it launched really had me interested and I did not, until this thread, think about male or female protagonists.

I guess I am old fashioned.

[al_infierno]

I think of that as being "normal."

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

[Jarhead0331]

I get your frustration, this tactic of painting dissenters as "neckbeards" or "manbabies" or whatever is extremely obnoxious. It's a lazy and toxic way to shut down discussion.  Same thing happened with True Detective Night Country and, like you said, Disney, or really any IP where white men are replaced or recasted by women or POC.  It's just a lazy way to shut down criticism for other creative choices with an easy shield that picks up traction on Twitter, because inevitably there *are* a few asshats who whip out a full-on swastika and make everybody else look bad.

But equating this to genocide and oppression just seems like a ridiculous hyperbole. This is a luxury hobby we're talking about, not some basic human need that spells life or death for those who are excluded.  Yeah, the article is stupid and intentionally incendiary, but it's pretty tame IMO as far as "dehumanizing a target people to make them seem easier to wipe out" goes.  It's pretty inoffensive ribbing, even with the "neckbeard" jab considered (which interestingly only shows up in the headline, presumably for clicks).

To me it just seems like an IP owner doing what they want with their IP, some fans getting upset about the changes (which is valid), and asshole "journalists" running with the discussion to stir up controversy for clicks.  I don't see any of this as "evil," just a mixture of petty, toxic, and silly.

I think what W8 is talking about is "the bigger picture". There are all these small cultural battles being waged and viewed independently, many of them seem irrelevant, petty or meaningless. But when added together and viewed as a whole, it can look quite disconcerting to many and feel overwhelming.

It sort of reminds me of this lawsuit I read about today. Some guy sued Cinemark because their 24fl soda cups actually only hold 22fl. So, he found a lawyer to sue the film giant over deceptive marketing practices and for charging a premium for something that they are not actually providing to customers. Viewed from the perspective of one guy who received 2fl less than what was advertised on a cup (particularly when you can get a free refill) it seems ridiculous. But when viewed from the perspective of millions of transactions, you can see the impact such deceptive practices could have.

In any event, I find myself someplace in the middle. It's not a big deal, but I think it was a stupid decision, given my comments above. There are ways to include in 40K without alienating others.

[al_infierno]

Well I for one am glad that culture warriors like Critical Drinker are on the frontline defending us from the evils of... uh... women and black people in media, or something?

[Destraex]

I think there is a place for diversity that fits neatly within the existing lore. For instance, the Salamanders are black. The White Scars are Asian/Mongolian. The Adepta Sororitas are all, of course, women. Many agents within the Officio Assassinorum and Inquisition are women, as are many sanctioned psykers, Rogue Traders and navigators.  This works with the lore without feeling forced or imposed. Once they start changing lore to benefit notions of diversity and inclusion is where you piss people off (no, not just the "neckbeards") and start diluting the lore that is organic and "believable" and that has been developed over many decades at this point. It seems totally unnecessary and forced.

Bad for the entire IP in my view.

I agree.