In the video gaming world, there has been a recent debate concerning Orson Scott Card, the author of works such as the Ender’s Game series, and and a boycott of the recently released Xbox 360 game titled Shadow Complex. The game’s developer, Chair Entertainment, approached Card, who had previously penned the script for the Xbox’s Advent Rising, with an offer to help develop the world of Empire as well as to write a novel. In 2006, Card’s Empire was released, which serves as a sequel of sorts to Shadow Complex, but Card himself did not do much with Shadow Complex. So why a boycott of the game, and how is it related to Orson Scott Card?
A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Card is adamantly against same-sex marriage and is a member of the National Organization for Marriage’s board of directors. Even though Shadow Complex’s writer is not Card but Peter David, a comic book writer and Star Trek novelist who is said to be “straight but extremely gay-friendly,” some gamers have proposed a boycott of the game because of Card’s views on same-sex marriage. Empire can be described as right-wing propaganda, but its video game tie-in really has little if any political message. Story is not a major emphasis of the game, and Card will probably receive a minuscule amount of revenue if any at all from the sales of Shadow Complex.
Those boycotting the game believe that purchasing Shadow Complex would be supporting Card and his anti-SSM stance, and thus preventing same-sex marriage from becoming reality in the United States. True, it’s possible that Card may use the royalties from Shadow Complex on organizations bent on hindering the efforts of SSM proponents, but he may also use it to donate to other causes or to buy food or to buy his kid a present. We don’t exactly know where this money will go, but those choosing to boycott are forgetting the other people in the process: the team at Chair that slaved over this game, the people at Epic Games that assisted with the development and localization, and those at Microsoft Game Studios that helped publish the title.
GayGamer, Gamasutra, and Kotaku have done a much more thorough job at discussing the issue. GayGamer’s Dawdle proposes donating money to gay charities to offset the cost of purchasing Shadow Complex, Gamasutra’s Christian Nutt brings this issue into perspective and compares it to companies in other industries such as Whole Foods and its opinion of Obamacare, and Kotaku interviews a gamer and reports on what Chair has had to say on the controversy. Even though this topic has probably been argued over to death in those articles’ comments and forums everywhere, there are still things to say.
If we were to keep track of every purchase and what cause or organization our money would or could support, we would effectively spend money on absolutely nothing. An Apple computer? May contribute to poor labor practices in China. A marriage in a Catholic church? May be supporting pedophilia. An orange from your local farmers market? What if he’s a Republican? It’s impossible to ensure that your money only goes to those that believe in the exact same beliefs as you do. Even if a company may publicly advocate a position in a particular issue, that doesn’t mean every employee does. Your spent money would end up in their salary, thus possibly giving them the chance to thwart the efforts of your preferred causes. So what exactly can you do? Lower sales won’t work, because Card will still maintain his views, regardless of his wealth. It’s possible to argue that by not supporting his work and by not purchasing his novels, his income shrinks, thus in a way minimizing the methods he can support the anti-gay rights organizations or movements and voice his opinion with a bit of weight, but given his established reputation as an author, that’s not exactly going to happen.
Nutt does make the important distinction in how a work of art or literature can promote an ideology and in how a company may promote an ideology. A company is “limited to marketing materials and product selection,” but a book, a game, a movie, a television show, a poem, has the ability to say so much more. Therefore in a way, it is still possible or even necessary to talk about these kinds of issues involving a video game. The same goes for anime and manga. When our beloved mediums have the potential to exude a political opinion, have the opportunities to influence its readers and fans with a much greater impact that a mere company could, then it becomes a noteworthy topic of discussion.
So when exactly does a creator’s voice become relevant in the discussion of a story? Of a game? Of a movie? In Shadow Complex’s case, it’s almost stupid to boycott the game because its in-game content and story lacks even weak political overtones or social outlooks. It’s a game about saving your girlfriend Claire and saving the country from a terrorist organization. But what about something else? If Shadow Complex did have a very right-wing, anti-SSM message? What if Shinbo denied the occurrence of the Rape of Nanking in a similar manner as Dragon Quest’s composer, Sugiyama Koichi, denies it? Should we refuse to purchase anything related to Maria+Holic and ef because he directed them? Or what if he somehow squeezed in his views into those shows? Is that the point at which you refuse to watch the shows and boycott any related merchandise? And to what degree do you take it to? The visual novel of ef has nothing to do with Shinbo, but do you boycott it because he merely directed the anime counterpart?
Thanks to ghostlightning and Molotov Cupcake for their input on the issue in preparation for this post.
Also read my review of Shadow Complex for the Xbox 360 on Spawn Kill.
Loading ...
Boycotting the game for such an unrelated issue seems nothing short of fucking retarded to me, and I’m also not sure I support boycotting a work because of the author’s belief. I can’t stand the members of Dream Theater or Avenged Sevenfold because they are all arrogant pricks, and A7X supports right-wing extremism to a point, but I still enjoy some of their music and own of their albums. Who honestly gives a fuck about the person? Einstein beat up women. We still use his theories!!!
Hm. Pretty sure you asked for my input, too. AND I can’t help but wonder why you didn’t want to post this at SK rather than your animu blawg? It would have worked well. ;)
Sorry, it’s because I directly lifted examples from my conversation with ghostlightning into this, and that’s mostly the reason I credited him at the end of the post. And it’s because I kinda wanted to bring anime and manga into the discussion, although it didn’t turn out the way I had planned. And I haven’t posted much here lately, and I was set on relating this anime and manga to this topic.
To boycott a work based on the original creator’s beliefs spits on everyone involved in making the work, their efforts and hopes for it, without knowing what their stand on the issue is.
Are we to say that the digital animator or game-tester should’ve quit just because they disagree with OSC? What if they never even read his work or care to do so? They only want to code, or test, or draw, or maybe just earn a paycheck to address their needs in this economy.
I buy the product, not its maker.
And I would bet that 99.9999999% of the population is with me on that, regardless of what kind of fuss they make on the internet. For good reason too, as boycotting different opinions than yours would leave you with nothing to actually ever buy. Of course, we can’t leave out the inanity of trying to punish someone else for a difference in opinion. Sure, if someone’s position is hindering your life, that would make sense. But last I head, Orson Scott Card wasn’t the solitary force holding back gay marriage. It’s a bit more complex than that.
Definitely. If anything, if they cared that much, they would be doing much more than not purchasing Shadow Complex. And perhaps they are. But I don’t know that.
I still think discussing the matter is acceptable in order to accept the fact that games are a maturing medium, as Nutt discussed in his post on Gamasutra. As for anime and manga, I think we’re far past that point.
Well, you buy Chinese products, dont you ? Yes you do, and in great numbers, every time you go shopping.
Also, who cares about faggots marriages ? Oh, yeah, sorry, your demented state has like 12% of them, yeah, you can care.
I laughed so much at this comment that I don’t know what to say. I don’t even understand what your position is and what you’re trying to tell me. I never advocated or argued against same-sex marriage in this post.
And who cares about same-sex marriage? Quite a lot of people, both those who want it and those who are adamantly against it.
In presidential election 2008, McCain was more friendly to same-sex marriage than Obama (who is a radical christianist and actively opposed gays throughout his career). And yet gays threw out their interest in gay marriage in order to vote for Obama. If gays do not want gay marriage enough to vote for it, why should I support it?
I’d have to feel really strongly about an issue to boycott because of it, but I’d never boycott something if there aren’t any overtones in the work itself. For a situation like this, the game is completely irrelevant, and I think Michael said what I’m thinking quite well. There’s no need to drag the creator ’s personal life or beliefs into a work of fiction that they created.
Boycotting Shadow Complex because of Peter David would have been a more valid reason than Orson Scott Card. Given PAD’s recent activities in the comic world, he’s an embarrassment to the causes he supposedly champions.
Totally agree with the part about ending up buying nothing if you base all your purchases on your beliefs.
Its sort of how if you believe every study that comes out about food, you pretty much wouldn’t be able to eat anything. Remember when they said eggs were bad, well now it turns out they are good for you!
I think the boycott is pointless in that it probably isn’t going to accomplish much or affect sales too badly.
But on the other hand, if that’s how those groups choose to promote their belief then there isn’t anything wrong with it either. They are more than likely fully aware that it isn’t really going to affect much in the grand scheme of things.
But just by making a big ruckus about it, they might get a few more people to see their point and join their cause.
Because really I agree, I don’t think its going to do anything to change the mind of the creator. So to do it for that reason would be pointless.
I think boycotting a work because someone who put a minimal amount of effort into it has differing beliefs than yours is ridiculous. No one boycotted Advent Rising when he penned the story for that, with his Humans Are Gods-Mormon theology as the core of the story. If the work in question was primarily that person’s work and you don’t agree with what they have to say in that work, by all means don’t buy it. Boycotting this game because Card doesn’t like man-love is like boycotting a movie because you have a beef with the camera man.
And as Michael said, we buy the product, not its maker.
While I think boycotting work can be done, it depends on how closely related the author is with the product. I believe strongly in boycotting musicians because of shitty personal or business practices, as well as studios. In gaming? It’s harder to say. There’s a far more diverse team working on a game than their is producing music.
Where one might argue that music is produced by many sound engineers and so on, the fact is that music often reflects the personal ideology of a person, and can be seen as an extension of the egos. That is, most individually derived music. This becomes harder in a band, or when the music is for a product.
It’s all very complex. I think Card’s a good writer, and for that I don’t mind buying his books. But I also want to smack him around the head for being a douche. At the very least, if his writing is not an agent of his views, I don’t mind. I can’t say the same for the writer of His Dark Materials, the Golden Compass, etc.
In regard to His Dark Materials: That is called Gnosticism, friend. In case your poking at it being “Anti-Catholic” or “let’s-all-kill-God”; It isn’t. Just throwing that out there.
Hey, this happened last year, didn’t it? A whole bunch of people raised relevant points about the impact that one’s influence and cash can have in our current sociopolitical environment, and many of those people boycotted Shadow Complex. In return, the ignorant masses who play games complained that people were questioning the medium in any way, just as they reacted negatively to the reaction of those who thought that Resident Evil 5’s imagery was racially insensitive. “They’re just games,” typed one internet user who shall remain anonymous. “Everyone should just play them, have fun and relax…”
Hey, despite the fact that I dispute this anonymous user’s point, I don’t disagree that games struggle to achieve any semblance of meaning, And, because of that lack, Anonymous is right that people should enjoy the games they play. The problem, however, is that that’s all games can achieve. Games don’t even approach the uncomfortable feeling that art forms like film, literature and music can provide. And, any time a game attempts to step outside this well-trod path, it’s achieved through watered down moral choices and “shades of gray,” which is another way of saying completely transparent good or bad choices that, for whatever reason, don’t have their intended effect. That’s depth right there. You made a good choice, and, wow, something bad happened. It didn’t really surprise you, though, since it’s happened at least six times this playthrough. Also, the character who died didn’t impact your ability to kill enemies, so their disappearance troubled you for nary a moment the first time they passed on. Oh, the third vendor died in this town? That’s a huge loss!
Anyway, yeah, I bought Shadow Complex. The game is garbage, so I was disappointed that I bought it anyway, but Peter David’s comment on Christian’s Gamasutra article on Shadow Complex was baffling and saddening. He contrasts freedom of speech with the act of boycotting, and comes to the conclusion that boycotting is preventing ideas from being spread by people who want to sell stuff. For some reason, maybe it’s my attachment to logic, I don’t know, but I find many faults with his point of view and it further sullies my feelings about Shadow Complex.
Well, considering the past 30 years, games have evolved considerably in their storytelling, haven’t they? I’m sure it’ll progressively get better in its way of actually being able to provide those experiences on the level of literature, music, or film. Some games have already moved some players in such ways; it all depends on the person.
We may have these “lame” shades of grey type of moral choices to change the story and such now, but I think it’s merely another step in approaching games that actually achieve meaning.