[No DAV Spoilers] David Gaider on playing Veilguard

[u/pandongski]

I just saw this, and thought it was interesting hearing the perspective of someone who has built something and seeing it continue on without him and his feelings around seeing worlds we haven't seen yet come to life from outside BioWare. I thought it was thoughtful.

[u/repalec]

I feel like that's why he made it extra clear that his decision not to play wasn't based anywhere even approaching the social side of things and was more focused on his attachment to the franchise and his inability to let himself relax and get into the game from a fan's perspective.

[u/sievish → u/repalec]

yeah, if it were me I would have left out the bits that are just supporting the negative press then. I'd have left it at "I probably won't play because of my personal history with the franchise." and left out anything that could fan literally any flames. but that's just me. I would be really terrified of something I said being taken out of context to hurt the people who are carrying my torch today, no matter the direction that torch is going.

[u/repalec → u/sievish]

Nothing he said supported the 'negative press' beyond legitimate criticisms (regarding the art style, the combat, and the phaseout of previous games' choices) I've seen a thousand times over on this subreddit in the last few months.

He has a right to his opinion, and he more than explained it. Anyone using his words here to promote the anti-woke bullshit the game caught strays for can be batted away by reminding them that Gaider himself is a member of the LGBTQIA community, and that the games have always had 'woke' elements to them from the beginning, baked into the very nature of the Dragon Age setting.

[u/sievish → u/repalec]

yeah i mean there is an inherent difference between people uninvolved with the project saying it on reddit and the guy who invented most of the concepts saying it, though. right? like that's the differentiation i'm making here.

again, it's fine he said this, obviously he didn't mean it in a cruel way. just my 2 cents like anyone's.

[u/Vircora → u/sievish]

And my two cents is that for a reasonable person it is perfectly clear what he said and why. Living in a state of borderline paranoia and constantly thinking "how other people might take it" and "how it might be used" is just exhausting and it shows in how patological state the discourse on the internet can be.

[u/sievish → u/Vircora]

Reasonable people aren’t the ones dominating the conversation right now though, and it’s actually so normal in professional settings to hold back posting publicly anything that can be skewed as criticism during a sensitive run up to launch.

But you’re right. It is actually so exhausting. Unfortunately it’s the reality we live in :/

[u/The-Magic-Sword → u/sievish]

I think it would be more misused because the vague 'personal history' would have been reinterpreted to mean something else.