Thread by @pleasantlytwstd, I see we're gonna have to have this conversation again.Before we start: [...]

I see we're gonna have to have this conversation again.

Before we start: no, I am not getting Cyberpunk 2077. I was never interested in it BEFORE all the issues surrounding the shit out of it. The issues kind of just sealed the deal for me.

But I'm not keen on being piled on my stream with other people's emotions around the game, when I have explicitly said I'm not getting it.

SINCE WE NEED TO HAVE THIS CONVO AGAIN, however, let's start.

I just ended stream where two people teamed up in chat to more or less shame anyone who is playing it and insisted on wanting to open the can of worms on how 'I just can't with anyone who wants to play it.' I plainly said, I feel that and can relate.

I feel the same way about Detroit: Become Human. I've written about it several times over but if you missed it: I absolutely fucking detest the game. You will NEVER change my mind of the utmost disrespect it dishes out at a cost.

When a close and good friend of mine streamed it (who I mod for), want to know, however, what I DIDN'T do?

I didn't pretend I knew nothing about her praxis, knew nothing about her ideology, I didn't pretend she's never spoke out about black issues or sympathized with me about racial disparity.

I looked at who it was, thought about it, and said "I will not be modding those streams."

I didn't force her into a moral purity to test to prove to me that, 'if you were really, truly, my friend and you cared about black people, you wouldn't dare consider playing that game ever at all.' This shit is so fucking manipulative.

and while we here: it isn't fair for me to expect her to pass moral purity tests for my liking, and then turn around and do offensive shit on the side then get shitty and mad when I get clapped.

I'm pissed.

I plainly said that we have people in chat who will be playing the game as part of paid sponsorships and contractual work. Per usual, these people are often minorities (my community is majority minority). I was met with "im still probably gonna judge ppl that want to play c77"

So I said back "Ok, cool. Since this is part of a prior agreed upon contractual obligation, do you have the means to provide for them since they need to somehow break their contract to keep the two of you happy?"

One person went silent.
The other one immediately started self-flagellating about how 'they hate being that person-was told don't do this or that, but did it anyway.'

Now I'm more mad.

Because all in a span of 3 minutes, I had two people disrespect my wish to NOT have this convo live on my stream, had them ignore that I said I agree and understand, and then had them decide they need the last word, only to realize that's not how it works.

and per usual, the nuance is just NON-FUCKING-EXISTENT when we talk about marginalized people constantly being forced to choose between proving how morally pure they are for The Culture™ or risk immediate 'expulsion' for 'showing their true colors' (cont)

---those 'true colors' being 'I need to fulfill this contract because my alternative is starving or homelessness. I also need to do this to provide BETTER opportunities down the road where we don't have to be subjected to this shit.'

The community agrees it's a fucking transphobic disaster. We all agree the crunch around it is bad. We all agree that in a perfect world, this game wouldn't still be the most anticipated game of 2020.

We do not live in a perfect world.

This is why instead of verbally eviscerating my friend for not immediately thinking of me when she saw those issue scenes in D:BH, instead of saying 'nah, you should've knew, fuck you'-I stepped back and said

'but I know where she stands on everything.'

'I know she'll talk about it (on stream), I know she'll bring it up, and I know when I say I don't want to be present for those streams she isn't going to pressure me to be there because the subject material-I can't fucking deal with it.'

It wasn't my place nor my job to sit her down and make her feel like a worthless human being for just wanting to enjoy a game and being wildly fucking unaware of all the issues that were in it. And that's what ya'll do ALL THE TIME.

I understand being irate COMPLETELY for a lot of these people who are going to stream it, play it, and don't give a single solitary fuck. I will not be attending ANY channels who are playing the game because I DO NOT SUPPORT CDPR. Period.

But this shit y'all do, where you're fucking trying to corner people you say you care about, you love, you want to see be successful, and are on a normal day in your corner?

I'm not about it.
The shit's REAL fucking one-sided.

Be disappointed and annoyed all day long. Be angry, 100%. I'm not denying you your feelings on the topic at hand.

But stop this shit where
-you try to bully your friends out of doing it, despite knowing there are reasons they may be doing so
-emotionally dogpiling because that's easier to do than adding some fucking nuance to the conversation

We're not FuckfaceMcdudeBro who thinks human rights are cringe. We're not reading the news and going 'yep, don't care, can't wait to play!'

We had this talk with D:BH, with fucking WoTC, and now Cyberpunk. I'm annoyed.

You absolutely reserve a right to side eye and judge these assholes who don't give a fuck about you. They're the same ones who think 'blind playthrough' isn't offensive because 'it doesn't bother them, so it bothers no one.'

but I don't know how else to explain to you that, especially for marginalized people, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place often times. We can't do this morally pure shit you're looking for. It's literally impossible.

So maybe next time don't sit your ass in a black queer woman's chat to try to low-key explain down to her how if we don't spend our every waking hour denouncing the game and fighting everyone we know who may be playing it due to reasons outside of 'wanting to' (cont)

then to an extent we just don't care. I said I ain't buying it. I said I ain't supporting it. I said I get it and I agree wholeheartedly.

I cannot single-handedly prevent people from playing the fucking game. I especially cannot if they're obligated to do so.

It's shitty and sucky and I would love nothing than for it to fail, tbh.

But I'm not your goddamn emotional dumpster. I'm not spending all of my stream time "proving" to you 'how much I care' when people who have been in my spaces are loudly aware of it.

It's irritating.

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