What year did games start going woke?

[Hoppipolla]

I reckon it was 2013. I know that's earlier than most would say but for example Mortal Kombat X covered up the women and that was in 2015.

I think when you look back... you can see signs of it going back possibly as far as 2013.

 

[CEO of beta eyes]

I reckon it was 2013. I know that's earlier than most would say but for example Mortal Kombat X covered up the women and that was in 2015.

I think when you look back... you can see signs of it going back possibly as far as 2013.

I don’t know, covering up women isn’t necessarily woke. They should be covered.

 

[Hoppipolla]

I don’t know, covering up women isn’t necessarily woke. They should be covered.

Regardless, they probably did it for woke reasons...

 

[Vittum]

2012

 

[SmhChan]

I don’t know, covering up women isn’t necessarily woke. They should be covered.

Exactly. It's a covered up and loud-mouthed cunt whose every other dialogue is talking down to a male character. It'd not make a difference to me if it were a scantily clad hoe.

 

[Hoppipolla]

Exactly. It's a covered up and loud-mouthed cunt whose every other dialogue is talking down to a male character. It'd not make a difference to me if it were a scantily clad hoe.

They didn't do that in the old games though, generally speaking.

They were allowed to be flirtatious, friendly, etc. It was dependent on what the devs wanted the character to be like, not what the censors wanted.

 

[SmhChan]

They didn't do that in the old games though, generally speaking.

They were allowed to be flirtatious, friendly, etc. It was dependent on what the devs wanted the character to be like, not what the censors wanted.

They didn't, but I'd classify those foid characters as woke too right now. Otherwise, it'd be ironic. Like men want 'attractive' foids in game yet are against onlyfans and shits (woketards defend sexwork).

 

[PersonalityChad]

2014

 

[Grodd]

2014-2017

 

[Hoppipolla]

With this in mind I bought a pile of 360 games at the store today lol

Oblivion, Rage, UT3, Terraria and Lost Planet. And I ordered some new drive belts from eBay because the disc drive in my 360 doesn't open anymore so I need to fix it.

So... hooray! Hopefully I can escape from this crazy woke train

 

[starystulejarz]

My guess is on 2013/2014

 

[starystulejarz]

Oblivion, Rage, UT3, Terraria and Lost Planet. And I ordered some new drive belts from eBay because the disc drive in my 360 doesn't open anymore so I need to fix it.

I will never forgive Crapcom for not making a new Lost Planet but after 3rd westernized dogshit game maybe it's better not to continue UT3 was pretty disappointing after playing UE2004 for so long

 

[ordinaryotaku]

2014 is when it started. Shit really went woke in 2018-2019 and after, though.

 

[Hoppipolla]

I will never forgive Crapcom for not making a new Lost Planet but after 3rd westernized dogshit game maybe it's better not to continue UT3 was pretty disappointing after playing UE2004 for so long

The original Lost Planet always looked cool to me. I don't know much about the sequels.

The second was good?

 

[starystulejarz]

The second was good?

yeah that's why we can't have a sequel since nu-capcom hates fun and loves MTX

 

[Hoppipolla]

yeah that's why we can't have a sequel since nu-capcom hates fun and loves MTX

Microtransactions?

I can't even remember what Capcom are up to now I just know it's all woke lol

I know they've been focused a fair bit on Resident Evil remakes and also Street Fighter.

 

[weaselbomber]

Gamergate began in 2014 in response to corruption in gaming journalism. It exploded into something that disillusioned many about the entire industry. Games then weren't as bad as they are now but the backlash against a bunch of retards complaining on the internet set a precedent on what was to come

 

[Hoppipolla]

Gamergate began in 2014 in response to corruption in gaming journalism. It exploded into something that disillusioned many about the entire industry. Games then weren't as bad as they are now but the backlash against a bunch of retards complaining on the internet set a precedent on what was to come

Are you sure it was really that though?

Because that doesn't explain why everything else is woke.

 

[weaselbomber]

Are you sure it was really that though?

Because that doesn't explain why everything else is woke.

yes, one of the biggest talking points was how everything was intertwined.
Even now you see Sweet Baby Inc and other pressure groups involving themselves in companies all over the world. It was the prelude to what we have now tbh

 

[Hoppipolla]

yes, one of the biggest talking points was how everything was intertwined.
Even now you see Sweet Baby Inc and other pressure groups involving themselves in companies all over the world. It was the prelude to what we have now tbh

But wokeness is throughout society it isn't just in games.

 

[weaselbomber]

But wokeness is throughout society it isn't just in games.

oh that's what you meant. well that's besides the point since this thread is about wokeness in video games specifically, and I don't want to be offtopic and bore you with the ideological foundations of the modern left and why everything is woke

 

[Hoppipolla]

One caveat here is that wokeness has impacted games receiving updates way more than games that aren't.

Like I could play Lost Planet or Rayman Legends on this 360 and they're the same as they were before.

Or I could play multiplayer Duke 3D on my Saturn or whatever.

But as soon as a game gets significant "updates" then the wokeness is often added in later.

 

[deleted fren]

Subtle wokeness? Always been present. Blatant wokeness?.Post gamer gate is when it massively went woke. Prior to 2017 we still had sexy women in western vidya. Batman Arkham Knight and overwatch being an example. After GG, western devs proceeded to make their games more and more woke out of spite. (Also because government funding, esg and dei)
Now we've reached the levels of cartoonish wokeness where l the women look like ugly men.

 

[Hoppipolla]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho4wDAELLl0

lol

 

[Zetta]

2008 - 2011 around that time when Bioware was pushing the envelope on 'woke shit', albeit very tamely. In spite of that, their games were actually good whereas today it's complete unadulterated leftist meme pop politics with a side of video game, very shit video games

 

[Hoppipolla]

2008 - 2011 around that time when Bioware was pushing the envelope on 'woke shit', albeit very tamely. In spite of that, their games were actually good whereas today it's complete unadulterated leftist meme pop politics with a side of video game, very shit video games

Ah wow. What games are you thinking of?

Also I'm not sure if just one company doing it counts as the industry shifting in that direction.

And yeah it's become pretty bad now. I do think that good games still exist but I for one am getting fatigued with trying to find them. Maybe I'll have a change of heart again soon who knows

 

[Zetta]

2008 - 2011 around that time when Bioware was pushing the envelope on 'woke shit', albeit very tamely. In spite of that, their games were actually good whereas today it's complete unadulterated leftist meme pop politics with a side of video game, very shit video games

Like there existed woke games before this, such as 'The Longest Journey' but that game didn't accrue any cultural capital like the mass effect and dragon age series did. I think you could trace the genealogy of wokeshit to those games in particular. In many of the woke games I've played I've definitely definitely seen the legacy of bioware peppered in them.

If you are really retarded and want to stretch this nebulous woke thread to it's structural breaking point, you could argue that games like Bioshock were proto-woke. Especially if you're a leftist, I mean the entire video game is a critique on Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy and right-wing libertarianism, it may not delve into identity politics but its still very very leftist.

 

[Lego Island 2]

erm games were always woke sweaty

 

[Zetta]

Ah wow. What games are you thinking of?

I'm thinking of Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Those games had casts of ethnically diverse characters, LGBT nonsense, gay romance, non gender role conforming females; females that look like modern day feminists, aka public graffitied bathrooms with dyed/buzzed hair. Among other leftist social and political themes.

Also I'm not sure if just one company doing it counts as the industry shifting in that direction.

That's probably true. Counterculture isn't something that can be directly spurred on by corporations, let alone individuals. It's symptomatic, if anything. Bioware wasn't the virus that caused it; Bioware was just a runny nose, showing us what was to come before the gaming industry melted down into complete, bubonic-feverous stasis. The virus was external of the gaming industry, the virus waited for it to hit it's apex and then came in to reap.

And yeah it's become pretty bad now. I do think that good games still exist but I for one am getting fatigued with trying to find them. Maybe I'll have a change of heart again soon who knows

Going through a dark age I'm afraid when it comes to gaming.

 

[Hoppipolla]

@Zetta

Yeah it's not so nice now. I think after 2012... it gradually got stranger and stranger until it became absurd.

The number of normal games decreased and decreased... until they became very rare.

Possibly now we're starting to see it improve because places like China are making more games, but how long before the same forces get involved there too and turn those games woke also.

 

[NonNTFailure]

Definitely around 2013 I'd say

 

[m3nt4Lbl0ck3d]

Real wokeness happened when gamer girls felt like they were important and needed more female inclusivity and main characters in vid games. So I would say 2014-2015, this last decade of gaming has been a complete joke. But these radical feminist cunts have been around for years, it's just seeped into everything now because of social media and has been a parasite of rot in all shows, movies and vid games henceforth.

 

[TooSomething]

I think Vagrant Story had some troons in it, but not sure.

Maybe I am mixing something up.

Vagrant Story is a PS1 game.

 

[Dr. Butane]

the seeds were sown long ago

 

[Zetta]

the seeds were sown long ago

 

[starystulejarz]

Microtransactions?

I can't even remember what Capcom are up to now I just know it's all woke lol

Just look at MH Rise they have $200 worth of dlcs

And Sunbreak is mandatory.

 

[Hoppipolla]

Just look at MH Rise they have $200 worth of dlcs View attachment 1406492And Sunbreak is mandatory.

It makes you wonder how much of this stuff would have come with the game if it was made 20 years ago.

 

[Zetta]

@Zetta

Yeah it's not so nice now. I think after 2012... it gradually got stranger and stranger until it became absurd.

The number of normal games decreased and decreased... until they became very rare.

Possibly now we're starting to see it improve because places like China are making more games, but how long before the same forces get involved there too and turn those games woke also.

yeah the gaming industry has become a sort of self contained self perpetuating (microtransaction, remake, outrage profit) independent system that no longer needs external input. it's become an ouroboros, a loop feeding itself, like a biological experiment gone haywire. just a microcosm of the culture war and creative malaise outside of it.

it going to take decades for shit to go back to not only being normal but for a creative incentive system to develop. we might already be past the event horizon and the majority of people are just going to spend decades or centuries forgetting and shrugging off the artistic past like a bunch of medieval peasants

 

[starystulejarz]

It makes you wonder how much of this stuff would have come with the game if it was made 20 years ago.

probably close to 5% only expansion could be added and maybe one or two skins.

 

[Hoppipolla]

yeah the gaming industry has become a sort of self contained self perpetuating (microtransaction, remake, outrage profit) independent system that no longer needs external input. it's become an ouroboros, a loop feeding itself, like a biological experiment gone haywire. just a microcosm of the culture war and creative malaise outside of it.

it going to take decades for shit to go back to not only being normal but for a creative incentive system to develop. we might already be past the event horizon and the majority of people are just going to spend decades or centuries forgetting and shrugging off the artistic past like a bunch of medieval peasants

Yeah I wonder to what degree people have forgotten how great things used to be. I do think Western culture would take a long time to fully heal now.

probably close to 5% only expansion could be added and maybe one or two skins.

Huh. I was thinking 100%. lol

Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. I do think they're stripping base games down in order to incentivise people to buy more DLCs and microtransactions.

 

[Hoppipolla]

I feel like these days the culture has gone so crazy that... maybe it's OK to live in the past to some degree.

Usually I avoid doing it but... maybe there is a threshold beyond which things have gone so bad/crazy that it's reasonable to hark back to a bygone era.

For example if a huge war broke out... I'm sure a lot of people would do that.

 

[Hoppipolla]

It seems like... up until about 2018 or maybe even 2020, there were plenty of non-woke games out there. But slowly these decreased until in 2024 there were very few. Now in 2025 they seem to be slowly increasing again.