warbucks is gone

[. . .]

1 hour ago, TurtleKitty said:

This poll is pointless and did nothing

warbucks is gone

[TurtleKitty]

1 minute ago, SuperDavid said:

i fixed it for you

You did not "fix it". You felt hurt and threatened by my points and lashed out by erasing what I wrote and substituting it with a caricature in an attempt to insult me and make yourself feel better. Your toxicity is matched only by your ignorance. 

[. . .]

16 minutes ago, TurtleKitty said:

You did not "fix it". You felt hurt and threatened by my points and lashed out by erasing what I wrote and substituting it with a caricature in an attempt to insult me and make yourself feel better. Your toxicity is matched only by your ignorance. 

warbucks is gone

[TurtleKitty]

Just now, SuperDavid said:

i dont understand why are insulting me now, i believe this poll was pointless and did nothing. thanks for making my feelings even more worse the they already are, you are really nice

I'm not sure if this comment is another failed caricature of me or if it's you trying to play victim. Please elaborate. 

[ResettePlayer]

Okay, I should probably keep quiet, but after having slept with this topic on my mind, I think I have more points to add.

Isn't it kinda funny, in a way, how we were surprised by all this?

Now, I don't want to set up even more strawmen in this thread, but I will say this: society these days is incredibly politically frustrated. This is not news. There are people who feel like society is still working against them and others who feel like they are being accused for the sins of their fathers. I don't want to go into that, but consider this: we seek an escape from this divisive landscape. Often this escape comes in the form of video games, right?

Many of us play Warbucks without really thinking that hard about the implications of his quotes and traits, and many of us play Warbucks and cannot remove the political associations from our minds. They may not have purposefully interpreted him this way, but they cannot undo that interpretation. They don't want politics in their game, but it's there now. Regardless of whether other people gave a crap about Warbucks, he has spoiled the escapism of others.

And so a few of them complain on the internet, Klei acknowledges that a) Warbucks is spoiling the experience of some, b) he doesn't add a whole lot of interest gameplay wise, c) most other players seem kind of neutral about him/he is not integral to the Hamlet experience, and d) they have an idea for another character who might the first two problems, so... why would they keep Warbucks? They have more reasons to get rid of him than keep him. It's early access, they've scrapped ideas they've spent a lot of time with before, and there will be a long future of Hamlet players coming in after early access asking "Why is this character here? He doesn't add a whole lot and he's kinda racist. At best he's filler, at worst he's offensive." The choice to scrap Warbucks, whether you agree with it or not, seems pretty rational.

However, now the political poison was shifted over to people who liked Warbucks well enough. Their experience has been altered, and their escapism has been spoiled. Their complaints are just as valid as the previous party. The politics which most of us want to avoid has leaked into Don't Starve.

Now, some of us have reluctantly accepted that politics are frickin' everywhere, all the time, and cannot be avoided no matter how hard you try. Maybe the people who are more upset about this fracas still had hope in their souls.

Now, as much as I love Klei, as much as they are the darned nicest people ever, they made a pretty bad mistake with the creation of Warbucks. He fits the environment, he fits in with DS humour, but at what cost? Evil magicians and pirates are individuals who took a wrong turn in their lives, but Warbucks is the product and perpetrator of a system. We don't want to think about political systems in our games, but there he was. Right there, in the menu, and who doesn't give a new character a try? Who doesn't like discovering new examination quotes?

Of course, as we should with all little mistakes like this, we accept that they happened and ask ourselves what lessons we've learned. Carefully consider the implications of a character before releasing them in a culture where everyone is frustrated and on the verge of snapping? Rewiring your brain to somehow not read into things? Not get emotionally attached to a fictional character ever, under any circumstances, no matter how innocent it may seem? Never, in spite of temptation, write long-winded devil's advocate rants on the internet?

These are all kind of unfair (except the last one), considering how we're all fallible humans who cannot consider every potential outcome of our actions. We can learn this, though: empathy for the other side can ease our own loss. Generally speaking, people have reasons for the way they feel and act. Understanding these reasons might make it easier for one to accept the outcome, and move on.

 

TL;DR: Politics cannot be avoided, everyone was already frustrated long before any of this started, everyone's frustrations and complaints are valid, we should acknowledge this debacle as a thing that happened, but a thing we can learn and move on from.