You say it yourself here, it’s a card game. Also, as a historian, you aren’t bothered by using the word censorship? Covering up nudity in a card game for children hardly compares to being sent to a gulag now, does it? Kind of devalues the whole thing.
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Jaina nerf all over again when you think about it. Just wider spectrum.
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Yeah because peoples reactions to that were on par with what they’d done. They put a tiny piece of cloth on her to cover up a bit of cleavage so that it was more acceptable to a wider range of cultures and people acted like they’d committed genocide
Overreacting much?
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I’m not but my position is kinda awkward. I like the new art, I mean I genuinely like it. I understand possible commercial implications, e.g. mobile store. I do understand that Hearthstone has a much wider public appeal.
However I seriously dislike the motivation in principle. Not going to make a fuss about it since I think there’s a lot more nuance than the usual accusations of “post-modernist-leftist-millenials” which are mostly uninformed but I think it can and probably should be calmly debated… just maybe not here, it’s too hectic right now. 
Can you explain this a bit more, I’m not sure I quite understand what’s to dislike about them adjusting the artwork to make it a little more acceptable to a wider audience.
But I do agree with liking the new art, I think most of it looks really good…except the new headcrack art, looks a bit naff in my opinion, but I think the rest of it looks pretty damn good
With pleasure but also with a caveat: I don’t necessarily agree with that it is more acceptable to a wider audience. That’s an important detail in what I’m about to write.
In the last couple of years we’ve seen more diversity in media, with stronger female and ethnical characters. We’ve seen major roles with diverse sexual orientations. I find this all EXTREMELY positive. Unlike me, my daughter is being raised in a world with less negative stereotyping and I can see how her world view is better informed than mine was. While some people consider this something “shoved down our throats” I personally consider brilliant that we, as a society, are able to embrace that we are so diverse and, because of it, so damn awesome. This is progress, serious progress.
At the same time we’ve also seen editions of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn with some words removed because they are offensive. Curiously I’m not aware that the extraordinary book Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison has had any change, same applying to one of my all time favourite books To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. What Mark Twain wrote is a snapshot of history that we should know as it was, so that we don’t let it happen again, instead of a polished not offensive version of what we would like it to be. At the very least, we should consider that a book’s content should not be judged by the gender or skin colour of the book’s author. We’ve also seen the decision of making the World Fantasy Award trophy not being modelled after H.P. Lovecraft because he was openly racist, not because he was a bad fantasy writer, but because he was an ignorant bigot. I consider this regression, serious regression.
I’m not convinced that changes like this will make the content more acceptable to a wider audience. I’m a lot more convinced that changes like this will make the content ideologically more acceptable overall. I’m not convinced there was a problem with the audience consuming this content to begin with, not in this game. Progress moving forward is fine with me.
Keep in mind that I’m not directing my critical eye at Blizzard. They probably just complied with the market and industry players that may affect their revenue, e.g. Apple and Google. Keep in mind this though: the game has been rated age 7+ since day 1. Why are we removing a folklore figure like Succubus now? I could even say “well, ok…” regarding the word “Mistress” but Succubus is very weird.
I will, however, accept that there are certainly negative and understandable negative implications in many cultures and walks of life that I fail to identify. And in that case, you are right! It is indeed more acceptable to a wider audience. But in my failure to identify them, I’ll default to the position I currently have. I will stand corrected if presented with new evidence, of course.
Although I don’t like all of this, I’m not even mad, really. I find this mostly irrelevant and it doesn’t change my relationship with Hearthstone or Blizzard. Just explaining why I seriously dislike all of this in principle but not exactly what is happening here and now. There are much bigger issues to deal with regarding this whole issue and video game art, especially when the art is SO FREAKING GOOD, is not one of them. Hope it didn’t sound too serious.
It’s not to serious at all, I was hoping for a genuine explanation because I’m totally on the other side of the fence and have zero problem with their changes. As for what you’ve said:
I’m total with you on this. Fully agree 100%. But this is why I’m on my side of the fence. A large reason for these changes is because of legislation changes in other countries. Unfortunately some of the artwork doesn’t comply with the changes to what is acceptable in games that have no age restriction on them. So Blizzard had a choice to make. Do we make some adjustments to the artwork in our game so that we can continue to operate within these markets (of which some of them are HUGE) or do we leave our artwork as it is and risk our product being removed from these markets? You don’t have to be a business genius to make an intelligent choice on that one. Now people will turn around and say that they are bending over for these other cultures…but are they? Is it smart business to cut yourself off from a market because you’re unwilling to be flexible to their cultural laws? Is it morally right to refuse to be flexible towards other peoples cultures? Like you say about how the world has changed to make people more open minded towards others…that is how I feel about this. Why should we put our foot down and say their culture is wrong because their culture expects a TINY bit more modesty?
This I do agree with.
This I don’t agree with. He may have been a great author, but I am a big believer that, not matter how good you are at something, you should not be celebrated if your behaviour is unacceptable. I don’t know if you like football or not but, as an example, a Chelsea football player called John Terry was once stripped of the captaincy because it was discovered he was having an affair with a team mates wife. Many people thought this was outrageous. Personally I thought he got off lightly.
As I mentioned above, some of the content could potentially make it unmarketable in certain countries. A few changes to pictures is a small price to pay to allow them to enjoy our game surely?
Anyway, I gotta dash so I’ll leave it there for now, but I’m happy to continue this discussion
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This wasn’t done because of “millennials” but because of marketability towards children and conservative China.
This was done by Blizzard for monetary gain.
I find this acceptable but I don’t know what exactly is going on here. Do you have some info you can link me to, or something I can google myself?
I found new Secret Keeper more sexy though. Well after all these years it seems to be HS is much more catering little kids recently as customer base. Well they need to watch out parents as they mean main income source, so changes are very much understandable.
There is a post going around that the changes had nothing to do with China. It was made to make “artists” in the company be more “comfortable”. So ye PC bull.
Christ, give it up already. How did the mass rebellion go last time with Jaina? “This is the final straw, I will quit now! We will not accept censorship!!”
Yeah, nothing happened, just a silent death of all the protests. You’re still here, as you will be the next time something irrelevant happens.
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Time of children ![:slight_smile:](https://d30yn6ctwpaot1.cloudfront.net/en/hearthstone/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
I did not like at all…The old art were very nice.
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Yeah, of course. You’re right. That must be it. Despite Blizzard just recently claiming otherwise. I just don’t believe them.
I don’t believe that they would go through the trouble, no matter how small, if they’re not have to and doesn’t improve the game in any way. I’m tired of giving them the benefit of the doubt at this point.
Also I really like the new Mistress- Sorry, QUEEN of Pain’s artwork. That must be Dreadlord Jaina, no? Well, anyway, she looks kickass and I wished she was a new Warlock legendary. But nope. She’ll be a card no one plays.
What cards will be changed next, I wonder? My money’s on Whirlwind. That blonde’s cleavage, man…
What’s the bloody point?
It’s not like the devs check here. Nothing is going to happen no matter how hard we shout and post.
Nothing is going to happen. Hearthstone may just be facing it’s imminent fall. Why stop it. After all this. GOOD RIDDANCE.