With statues of former Slavers toppling around the world, is it time FDev removed slavery from Elite Dangerous ?
Slavery
- Thread starter cmdr chequers
- Start date
- Status
![[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/234/234580.jpg?1612617334){kind=avatar}
I’d love to hear the arguments against the idea instead of a non-explanatory ‘no’.
With statues of former Slavers toppling around the world, is it time the movie 12 Years a Slave is banned?
No.
Why can people no longer separate fantasy and real-life?
I think it's a complex issue.
Personally, I reckon it should stay and the gameplay around it should actually be fleshed out to include consequences and knock-on effects for those who engage in it.
Slaves should not be just another commodity in the game, IMO. There should be unique outcomes for those who traffic human beings over and above the consequences for trafficking drugs or whatever.
It would be nice if there was an underground railroad type network of contacts and you could missions and campaigns to undertake anti-slavery actions, liberations against slaver megaships, etc.
If you partake in slave trading, you get your filthy blood money in spades but also a huge cross on your forehead from anti-slaver activists, certain factions won't do business with you at all if they find out, and your name is mud across half the galaxy.
Personally, I reckon it should stay and the gameplay around it should actually be fleshed out to include consequences and knock-on effects for those who engage in it.
Slaves should not be just another commodity in the game, IMO. There should be unique outcomes for those who traffic human beings over and above the consequences for trafficking drugs or whatever.
It would be nice if there was an underground railroad type network of contacts and you could missions and campaigns to undertake anti-slavery actions, liberations against slaver megaships, etc.
If you partake in slave trading, you get your filthy blood money in spades but also a huge cross on your forehead from anti-slaver activists, certain factions won't do business with you at all if they find out, and your name is mud across half the galaxy.
Last edited:
If Frontier wanted to avoid making things political, then not putting political elements in their game would have been a good start. Half of the Galnet storylines referenced real political events... From a gameplay perspective they could remove slaves entirely, add "Imperial Narcotics", tweak the lore a bit to explain why the Emperor is constantly high, and absolutely nothing would change. That would be the non-political approach which wouldn't require them to take any stance on real-life slavery whatsoever.Resounding NO!!!!
Let's avoid making this political shall we.
Hopefully a MOD will be along in a minute to lock this thread......
(But anyway, there was an extensive discussion of this issue in the pre-release DDF days, and the consensus at the time was that Slaves had to be included as a commodity, but realistic consequences for trading slaves had to be excluded, or the feelings of traditionalist Elite players would be really badly hurt, which would be unacceptable. Some retcons were needed from FE2 nevertheless.)
Somethings transcend though, don’t they?
If Frontier released a game that was solely about you being the captain of a ship in the 17th century and the purpose of the game was to build a fleet, a colony, an empire by capturing people and forcing them into slavery, do you think that game would be ok?
I’m hoping the answer is no, because it’s making an entertainment source where rewards are given for slavery which is an inexcusable and unavoidable part of human history. It’s a terrible idea for a game. See also a game where your entire game mission would be the genocide of the Native Americans or a game where part of the aim is to marry an 11 year old girl to start a family. These are all horrific things that shouldn’t be a source of entertainment.
The issue with slavery in ED is that, of course it is not the main aim of the game but rewards can be made from it. So if you disagree with the idea of a game totally based on slavery as tasteless, then this part of ED is also tasteless. You cant be a little big pregnant. Slavery in games (where it is rewarded) is tasteless be it the main aim or a side one.
There are many themes we would not allow in games, I’m struggling to understand why slavery is different.
A lot of times saying nothing and doing nothing is saying and doing a lot. Silence is compliance.
How disgraceful.
before this thread locked, let me fix your statement to be more factual -->
"With statues of some former Slavers toppling around the world while completely ignoring some other former Slavers (such as Ashanti Empire of Africa, beginnings of the Democratic party, etc), is it time FDev removed slavery from Elite Dangerous to virtue signal our social justice purity?"
Let me give you my answer - when we start to erase our history is when we start to repeat it.
Or maybe it's just not giving a toss for the outrage du jour or simply exhaustion from being told that you have to not only have the right opinion, you have to virtue signal about it 24/7, lest you be suspected of being one of "those people."
I have enough very real things to worry about.
I’m trying to have a reasonable discussion, slinging hackneyed old terms at me adds nothing to it. All you needed to add was ‘woke’ and ‘SJW ‘and I could have called bingo.
- Status