Gears of War 5’s Smoking Ban Is Ridiculous and Hypocritical

Oh, great developers are starting to worry more about what not to include in their games instead of how good their games are. And let’s be honest the Gears of War franchise needs plenty of work to get even close the first two games in the franchise. This at best a PR move nothing else, and I am pretty sure nobody who smokes is going to stop because of this decision. And sure as fuck won’t start smoking because they saw it in a hyper violent, adult orientated game where you can chainsaw mutants in half. Who does this target exactly? Sure as shit on children since the game is an adult orientated game, hence all the gore swearing and adult themed stories.

You don’t get rid of a problem by not talking about it and sweeping it under the carpet. If the Gears of War producers really cared about getting rid of smoking rather than just stopping its presence from offending their sensibilities, then this is counterproductive to the entire anti-smoking movement. Removing smoking in games “so kids/young people don’t do it” only makes the “shooting in games makes kids shoot in real live” more valid. And let’s be real here for a moment since the first Gears of War was released the franchise has served us up diet of non-stop gore and copious amounts of violence, not to mention alcohol abuse.

VG247: “Game developers, it’s time to stop listening to gamers”

I think it is high time that we to stop listening to political agenda driven “video game journalists” who want to censor games they do not like, who want to censor artistic visions they do not like who want to stigmatize gamer because they do not like them. Who gladly go after developers and publishers for the act of “wrong think.” Kirk McKeand quick question for you? How can you improve on something and make it better as an artist if you exist in a vacuum? How can you expand your fan base if you don’t know what they want? I mean just look what is going on at Marvel comics, the entire industry is crashing and burning because the writers and the people at the top refuse to acknowledge fan concerns.

Kirk, you talk about bending creative vision due to online vitriol from gamers. Yet you fail to see that “video game journalists” regularly do exactly the same thing but instead of it being constructive criticism it ends up being bullying the developer into something you want. These types of bullying tactic used by “video game journalists” in this industry is appalling. Maybe it is time for you to do a little self-reflection as a so-called “video game journalists” because at this point in time your lack of self-awareness is pretty astounding. But I see you imply that gamers self-entitled in your article, how dare gamers feel entitled to the product they paid for using their hard-earned money.

Smoking in your period drama? Not allowed anymore!

I am a non-smoker and I know that smoking is bad for me, but this seems a little overboard for me considering the outrage originated from the 3rd season of Stranger Things a show where smoking was commonplace and everyone basically smoked:

You know the show where they showed a girl committing suicide in a bathtub and showing another kid getting sodomized by a broomstick handle. Not forgetting how Hopper went all special forces on the Russians with soul snatched communist bodies leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake. But Netflix decides to draw the line at smoking?! But have some nudity or sex in a show and social media shuts down for an entire day due to all the Volvo soccer mom’s social media outrage. Now don’t get me wrong I am not against anti-smoking. I am against picking and choosing which bad influence to fight against, and then removing it from a show that basically has an accurate portrayal of smoking in the ’80s.