I tend to separate real social justice envelope pushers from the ditto warriors. One wants a very agreeable sort of change, the other are in need of something to fight and shout for. The former would challenge and discuss cases of negative cultural appropriation (like, say, an advert for burglar alarms featuring a hurtful depiction of stereotyped gypsies, for instance), while the latter would slap a great notice boards on any non-anglosaxon culture expressions saying "Whities may not touch". Et cetera, et cetera...
(I do wonder where the Souls series sit with the latter; it's appropriation, but I suppose its good or ill depends on how Europeans and Japanese are in relation to each other on their scale. Of course, I bring up the Souls series because it's an excellent example of how fiddling with other cultures can create something great)
I do think that the need for a cause, a banner and a struggle is one of the greatest needs in a human being. Some people, for various reasons, need it more than others, of course, but it's a common need. That was what that whole GG business was mainly about, as far as I could see. Two blocks of very young people, attaching themselves to a cause and joining the struggle. It's also a large question of identity, finding and joining a cause, particularly when you are young and working to chisel out an identity. I did that. Most of us no doubt did.
Well, moving on... Batterfield 1. I don't know. The whole skin thing is not at all as awful as it could be.
I have decided not to buy it, though. Now that I have had a look. The Great War setting seems mismanaged, schizophrenic. As if they couldn't decide if they wanted swashbuckling 1910's action or another sombre monument to the horrid waste or futility of that war, so they said "why not both?". Historical where it suits, not historical where that suits. It would've been so easy to balance it. The Public has become rather used to alternative realities and history scenarios, they could've just made one up. Then, they could've had room for everything they pleased, without the setting and the mood beginning to chafe. Plus, with EA recently back to locking down people's games behind their backs, I don't want to give them the tiniest bit of support.
I wanted to lope people's ears off from my charging steed. But not enough to forego my admittadly petty principles.