this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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Gaming

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Should we use the "anti woke" steam curators to buy games? (media.fedia.io)
submitted 3 days ago by atro_city@fedia.io to c/gaming@beehaw.org
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And leave reviews saying "Bought this game because it was on the anti-woke curator's list. Thanks"?

Edit: it seems like people understand this post as a "let's buy non-woke games". I mean it as "use the list to find 'woke' games" and buy those. Not mindlessly, of course. But review-bombed "woke" games can have a harder time (especially in their forums), because of such curators and it could be a good way to discover actual good games that are subjugated to hate coming from these curators and groups.

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[–] Eggyhead@lemmings.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’m going to buy a game if it’s good and I like it. “Woke” won’t make a bad game good or a good game bad.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago

That's good, because that wasn't what I was suggesting 🫰

[–] luciole@beehaw.org 5 points 2 days ago

I've absolutely been attracted to games that were suffering from anti-woke review bombing before. I wouldn't buy something in a genre I don't care for just because but being referred as woke, even negatively, is always a plus for me.

That being said I wouldn't advertise my support of the game specifically as a jab at the anti-woke mob. I'd simply leave a positive review underlining precisely how this game is inclusive and why that's a good thing.

[–] ConstableJelly@piefed.social 37 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Fucking yikes.

image

[–] kate@lemmy.uhhoh.com 7 points 2 days ago

IIRC one of these anti-woke lists says counter-strike is woke because there's a character model that's woman with muscles

[–] PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz 18 points 2 days ago

On a game with "schoolgirl" in it. Outed as pedo ngl

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 13 points 2 days ago

The party of "family values."

[–] SteleTrovilo@beehaw.org 34 points 3 days ago (1 children)

No. Instead, you should buy games that are good.

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

And those often happen to be "woke". Baldur's Gate 3, Hades, the Spider-Man games, etc.

[–] froufox@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sekiro is a good game, but iirc they marked it non-woke

[–] araneae@beehaw.org 4 points 2 days ago

It would be if Lady Tomoe had actually been in the game

[–] SteleTrovilo@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago

Oh, for sure! I replied to the first version of the question, which was worded in a way that sounded like OP was looking for anti-woke games, instead of the reverse.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 29 points 3 days ago

To be honest it seems like they're so paranoid about The Woke™ that it would be almost useless. It would just be a recommendation for every single game that has a plot and wasn't made by dickheads

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Instead of just saying that you bought the games from the non woke list in your review, why not give a personalised review? "I like that this game depicts gay women in a historical context" or similar?

Makes it clear that you actually engage with the diversity rather than using their games as a platform to "own the right" or whatever.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You can do that too. For me, it would fulfill two functions: give a review for a game with my honest opinion, and help make the "anti-woke" lists a double edged sword for the bigots: if you make a public list, it may also be used by the "woke" to support their games.

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Then the bigots will cackle and laugh out of getting a reaction from you. IMO not worth it.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

If you spend money on games they are trying to boycott and take attention away from, I don't think they'll cackle. Especially if many people do it. Then their lists will achieve exactly the opposite of what they want to achieve.

[–] TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org 16 points 3 days ago (2 children)

OP, I'm assuming you mean should we buy games that are on these curator's lists as being "too woke" just to spite them? I think folks are a little confused about what your question/argument is, here. Also the typo in the title isn't helping.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 10 points 2 days ago

Yeah, woke. Oops.

I'm not suggesting "buy every game on this list" but to use it as a means to discover games. There are probably good games on there which get undue hate from the curator's followers and are not very well know. The followers do try and review bomb the games, so they don't bubble up to the top naturally.

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago

Haha. I already do this.

I've discovered lots of great games and media after being warned about one "woke" aspect or another.

I guess I'll go check out this list.

[–] who@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I prefer not to give those people any attention at all.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

It's not about given them attention, but the games they are boycotting.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I'm confused. What is anti-work in relation to gaming?

The link just seems to point to a list of steam curators who talk like middle schoolers in lieu of a review.

This post is baffling to me.

[–] Bougie_Birdie@piefed.blahaj.zone 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's a typo in the post title. The body refers to anti-woke curators, which incidentally makes your description accurate

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

...oh.

This post is supremely stupid then.

[–] Bougie_Birdie@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago

Yeah, I think this post suffers from being vague. The default reading would be to take the curators at face value and follow their opinion.

A more charitable reading, and one that I hope OP had intended, is to buy the games that these curators recommend against, because if they think they're bad for being woke that probably means they're good.

To OP: I'm of a divided opinion. On one hand this is probably a decent method of discovery, and I absolutely want to make those curators feel as unwelcome and foolish as their hateful rhetoric. On the other hand, I don't want to surround myself with hatred or live for spite. Plus I think calling them out would count as feeding the troll, and the Streisand effect suggests that would actually help them by creating engagement.

[–] Azzu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'd rather live my own life than live my life just to spite someone.

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

I mean, it's possible to do both, though.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

You'd think so. But if you actually look for games that aren't woke on there, there's like one game nobody's heard of because that list is really just a ton of stupid people complaining about stupid people things and trying to attract more stupid people

[–] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oh wow. Imagine thinking that 'woke' is actually a thing. When I was in high school, 'woke' just meant 'real shit' or something similar.

Now it's a buzzword used by incels to push their brand of 'but muh feelies don't like that.' This post fucking reeks of selfish entitlement.

[–] araneae@beehaw.org 3 points 2 days ago

You missed some updated context; OP messed up, they meant they shop AGAINST the list and see it as a good way to find "woke games" which generally just means games not made by complete assholes.

[–] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca -1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Entirely up to you. I very much understand avoiding anything Sweet Baby has had a hand it, but I've found a couple of these lists to be a bit too overzealous.

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It's absolutely hilarious that right-wingers think that Sweet Baby fucking matters. They do sensitivity reading. They just write a little report about how the characters or writing may be considered insensitive, then the devs decide if they want to change anything or not. Getting all bent out of shape over that is cringe as fuck, there are real actual problems in the world, we have pedophile billionaires running the fucking world, dude. Leave the culture war garbage in the trash. It's class war time baby!

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

You're mistaken about what they do though. They consult, but they also write for games, and the level of their involvement varies from game to game. Sometimes it may be side quests or notes, while other times it's story arcs or characters. If gamers were genuine about "forced diversity" and not masking racism though, they'd embrace SBI, because Kim Belair has repeatedly said that she's against forced diversity as well. She has criticized a former employer for being shallow in its quest to make the game more diverse: e.g. making a character Black without really understanding Black culture, which is where SBI can assist and connect with writers who can speak from experience.

[–] HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Why do people care about a cunsulting company?

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 21 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Because.
Everything I don't like is Woke