To what extent is Egosoft influenced by government funding?

[Armin W]

For some time now it has been noticeable that the game is getting more and more "woke" aspects and the standard in the game is decreasing.
Is Egosoft a victim of Sweet Baby Inc?

[zpc]

There is no influence. There is a normal sponsorship every gaming studio can apply to - like every other branch of the economy can and does for ages (like e.g. get fundings for AI projects and the like).

[Armin W]

Originally posted by zpc:

There is no influence. There is a normal sponsorship every gaming studio can apply to - like every other branch of the economy can and does for ages (like e.g. get fundings for AI projects and the like).

No influence and the current government are a contradiction in terms.

[zpc]

You seem to be pretty unfamiliar with government fundings. Usually it involves handing in dozens of pages to argue why you should get money.

As I said - it is _PRETTY_ common for every business.

There is no conspiracy, no nothing. Just business men aquiring funds and pretty much do what they want with it once they are granted.

[¥aeko]

Just read the rules for it here: https://www.bmwk.de/Redaktion/DE/Downloads/Games/computerspielfoerderung-Praesentation-vom-2020_09_11.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1

But I am also sure, that there are other "nice to haves" like "DEI" that arent required, but push you higher on the "will get the subsidies list". (We will never know whats in the contracts...)

One can pretty much see, how egosoft only recently started to care about this, at all (literally, 20+ years, no one cared, but suddenly...) - so, unless proven otherwise, one can assume that this is because of better chances to get subsidies. (which doesnt mean, that they are "forced" to do this...)

There has also been quite a bit of trouble around that "Deutscher Computerspielpreis" (german video game award) which is politically influenced too (afaik 50% of the jury is politicians...).. which meant: games couldnt win because of what they were (Crysis 2 anyone? xD), and some games get awards that shouldnt have etc.

But, then again - I dont have the exact rules that egosoft was under when they applied for the Subsidies, this is just my analysis of the situation. (which might be wrong, but easy for egosoft to clarify, I guess.)

PS: No, Gimbutz, I am not "conspiracy theory-ing", its just an observation - might be wrong, might be right - I am not claiming its true.

Is Egosoft a victim of Sweet Baby Inc?

No, things would be much, much worse then.

Have you seen the games they had their hands in, and how they failed?
Or how they wanted 7 million $ from the Wukong devs, to "destroy" the game?
And then, when the dev declined, the game got trashed on ign? (was it ign?) from the same people that are part of SBI, that are also writers there... lmao.
Based on malicious misstranslations from chinese...

Egosoft literally cant afford SBIs services, if they ask a random indie dev from china for 7 million, to "destroy" their game.

===========
Personal opinion: Any single € that Egosoft would invest in anything besides the game, be it SBI, or similar groups, would be a massive waste of ressources, given the games state.

That technically counts for any game, but especially for games with a smaller budget.

[Armin W]

Originally posted by zpc:

You seem to be pretty unfamiliar with government fundings. Usually it involves handing in dozens of pages to argue why you should get money.

As I said - it is _PRETTY_ common for every business.

There is no conspiracy, no nothing. Just business men aquiring funds and pretty much do what they want with it once they are granted.

You don't seem to be familiar with the current government in Germany, what requirements they impose in order for money to flow.

[zpc]

In fact I am. We aqcuired quite some fundings for various software projects and we used the funds as we saw fit.

[Dude]

1 define "woke"
and 2..what aspects are showing an awareness of racial inequality in the game?

[Caedes91]

They quietly changed the character model of the Terran Cadet to a black guy. In Timelines you are also forced to play a black dude.

But since we are not supposed to question DEI, this thread probably will be locked soon.

[¥aeko]

Originally posted by Caedes91:

They quietly changed the character model of the Terran Cadet to a black guy.

Proof, or it didnt happen?

Show before/after images.

Otherwise they will just say: "cOnSpIrAcY tHeOrIeS" again...

[Armin W]

Originally posted by Spartacus:

1 define "woke"
and 2..what aspects are showing an awareness of racial inequality in the game?

to 1: "Woke" is a German term that is difficult to translate, but which they have at least partially understood
to 2: simply count the NPCs according to their characteristics

[¥aeko]

Originally posted by Armin W:

to 1: "Woke" is a German term that is difficult to translate

The meaning of that word changes from country to country, and even within countries.

In general, its not a positive word by meaning anymore. (Its once was a description of people who have "woken up" to social injustice etc. but since then, it has become more of a weapon than a description. Anything not "right" nowadays is automatically "woke" - even if it makes sense... which, yeah, I know, many things dont...)

[Armin W]

Originally posted by Caedes91:

They quietly changed the character model of the Terran Cadet to a black guy. In Timelines you are also forced to play a black dude.

Correct and much more.

[Armin W]

Originally posted by zpc:

In fact I am. We aqcuired quite some fundings for various software projects and we used the funds as we saw fit.

The intentions behind the changes are neither comprehensible nor provable; it will remain unclear whether they were really made of their own free will, on orders or in anticipatory obedience; what you see as a player are facts that cannot be denied.

[bitzN]

Divide and conquer non-sense.

[Vault Traveler]

They probably dont need any DEI because a big chunk of germans (especially from academic backgrounds) already submit themselves for left ideology.

At least Argonians have darker skin by lore and that from the release on, so take that however you want.