I'm actually done with BD

[Reisal]

...The infamous DECORATE N-word code comment...

What's that, exactly...?

Mark left a comment in the code of the Plasma Rifle, i believe, about "burning niggers", which, when it got found out about, he apparently decided not to remove it at first or something? i don't remember exactly what transpired, but it was about the comment in the code.

The wording was something like "Watch how plasma magic can turn your average white guy into a nigger faster than rap" in the very top of the comment.

[Big C]

Yeah. Honestly, when I've seen 4chan jokes that were at least as offensive but much funnier than what Sarge said, I'm pretty sure he's fucked up.

@Vaecrius: When I said parody, I meant things like the one-liner button the original version had. It was basically the DooM comic in playable form---loud, stupid, insane, over the top, and glorious. Like a parody of heavy metal fandom.

When he started making N-word jokes, quasi-channeling some of the more infamous heavy metal bands and their sometimes-racist/white-supremacist behavior, is what I meant when I said it didn't feel like parody anymore.

[TheBadHustlex]

I guess the "black-people-and-white-people"-thing is a bigger topic in america then it is where I live.
I've never noticed any big of controversy with black and white people from my country during my lifetime. That can either mean they don't care or that there are none.

[wildweasel]

I guess the "black-people-and-white-people"-thing is a bigger topic in america then it is where I live.
I've never noticed any big of controversy with black and white people from my country during my lifetime. That can either mean they don't care or that there are none.

I'd imagine what makes our countries different, in regards to how much of an issue race has been, is how deeply it is ingrained into American culture. We had an entire civil war essentially waged over whether it was okay to keep slaves (which were predominately from Africa), and even afterwards, there were issues like segregation (bathrooms set aside for "colored" folk, etc), and at least one person was assassinated for trying to put an end to it. I admit that's grossly oversimplified, but it's a big enough part of American history that much of it remains a touchy subject, even centuries afterward.

[Matt]

I guess the "black-people-and-white-people"-thing is a bigger topic in america then it is where I live.

In terms of how big an issue it is, it seems to be:

USA > Canada >>> rest of the Americas

Just keep in mind we in English-speaking North America are dealing with the fallout of centuries of race-based slavery - the fruits of which basically allowed the establishment of the USA as an independent entity - and an entire field of Enlightenment "science" dedicated to establishing how black people (among others, but especially blacks) are more like animals and so deserve to be deprived of autonomy and freedom.

I remember how the editor for the Atlantic Ta-Nehisi Coates went to France (EDIT: while he did go to France, I believe this was actually a comment about black people in French films) and remarked how shocked he was how there a black person was just another person and all the racial baggage he was used to in the USA just wasn't there. It's a very different dynamic, especially when in Europe it seems to be more of a native/immigrant issue whereas blacks and whites basically have the same moral claim (or lack thereof!) to the Americas.

Ninjedit: also what WW said
REAL EDIT: Except for the "afterward" part. It's not over by a long stretch.

[Big C]

and at least one person was assassinated for trying to put an end to it.

At least *two*. Lincoln and MLK Jr.

[jdredalert]

[...]I admit that's grossly oversimplified, but it's a big enough part of American history that much of it remains a touchy subject, even centuries afterward.

That's also true here in Brazil (my homeland, and Sarge's as well). After the portuguese settlers slaughtered most of the local indigenous tribes, they started to bring african slaves to work here, and as a result, blacks were always socially disadvantaged. Even today, their descendants suffer the consequences of that time: the poor and needy are mostly black. The people that lives in favelas - neighborhoods of extremely poor people living in poor housing conditions and often without any sanitation - are mostly black. The poorest and badly developed regions of the country are inhabited mostly by black or mulatto, and here we face problems of social inequality, prejudice and racism every day. What makes the "joke" even worse is that Sarge lives in this country, lives with this reality every day. It's not like he did not know what he was talking about.

[Caligari87]

and at least one person was assassinated for trying to put an end to it.

At least *two*. Lincoln and MLK Jr.

I think it's probably worth saying that those are just the "high profile" ones. I'm sure there's at least a few dozen other no-names who suffered the same fate for their efforts and just never got the publicity, not to mention the hundreds of regular folk caught in the crossfires of racial tension (lynchings, gang violence, etc).

[Athel]

Yeah i was wondering what happent to mark, the EA of doom. Hes gone silent on everything, but then again theres this new gustavo guy that was hiving around lately.

He was banned off of almost all doom related forums due to his attitude, the fact that he told people to kill themselves and even said he's "worse than Hitler". The worst part? He says these are jokes. Jokes.

[Matt]

That's also true here in Brazil (my homeland, and Sarge's as well)....

Being ignorant of Brazilian politics I've been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but not anymore I suppose.

[Trance]

The main beef I had with Brutal Doom was that it became the face of Doom modding. It wasn't particularly original or even engaging as a mod; it was just lucky. I realize it's mostly the fault of the game journalists who could only spare a busy writer's passing interest to cover a Doom mod, but I think a disservice was done to the community when Brutal Doom was lofted in the public eye as the prime specimen of the modding scene.

This is purely my tastes talking, but Brutal Doom is very near the bottom of the list of mods I'd want covered on Kotaku for the sake of publicity. There are people like Nash putting out some seriously revolutionary shit in this engine, and I'd much rather have something like that get public attention and have interested parties flocking here thinking, "What sort of stuff could I accomplish on this engine?" than what we got, which was a busload of new people releasing tweak mods for BD. Meanwhile, other people who might've otherwise become valuable contributors to the modding scene take one look at BD's nauseating hyper-gore bullshit, conclude with the article's help that the mod is a summation of Doom mods in general, and turn away in disgust.

"All press is good press" just ain't so.

[scalliano]

^ Pretty much sums my feelings up in a nutshell. Instead of new players/modders joining the community, we got an influx of kiddies shitting up people's project threads demanding BD compatibility and fuck anything that it didn't run with. I remember when DTWiD was reviewed in PC Gamer and I was over the moon that the Doom modding scene was still receiving coverage after all this time. Even when they featured AEoD. But BD has been deemed as the be-all-and-end-all by those who don't know enough about the community which, as Trance rightly said, has probably turned more mature players off to the whole idea.

I look at some of the more elaborate mods I've played over the years - UTnT, DE, WF, LoS, BTSX, UAC Ultra, etc and I lament the fact that .WADs like those didn't get the coverage BD did, when they are all much more indicative of where the scene is at (I actually rate UTnT's final boss battle as one of my all-time favourites in terms of games in general, not just Doom). Where's their spot in PC Gamer?

[Nevander]

I myself stopped using it as well. I was using it with a bunch of other mods, like the DHTP, QEffects, high-res stuff, and music altogether as a "new" Doom experience, but it became cumbersome recently. Not to mention, there's just too much going on in the mod or the variants for my taste. I'm a classic Doomer, always have been, always will be. BD was cool at first, but now it's just not "Doom." I do however use Doom Expanded instead. It accomplishes the same thing as BD, without being overly ridiculous and still keeps the classic Doom feel while being fresh. I tried Beautiful Doom but I didn't like it too much.

[Big C]

Well I think Kotaku covering BD is as much Kotaku's problem as Sarge's. I mean, it's Kotaku after all. You expected non-shite journalism from them?

That much said, seconding Trance and Scalliano's thoughts.

Also:

The silent Doomer majority, I would surmise. What little we know about the canon doomguy (beat the shit out of his CO for ordering his troops to fire on civilians, considers the status of "restricted flicks" an issue enough to be worth mentioning) is that he's actually a pretty classy, decent guy, something that is completely edited out in the Doomcomic roid-raging asshole in BD - which is amusing on its own terms, but is problematic when it starts to replace the canon mythos.

RE: Doomcomic Guy being a jerkbag - Well, he was (hilariously) concerned with the environment, at least. OH, THE HUMANITY!

(also, do not be surprised if "SUFFER WITH ME" is going to be a boss brain line next update. :V)

Yeeeessssssssssss.

[Matt]

Oh right! (If a recording of that speech is in BD somewhere it may yet be redeemed.)

In other news I'll just leave this here re: not over, not even the fat ladies were singing that it was over.