Please Avoid Pop Culture Humor

I'm saying this because of the thought of the headlines of today. Imagine if the game was filled with Trumpisms or "which bathroom do I use".  Ugh. We get enough of this in daily media. A year ago, it was BlackLivesMatter. A year before, it was the Occupy movement. Think of all the anti-Bush or anti-Obama stuff too. You don't need pop culture references to have effective comedy.

Al Gore actually sold me on his "carbon footprint" concept.  I'm a true believer.  So I had a great idea about how to follow Al's advice, and more than lower my carbon footprint, but to create a black hole of a carbon footprint for myself.  I live in a small apartment.  Al Gore has several mansions, each of which uses more electricity in a single month than my apartment uses in an entire year.  So, if I were to burn down one of Al Gore's mansions... that would created a massive black hole of a carbon footprint for me!  I could use as much electricity as I could for the rest of my life and never come anywhere near climbing out of the massive carbon footprint black hole I would create for myself by burning down just one of Al Gore's unused mansions.

Of course, I would never burn down one of Al's homes without his permission... but I'm sure he will agree.  He is a man of his word, right?

 

I have to come clean. I am actually Al Gore. Go ahead and burn down my Tennessee mansion. It reminds me too much of Tipper, and I have moved on in my life.

I agree with you about current culture references, few of them are relevant or remembered for long.

Something black and spikey that shrieks and fires a sustained beam weapon at you would be great.  Or any similar references from any sci-fi I think BELONG in a game like this.  As many good ones as you can think up.

But current ones, especially political ones, are a really bad idea.  Not only are they soon dated and irrelevant, you also alienate half the audience no matter which side you take.

Calling Bush a moron, for example, makes me want to spend a few pages explaining the concept of "Finlandization" and the true motivation and reasoning behind invading Iraq... and that the entire plan was the Joint Chiefs, not Bush's, and a very good one.  And it worked, that's what the "Arab Spring" was, the plan working after the people who were executing the plan were no longer there to complete it.

Calling Obama a moron, I can agree with, but of course there are an equal number of people who believe exactly the opposite of what I believe.

It's just a dumb thing to pick either side when you are trying to please as wide an audience as possible.

But please, as many good sci-fi references as you can think of!  Those belong in a game like this.

Pop culture references? Something about that race of smartphone dominated social media aliens tells me you guys have nothing to worry about.

I think  they are relevant and appropriate. It acts like a time capsule and reminds us of what was going on in the world during the making of this game. It gives us insight on the game designers/writers/artists world views. Most of the time it's done with humor or irony both of which shouldn't be lost on society. So throw a Prince symbol out some where, I dare ya!!!!

^ Prince constellation, mehaps? 

 

A Princetellation?

Pop culture shouldn't be lost, but we have other better mediums for it. Even more fitting games, such as The Political Machine would be the place to have election humor.

The litmus test is whether the pop culture of today will still be trending in 2 years when the game is out. If it's a timeless icon, I wouldn't consider it a pop culture phenomenon. I want to look back on the game and laugh. I don't want to look back and cringe.

 

 

 

IBNobody, I believe that you are conflating "pop culture" with "ephemereal pop culture references".

Pop culture includes Dr. Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Beatles, Presley and others that you would also probably define as icons. These are icons of pop culture.

I would have no problem with a game set in 2100 that would have a reference to the religious wars opposing christians and muslims in the late 20th century and early 21st century.  It is something that has marked the culture, that is a historical fact, and that can be used to good effect.

One final consideration should be the fact that this game is to be marketed to the whole world.  Not just to the US of A.  The rest of the world (95.7% of the world population) has a different pop culture, so the references need to be pretty universal.  If a game made a reference to two referendums for statehood that did not lead to a state, you'd all be scratching your heads, googling it.  But 35 million Canadians would instantaneously get the reference.

So pop culture references are OK by me, just not very specific ones that are limited in time and scope and that are US-centric.  I might be very aware of what goes on in the US of A, (politics, pop culture, social issues, etc.), but most of the world does not give a rodent's buttocks  And there are more potential customers in 95.7% than in 4.3%

Plus, Star Control is supposed to be a game with Earth being a single, global entity

If you want to clarify it as that, then yes, I agree with that label.

How about a brief scene with Gil Gerard as a glitter covered girl on roller skates glides by... back then, everything futuristic was on roller skates!

i just want clever jokes, Easter eggs, and call backs, if there is a little of pop culture in this, is not a big problem... DEPENDS of WHAT "POP CULTURE" it is, so... yeah, Half Life 3 Jokes? Good! Selfies Jokes? NEED I SAY SOMETHING?

all your forum are belong to us????

I'll be back.

I wanted to bring this topic up again. Sorry for the Necro...

I posted this back in May. Wow. Circumstances have changed, but not my opinion. Looking at the state of the Media right now makes me want to double-down on the idea I originally spoke of. I grow tired of it all.

If you want to crack jokes on Star Wars Episode 7, go ahead. (Or was it 4? I get those two confused.)

But please, please, please leave out the fleeting pop-culture references, especially ones that make a political statement.

^ No, not you. You're fake news!

"Fake News" is for people who don't know that we already have a word, "propaganda", for that.  Don't say "fake news", it makes you sound like you've never even heard of "propaganda" before...

 

^ I should edit my plea to ask for no political propaganda, be it from the right or the left. I am sick of it wherever it is coming from. 

 

There's no propaganda in US, only alternative facts.

(According to Galaxy News Network Tywom were banned from Earth, Mars and Moon for 3 months due to security reasons...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah... No... Doesn't work for me. I see enough of that on /r/all.

“The press should be not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses.” - Vladimir Lenin, Chairman of the People's Commissars of the Soviet Union

 

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

Now that's a good one that kinda went away...

That wasn't meant in support of Lenin, of course, haha...