Dark Themes, Controversy and Why Meaning Matters

[Eiwynn]

@Avery_Moore

Well, that kind of contradicts what you said earlier.

It does not -

@Avery_Moore

“I wish authors/developers like @Avery_Moore would respect and acknowledge CoG’s right to publish what they deem is best for their company instead of insisting that they carry some sort of societal burden to publish whatever am author/developer deems they wish to write.”

is in direct reference to your belief that:

@Avery_Moore

I feel that pretty much anything an author writes is acceptable, so long as it falls within the guidelines and has the appropriate trigger warnings.

It is my belief that at times, even if a game meets guidelines and has trigger warnings that it may not be acceptable and at those times CoG should have the ability to decline publication.

You believe the ultimate decision should lay with the author - at least that is what I take from various statements like:

@Avery_Moore

Still, ultimately, the author has the right to decide whether or not they want to take that risk.

While I believe the ultimate decision lays with the publisher.

@Avery_Moore

“I wish users like @Eiwynn would respect and acknowledge CoG’s right to publish what they deem is best for their company instead of insisting that they carry some sort of societal burden to censor whatever a user deems they don’t wish to read.”

It can’t be flipped because I do wish that testers should respect and acknowledge CoG’s right to publish what they deem is best…

After listening to the feedback provided, if they chose to publish something disagreeable to the tester, then the tester has the responsibility to accept that decision or to move on. I’ve said this before…

@Eiwynn

The relevance for testers here is to provide feedback, accept the author’s decision on the actionability of that feedback and then move on.
…
It is the developer’s right to develop their game the way that they desire but it is the tester’s right to leave a game in disagreement with the way it is being developed.

Indeed, I reinforce this all the time in WiP threads where feedback at times is in danger of being circular in nature. Here is what I always say:

@Eiwynn

Discussions can devolve into circular arguments. To avoid that: if you have already stated your position, please take a short break and allow others to share their perspective too. Please avoid repetitively hammering a single view without adding anything new.

So in summary - the tester has the responsibility to leave feedback, even if that feedback critiques acceptable standards or guidelines set. Once the feedback has been given, the author can accept it or reject it. At that point, the tester has the responsibility of accepting the author’s decision or moving on.

During submition, an author has the responsibility to adhere to guidelines set by the publisher but if there are additional factors the publisher uses to deny publication, outside of those guidelines, the author has the responsibility of accepting those additional factors or moving on.

Until a contract is signed. Then each party has rights and responsibilities as laid out in that document.