As was the portion of my post referencing the quoted material of yours.
You think that authors should be immune from feedback critiquing their decisions regarding such topics as rape and discrimination as long as their game falls within guidelines.
I feel testers have a responsibility to offer feedback - including feedback that discourages topics such as rape and discrimination, just as the testers have a responsibility to accept the author’s decision on the actionability of that feedback.
Offering feedback that discourages topics like rape and discrimination, even if they fall within guidelines, is the only way that testers can encourage authors/developers to write and develop games that meet their needs and desires and it is the only way to influence the development of a game before it hits the marketplace.
If enough feedback is given regarding these topics telling the authors/developers and CoG that the guidelines are not up to the proper standards, then perhaps these guidelines can be changed.
The author doesn’t have to take action on the feedback received
As long as testers respect the decision of the author, there should be nothing more to talk about.
It is when the testers fail to respect the author’s decision that they over-step their role in the process and I will be among those defending the author’s ability to accept or reject that feedback.
The take away from this post is that testers play a role in game development, even when the feedback concerns topics such as rape and discrimination that fall within guidelines.