Gears of War 5's Smoking Ban Is Ridiculous & Hypocritical

Gears of War 5's smoking ban is absurdly hypocritical and surely ranks as a candidate for most ridiculous virtue signal of 2019.

[ninsigma]

It is ridiculous but he's making the game the way he wants to. It's his personal beliefs and it doesn't harm anyone or the game so it's not THAT big an issue.

[CrimsonWing69]

I thought this only came about from people complaining.

[ninsigma]

That's what I originally thought too because that's what the first article I saw said was the case. However he has come out to say that he's always been fighting against it, even in previous gears games. It's just something he doesn't like to include because someone close to him died from smoking. In that case, I don't mind because it's his vision. If it were the other way then it would be real dumb.

[aconnellan]

Like ninsigma said above, that’s not the case at all, thought the initial article made it seem that way.

Fergusson came out and said it was never included in Gears 5 and it’s something they’ve been against representing since Gears 2 because of his personal experience with friends dying of lung cancer

[darthv72]

Wait... is there smoking in any of the gears games? I hadn't really noticed because I was to busy 'smoking' the competition (mp) and enemies (sp).

zing......

[Juusterey]

Still stupid
if this is the crap that comes from microsoft then i'm glad i have no xbox

[ninsigma]

It's certainly weird to say no to smoking but yes to gratuitous violence, no disagreement there.

[DEEHULK88]

Juusterey If you don't have one.........WhyTF are you commenting?

[Juusterey]

@DEEHULK88

I can have an opinion on a game without owning it

[DEEHULK88]

Juusterey Seems like you are just trolling.

[Juusterey]

Just cos you don't like my view i'm trolling? ok i guess

[cyber_daemonx]

@deehulk, it happens with every article on every platform fgs or had you not noticed.

[Juusterey]

@cyber_daemonx8m

are you implying i don't own any system
or that i troll on every page?

cos i can assure you none of those are even close to true

[senorfartcushion]

N4G in a nutshell

[Silly Mammo]

@ninsigma

The double standard with vioence is quite bizarre. A few years back, I watched a bit of Sin City on TBS and none of the violence was censored. But one of the characters flipped the bird and TBS blurred his middle finger. Dear Lord!! Can't let the kiddos see that!! lol

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

So I guess you also don’t have a PS4 Since Sony ALSO censors games....

[robtion]

KOFXIV's Antonov smokes his cigar so hard that the smoke is coming out of his ears. Now THAT is some serious (and frankly hilarious) in game smoking.

[DJStotty]

Not an issue until a complete ban is enforced on every game created, just to pander to the minority

[ninsigma]

I don't see that happening. Smoking isn't really talked about as much as other social issues now and in this case it's the director making the choice to not include it based on his own beliefs/experiences so I can't see a ban happening.

[DJStotty]

But yet other social issues are still included in games?

The snowflake generation is upon us where you can not do/say/depict anything if someone disagrees with it in the fear of offending someone. This is already affecting the way news outlets report daily news, and is slowly creeping into gaming.

[DJStotty]

people used to go to wars, society today has no idea about pressure, they get offended if they are called a name

[Fanof30]

Really? Then why is their money being exchanged between the studio and the TRUTH program? Oh because they gave him incentive not to include smoking. Smoking is a reality. Now we cant have reality in our games?

[rainslacker]

I think his reasoning is hypocritical, but his reasons aren't ridiculous. I think him making it into a thing is kind of silly, because the representation of smoking in Gears is apparently so minimal, it was never a thing to consider either way. If he wanted to state his feelings on the subject, and that's why he never put them in, then fair enough, but he didn't really state them in that manner, and made it into a subject about censorship, as opposed to a subject about the dangers of smoking.

[jznrpg]

They always had smoking and now they don’t because people were mad. How is that making the game he wanted to?

[ninsigma]

Because that's not what happened. The original article made it sound that way but there was never smoking in gears 4 and now gears 5 because the director CHOSE not to because people he knew died from smoking.

[lellkay]

It's so dumb.

[Shiken]

Dumb how people are complaining about something that would have gone unnoticed if it was never pointed out to them.

[ShinRon]

isnt calling out virtue signaling when its not there a type of hypocrisy in itself.

[senorfartcushion]

... yeah...yes it is lol

[bluefox755]

Sure, people who aren't consistent about it. Personally I think all virtue signalling is bad, and results in an inferior product.

[CorndogBurglar]

I wonder how many people would have even noticed that no one smokes in this game if they never made this announcement.

Probably none.

[bluebenjamin]

I was thinking the same thing What was the point of then announcing that could of easily not been placed in the game and no one would miss it

[rainslacker]

Announcing it lets him highlight his own personal feelings on the subject.

I don't think he did any of this to try and cause a stir. I think he just chose his original words poorly, and it was misrepresented in the initial article. It wasn't even a big topic at that point, because there weren't copious articles about it, and there have been more about the actual way it was announced, or if the reasoning is sound. The actual topic of the representation of smoking has been barely talked about, other than to say that it's not a kids game, so it shouldn't be a consideration....but even that is still framed from the angle of this being censorship, which it's not.

[Hedstrom]

Exactly! Its just stupid of them to go out with this kind of morality when the game is what it is! But i guess it is as with many other things. You cant do charity work unless you post it on facebook, instagram, twitter etc. Because then you would just do it because its a good thing. You need to get peoples slap on the back, otherwise it isnt worth it!

[DaDrunkenJester]

The thing is, they weren't even the ones talking about it. It was the organization praising them. There wasn't any smoking in Gears 4, it's not like they were trying to get points. This is just something that Rod personally agrees with, and now that they are an esport, one of the sponsors is an anti smoking org and gave them some praise for not having smoking in their games.

It's really not even a big deal because no one would have even known there was no smoking until someone mentioned it. Now all of the sudden everything assumed every character smoked 2 packs a day or something and they had to censor it out. It's so dumb

[DaDrunkenJester]

Exactly. No one said anything about it in Gears 4, it's just unfortunate that an organization is praising them for this, now people think they censored the game. You cant remove or censor something that was never in the game.

Creative vision and design does not equal censorship...

[gam3r_4_lif3]

Yet the morons on here bitching about it dont care.

I mean I expect the same level of outrage when Spiderman 2 does not feature rape, drug use...

[Kribwalker]

no one noticed it was taken out of gears 4 🤷🏻‍♂️

https://www.pcgamesn.com/ge...

[spicelicka]

Exactly, people need to stfu about it, it's not moral policing just something the guy who's in charge of the damn wanted and has literally no impact on the game.

[UnholyLight]

The problem is that they were asked, therefore they responded. I don't really see this as Virtue Signalling in this case as it's not as blatant as when DICE was all like INCLUSIVE BF online for alll yayyyyyyy.

[SlagWolf]

I’ve played gears 1-3 and I can’t renember if any one smokes in that game or not. Sounds like MS just wanted to virtue signal for some brownie points. If they never said any thing I never would have noticed or cared. MS just couldn’t help sticking its dick into the rat trap and look like a moron I guess

[gam3r_4_lif3]

Sounds like you are attacking NS on this without taking 5 seconds to look up the facts.

You are no better than virtue signalers

[CorndogBurglar]

Virtue Signaling...

They didn't even say anything until they were asked about it. And why are you blaming MS?

[william_cade]

it's for the money

[Elda]

Pretty much. They should have just kept their mouths shut about the smoking.

[gam3r_4_lif3]

So smartass when asked in an interview about it what would you have said that some shitty website would not have spun in a negative way for clicks

[Elda]

You're the smartass & you can go somewhere else & ask someone else that dumb question that may be interested. LMAO!!! (while smh)

[Gunstar75]

This is a non-story.

[senorfartcushion]

I don't think Dizzy ever smoked in a Gears game, did he?

[Hedstrom]

Its wierd to have virtue signs in this kinds of games. Will there be alcohol? Why are there guns. It just get stupid the more you think about it. Dont have smoking in youre game, thats just fine. But to dont have it and say that it is because of somekind of morality! Thats just retarded! Atleast in a game where you shoot, chainsaw and grenade people to pieces!

[yomfweeee]

You all who keep talking about "well you can kill people in the game"... that's not a very good point.

There's a big difference between smoking and killing. Killing is something that is obviously wrong and everyone knows it. No one defends it or encourages it (yes, I know that some people do obviously so no need to make some stupid comment about that). Smoking is just a health hazard. It isn't immoral. It isn't illegal. It is just a disgusting habit. That's why there have always been programs and stuff to prevent people from getting into smoking or helping them stop. That stuff doesn't exist for killing because it isn't necessary.

The creator of this game made a decision for his game that he didn't want to put something into his game that would push anyone towards smoking.

[Juusterey]

by that logic any health hazard should be removed, no alcohol, never any drugs, any violence that could be seen as justifiable

Do you really think people seeing a character in a game smoke is going to cause someone to start?

[yomfweeee]

And if the developer and creator of the game wants to do that... why would anyone bitch and cry like babies about it like they are now? He decided this at the beginning of the franchise 13 years ago. All of a sudden you all are crying and calling it censorship and banning. It is pathetic. There's no tits in the game either, I guess he is censoring that too right?

[Legacy212]

@juusterey you're so out of touch with this story or are just plain ignoring the comments that explain what actually happened. I can barely think of any characters in gears that smoked and know none smoked in gears 4. People crying censorship to something that wasnt there in the first place. This isnt the same as say, Sony saying they're restricting sexual content on their platform.

[DaDrunkenJester]

How is it rediculious? If a creative director doesnt want smoking then no one forced him to do so.

When things get out of hand is when outside organizations or groups force devs to make changes because of stupid ideals and backlash. Rod Fergussons father died when he was 4 from lung cancer, im sure that sticks with you.

Did anyone play Gears 4 and ask why isn't anyone smoking? No, they didnt, you want to know why? Because it's not a big deal and not essential to any gameplay or story. It's just a shame that it ended up a talking point for Gears 5 because now people think they censored the game which is false. You cant remove or censor something that was never there.

[bluefox755]

The game is rated M, for adults. Ffs, the game also involves killing. Better remove that too, wouldn't want to influence any adults.

[DaDrunkenJester]

You can't remove something that was never in the damn game. Why is this so hard for people to grasp? lol

[CorndogBurglar]

People just want something g to complain about.

And I find it hysterical that they keep comparing this to all the killing.

Can they really not see the difference between someone choosing to smoke and someone killing people to defend their planet?

[Chaosdreams]

Oh wow, so the devs who are in the right to decide what they want in their game, decided to opt out of having smoking because for some of them it hits a little close to home. Now, while I understand those with peanut shaped brains immediately scream "hypocrisy! look! violence! guns!" I'd gather if the devs had family members slaughtered by guns, they probably wouldn't have guns in this game - or work on a game with guns (this being the obvious choice). Since smoking, which is a small thing I bet most people don't even take the time to ponder over on a normal basis when it's in video games, is easier to not put in (they didn't remove anything) I'd think this would be case closed.

Of course this is the internet and people need to get those clicks. It must be exhausting, conjuring up fake outrage every single time there's a little opening to be poked at.

[DaDrunkenJester]

Yeah it's mind boggling why this has even become an issue. People love fake outrage.

[Kumakai]

But if it were Sony they’d be taking the right ethical stance I’m sure.... eye roll.

[DaDrunkenJester]

Some Sony fans are defending actual censorship, but now are talking crap about smoking in a game that never even had smoking in it in the first place...

[Jarrod1X]

Sony king's of censorship.

[mark_parch]

who cares

[Pro_TactX]

Was it also ridiculous in Gears 4? They get to make their game the way they want. If that offends your delicate sensibilities then just don't buy it.

[IRetrouk]

Bit overblown no? To be fair to the devs, they never had smoking in the game to begin with, smoking hasn't been in gears since 2, I dont see the issue.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

There is no "smoking ban", the Coalition is just choosing to not depict smoking in any Gears games from now on. That being said, the Coalition didn't need to publicly disclose their decision, as its generating unnecessary "controversy".

[rainslacker]

I think it was just the way he initially disclosed the information that caused the stir, coupled with a bad report on what and why it was happening. If it was never there, and Ferguson had a reason for not putting it in, and was clearer from the start about why, then it probably wouldn't be an issue.

I have nothing against his reasons. I have nothing against his decision. He's the creative director, and I'm sure during production, he's been responsible for a lot of changes that we'll never hear about. Some may be questionable, some may be just because he feels that it'll be better, while still others will be because of moral beliefs. It's just how games like these are made.

I think though, the implication of his moral reasons for not including it are juxtaposed against the high level of violence which also exists within the game, and because of the initial way it was announced, people felt that they were censoring something, and that's been a touchy subject of late. It does come across as "smoking bad, guns good", even though I'm sure Fergusson would never suggest that guns are something kids should be playing with, or condone any sort of real life violence.

I just think there may have been a more effective way for him to highlight his loss, and start a more productive conversation about the dangers of smoking. Maybe even do it in a way that would represent the negative effects in game, so the kids, or maybe even adults who are more likely smoking, may be influenced to not start, or quit.

[chiefJohn117]

I told so too but changed my mind. I understand where the dev is coming

[RoseSapphire]

No one cares. This is a non-issue. No one is going to choose to not play Gears because they took out smoking. This is an asinine topic.

[Juusterey]

"no one cares"
yet there's 105 comments and this is one of the top topics on n4g right now
see how that sounds like a stupid thing to say?

[Scatpants]

Wouldn't want anything remotely non-PC in a game. That would be terrible.

[No Way]

Why is this even an issue? lol

[Juusterey]

Because the guy brought attention to it
nobody was asking
he just brought it up
his own fault 100%

[gangsta_red]

No big deal, especially since it wasn't in there to begin with. But strange it would even be brought up. Were smokers offended that they weren't represented in Gears?

[Orionsangel]

I can understand here being a story that takes place in the future or another universe, but when they remove it from Stranger Things a show trying to be true to a certain era and remove smoking that's wrong. I grew up in the 80's and everyone smoked.

[Suave_Langosta]

I’m against censorshiping, but smoking is wack. It’s one of the most trashy habits to have, my parents and good friends all smoke and I hate it. But I don’t think people should be forced not to smoke or not depict smoking.

Speaking personally, I’ve never thought anyone was cool when they smoked and don’t care for the trashy things to be around me in general. I have never seen someone smoke and be like “hey that’s so awesome I’m gonna go puff on one too!”

With that said, I think if a game is rated M and is built around adult themes, smoking should be least of the concerns, even if there are any concerns to begin with! A mature person should stand on their own two feet and have the willpower and knowledge within themselves to know how and what they act on. So let them keep the smoking in or out, I don’t really care.

The bigger issue is the extremes creators have to cater to censor their products because of social outcry, within logical boundaries of course. I don’t want to see insane ideals pushed into a medium, but smoking is not anywhere near that. Even if I personally hate smoking myself.

[lcslick]

If its the developers decision then its fine, they are making the game and can spread whatever message they want with it, how the public receive it is another matter though. But it is easier to pick up the habit of smoking since it is legal while picking up the habit of killing people isn't, for obvious reasons. Spreading the message that smoking is cool isn't good for kids or adults and some people are definitely susceptible to it. I have actually always wanted to smoke a cigar I'm guessing mainly from watching people do it on TV and even some video games. I never have because i have will power and don't want to pick up the habit. But I'm pretty some people wouldn't have the same mindset as me.

[william_cade]

They're getting paid to do this, it's about money just like when these hipsters get all activist. Someone is getting money to do this and make a big deal about it.

Violence is cool though because it brings in more money than peace...

[XiNatsuDragnel]

At headquarters, what A bunch of silly gooses

[TargusX]

Slice people with chainsaw-guns and watch their guts spray over your face....but remember folks....don't smoke whilst you're doing it, you might hurt yourself or others around you. LOL

[donttakethesteamtray]

I'm sorry but who the fuck defends tobacco?

[gam3r_4_lif3]

I cant believe not every game has smoking.

[gam3r_4_lif3]

I guess everygame better now include child rape because it would be hypocritical of them to ban it just because they dont agree with child rape. Man are people getting dumber.

[Juusterey]

Good comment
makes a claim that people are getting dumber
and backs it up by showing how dumb he is