Discussion
Serious question: is there an approach to telling people "you are doing a bad thing and should stop" that actually has a chance of working, rather than just activating defense mechanisms (excuses, whataboutism, fatalism, shooting the messenger)?
Thought prompted by frequent conversations with other game devs about AI, climate change, Twitter.
@Zarkonnen I talk about "I don't do X because Y" rather than saying "You shouldn't do X because Y" if it just comes up spontaneously in conversation, but try not to do it in response to something they've done. So if there's a conversation about airports I might say "I stopped flying because I couldn't justify the climate impact", but I wouldn't say that in response to someone talking about their holiday if that makes sense. I don't think you can tell people to stop doing things, but you can normalise alternatives not being seen as weird and extreme and show people that others like them are taking a moral stand on things
@afewbugs That makes sense. It disrupts the "everyone is doing it so it must be fine" while reducing the chance of defensiveness.
@Zarkonnen It always catches me out when people assume I'm telling them that even when I'm not, too! I mentioned in passing the other day (in a relevant conversation) that land use concerns was one of the reasons I was vegetarian and someone took that as an implicit attack and tried to defend it. I don't understand it 😅
@kapellosaur Quite. People claim that vegetarians are judgemental, but in my experience they pretty much never are. But believing that they're judgemental is convenient so you don't have to confront the issue yourself.
@Zarkonnen *shrugs* Backfire effect is a real thing.
@Zarkonnen Also, and I say this verrrrry lightly: remember that if you presume you are in the moral right and *directly* push something like an agenda, you are inviting everyone else to throw stones at your glass house.
I'm not saying don't.
I'm telling you that this is what will happen if you do. You are kicking off a purity spiral.
(but hey, what's gamedev without a good old fashioned riot as if it's 2016, eh?)
@DarkestKale I mean that's what I mean with whataboutism / shooting the messenger. I don't want to kick off a purity spiral. I do plenty of bad things. I am eating meat as I am typing this, for starters. Meat from a living being with feelings. But if we can't have conversations about whether something is bad, if we prioritize our comfort above everything else, where does that leave us?
@Zarkonnen @DarkestKale so actually that could be a really interesting way to work it out from the other perspective. Maybe think about why you're eating meat if you know it's harmful, whether there's anything someone could say to stop you eating meat and if so how you would want them to phrase it. And if not why not.
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