Keep politics out of this game and forum!
You have Australia day pet and $$$ flash deal, I buy it. I don’t want to see debate about Australia day. Gems is in Chinese language. Do we talk about China? No, we wish the Chinese people only the best in these challenging times.
As we do the Australian people who suffered in the wildfires! 
But I do agree when you say to keep politics out of this game 
The forums aren’t the game, ya goof.
But you are attempting to control the speech of others based on your personal opinions, which could be interpreted as a political act.
I don’t see why we should concern ourselves with the politics of fictional places such as this “Australia” place of which you speak, while the Orcs of Grosh-Nak face daily oppression and exploitation in this broken game.
Keep ‘looking into’ rebalancing classes such as the Knight and Deathknight, whilst the Bard and Elven classes run roughshod. An Orc class is due out soon. I reckon it too will get ‘rebalanced’ some day.
Thoughts and prayers.
Politics, Vex, and Religion.
3 things individuals shouldn’t discuss on a video game forums.
But the moderators can’t be the ones who ban it. They will be painted as “dictators” trying to control the thoughts and feelings of folks.
It’s simply up to the individual to practice wise decision making and realize that there’s a time and place for everything. And that the only debate on the forums should be Gems of War related.
Unless a pet is in black face or has a swastika tattoo on it’s forehead then it’s probably not meant to be contentious. Intent matters. Not liking a holiday and being offended by the discussion of it is not mutually exclusive.
Though any mod should know the second politics is brought up it’s going to turn combative. Which shouldn’t be ignored in hopes of generating traffic to what otherwise would be a dead thread.
Still, I think it’s up to the individual to simply choose not to be a straw man on a video game forum.
Though the mod may not perceive it as such… pushing for political discussion here is 
% douchebaggery and a violation of the community guidelines already because of it. That being said, I’m currently sharpening my pitchforks for any mention of Valentine’s day in a few weeks. Because how dare you try to make me feel bad for being single this year by pushing your conformist relationship agenda on to me. Why? Because if you allow everyone to be offended by anything they want to. Then literally everything will be offensive to someone. Not because it’s Australian day, but because it’s Wednesday… And the current build of Gems of War is less fun to play with then to play with real emotions of strangers on the internet. 
The political post in the other thread isn’t the first one on this forum. I remember muting quite a few “guns in America” threads after tragic mass shootings.
That said…
I have no problem with the person in the other thread bringing up their issue with Australia Day. It’s also within a player’s right to make a case for why they don’t think devs should include any other holiday.
However, because of the established culture in this forum, it would have been better if they had started a feedback thread instead of putting it on the official thread. No one should have to read political or social posts on an official thread.
Players who want to escape the problems of the world while they enter the game world should have that option. So, it’s pretty critical to give controversial topics their own thread so they can be muted if a person wants.
So perhaps the Devs should stop including Real World ™ events in the game.
I’m sure they meant well, but clearly it’s backfired.
My problem with “escape” is when the problem being called out is one that exists because people don’t want to deal with it and look the other way. Then we end up having this conversation:
A: “Hey I think it’s worth calling out most people are blind to these facts, and this holiday is part of the effort to cover it up. It’s a problem because we look the other way.”
B: “Yeah but like, can we look the other way today? It’s a special day. We can deal with your concerns later, when I decide it’s OK (never).”
Escape is a coping mechanism. Psychologists don’t consider those a good thing. Tons of artists “use art to cope”. Sometimes they end up worse off than before. Some issues permeate our culture, and it’s worth calling out when they happen.
For example, part of the problem a person had with Australia Day was they felt like it was disrespectful to the colonists’ treatment of indigenous people. You want to “escape” from that in a game, but then I distinctly remember a Princess Elspeth quest where you toured Krystara and she asked you to make fashionable clothing from the corpses of the people who lived in the region. You didn’t ask the devs to remove this happy treatment of colonialism, did you? It’s because you’re so used to the idea that “the tall, powerful people should be able to subjugate the small, primitive people” you thought it was funny. “It’s not politics, it’s just a joke.” Not really.
You aren’t escaping politics. You’re just asking people to let you view only “safe” content that agrees with your sensibilities, even if those sensibilities hurt other people.
I was with you until you gave the Elspeth example.
Clearly she is meant to be egocentric to a delusional/psychotic degree, as in her behaviour is NOT normal. That the player goes along with it is an attempt at comedy I guess.
I’d prefer to think of it as a comedic but true example of just unquestionably yielding to authority and/or spoiling someone. I would hope most see the problems of her actions rather than be wishing they were elspeth.
It really isn’t up to anyone else to dictate how someone uses their play time (including interaction with official game threads). Since I’m a minority on several fronts, I deal with political and social issues within my communities on other platforms. However, I play GoW for the match-3 and pew pew pew. It is my relaxation space… my reprieve from dealing with the everyday stressors that come from various directions.
So, if someone wants to deal with the injustices of the world everywhere else but a game forum, that’s their prerogative.
However…
I do agree that Evelyn had every right to bring up her grievance. I just think she should have made a feedback thread. The devs would have gotten her feedback and those who didn’t know the origin of that holiday would be informed. For the people that didn’t like her opinion, they could have muted the thread and kept moving.
Anyone who lives in a country that was colonized, let’s see, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA , Cuba, should not celebrate national holidays. We stole the land after all.
This discussion could go on and on. Where it would stop who knows.
And, thank goodness they didn’t decide to add a Columbus Day pet. It’s probably a smart idea to avoid such holidays in the game.
I helped Elspeth because I needed her kingdom, but I’ve hated her ever since. And I’ll be deep in the the cold, cold earth before I use the Bard or Elven classes. Except during GW, of course. Or the 1k battles +/- to max it. Stupid game, making me go against my morals.
I did mute that other thread. History happened, can’t change the past. Can only do something to change the future. I’m trying to make Krystara a better place, but there are still too many Elves resisting me. And Lapinas, Fey, and Blue Mana users.
Actually they could if they wanted to being they manage these forums. About all they’d have to do is make the rule and add to the community guidelines that any discussions of a political or religious natural are strictly forbidden. I think that it would be a good idea to do so because rarely does anything good come from such discussions on public forums. More times than not they end up with people arguing and fussing like it did here.
The game that I played before I started GoW I was a moderator on, and it had such a rule :
I realize that they can. I was saying that they can’t without ignorant folks claiming they are being dictators.
The community guidelines as they stand give folks a lot of lee way. Salty already came out and said she won’t ban political discussion.
The hell is this, France? Eff that level of censorship
Both are pretty inflammatory topics and more times than not people start quarreling. If such things can be avoided then I’m ok with that level of censorship. Honestly neither have a thing to do with GoW so I don’t see the use in allowing them to take place to begin with and there’s other forums just for political and religious talks. This is just my opinion though.
OK I deleted a snarky post to make my real point more clear.
I am protesting the idea of “not discussing politics” as both impossible and silly. Ignoring the real-world issues at hand:
All of this is politics. So I’m going to sneer at and deride this thread eternally. When someone says, “Keep politics out of X”, and X is literally “a video game about political war between 30+ kingdoms and dozens of races”, what they realy mean is, “A person said something that makes me feel bad. I want to use intimidation or power to make them stop instead of confronting my feelings.”
If you don’t want to talk about colonization, maybe avoid games that use war as the basis of their plot? Put your money where your mouth is. Don’t play games about politics if you hate political discussion. It’s just like the rule about sticking your genitals in toasters.
It’s not really that I dislike them , I just choose to not partake in them. What I don’t like however is all the bickering and arguing that normally ensues following them. That’s my point.
